Placing vegetarianism on the chopping block...
I get railed all the time for being a vegetarian. Most people simply don't understand the concepts, don't value my opinion on the matter, or think I'm somehow doing permanently irreversible harm to my body. While different people have varying reasons for being a vegetarian, mine are rooted in health concerns. Nearly 8 years ago, I lived with a vegetarian host in California while doing an internship. During this period of time, I was introduced to a vegetarian lifestyle, and tried it out by choice. I still ate meat every once in a while, but at this point in my life I was eating mostly chicken and very rarely anything else.
Now upon coming home from the internship, I started eating meat again, and got pretty sick. Really sick. After a trip to the doctors I found it might take anywhere from a couple of weeks to a couple of months in order to get used to eating meat again. That was the time nearly 8 years ago when I determined that meat might be on the chopping block for me, since I had a very promising year of cross country ahead of me that I didn't want to risk with an illness.
So it turns out my reasons aren't rooted to the fact that I don't like meat, I don't care about the animals at all, I just get sick when I eat meat. After 8 years the problem only gets worse, since your body stops producing various enzymes needed to break down meat proteins and you tend to get some nasty gastric disorders that need treatment until your body starts creating the enzymes again.
So I'm a hack vegetarian I guess, since I'm supposedly doing it for the wrong reasons. After all, I could just bit the bullet, be sick for a couple of weeks and be right back on the lean ground chuck wagon. So I'm doing a test. Irregardless of how sick I get from eating a series of meat products, I'm going to test them to see how much enjoyment I get from the experience. I'm choosing 5 things that I liked most or have craved in the past 8 years. If I like any of them, I'll continue to eat them, and build the tolerance again for meat. This test is to appease both myself, since I've often had to battle off meat cravings for a good piece of steak or a pepperoni pizza. However, it is also to shut up those friends out there that diligently peg me about why I eat vegetarian versions of meat products, rather than just experience the meat product itself. My point to them is always that the food is good in it's own right, and of course it doesn't taste like it's meat counterpart, because that isn't the goal of these products. They are around to provide a meat alternative that tastes good, not necessarily a meat alternative that mimics the taste of meat.
So here are the five things:
1. Chicken Tenders - Boy did I love Chicken Tenders.
2. Campbells Chunky Soup, Sirloin burger and vegetables - This was my all time favorite soup.
3. Pepperoni Pizza - I've since tried pepperoni pizza in small quantities and don't know why I still have cravings for it. But I'll choke down a whole piece this time.
4. Honey Turkey on White - I used to love certain packaged meats. Honey Turkey and Honey Chicken were probably the favorites.
5. Beef - I'm trying some beef kabobs. Not the long stringy beef, but the nice cubes.
Here are some things I might still try even after the 5 are done:
1. Buffalo wings - I never liked these, but I'll give them a try the next time they get ordered somewhere.
2. Steak-Ums - Don't ask.
3. Chicken Chalupa - For about a year or so in my third year of being a vegetarian, I every once in a while still ate a chicken chalupa. Good stuff.
As soon as I've marked off the required eatings, I'll let you know how it goes with a follow-up. I'm wary of comments, especially from my assinine friends, but if you have anything to add then I'd love to hear from you.