Interview - Mr Meat

Jarrod Clyne is a friend of mine who I once watched eat his way through a kilo of fillet steak, all in one sitting.  So you can imagine my surprise when Phil told me that Jarrod was, at one stage, a vegetarian.  Jarrod has an excellent sense of humour and he reminds me of all of the good things about people from the country, only he is really smart and has good taste.  Basically he is a stand up bloke.  He kindly agreed to share his story which, to me, just gets more and more interesting.

 

I was vegetarian for a year when I was at university, in 2004. I had thought about being a vegetarian for quite a while, and had long since decided that it was immoral to eat meat. I was practicing Zen Buddhism, and this was a major factor in my decision. Zen Buddhism doesn't focus very much on the moral precepts of Buddhism, and apparently the Buddha did occasionally eat meat, and he did not categorically forbid his disciples to eat meat. As a monastic religion relying on donations the monks were to gratefully receive and consume all food they were given, including meat. Consequently I was able to rationalise being Buddhist and eating meat for a long time, but eventually I felt that since I was not relying on alms (does living with your parents at the age of 23 count?) I should faithfully follow the first precept of Buddhism - 'Do not kill'. The Buddha told his followers not to kill, participate in killing or cause to have any living thing killed. A demand for meat obviously causes animals to be killed. I stopped eating all meat, including fish.

 

I had been on one week Zen Buddhist retreats with only vegetarian meals and hadn't found it particularly difficult. I was also already eating vegetarian meals for lunch, due to the University Hare Krisna Society serving delicious meals for $2 (all you can eat for $3!). Dinner was therefore the main challenge. I would describe myself as a very lazy vegetarian - I would just exclude the meat from a meal and subsitute a handful of peanuts, some eggs, or occasionally some chickpeas. I also ate an absurdly high amount of vegetarian pies. I ate hot chips pretty regularly too. Unsurprisingly I was fatter and less healthy as a consequence.

 

About one year and a quarter after my original decision I was travelling in Europe and Japan. My desire to eat meat returned quite strongly. I kept thinking of my old rationalisations as to why it was acceptable to eat meat. Vanity was also a factor, I felt that I would rather look good (eat protein, go to gym = more attractive) than be moral. The fork in the road came at a dinner at a bohemian buffet restaurant. The restaurant prided itself on a very extensive selection of vegetarian food, but also had a decent selection of meat dishes. I chose the meat and it was amazing.

 

I haven't ever seriously considered returning to being vegetarian. During a gym 'bulking' regime perhaps 90% of my food intake was red meat and I felt awesome. Eating meat is is very enjoyable, and and I find that if I don't eat any meat for dinner then I don't feel satiated at all. I still believe that it is morally wrong to eat meat - to cause suffering to living beings - but I'm relatively comfortable with that immorality, and the cost of being moral is just too high.

 

I like this part of The Prophet, by Kahlil Gibran. I think he's talking to a sheep he has just killed and will eat:

 

"By the same power that slays you, I
too am slain; and I too shall be consumed.
For the law that delivered you into my
hand shall deliver me into a mightier hand."

 

I believe that the most important goal in life is simply to enjoy your life. That may sound trite, selfish, or even unacceptably nihilisitc. I don't think that it is, and while I am mindful of the immorality of consuming meat, I do so because it helps me enjoy my life, and after all, eventually we too will all be consumed.

What I Ate - 24 February 2010

Today I ate:

2 pieces of toast, one with Marmite and one with peanut butter.
2 nectarines.
3 pieces of sour cream and chives rice cakes with cottage cheese.
Leftover leek, mushroom and barley stew.
More toast but this time with honey.
Scrambled eggs with toast and tomato.
Half a black bean burrito with roasted potato and kumara.

Bit of a dinner planning fail on my behalf tonight.  I couldn't make up my mind as to whether I was going out or not tonight, hence two dinners.  Both were pretty good though.  Kumara goes so well in burritos.  They were sort of a copy of the breakfast burritos that they make at Sweet Mother's Kitchen that come with delicious potato hash.

I just realised that I haven't had any chocolate today. 

What I Ate - 23 February 2010

Today I ate:

2 pieces of toast with peanut butter.
2 nectarines.
More toast with Marmite, avocado and tomato.
1 apricot and pear yoghurt.
1 strawberry chocolate marshmallow Easter bunny.
Leek, mushroom and barley stew with more Mexican street salad.

The Mexican street salad is really, really good.  I got Jamie's America for Christmas and this recipe is one of the first things I have made from it.  It was a lovely fresh coleslaw with lots of chilli and lime.

What I Ate - 22 February 2010

Today I ate:

2 pieces of peanut butter toast.
3 nectarines.
Toast with Marmite, avocado and tomato.
1 apricot yoghurt.
Handful of chilli and lime cashew nuts.
Black bean enchiladas with Mexican street salad.
Whittaker's Dark Ghana chocolate.

What I Ate - 21 February 2010

Today I ate:

2 pieces of Vogel's toast with peanut butter.
1 trim latte.
Barbeque Bean Supreme roast red onion and parmesan sausages, agria potatoes, red onion, courgette and sweet corn.
2 beers.
1 shot of Jagermeister.
Courgette, cheese and egg tart, green beans with garlic, chickpea and capsicum salad, roasted potatoes, puree garlic broccoli mash.
Homemade banana and nectarine ice-cream.

It's barbeque weather at the moment, which I think poses a bit of a practical challenge to a vegetarian, as barbeques are very much about meat.  Hence the vege sausages.  We hadn't tried any soy 'meat' replacements before Sunday, and weren't sure what to expect.  They were quite tasty, but very different to real sausages.  I can't put my finger on what it was that didn't quite work for me - the texture perhaps?  They were pleasant enough but just not as tasty as meat.  Then again, perhaps I am romanticizing about sausages, because they can be truly awful.  In fact, given the choice between Sizzler's and bean sausages I would pick bean sausages any day.

Towards the end of lunch the host suddenly announced that he had poured out a shot of Jager for all of us.  I'm not really a fan of shots but peer pressure prevailed and that's why it ended up on the list.  Between the liquor and the drum and bass music, it was as if I was 19 again. 

After the Phoenix game (they won by the way, bring on the next semi final) we went to Phil's parent's house for dinner.  They are both excellent cooks and Sunday night dinner at their house is a regular appointment.  They pick us up, feed us lovely food and wine, and then drive us home.  We are so spoilt.  I felt a bit strange imposing our eating restrictions upon them but they were very understanding and made an incredible vegetarian feast. 

What I Ate - 20 February 2010

Today I ate:

Porridge with grated apple and blueberries, served with plain yoghurt.
1 trim latte.
1 apricot.
Baguette with feta cheese.
Rice crackers with rocket and parmesan dip.
Grapes.
Lemon, lime and bitters drink.
Tomato and olive pasta sauce with whole wheat pasta and parmesan.

Saturday was lovely and sunny, perfect weather for a picnic lunch that I had with my friend Jen.  She kindly offered to be vegetarian for the meal which I thought was quite nice.  I don't mind other people eating meat in front of me at all but it was nce to know that all of the yum food we had was ok for me to eat.

Saturday was lovely and sunny and perfect picnic weather.

Interview - In the Beginning

Today's interview is with my friend Hannah Lloyd.  Hannah and I have been friends since we were in high school and she was the first vegetarian I ever met.  In fact, looking back, her decision to become a vegetarian was probably slightly scandalous in small town rural New Zealand.  I doubt that she really cared what anyone thought though.  She currently lives and works in Scotland.

What are your dietary restrictions? What animal products will you not eat?

 

I am a lacto-ovo vegetarian meaning that I eat dairy products and eggs but I exclude meat, poultry, and seafood from my diet. There are also other things I need to restrict from my diet too; for example, I need to avoid rennet and gelatine as these are derived from animal products.

Rennet is found in cheese and and is generally derived from calves; however, vegetarian cheeses contain rennet from bacterial or fungal sources.  Gelatine is a gelling agent and can be found in foods such as jelly, various sweets (including marshmallows!) and sometimes yoghurts and sour cream. 

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How long have these restrictions been in place?

I have been vegetarian for approximately 10 years - it’s very difficult to pinpoint an exact date though but it has been for at least 10 years.

What are the reasons for your diet?

I became a vegetarian for ethical reasons predominantly. I am very much an ‘animal lover’ and have always found it difficult to eat animals even as a child. I have difficulty disassociating the meat product from the animal itself.

What are people's reactions like when you tell them about your dietary restrictions?

People are very much interested in this and tend to be quite inquisitive and will ask me questions mostly about my reasons for being a vegetarian. It’s much more common that it used to be and is no real shock to people. When I first became a vegetarian in my teens it was much more unusual but I know plenty of vegetarians now.

How easy or difficult is it for you when you eat out?

 

I don’t really have any issues eating out at restaurants and cafes as a vegetarian. I live in Edinburgh and I did notice when I moved here almost 5 years ago that the availability of vegetarian foods is much better than in New Zealand. I’m actually quite spoilt for choice here in Edinburgh as there are 3 vegetarian restaurants. It’s always a real treat to go to a vegetarian restaurant but I must admit it’s very difficult to choose what to have when I can eat anything on the menu!

Otherwise restaurants generally have at least one vegetarian option available. I’m not a particularly fussy vegetarian and like a range of food so one option is sufficient for me. I do check ahead with restaurants before I go there, either by viewing the menu on-line or telephoning in advance, just to be certain that they do have a suitable vegetarian option.

With cafes it can be different as I have on occasion been into cafes for lunch and they’ve run out of vegetarian panino and sandwiches. This doesn’t happen too frequently and it’s easy enough to find another cafe so it’s never been an issue.

I would boycott any restaurant that did not offer a vegetarian option on the menu and I did need to do this recently. A restaurant recommended to me by a friend did not have any vegetarian mains on the menu despite having a huge selection of main meals.  When I enquired with the restaurant I was advised that they’d make a stir fry vegetarian for me. However, I avoided the restaurant as I certainly do not like to think that the restaurant felt they’d ‘whip up’ something. My view is that even non-vegetarians eat vegetarian food so having at least one available option is important.

When travelling abroad other considerations are required and it pays to be prepared. A vegetarian must be prepared by learning how to explain their dietary requirements in the language. Also note that the definition of a vegetarian can vary from country to country and this should always be researched before travel. For example; in France a vegetarian will generally eat fish so in France restaurants will refer to a dish as being vegetarian that actually contains seafood.

Do you miss the foods that you have cut out?

Not at all. Initially I did miss marshmallows initially but that was really about it. I certainly don’t feel like I’m missing out on anything.

Would you or have you ever actively encouraged others to adopt your dietary restrictions? Why or why not?

 

I believe that everyone has a right to choose what’s best for them. To be a vegetarian is my decision and I do not expect others to feel the same way I do. I have no issues dining with non-vegetarians and handling meat products either (I am happy to cook meat too!). However, if someone did express an interest to me about becoming a vegetarian I would certainly provide advice and guidance.

 I do believe that too much red meat in a diet is unhealthy so do encourage that people have meat free days from time-to-time for health reasons. In fact; I have read magazine articles recently about a new trend to be a ‘Flexitarian’. This means being a part-time vegetarian, for example; one might choose to be a vegetarian on certain days of the week or for 2 weeks per month.

What is your favourite food?

 

I have so many favourite foods it would be very difficult to say. I love eating falafels with hummus and salad in wraps or pita bread pockets. That makes for a nice and easy lunch or dinner. Couscous with roast vegetables is always great too and it’s winter here in Scotland I’ve been enjoying delicious wintery comfort food such as soup and vegetable casseroles.

What I Ate - 19 February 2010

Today I ate:

2 pieces of toast, one with peanut butter and one with Marmite.
1 trim cappuccino with chocolate.
Slice of lemon loaf.
Feta, pumpkin and spinach wrap from Wishbone.
4 apricots.
1 apricot and pear yoghurt.
2 glasses of white wine.
1 falafel kebab from Phoencian Falafel.
3 marshmallow Easter eggs.

I heart Friday!  I also heart marshmallow Easter eggs.

What I Ate - 18 February 2010

Today I ate:

2 pieces of Vogel's toast, one with peanut butter, one with Marmite.
Leftover Moroccan stew from yesterday.
Marshmallow Easter eggs.
1 can of Coke.
Potato and chickpea curry with yoghurt raita.

Why does Coke always taste nicest from a can?

What I Ate - 17 February 2010

Today I ate:

2 pieces of Vogels toast with Pic's Real peanut butter.
1 apricot.
1 peach.
1 trim latte.
Leftover tofu and vege satay.
Squash and chickpea Moroccan stew with couscous and yoghurt.
Piece of failed caramel slice.

After dinner I had a craving for caramel slice, so I decided to try a recipe from the Edmonds.  Complete fail.  It had an oaty base which seemed ok, if a little too moist.  The real fail came with the caramel topping, which had large amounts of sugar, a cup each of brown sugar and icing sugar.  Once I started to realise that the caramel just wasn't as it should be I then remembered that I had another recipe in my book that I had copied from my Nana's recipe book.  So the moral of that story is to always always make your Nana's recipe.

Interview - Kim the Flexitarian

Today's guest post is from my friend Kim Lone, who is currently teaching in Vietnam. 

As the fourth of five kids, vegetarianism is nothing new in my family, it was one of those good, yet not really dangerous ways of being different and upsetting mum and dad.  I grew up in a family where at some stage at least one or two members were vegetarian. My dad has always been against it yet somewhat resigned.  There is still always the occasional "you sure you don't want some meat with that?". 

At the moment in my family, there is one vegetarian, one vegan, one who will only eat ethical meat, one meat lover, and me, the one that usually eats meat when I've been drinking.  It's been a long and drawn out process till I got to this stage.  The original reason why I became and occasional vegetarian (flexitarian if you want) was because I hated handling raw meat when cooking, and also possibly because I was a poor student so my diet consisted mainly of pasta, eggs and bread.  I grew up in the suburbs completely divorced from the process of how meat ends up in the supermarket.  If you are ever on a country road and get stuck behind a truck carrying sheep the smell is one of indescribable rancidity.  (Is rancidity a word?)  So I only ever ate meat if someone else cooked it.

A couple of years later I ended up living in a vegetarian flat [I'm pretty sure this was the same flat Kim lived in where the kitchen sink had a plaque above it saying that it used to belong to Katherine Mansfield, cool eh - Evealyn].  Which was sweet because my flatmate used to cook dinner every night.  Possibly the healthiest eating I have ever done in my life.  Every now and again I would get a craving and smuggle meat into the house.  If you ever want tips on meat smuggling, ask me.  If my flatmates ever caught me there were disappointed looks all round.  Possibly the worst was when my friend Fe gave me a can of spam for my 21st birthday (I had told her on some occasion that I had never eaten spam).  It was the odd can that just sat in the pantry and my flatmates thought it was funny and anyone who came round thought it was just weird.  Then there was one night when I came home ridiculously drunk and decided to have a fry up.  In went the spam.  My flatmates were so upset when they found out that I had used the frypan to cook meat.

After that I moved back home with my parents due to no money and no job.  My mums a mean cook and she would always cook for my dad so, I ate meat.  Lots of meat and it was tasty.  Its hard to be a vegetarian if you are extremely lazy like me and not big on cooking all the time.

And now I am living in Vietnam.  And it's a pretty sweet place to live.  My occasional vegetarianism has come into full swing here just because of the lack of refridgeration.  If any of you have been to South East Asia and been to the meat section of markets you will know what I am talking about.  Meat is left sitting out in the hot sun and the stench is unbelievable.  So now, for the most part I am a vegetarian apart form the occasional craving for that tasty tasty meat.  My figuring is that it is better being an occasional vegetarian than not even trying at all. 

I've met lots of vegetarians too, the ones who are accepting of your meat eating, the judgmental ones, the ones that eat fish and the animal rights activists who have framed photos of battery farmed chickens on their bedroom walls.  I have one friend who became a vegetarian and the age of 7.  She was watching Neighbours with her mum one day and just turned to her and said "I want to be a vegetarian".  Her mum said "Ok, but I'm not cooking two meals" so the whole family became vegetarian by default.  I also have a friend who agrees with the principles behind vegetarianism but can't get over the taste of meat.  So he has decided that what he will do when he dies is make his friends and family have a big barbeque and they have to eat him, hopefully starting a trend towards eating humans rather than other animals.

What I Ate - 16 February 2010

Today I ate:

2 pieces of toast with lovely peanut butter.
1 trim latte.
2 pieces of toast with Marmite, avocado and tomato.
1 Phoenix sparkling apple juice.
1 apricot.
1 peach.
Tofu and vegetable satay with brown rice.
Marshmallow Easter egg.

Sometimes it annoys me when seasonal holiday goods arrive in shops super early, but I am quite excited about Easter eggs.  Today I bought some marshmallow eggs and I also saw (but refrained from buying) a Lindt creme egg.  Maybe tomorrow?

The tofu and vegetable dish was a recipe from my little sister.  As you may have noticed, I really like peanuts.  Dinner was delicious, I barely managed to leave enough for tomorrow's lunch even though I made plenty.

What I Ate - 15 February 2010

Today I ate:

2 pieces of Vogels toast with Pic's Really Good Peanut Butter.
1 trim latte.
Glass of pineapple juice.
Leftover burritos and salad.
Mint slice chocolate biscuit.
Pizza with homemade onion confit, roasted aubergine and courgette, and feta.

I am SICK.  Monday morning I felt pretty rotten so I stayed home from work.  No point going in when I had a terrible headache and might pass my illness on.

At the moment I am reading 'Under the Tuscan Sun'  by Frances Mayes.  It's probably better known as a film with Diane Lane.  The book is a travel memoir about the author's experiences owning and renovating a villa in Italy.  It has quite a few recipes, including one for pizza that had onion confit and pork and fennel sausages.  Obviously the sausage was out, but I decided to give the onion a go.  What you do is slice three onions, and slowly cook them in two tablespoons of olive oil and three tablespoons of balsamic vinegar.  They need to be cooked for a long time, say an hour.  Use on pizza, sandwiches, that sort of thing.  They are really delicious and I am quite tempted to make up a large batch for onion confit emergencies.

What I Ate - 14 February 2010

Today I ate:

1 piece of Vogels toast with peanut butter.
1 trim latte.
Breakfast burrito made with scrambled eggs, black beans and potato hash and served with guacamole and salsa from Sweet Mother's Kitchen.
Half an apricot.
Mint slice chocolate biscuits.
Pineapple juice.
Black bean enchiladas.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!  Unfortunately I have a cold and am feeling a bit miserable.  Still, it's better than last year, when I was sick with food poisoning.

I'm a bit mixed about Valentine's Day.  On one hand it is a commercial holiday etc, but on the other hand, why not have a bit of fun with it?  We decided to go out to brunch at Sweet Mother's Kitchen.  They have lots of vegetarian breakfast options, and we didn't want to go to a place where the vegetarian meal was something of an afterthought. 

We also went to the vege markets briefly and bought, among other things, some good tasting peanut butter.  As you may have noticed, I really like peanut butter.  I would probably lose 3 kilos if I stopped eating it but that is a trade-off I am simply not willing to make.  This stuff was recommended to me by my friend Reuben and I am so excited about breakfast tomorrow morning.

Interview - Vegetarian Showdown Part 2

A few days ago I posted a blog about Michael Keenan's original reasons for becoming vegetarian in 2007.  This is what he has to say about it now.

What were your dietary restrictions? What animal products did you not eat? How long were these restrictions in place?

I was vegetarian from October 2007 to March 2008. During that time I avoided all fish and meat products, but still ate milk and eggs. There were a few occasions where I ate meat, when otherwise the meat would have gone to waste. (The reason for this is that I considered that farming and killing animals might be immoral, so causing demand for that to occur is ethically questionable. It's the buying, not the eating, that causes the demand for farming and killing.)

What were people's reactions like when you tell them about your dietary restrictions?

If I recall correctly, no-one cared. My girlfriend at the time accepted it, and though she didn't become vegetarian herself, she ended up eating many vegetarian meals with me.

How easy or difficult was it for you when you eat out?

It was easy in America, and somewhat easy in Newcastle, England. I discovered interesting new food I hadn't tried before, like falafel and tofu. It would have been more difficult if I'd been a fussy eater, but I was happy to accept whatever vegetarian options were offered. This isn't to say my enjoyment of food didn't go down; it did. But it was logistically easy.

Did you miss the foods that you have cut out?

Yes! Especially chicken and pizzas with meat. And salami.

Would you or have you ever actively encouraged others to adopt your dietary restrictions? Why or why not?

I wrote a couple of emails about vegetarianism, and I sometimes talked to people about it in person, but only if they seemed interested in it. I didn't evangelize, because I wasn't very sure of my position that eating animals might be wrong.

What is your favourite food?

Pizza.

What I Ate - 13 February 2010

Today I ate:

2 pieces of Vogels with peanut butter.
1 trim latte.
Halloumi with cucumber, mint and lemon salsa at Capitol.
Homemade pizza with olives, mushrooms, red onion, courgette and mozzarella, and homemade wedges.
3 Mac's green apple drink.
Tomato and basil bruschetta made by Tonya.

Yesterday I caught up with my friend Traci who was in Wellington for the weekend.  Her friend Tonya is a vegetarian and has been so for seven years.  Tonya told us about how she decided to be vegetarian one day when she was a teenager.  She was eating a pasta dish that had been made with mince when it occurred to her that the meal would be that much nicer if it wasn't for the meat.  That got me thinking...Why do we eat such terrible meat?  By 'terrible meat' I mean mince with lots of fat in it, and sausages that are probably 40% flour.  I know that a lot of families can't afford to buy really good quality meat and produce, but why would they choose pre-cooked sausages over say a curry made with chickpeas?  I suppose a lot of people don't really know how to cook with pulses, but gosh, it is worth looking into.

I have quite a sad story to share, which I have probably told a few of you already.  I have a friend from childhood who is in her early twenties and has two small children, the youngest of whom is a newborn baby.  A few weeks before the birth of the baby, she put a status update on Facebook saying 'Jill [not her real name] has $18 to spend on groceries this week.  How am I going to feed a family of three on that?'  I wanted to tell her to go and buy a packet of lentils.  She wrote later that she had bought meat, rice, and a packet of frozen veges to make stir fry with, and then had somehow found some extra cash to buy bread for breakfast.  Between that and a few meals at her mum's house, she was ok.  As my mum would say, we don't know we are alive.

Even though I intend to go back to eating meat in March, I think I will eat it much less often than I have in the past.  I don't want meat to be the default any more, because there is no need for it to be.  Also, I think that when I eat meat, I will make an effort to eat meat that is (a) all right quality, and (b) was raised in a way that I don't think is cruel.

What I Ate - 12 February 2010

Today I ate:

2 pieces of Vogels toast with peanut butter, another piece with Marmite.
1 trim latte.
Small handful of chilli and lime cashews.
1 Gala apple.
1 baked potato with black bean chilli, leftover from yesterday.
1 peach.
1 yoghurt.
2 glasses of sauvignon blanc.
Potato chips.
Spinach and ricotta cannelloni and salad.
Mango.

I am coming down with a cold too!  I haven't had one in two years but I woke up with a headache and a sore throat.  How annoying. 

Phil and I had dinner at the flat of our friends Dan and Emily.  They kindly made an excellent vegetarian meal of cannelloni, which I love.  It got me thinking about the social side to being a vegetarian...Is it reasonable to expect my friends to accommodate my preferences?  I would say yes, as long as I'm quite clear about what I will and won't eat, and offer to bring food that I can eat if it's going to be difficult.  For example, if someone invited me to their house for a roast lamb, I would bring a dish of something that I could eat, say a roast vegetable salad or even a vegetable tart. 

Interview - Vegetarian Showdown Part 1

I have never met Michael Keenan but he is one of Phil's oldest friends.  A few years ago he decided to become a vegetarian, and has been kind enough to provide me with some information about his thinking around this choice.  This post contains the email titled 'Vegetarian Showdown' that he sent his friends at the very beginning, asking them to give him some justification for meat eating that he could agree with.  Will they answer him?  Will he become vegetarian 4 life?  Answers to follow in a few days.

I keep encountering people I respect who have made an ethical decision to be vegetarian or vegan. These include old friends, like Mal and Nicola, and new people I have come to respect very quickly, like Bridget Sprouls, and people on the internet, like Steve Pavlina ( stevepavlina.com) and Tynan (betterthanyourboyfriend.com). When I was in Peru a couple of months ago, I ate a local Peruvian delicacy, a roasted guinea pig. I mentioned that to a vegetarian friend and she was shocked. It occurred to me that that was a pretty reasonable reaction. I didn't need to eat a guinea pig. It's more fun for me to watch a guinea pig run around and see how cute it is than to eat it, and I expect that the guinea pig would have felt the same way. I'm kind of a bad person.

That was twenty-four days ago. It occurred to me that the burden of proof that eating meat is ok is on the meat-eaters, and I don't have that proof. I stopped eating meat, pending an actual really consistent moral justification. And I want that justification, I want it very badly, because animals are delicious. Meat-eaters, this email is an appeal to you to please change my mind. Vegetarians, this is an invitation to check my reasoning and clear up some moral gray areas described later.

In sixteenth-century Paris, a popular form of entertainment was cat-burning, in which a cat was hoisted in a sling on a stage and slowly lowered into a fire. According to historian Norman Davies, "[T]he spectators, including kings and queens, shrieked with laughter as the animals, howling with pain, were singed, roasted, and finally carbonized." - http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/pinker07/pinker07_index.html

Today, we properly recognize that cat-burning is totally f*cked up. It's really bad for the cat, and it provides only a mild benefit (sadistic pleasure) to humans. The difference between cat-burning, which almost everyone would say is immoral, and eating animals, which society is generally ok with, is not very clear. The benefit to humans in eating meat - the pleasure of tasting meat - is trivial and replacable, not significantly more noble (as I see it) than the benefit in watching a cat burn.

As for the harm to the animal, battery farming is probably a worse harm than live roasting. But even if we had an ideal animal life - a happy cow grazing in pastures and humping its cow girlfriend - do we really have the right to interrupt all that and kill it for meat? It's not clear to me that we do have that right. It's not especially clear that we *don't* have that right, but given that all that's at stake here is the deliciousness of steak, I have to concede that, absent a clear moral go-ahead, I ought to become vegetarian, pending a real decision.

I suspect that that's where I'll be for the rest of my life - an interim vegetarian, waiting to figure out whether cows's lives are human property. If someone could tip me one way or the other, I'd appreciate it.

I still have questions about gray areas: very stupid animals; and veganism. I hope that someone who has thought about it more, or just has a different perspective, can offer some ideas.

Suppose we assume that it's wrong to eat cows and chickens, because they have lives that are important to them, they feel pain, and they're reasonably smart. They differ from, for example, broccoli, in those ways. What about *really* dumb animals? I think there might be a useful moral line to be drawn between cow-level animals, and animals that are about as robotic as bacteria - little mindless robots. I'm unconcerned by the death of a mosquito. Mosquitoes have no friends and maybe are not really aware they're alive. What about fish? Their behavior is somewhat robotic. Computers can model fish behavior very convincingly. Shrimps are just big, delicious mosquitoes, right? So it's ok to kill shrimps? We might care about collateral damage from some fishing methods (like catching dolphins in nets) but shrimps are farmed. For the moment, I'm not eating shrimps, but that's very precautionary.

The next question is veganism: assuming I don't have the right to take a cow's life, can I take its milk? One might say that it is right to let a cow run free in its natural environment, but thousands of years of selective breeding have changed domestic cows into creatures that *need* to be milked, otherwise they get uncomfortable (if I have my facts right). A farm is their new natural environment. And sheep get too hot in summer if they don't get their wool shaved off. And chickens are going to lay unfertilized eggs anyway, whether we eat them or not, so we might as well eat them. I don't see much of an ethical obligation to be a vegan, but I'm willing to be convinced.

One final thing: the problem is that killing animals might be wrong, not that eating animals is wrong. As I see it, once an animal is dead, you might as well eat it. If I were economically illiterate, it would be easy to say that I'll just only buy the meat of already-dead animals, but it's obvious that creating demand for meat kills animals, so I can't do that. The exception is that if there's meat that would go to waste, like it's leftover from some heartless meat-eater's meal, then I could eat that. Or if - as happened a couple of weeks ago - a meat-eater bought food for me, not knowing I was now a vegetarian, then it would be fine to eat that rather than throw it away. Does anyone disagree, finding that not only is killing animals wrong, but also eating meat is wrong in itself?

What I Ate - 11 February 2010

Today I ate:

2 pieces of toast with peanut butter, another 1 with Marmite.
1 trim latte.
Small handful of chilli and lime cashew nuts.
2 pieces of Vogels toast with Marmite, avocado and tomato.
1 fruit yoghurt.
1 Gala apple.
1 mini Moro bar.
Baked potato with black bean chilli, cheese, carrot, capsicum, spring onions, coriander and sour cream.
Bowl of vanilla ice-cream.

So today's food is a bit repetitive.  All I have to say about that is...I really like peanut butter.  And the baked potatoes are that good.

Energy wise, I am feeling really, really good.  Full of beans. 

Tomorrow we are going to our friends' house for dinner and then off to the Phoenix game.  I'm told that they have a spot in the semi-finals and if they win tomorrow's game there might be a semi-final here in Wellington, exciting!

What I Ate - 10 February 2010

Today I ate:

2 pieces of Vogels toast, 1 with Marmite.
1 trim latte.
Small handful of chilli and lime cashew nuts.
Leftover barley risotto from the previous day.
1 fruit yoghurt.
Afternoon tea - assortment of pink lamington, potato chips, melon, rice crackers and feta dip, scone with cream and jam.
2 pieces of Vogels toast with Marmite, avocado and tomato.
Watermelon.

Yesterday there was an afternoon tea at work for a colleague who is getting married next weekend.  I was a little bit worried because I knew there would be sausage rolls.  I really love sausage rolls and it was rough having to see other people eat them, and smell them too.   So I consoled myself with lamingtons and scones.

Last night was quite busy.  I have started a drawing course that goes for two hours on Wednesday nights, and I only had about 45 minutes by the time I arrived home to get changed, have something to eat and then head off to the lesson.  Hence avocado toast.

What I Ate - 9 February 2010

Phil has a cold!  I'm worried that this could be because we are a bit run down?  It's hard to tell.  He isn't too unwell, but it's definitely not fun being sick.

Yesterday I ate:

3 pieces of Vogel toast, 2 with peanut butter, one with Marmite.
1 trim latte.
Chocolate brownie.
1 Gala apple.
Baked potato leftover from the previous night.
1 mango and passionfruit yoghurt.
2 glasses of riesling.
Barley and haricot bean risotto with a rocket, avocado and sunflower seed salad.
Crepes with blueberries, raspberries and vanilla bean ice-cream.

What with Phil being sick and me feeling quite tired I have been getting a bit paranoid about our iron intake.  So I decided to soak some haricot beans, as according to the internet they are high in iron.

My friend Reuben came over for dinner to discuss plans for a possible vegetarian feast.  Reuben is vegetarian himself and a very good cook.  More on the feast to come.

Beetroot and Feta Tart

This recipe is based on a tart that my aunt made for a lunch a few weeks ago.  She used puff pastry but I decided to make this with filo, as I like how light it is.  I have a feeling that it would be very suitable for a picnic.

 

Beetroot and Feta Tart

Ingredients

2 small onions, halved and sliced.

1 Tbsp butter. 

1/4 cup of white wine (or water).  

2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar.

3-4 beetroot.

8 sheets of filo pastry.

200 grams feta cheese.

Olive oil.

Handful of rocket.

Method

Melt the butter in a frying pan and add the onions.  

 

Fry over a low heat in order to caramelize.  This should take about 30 minutes.  Stir them occasionally to make sure that they don't burn.  You want them to slowly turn a light brown colour.  After about 20 minutes, add the wine or water.  Fry for another 10 minutes, then add the balsamic vinegar (that is, add it once they have been frying for 30 minutes total).

Meanwhile, cook the beetroot by chopping them into large chunks and boiling them in water in a medium saucepan.  It is easier to take the skins off once they have cooked but you could do it before you put them in the water if you prefer.  Test the beetroot by poking them with a fork.  They should be firm but not hard or crunchy when cooked.

While you are cooking the onions and the beetroot, get the filo pastry ready.  Line a dish with some baking paper, then start layering the sheets of filo.  Each sheet needs to be brushed with a little olive oil to make them stick together.  You can do this by drizzling say 1/2 teaspoon of oil over each sheet and then spreading it around with the back of the teaspoon.  

  

If there is a bit of overhang around the edges of the dish, fold them in neatly.

When the onions and beetroot are cooked, cool the beetroot in some cold water and peel off the skins (if you haven't already).  Chop them into say 2cm pieces.  

Layer the balsamic onions over the pastry, then add the beetroot.  Crumble the feta over the top.

 

Bake at 180 degrees celcius for 30 minutes, or until golden.  Scatter with rocket and serve.

What I Ate - 8 February 2010

Today I ate:

2 pieces of toast with peanut butter.
1 trim latte.
Chocolate brownie.
2 apples.
Leftover chana masala from yesterday with brown rice.
2 fruit yoghurts.
Small handful of cashew nuts.
Baked potato with black beans, cheese, avocado, spring onions and capsicum.
Whittaker's Dark Ghana.

So far I have been feeling quite good, better even than usual.  Today however, my energy really tanked.  It happened late this afternoon and I suddenly felt very tired.  I'm starting to wonder if I am running a bit low on iron. 

What I Ate - 7 February 2010

Today I ate:

1 piece of toast with peanut butter.
Quite a lot of chocolate brownie.
1 trim latte.
1 glass of orange juice.
Homemade potato wedges with sour cream.
Bread topped with balsamic onions and parmesan cheese.
Channa masala curry with Indian spiced potatoes and cauliflower.
2 glasses of pinot gris.
Oat fruit crumble made with nectarines, cherries, apple and rhubarb.

Phil makes really, really good home made potato wedges.  In fact, I think I might write a post about them.  One secret that I will give away is that Agria potatoes make the best wedges, crispy on the outside and fluffy in the middle.

We had some friends around for dinner and I made a curry that was quite good but probably a bit on the spicy side.  Still, it was pretty good and there was enough left over for us both to have little containers to take for our lunches tomorrow.

The Phoenix are currently 1 up against Gold Coast!  Got to go.

Today's haul

This morning I went to the markets.  This is what I got:

 

 Fruits of my labour (sort of)

I have been making an effort to get to the markets on Sunday mornings as I think that this would be much harder if we didn't have a good supply of fresh veges.  

Tonight I am going to attempt to make a chickpea curry called Channa Masala.  The chickpeas are currently simmering on the stove.  Cooking with dried pulses requires a bit of ahead planning as generally you need to soak them overnight, and then boil them for up to 2-3 hours.  

 

What I Ate - 6 February 2010

Today I ate:

1piece of toast with peanut butter.
Huevos rancheros, made by Phil.
1 trim latte.
1 glass of lovely orange juice from Moore Wilsons.
Corn chips with homemade guacamole and salsa.
1 chocolate gelato.
Baked potato with black beans, cheese, avocado, carrot, spring onions and sour cream.
2 glasses of pinot gris.
1 piece of chocolate brownie.

Phil is quite fond of bacon and eggs for weekend breakfasts.  I have heard anecdotally that bacon is something that a lot of vegetarians struggle to give up.  I got quite a surprise to hear that my friend Claire was a vegan for a year as a teenager, especially when she qualified it in the same breath as having been subject to a bacon sandwich every month.  So huevos rancheros is an attempt at a special weekend breakfast.  You make a spicy bean and tomato mixture, and then poach some eggs in it while it cooks.  Then you pile the eggs and beans into a tortilla with some cheese.  It's pretty filling, to the point that we didn't really have a proper lunch because we just didn't feel like it.

I also want to comment on the orange juice.  If you have never have it, I strongly recommend that you try it.  It is like drinking oranges.  This shouldn't be too remarkable, for orange juice, but too often it just tastes like pulpy bitterness and isn't all that pleasant.  This stuff is very fresh and sweet.  I often get it after yum char, as it is exactly the kind of astringency that you need after eating lots of heavy Chinese breakfast food.

As for dinner, yesterday I had a baked potato from Ka Pai, and as good as it was, I decided that it was probably something that I could do a better job of.  At the very least, I can pile them high with lots of yum ingredients.  So, tonight I decided to give it a go.  I scrubbed some agria potatoes and baked them in their skins in the oven.  Then we essentially made the bean recipe for huevos rancheros to stuff the potatoes with, and cobbled together some toppings based on what was left from last week's trip to the vege markets.  They were really good!  Something to make again.

I hope you are all enjoying the weather and haven't been too traumatized by sevens revelers.  So far the worst thing that has happened to me was three Willie Apiatas surrounding me and dancing like Chandler Bing while I showed a bouncer my ID.

What I Ate - 5 February 2010

Yesterday I ate:

2 poached eggs on marmite toast.
1 piece of peanut butter toast.
1 baked potato with mexican beans, cheese, capsicum, sour cream and avocado from Ka Pai (I had no idea they did baked potatoes but it was delicious).
1 apple.
1 berry yoghurt.
Quite a lot of white wine (mostly pinot gris but at least one glass of sauvignon)
Several crackers with feta and feijoa chutney.
Chips and dip.
Beetroot and feta filo tart with balsamic caramelized onions and rocket.

Mesclun salad with rockmelon, tomato, cucumber and feta.
Chocolate self saucing pudding with whipped cream.

Last night was out first real test.  We went to Phil's old flat for dinner and we were a bit nervous as they are all quite fond of roasts.  Phil didn't know how he would cope if there was pork crackling.  In the end though, one of the girls made a bacon and egg pie, and we didn't feel too tempted.  Pastry is pastry, but it is definitely not pork crackling.

What I Ate - 4 February 2010

Today I ate:

2 pieces of toast with peanut butter.
1 trim latte.
Butter bean, cherry tomato and olive salad from Wishbone.
Orange and passionfruit yoghurt.
1 gala apple.
Tofu and vegetables in a coconut chilli broth, served with vermicelli noodles.
Half a Coke Zero.

That's actually not a whole lot.  I'm searching my brain but I really can't think of anything else.  Of course, it there have been '1 Coke', or '1 coffee' if the hairdresser had offered me something.  The PA in my team gets biscuits at her hairdresser and sometimes jaffas.

Masterchef New Zealand

Last night I happened to watch a bit of the first episode of Masterchef New Zealand.  For the unfamiliar, it''s a reality show with a competition to find a 'masterchef' among a group of amateur cooks.  Yesterday they showed some of the initial weeding out process.  There were a few weirdos and lots of awkward tears, but something I found interesting involved one of a contestants, who was vegan.  Her name is Eva and she cooked a potato nest on carrot, lemon cumin puree with basil and cashew pesto and a tomato salad.  The recipe can be found here.

It impressed the judges enough for them to give her a spot in the top 24.  Not bad really, especially given the fact that they were a bit dubious about her dish to begin with.

I'm currently cooking dinner.  I like to multi task.

What I Ate - 3 February 2010

It's funny, having to reveal to the world what I have been eating has become quite a useful check on my generally quite unrestrained eating habits.  It has definitely made me think twice before running over to the dairy for a chocolate bar.  Then again, this whole month is a restraint on my eating habits so I suppose it shouldn't be too much of a shock to me.
Today I ate:

2 pieces of toast with peanut butter.
Small handful of blueberries.
1 trim latte.
Leftover moussaka from yesterday.
2 apples.
1 strawberry yoghurt.
1 beer.
Tomato and olive wholewheat penne pasta with parmesan and and a rocket salad made with roasted sunflower seeds, avocado, capsicum, cherry tomatoes and balsamic dressing. 
Quite a lot of watermelon.
Possibly some more fruit yoghurt and blueberries.

Phil made the pasta and it was delicious.  He is really good at making simple pasta.  He says that his secret is to cook the onions slowly for a long time, and to add tomato paste.  The wholewheat pasta is really good too, it has a lot more fibre than your usual white pasta and is pretty tasty.

Manifesto

In the interests of transparency, I would like to set out what I will and won't eat during the month of February.

I'm not going to eat any animal flesh.  So no meat or fish.  I will eat dairy and animal products that don't involve the death of the animal, such as eggs and honey.

I'm not going to bother with things like rennet and gelatine, even though these are actually animal derivatives.  The reason for this is mostly practical, I feel as though the restrictions I have already made make this a big enough challenge for me and to exclude something like animal rennet would make eating out quite difficult for me.

The real aim of this month is to significantly reduce my meat intake, which, by cutting out meat altogether I should be able to manage. 

What I Ate - 2 February 2010

Today I was humming along through my work day when suddenly, I started thinking about roast mutton, and how delicious it is.  Mmm sheep.

Today I ate:

2 pieces of toast with peanut butter.
1 trim latte.
1 dark chocolate Tim Tam (all I have to say about that was that it was on a plate, in the kitchen as I arrived at work.  Couldn't help myself unfortunately).
Leftover nachos from yesterday.
1 apple.
1 berry and cherry yoghurt.
1 chocolate chip sante biscuit, homemade.
Lentil moussaka and salad made with rocket, cucumber, fresh sweetcorn, orange capsicum, coriander and a balsamic dressing.
1 Coke Zero.
1 small handfull of blueberries.
1 nectarine.

The lentil moussaka was bloody good.  The first time I had moussaka was when my old flatmate Dana made it.  It is a Greek dish usually made with lamb mince, fried eggplant, and cheese.  The meat is spiced with cinnamon which makes it really special.  It's funny, you wouldn't think cinnamon would naturally pair with meat, it seems to be a better match with fruits like apples.  Overall though, it was lovely.  I have a few suggestions to make to the recipe (link provided above) however, these being to add a tin of tomatoes in with the lentil mix as well as some red wine.  One thing also to mention is that it is a reasonably complicated dish for a weeknight.  The lentils need to be cooked for half an hour and once the dish is assembled it is baked for another 40 minutes. 

What I Ate - 1 February 2010

One blog that I follow and quite like has a series of ongoing posts called 'What I Wore'.  So, in the spirit of this, I have decided to start a series called 'What I Ate'.

On Monday 1 February 2010 I ate:

2 pieces of toast, one with peanut butter, one with Marmite.
1 trim latte.
1.5 chocolate cherry cupcakes, homemade and brought into work by one of my colleagues.
1 nectarine.
1 slice of vegetarian flan, made by me with courgette, beetroot, carrot, onion, sunflower seeds and cheddar cheese.
1 gala apple.
1 homemade chocolate chip sante biscuit (recipe is in the Edmonds).
Nachos made with black bean chilli, guacamole, tomato salsa, plain yoghurt.

The nachos were especially good, so good in fact that I wonder if I will ever make them with mince again.

The Last Supper

Two days before beginning our month without meat, we decided that we would try our hand at cooking KFC chicken.

In case you weren't aware, the recipe was leaked some time ago. We used this recipe from the Guardian. Saturday was the most lovely hot hot day, the kind of day that you need to remember for when it is winter and you are sitting in your flatting wondering if it will ever be warm again. We rounded up some friends and went over to Phil's parent's house, where they unbelievably have an in-built deep fryer in their kitchen. We are always quick to point out that 'it was there when they moved in,' in the hope that it makes us sound less gluttonous. Because, if your Saturday night involves deep frying 4kgs of chicken, you kind of are a piggy.

The recipe involves poaching the meat in buttermilk first, then coating it in a batter made with the 11 herbs and spices (one of which is MSG), then coating it in more buttermilk and double dipping. Finally, you fry it.

Below is the finished product. Excellent photo courtesy of my friend Jarrod.

 

It was pretty special.  I was amazed at how filling it was.  I could barely manage two pieces and I was ravenous to begin with.  Perhaps it was the MSG?  Which, by the way, they sell by the half kilo at Moore Wilson's.  I should know. 

D-Day

So today is the beginning of one month without meat.

I have been quite nervous in the lead up to this, wondering how I will manage this in a practical sense. What has made me the most nervous has been lunch.

A lot of what I have for lunch involves animal in some way - sushi, sandwiches, that sort of thing. I think I'm going to have to be quite prepared in order to manage this. Thankfully there are things like blue cheese and pumpkin risotto from Wishbone, falafel kebabs, and mushroom, basil and mozzarella bagels. Those are what I have managed to scout out in the weeks leading up to this.

What do you suggest?

Vege Market

In Wellington there are several weekend farmers' markets. The one that I usually go to is held on Sunday mornings by Waitangi Park, near the waterfront. Market gardeners have stalls alongside a French baker, a pizza chef and a Cantonese food vendor among several others. It is really busy and I almost always see people I know. It's funny, when I was a student the vege markets were the place to go to get cheap produce but they have become a lot more gentrified recently. They seem to be just as much a fun weekend activity or event as they are a way of getting your groceries.

This is the haul I managed to carry home on Sunday. I suppose that once we get into the swing of vegetarian eating they will become a really important part of our weekend routine.

Food miles and why they're crap

Several days ago I tried to convince my boyfriend, who studied economics at university, that he should write some blog posts on food and economics. Specifically, I suggested food miles, which I think is a pretty misleading concept. The conversation went something like this.

'I don't want to,' said he. 'Why?' said I.

'Because it's so obvious to me that transport makes up such a small part of the cost of producing food,' he replied.

But not obvious to that many people, evidently.

When you live literally at the ends of the earth, an awful lot of the stuff that you consume is very likely to have been imported. In particular, non-meat sources of protein such as kidney beans just aren't that widely produced in New Zealand. So, if you were to take food miles seriously, it could present a practical dilemma for your average thoughtful vegetarian. As a colleague of mine put it, it's a bit ironic to substitute Taranaki produced beef for Indian grown lentils.

Except, it's not. My boyfriend is dead right when he says that transport makes up a very small amount of the total cost of producing food. International research has shown that 80% of the carbon costs of food production are incurred before the food even gets to the farm gate. Think about it. What goes into producing a kilo of beef? The average cow gets through an awful lot of food. Then there is all the things that go into producing that food, such as fertilizer, water, machinery and associated fuel. It's a bit of a cycle.

Then there are the moral implications of taking food miles too seriously. As someone in an exporting nation, it's a bit rich to pass up on similarly exported good. Especially something that comes from a developing nation, that might not have the sort of internal markets to sustain an industry. I doubt that the demand for coffee in Kenya could ever meet its own supply, but it does other, less coffee laden countries a huge favour when it exports to them.

A lot of this comes down to the concept of comparative advantage. If it's that much more efficient to produce something over the other side of the world, then the other side of the world should probably keep doing what they're doing. A crazy example of this is the fact that Londoners choosing between British or New Zealand produced lamb are much better off choosing the Kiwi stuff, as it is four times more energy efficient than the local equivalent, even taking into account the large distance it has traveled. This difference is mostly allowing to the clover-rich pasture in New Zealand that allows beef farmers to use much less grain feed than their British counterparts.

How can you tell if imported food is efficient? Well, the price for a start. If Chilean grapes aren't prohibitively expensive, then the cost of carbon and whatnot probably isn't off the scale. After all, would a producer keep supplying something if it was really expensive to make? Things like fuel and fertilizer cost an awful lot, and if it's cheaper to grow things where the soil doesn't require as much chemicals, then this could off-set any extra shipping.

But really, the real kicker as some have argued, is the method of transport used to get your groceries from the supermarket to your own kitchen. Flying several ton of bananas into Auckland is efficient; driving to the dairy to pick up a loaf of bread is not.

Although it's a simple way of measuring the environmental cost of food production, it is by no means a complete one. I for one will be eating my kidney beans with a clear conscience.

Reactions to our food experiment

Phil's dad: What will we have for dinner on Sunday? A whole month of Sundays and just vegetables?

Phil's mum: One of Sharon's friends has a vegetarian girl staying at her house and she thinks that it's going to cost her a whole lot more at the supermarket now. So it will probably be very expensive.

Phil's brother: You know you probably won't lose any weight, in fact, you will probably just put on weight because you'll eat heaps of cheese.

My friend Traci's mum: If you can give up meat for a month then I can give up wine gums for a month.

Alana: Why?

Jarrod: That's really good. I used to be a vegetarian because I thought it was immoral to eat meat. But then I decided to just be immoral and eat meat.

Alex: You know you're not going to want to eat meat after this.

Baby Lily: I prefer breast milk. Jarrod: I prefer a flan.

Interview - A Real Live One

Nimish Gautam is a friend of mine from my days in a first year university hostel. Being the token American exchange student, he would often get a bit overwhelmed at the possibilities of being in a country where the drinking age was 18 and absinthe was easy to get hold of. We would often wake up on Sunday mornings to several incomprehensible text messages and voicemails from a very drunk Nimish, who, having attempted to walk home from one bar or another, had got himself lost and ended up sleeping at the waterfront. He is one of the funniest people I have ever met.

Once upon a time, many eons ago when I was a wee little Nimish (so maybe when I was 13 or so), I realized animals were cute and furry. I thought they were so cute and furry that I shouldn't eat them, because that would cause so much pain and suffering on the cute furry creatures. So I abstained from eating meat. Also, it helped that my mom was a vegetarian, so the only real meat I'd ever had was school cafeteria meat. Most would argue that means I've never actually eaten meat in my life.

Anyways, the transition was pretty easy. Later, as I grew up, I revisited my original rationale. I thought about it and realized that if I were on a desert island and there was a squirrel and me, and that squirrel was 30x my size, he'd probably not think I was so cute and furry. He'd probably eat me. I decided then and there that if it ever came down to me and a squirrel in a life-or-death situation, that squirrel is going down. Strangely enough, for this reason I genuinely respect people who hunt their own food. I feel like that's honorable, and because it's so much effort, it discourages you from wastefully or needlessly hunting things. Besides, we have the ability to process meat, so why not use it, right?

Thing is, I don't have that ability so much anymore. The same way people become lactose intolerant after staying away from dairy for too long, your body can become 'heavy meat' intolerant. A few years back I accidentally had a bite of ham, and the results weren't pretty. I don't really have motive to go back because I get my protein and iron from the rest of my diet.

Honestly though, I haven't totally precluded meat from my diet. For instance, a few years back I realized I've never had shrimp. What if it turns out shrimp is like this amazing delicious wonderful food that people spend years perfecting and dedicating their lives to, and I missed out on it because 13-year-old me mistakenly thought it was cute and furry? (Apparently, *good* shrimp isn't cute *or* furry) So I tried it. Didn't like it. But now I know. Same with other random 'exotic' foods when they're presented. If I'm genuinely curious, I'll go for it, but I really haven't found anything I like much, except sushi on occasion. So I guess I'm a vegetarian with a little star(fish) disclaimer =)

What are people's reactions like when you tell them about your dietary restrictions?


Well, if they don't know any better, they think I'm being snooty or just too picky, like I'm saying "oh, I only eat food grown on the northern part of the field in the shade of fresh mango trees picked at midnight" Sometimes they think I just won't notice. When I put it more in terms of a food allergy or lactose intolerance, they get the picture and are more understanding.


How easy or difficult is it for you when you eat out?


It's really strange, I've gotten used to going to restaurants and looking for the 1 or 2 vegetarian options and choosing from that. Usually they can make certain dishes without the meat, especially in Mexican restaurants where beans can be substituted for beef in most foods.

When I go to vegetarian restaurants, it actually takes me much longer to figure out what I want b/c I'm not used to the choice. It's a little weird, but enh, I've gotten used to it.


Would you or have you ever actively encouraged others to adopt your dietary restrictions? Why or why not?


Only if the person seems to have unhealthy eating habits to begin with. All of our bodies are different, and what works for me probably won't work for other people. If you're taking care of yourself, feel good and healthy, stick with what you're doing. If not, maybe watch what you put in there and see if that makes it better.


What is your favourite food?


Mostly, I like Italian food, like pizza and pasta, especially covered in cheese!

Excellent!

I have a follower! And a comment!

Thanks Traci!

Background

I love meat. So does my family. I grew up in a tiny town in the central North Island of New Zealand. When I mention rural New Zealand, what immediately springs to mind? SHEEP.

Yes, sheep. One of my most annoying memories of childhood is of this woman at a Palmerston North inter-school debating tournaments asking my team-mates and me if we had had to get up really early in order to milk the cows before coming to the competition. As if you could farm cows up there. Cows need flat land, not hill country. This is why most of the farmers in the district run sheep on their land.

Although I grew up on a section in the township, my childhood was still pretty rural. My father killed virtually all the meat that we ate. He is the only person I know who takes annual leave from his real job in order to go and spend a few weeks doing hard physical labour at his friends' farms. As a result of this, we had a never-ending supply of mutton and hogget.

It was only when I left home to go to university that I started to realise that it's not typical to come home from school to see several sheep carcases strung up in the garage dripping blood all over the concrete. Or to walk into the kitchen and find my dad butchering half a mutton into chops and roasts with a saw. Meals were roast mutton on a Monday, stewed mutton in the crockpot on Tuesday, homemade mutton sausages with sage and garlic from Dad's garden on Wednesdays. Fish and chips on Sundays when it was Dad's turn to cook. I can't remember what we had on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, but you can be sure that it wasn't meat free.

So, meat played a certain role in my childhood and will probably always be quite nostalgic for me. I don't want to exaggerate, but it's hard to imagine a life without it. I'm not even sure if I will tell my parents about my experiment. I don't fancy their reaction if I ever became a proper vegetarian. That would be even more awkward than the Christmas they announced they were going to the cemetery to pick out a burial plot. At least I won't be offended if the rest of my family doesn't want to join in.

Throwing down the gauntlet

Today in the kitchen at work I had a chat to a colleague, Alex, who I am hoping will let me interview him for this blog. He was at one point a vegetarian because his girlfriend was one too. I think it was a somewhat reluctant choice because every so often he would sneak off for a steak or something. Bad vege.

Anyway, when I told him about my plan to go vego for a month, he told me that if I make it without cheating, it would be very unlikely for me to go back, and that from hence-forth I would find meat 'yuck'.

Even though it's pretty hard for me to imagine myself really repulsed by meat, it has made me a bit scared. How would I manage eating out? Would my parents still talk to me? The latter might seem like a bit of an exaggeration, but wait until you hear a bit about my background.

Introduction

My name is Evealyn O'Connor and one of my new year's resolutions is to abstain from eating meat for one month. I am going to do this during February 2010.

Like many over-educated soft urban dwellers, my personal health and the environment are two things that I think about quite a lot. I grant you it does seem like a strange combination, but certain things about my lifestyle make it not so unlikely. My job at a certain large government department involves sitting in front of a computer for approximately eight hours a day, five days a week. Hardly a natural state. Every day when I go to find lunch, or sort something out for my dinner, I have to think seriously about things like fat and cholesterol. How disappointing to have to prioritise these over exciting things like blue cheese or bacon.

At the same time, I have found myself considering the impact of my consumption on the environment. Originally this was mostly because, well, what university student doesn't feel compelled to save the world at some point? It's as much a rite of passage as lining up for dodgy bars and drinking flaming shots of liquor. Take my sister, a second year student at Victoria, who, when we buy a juice while out shopping, will take our empty glasses home with her to ensure that they are put out for recycling. God forbid they should end up in an ordinary rubbish bin! However, as I get older and hopefully wiser, I find it hard to deny the call to reduce and conserve. On a recent trip to China, I was shocked at the general dirtiness and rubbish that seemed to be everywhere. One hostel we stayed at in Shanghai shared an alleyway with a restaurant, whose bin (if you could call it that) would be literally overflowing with festering, rotting food scraps. I began to really miss trees and green spaces, which were very few and far between.

So, it seems that meat might be something of a culprit in terms of both of these evils. Meat is a convenient source of protein, but it often has a lot of fat, and in particular saturated fat. It's suggested that there is a link between red meat consumption and illnesses such as heart disease and cancer, although this probably hasn't been proved conclusively. The environmental impact is very serious. The production of meat accounts for 18% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, even more so than transport. I find that really shocking, given the amount of people in the world driving cars and boarding aeroplanes every day. Even the UN has suggested reducing meat consumption as a realistic way of combating global warming.

I have flirted with the idea of going vege on and off for some time. Every so often I will announce that I am definitely going to reduce my meat intake and get into beans in a big way. The problem is though, that I bloody love meat. I can't deny that it is delicious. Lots of other people like it too.

But even I'm not silly enough to pretend that my one month sabbatical is anything special. In fact, it is pretty ridiculous. And insignificant. But you know what? Its something that I can realistically do, and so I'm going to do it.

Over the next wee while I am going to post a variety of things. I have plans to put up recipes, interviews with actual (not pretend like me) meat abstainers, and essays on meat and environmental related issues. At the very least, it will reduce my own meat intake, and perhaps even distract me from watching documentaries about David Hasselhoff on Sunday afternoons.