The Decision

So I became a vegetarian in 2004. It was a really weird way to become vegetarian, actually, and it was super easy. I had always been the meat-eating child, the non-picky-eater, daddy's BBQ buddy (no brothers!), but in 2004 I was in college and getting a new apartment and the young lady I was going to share the space with was a life-long vegetarian. We met for the first time at a Denny's by school (we met on a roommate-finding website run by the University) and I remember ordering Fried Chicken Fingers. I don't remember what she ordered, but it came out that she was a lifelong vegetarian and for some reason, from that moment on, I just decided to try it.

And it was so shockingly EASY not to eat meat that I just never went back, without ever really having made a decision to become vegetarian in the first place! I realize it doesn't work like this for most people, but it did for me.

I didn't even eat fish at the time, and hadn't for a long time, because of problems with overfishing, coal reef decimation and generally ruining the oceans. Moving to not eating meat seemed a logical next step that I had always toyed with. The real breakthrough came in an ecology class in school when a professor explained to us all the resources that go into creating meat and that it's totally wasteful. For example, You've got 100% of the raw energy on the planet, and it's plant material. We then feed that material to an animal, who uses it in all their bodily processes and to grow, and then we kill that animal and eat it. Now, of the 100% of energy we put into that animal, we are only getting back about 10%. It's a WASTE OF 90% OF FOOD ENERGY to eat meat. That's STAGGERING. And that's not even to mention water usage (which is astronomical), animal cruelty or greenhouse gas emissions.

So I was happy, healthy vegetarian for over 4 years and then I joined the Peace Corps. I was sent to West Africa and once I got there it began to become painfully clear that I would not be able to maintain the strict vegetarian diet I had been enjoying for the last almost 5 years. First my compromise was fish, as pretty much ALL Guinean sauces include mashed up smoked fish (in the whole!) so it's nearly impossible to eat there without consuming fish. And then it became clear that not only were there not many other sources of protein, but it's considered unbelievably rude in that culture to turn down food someone has offered (NOT appropriate to grill the giver on what's in it and where it came from). Meat started to become a huge treat that was still available in Africa (not many other treats are!!). Western foods that Aficans have managed to (I don't want to say perfect) include fried chicken and burgers, chawarma, and at the beach, SEAFOOD! So basically my two years in Peace Corps also turned into two years of an omnivorous diet.

But I'm back now and I want to go veg again, but now there's one thing I REALLY don't know if I can give up: FISH!!! So for now we are going back on the strict veggie diet I was on before, however there's still some fish involved, and I'm trying to go completely vegan other than the fish. Which means right now I am trying to kick cheese, sour cream, ice cream/frozen yogurt and cottage cheese. Eggs aren't terribly hard for me to do without.

So basically this blog will be about my adventures in eating vegan, products, deals, reviews, recipes, frustrations and advice.

Welcome to my Quest for a Mostly Vegan Diet!