A little over a year ago now, I watched the documentary "FOOD, INC." and decided that except for fish, I was going to give up eating meat. I was already part of the "Meatless Monday" crowd thanks in large part to my Mom who insisted I be part of it along with my Dad and all my siblings. Yes, we're all grown, two of us are married and have kids but your Mom can still get you to do stuff. It was not unusual for me to eat at my Mom's house on a Monday and so it was easier to go along with what she said. I didn't really take it all that seriously though until I watched the documentary.
I'm not going to tell anyone why I think they too should give up meat because I think everyone is already familiar with those arguments. I know I was and still hadn't given it up. What I do want to talk about is how hard it really is to give up meat. Let me be honest here, while I mostly gave up eating meat I still eat meat, not just fish, which is why I'm writing this post. I did not give up eating meat because I don't like meat. I love meat. It tastes really good and I enjoy it. I gave up meat for all the other reasons. Primarily I gave it up due to the animal and human abuse that are inherent in the way we produce meat and secondly because giving up meat is good for the environment. Of course there are also health benefits to giving up meat but that was far down on my list.
I told my family I was giving up meat and everyone was really supportive. When I eat at her house, my Mom will make sure I have fish to eat if she and my Dad are eating chicken. I didn't make my Dog stop eating meat, but I did start paying closer attention to the food I was buying for him. I did a little bit of research to find him a sustainable and organic option. Now I just had to stop eating meat.
I'm single and while I like to cook it's really hard to cook for one. I tend to head towards easy and convenient options and that's where my frustration started. We are a meat eating nation and finding tasty vegetarian options is tough. For the first week it seemed really easy. I'm not a vegan so I still eat eggs and dairy and that provides plenty of options at breakfast. I love a grilled cheese sandwich so that made a nice dinner and I experimented with different types of grilled cheese. However, I don't think it's a good idea to eat that much cheese on a daily basis.
I buy my lunch at work and that was one of the first challenges. We have a decent cafeteria onsite at my office, but all of the selections at lunch seem to have meat included. Whether it's a sandwich or a hot meal. We do have a salad bar and I will make use of that as much as possible, but I've noticed that variety is important in what we eat. After a while I can barely bring myself to look at the salad bar and I'm walking around looking for other choices. The cafeteria offers a meatless sandwich, but there's only one type and like salad, you don't want to eat it all the time. How do you find something that is meatless and still tastes good and doesn't leave you looking for more to eat?
I found myself eating chips and other snacks that had no meat in them like nuts during the day and then when I got home it wasn't much different. I had some Brie in the refrigerator and some fig jam - perfect for dinner. Still, it was too much cheese in my diet though. I made myself eggs benedict for dinner on more than one occasion. I threw a baked potato in the oven and put 'fixins' on it as a dinner. Still, I worried that what I was eating just wasn't all that healthy.
I wandered around Whole Foods and Giant searching for easy to make, vegetarian meals. Salad kits are a good grab and filling. Since I hadn't given up fish I found myself eating a lot of shrimp and salmon. I really didn't want to eat fish every single day though.
I started a Facebook group, "My Favorite Veggie Recipes", for my friends and I to share so we could all have more choices. One of my favorite recipes from that page is a grilled cheese that uses Avocado and mozzarella. It's a nice change from the average grilled cheese. Everyone who posts in that group has usually tried the recipes which is helpful since a lot of vegetarian recipes aren't that great tasting.
I did start to realize that there are a lot of great tasting dishes that are vegetarian. Eggplant parmesan, Spinach Lasagne, and zucchini pie are just three recipes that I loved growing up as a kid. My Dad makes a killer Onion Pie and my Mom an Artichoke Souffle. It's really about experimenting and finding what works best. For example, today for lunch I cut up an avocado, put a little bit of salad dressing on it and it was delicious and while high in fat, pretty tasty.
The cafeteria did get on board with offering other meatless options besides the salad bar. One of the reasons for that is we have a lot of non-native Indians who are vegetarian working in our offices. If the cafeteria wants to survive, it has to cater to everyone's needs. They offer a taco salad made with veggie crumbles and I've now purchased veggie crumbles from the grocery store to see if I can cook them up myself. I can recreate the taco salad, make tacos and I'm wondering if I could use them in a cheesesteak sub? The first veggie crumble I tested I overcooked - which is very easy to do with the non-meat meats.
What giving up meat really means is a lot of experimentation and an open mind. I've decided that it's okay if I eat Grilled Cheese more than once in a week. If I do, I'll have a salad the next day at lunch. I also ask other people I know who don't eat meat what they cook or buy. If I make a large meal, I can always freeze some of it to eat later. I used to make a turkey chili and if everything goes well with the veggie crumbles, I'm going to try and make it with that instead to make it meatless. I also have to learn to pack my lunch once in a while.
Before giving up meat I didn't think as much as I do now about what I was eating and it's made me more aware of whether or not what I'm eating is a healthy option. I eat a lot more fruit. I'll grab a bag of clementines at the store - they're easy to peel and taste good. Also, I don't say I'm going to be meatless for life. I say I'll be meatless today and see how it goes. If today goes well, then tomorrow I'll try to be meatless again. So far this past week I've been fairly meatless. I did eat some meat. Oh well, tomorrow is another day and I'll try once again to not eat meat.
No comments:
Post a Comment