You are probably surprised at the post title if the blog name "The Sneaky Veg" is what drew you in. Before you click backspace or try to turn me over to PETA as a charlatan, let me explain the purpose of this blog. I am not an actual vegetarian, or at least not full-time. Normally, I am probably about 80-85% vegetarian by chance alone, meaning because of my food preferences. For the month of January (starting on the 2nd) I decided to try a 30 day vegetarian challenge in which I would go completely vegetarian until the last day of the month and assess how I feel at that point. I thought it would be more of a challenge, but actually it hasn't been that hard.You see, it all started back in 7th grade science class when my Life Science teacher thought kids needed to know more about salmonella, e coli, trichinosis, and other assorted bacteria found in our food supply. Without going into all the gory details, I had zero desire to eat the grilled chicken my mom had cooked that night for dinner and I made up my mind to become a vegetarian. Unfortunately, that only lasted all of 15 minutes as I argued with my mom and she threatened to call my science teacher at home (nothing is more mortifying to a 12 year old than the thought of parents calling teachers). We compromised, meaning I ate the stupid chicken while saying, "I hope all the bacteria on this are dead so we don't all die" and my declaration to be vegetarian ended as quickly as it had begun.
As an adult making my own choices, I found I finally had control over what I consumed. Initially though I didn't "know how to cook". In all actuality, I had no drive to be domestic and had a crazy work schedule that helped me rationalize why I avoided cooking for myself. "It's cheaper to eat out." "It takes too much time." "I hate leftovers and it's just me." Up until recently, there weren't many good tasting options out there for vegetarians either. I flirted with it by trying soy cheese and eating lots of salad, but ugh, it was so boring and didn't taste good.
Upon entering into a relationship with a total foodie who has a very adventurous palate, I realized I was probably going to have to suck it up and learn how to cook. I started with childhood classics like spaghetti, meatloaf, pot roast, chicken. I typically avoided making anything pork just because pigs gross me out, but for him I have been known to fix the occasional pork chop and bacon. I also ended up working at a couple of different schools with culinary programs. Now, as an artist I find it difficult to be around fellow creatives and not be inspired. Couple that with the realization that it helps to know what you are talking about when trying to convince people they need to complete a culinary program to get to where they want to be in their career and the creative juices started flowing freely like wine at an Italian family's dinner table.
I took my cooking to a whole new level thanks to the students and chef instructors I had the opportunity to connect with. Ideas were exchanged along with tips and recipes. And I made a discovery: Not only do I enjoy cooking, but I am skilled at it as well. Hooray! The only problem is, I am still grossed out by meat so I would intentionally choose to make dishes that were primarily vegetarian, knowing that my significant other could get his meat on during lunch and when we would go out to eat. Then I got the bright idea to start looking into using substitutes in meaty dishes to see if it was obvious to the diner that there was no meat or if it "ruined" the integrity of the original dish. My boyfriend and his brother were unknowing but willing guinea pigs for this experiment and The Sneaky Veg emerged. I sneakily made the spaghetti sauce with "ground beef", "chicken" korma, "italian sausage" and pasta, "beef" tibs in some sort of African sauce I found at Cost Plus, and, well, you get the general idea.
I discovered the joy of Qorn Chik'n Patties, Gardein "chicken", Smart Ground "beef", and most recently Tofurky slices (which are awesome by the way). Because I have a weird dairy allergy sensitivity break out in hives thing going on with my body, I gradually switched out our milk to Almond milk, the yogurt to soy and almond yogurts, found Tofutti's Better Than Cream Cheese (which lives up to its name), and tried Daiya Shreds. It is amazing how many good vegetarian meat and dairy substitutes there are out on the market right now. Being veg has come a long way in the past 5 years and it is good to know I can find tasty alternatives. Still haven't found a good fake bacon, or facon as I like to call it, but I am not feeling deprived. Also, because I limit my interaction with dairy products (I still use real butter and some real cheese), I haven't had an intense hives spreading down my torso and legs situation in a while.
I started to play around with straight up vegetarian and vegan recipes and was pleasantly surprised to discover some truly awesome food I could make at home. Better yet, the ingredients have become more accessible so tracking down things like tempeh, seitan, exotic spices (meaning not oregano), broccoli rabe, chard, et cetera were no longer impossible. You don't have to live in LA or New York to live this lifestyle anymore, which is good because the pollution in LA would kill me no matter how healthy I eat. Don't get me wrong, I still can't find all of my ingredients in one grocery store so I do have to plan my shopping accordingly, but I find that is getting increasingly easier and I suspect that within the next 2 years I won't have to rely on overpaying at the Whole Foods Market to get something like brown rice syrup. Along the way I have discovered some fantastic resources to help me keep my kitchen mostly veg. Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison was a good investment. The cookbook is huge and was more than I would typically spend on a specialty cookbook, but it was worth it. My all-time go-to cookbooks for vegetarian/vegan cooking though are the ones by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. These ladies started out with Vegan With a Vengeance and now have eight books between them, 5 of which I own and use on a regular basis.
Over the past year, in my continuing flirtation with vegetarian food, I have read numerous books and watched the popular documentaries like Forks Over Knives, Food Inc., and the episode of 30 Days where a meat loving hunter lived with an animal rights activist family for 30 days. If he can go veg for 30 days, anyone can. Seriously, if you haven't seen that series you should Netflix it. All the episodes were very interesting. Anyway, I have taken into account all the information, weighed the options, rolled my eyes at the celebrities touting this lifestyle and "authoring" books with recipes they like (must be nice to have a nutritionist and a personal chef), and have decided to give this lifestyle a fair shot finally.
I am not one of those people who are trying vegetarian because animals have feelings too. No, I would not eat my cats or my mom's dog, but I would like a steak from the cow in the neighbor's pasture. I know they have feelings. I know they are cute. I know we have sold animals way short on their ability to process information, bond emotionally, and their intelligence levels. I get it. I love animals too. But that aside, there are some that taste pretty damn good. Wait! Don't leave. Here's where I justify my choice. I have struggled for years with the thoughts that I am potentially consuming poison. Bacteria aside, there is a whole new crop (pun intended) of issues with the modern food supply including antibiotics, hormones, unsanitary conditions in processing facilities, and disease. So while I would not venture to eat my pets, I also hesitate to venture eating that pumped full of antibiotics cow that has been standing knee deep in his own feces for his whole life either. I also don't want to eat cannibal chickens who have been also given antibiotics and because of the close living quarters, when one gets trampled the others feed off it. And pigs! Not even going to go there. You get the idea.
My issue with the meat supply has nothing to do with emotions, it's logic. Logically, I want my body to be equipped to fend off diseases and viruses and as it stands right now, our medicines are not even able to kick out some of the bugs going around because we have overly consumed the very things designed to fight them. That's why I am writing this blog and that's why I am on day 20 of straight vegetarianism. Oh, and I am not consuming eggs (gross and they come from cannibal chickens) or fish (poor fishies have been over "farmed" at this point and swim in contaminated water) during this time. So far, this is working. I am not sure if I will be 100% veg 100% of the time when the 30 days is up, but my 85% is going to go up to at least 98% because of personal preference and choice.
Also, as a somewhat spiritual/pseudo-hippie/yoga person I can't help but contemplate that when I eat animals that have been stressed out in poor living conditions and died under great terror, that I am partaking of that energy and entwining that energy with my own. I am already stressed enough. I don't need the added stress of Bessie's last moment on earth getting electrocuted to death right after her calf was dragged away added in. We already have so many energy suckers and negativity to contend with in our lives to overcome on a daily basis. Life is short and I want to do what I can to be as happy as possible while it lasts. If there is anything I have learned over the past couple years in couplehood it's that I want to enjoy my time here with the people I love and care about and who contribute to my well-being. If choosing Brussels sprouts over a chicken breast helps me extend that time and helps me stress less, then so be it.
I am not trying to convert, just explain my choice. Hopefully I can help others find ways to incorporate more non-meat items into their diets. In the meantime, I will continue to find clever ways to sneak vegetarian food on the table that is so yummy the people consuming it don't feel like they are missing out on anything (hence "the sneaky veg", get it?). I want to share my resources and what I learn along the way and in exchange get ideas from others, like if you have a great facon product you've tried let me know. I plan to share what I have used and what I have made so that if anyone else is teetering on the edge of vegetarianism, they can know they aren't alone. And in case you're wondering, yes, I get plenty of protein in my diet.
Namaste!
No comments:
Post a Comment