Well... It's officially been three days since my random decision to be a vegetarian (for the month of April, anyway), and I must admit that it's much easier than I expected. Believe it or not, this once self-professed carnivore can actually see herself doing this long-term, although I can't say I will be perfect at it (I do, after all, have some of my-favorite-food-on-the-planet that made its annual journey from Iceland sitting in the freezer waiting for me to devour it. You may want to vomit right now, but I think it's pretty irresistible. Doing everything I can to hold myself back until May 1).
I've started reading all kinds of vegetarian know-how books, and I've been a lot more conscious of what I'm eating. The thought of eating meat catches me a bit off guard now, and buying eggs and drinking milk that are not labeled "hormone-free" or "free-range" just doesn't feel right anymore. These particular items are a little more costly than one on a normal coupon-binge would hope, but in light of this test, it is worth it to me now. And yes, it is in the name of compassion for animals. How non-ultra-conservative and uber-hippie of me (don't panic, Dad. I have not gone off the deep end).
I've learned a couple of things about cheese, my more acceptable other-favorite-food-on-the-planet, and that is that it is not always vegetarian. Apparently some cheese makers use rennet to coagulate the cheese, and it is not often clearly labeled for those of us who don't want to eat animal products. The good news is that some rennet is animal and some is not, and though it may be one or the other, sometimes it is not specified as one or the other. For instance, tonight we are going to our dear friends Jason and Jessica's house for a fondue night in celebration of their baby news, and the swiss fondue we are bringing has... drumroll please... RENNET in it. Despite this knowledge, I am going to feign ignorance and pretend like it is VEGETABLE RENNET and not the other kind.
I think you should pretend that too.
3 comments:
Amiga is a pleasure my access your blog. My congratulations for this wonderful their work. I am Brazilian, and love me communicate with people as wonderful as you of another country. May God abençoie you a hug from Manoel Limoeiro from Recife, PE. Brazil.
Australia, 03 April 2008.
I am in the same boat as you - learning that there is meat products in this and meat products in that. My latest discovery - white sugar is not vegetarian. Nor, for that matter, is honey.
On the bright side, however, for every meat-based item I no longer eat there is a new, vegetarian find to take it's place. This weekend, that find was soy ice cream (no diary). It wasn't as rich as dairy-based ice cream but, you know, it was really good. Good enough, in fact, that the husband liked it.
Cheers!
time for update number two.
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