I have not eaten meat since Monday afternoon. I know to some of you that doesn’t seem like a long time, but as someone who generally has some sort of meat at least twice a day, it’s a big feat.
But it hasn’t really been a concerted effort. In fact, it’s kind of just happened by accident.
For lunch on Monday, I had half of a turkey sandwich and a salad. When dinnertime rolled around, we didn’t really have anything in the house except for some canned vegetables. Not wanting to spend more money on restaurants, and realizing (thanks to Mint.com) that I spend way too much on side trips to the grocery store, we decided to just eat the vegetables. So dinner was spinach, Velveeta Shells and Cheese, and corn. Ian seasoned it nicely, and it was a good, filling meal. I had it again Tuesday for lunch.
Tuesday evening after work I met up with some blogger friends for a couple of drinks and, knowing I wouldn’t be back in the ‘Boro until around 9, I ordered a grilled cheese and some fruit.
Wednesday I had a personal pan cheese pizza from Pizza Hut for lunch, and for dinner I had Cheerios and some sunflower seeds (I had gotten home late again because I attended the Nashfoto meetup, and we still didn’t have anything in the house to eat. Well, that and I wasn’t very hungry).
So today at lunch a co-worker and I were deciding what we wanted to eat when I realized I have, essentially, been eating vegetarian for the last several meals. I thought, “Why stop now?” and ordered a veggies-only sandwich from Which Wich.
Philosophically, I can see myself being a vegetarian. I don’t like the thought of putting processed meat in my body, I hate the way the animals are treated that yield the meat that I eat, and according to the Eat Right for Your Type guy, I would do best on a vegetarian eating plan. The more fruits and vegetables I eat, the better I feel.
But y’all, I’m lazy, lacking willpower and in love with barbecue.
It’s just easier to eat meat. Anywhere you go: fast food places, relatives’ houses, restaurants… they always are going to have some sort of meat available.
And barbecue. Oh, the barbecue. I had never eaten barbecue until I moved to the south (hell, I didn’t even know how to spell it correctly until I started my current job and my boss schooled me on it), and now I consider myself somewhat of a connoisseur. Shit, I look forward to the Jack Daniel’s BBQ Fest almost as much as I do my birthday. And I find my birthday to be more worthy of celebration than Christmas.
And here’s the other thing: Ian is the cook in our house. Sure, I can cook, but he actually likes to cook. We have this thing where he cooks and I clean up. It seems to work out all right. But I would pretty much bet the house that Ian will NOT EVER become a vegetarian. And I can’t exactly ask him to make special vegetarian-only meals for me. And how much money and food will be wasted? It’s hard enough sometimes to use all of what we buy to make a meal for two people. Cooking for one is even worse. I know, I lived alone for six years. It sucks. You eat a lot of Mac and Cheese and frozen pizzas.
So, Internet, I ask you this: Is it doable? Can I be vegetarian? Obviously the willpower and laziness thing is up to me, but are there any tips that can help me? Can anyone point me in the direction of some sort of magical vegetarian cookbook where the meals are super simple and quick to make, use ingredients I can find at Kroger, and are fucking tasty as hell?
And how do I resist the cravings for meat? Do they ever go away? I’m not having them yet, but I’m assuming once I commit myself to vegetarianism they’re going to come at me, doing anything they can to fuck up my game.
Had a vegetarian GF in college. When i took her to meet my (Southern) parents, they were flummoxed about what to cook. I said, vegetables, fruit, bread, cheese – you know, stuff that isn’t meat. They tried – but to them, adding pork to green beans, etc., wasn’t “meat” – it was seasoning. She (having grown up in the South), womanfully ate a thank-you portion, picking around the seasoning. When they noticed, they were embarrassed – and a little pissed, I think, that she had demeaned their hospitality.
Here are some easy recipes, including a few inspired by barbeque: http://www.cok.net/lit/recipes/ You could shop some cookbooks, but in my experience most vegetarian/vegan cookbooks are trying too hard. I enjoy gourmet every now and then, but I prefer comfortable, simple foods. I don’t have the patience for cooking on a regular basis, and most of the veggie recipes I enjoy I found for free online or adapted myself (the carrot muffin recipe isn’t exactly the one I use because I tweaked it based on another recipe from a King Arthur baking cookbook, but it’s pretty close). I think the trick to any new diet is to find a week’s worth of menus that you enjoy, and that the cook of your house (whether it’s you or not) has the time and skill to prepare, make a list and go shopping to be certain you have everything, and then trade out things you don’t like for new things you do. If you have a low tolerance threshold for new things, or if you’re not sure you’ll like the recipes, try them out slowly. As long as the food is nutritious, tasty and satisfying you probably won’t have to fight cravings (I guess some people are addicted to meat, but it’s not a drug like sugar or caffeine). If the food is good, your husband might buy in easier than you think. If he likes to cook, maybe you could even talk him into trying the new recipes out as something challenging. Personally, I try to eat veggie as much as possible (and need to do it more often), but I don’t think it’s wrong to eat meat *occasionally.* In fact, once you choose to eat meat only sometimes, you can afford to get good, lean, free range meat instead of the awful stuff we normally consume. I have a lot of veggie/vegan friends who insist on never eating any at all, and frankly I think they’d be more healthy and better able to concentrate if they relaxed their restrictions a little. We’re probably both a long way from seriously having to worry about getting more meat in our diets, though. :)
If you’re looking for something quick and easy that can be made for one person, try the pre-made vegetarian stuff made by Morningstar Farms and companies like that. All it takes is a couple of minutes in the microwave, and you’ve got chicken nuggets, a burger, corn dogs, bacon, whatever…. Not everyone likes them, but I think they’re fabulous. When Nick started dating me and found all that in my freezer, he was dubious, but he tried them and loved them. It’s also something that’s easy to fix small portions of, so if you’ve got one person who is a veggie and one is not, it’s no big deal, really. (And really, if you made those chicken nuggets and didn’t tell Ian what they were, he might not even know. Hehehhehe.)
I tend to be a veggie for a couple of years, then go back to eating meat for a couple of years. There’s no good reason why; it just depends on my mood. I love meat. Steak is my best friend, I swear. But I find it really easy to do the vegetarian thing, too. 10 years back, it was harder, because the vegetarian food on the market was sparse, and what there was didn’t taste all that great. But times have changed.
To quote Dharma (from “Dharma & Greg”), “Good luck with your meat fight!”
Oh, Brandy, I would know the difference. Plus, I would be a bit skeptical if Megan cooked something for me.