Sunday 25 August 2013

Sunday Sundries: I have not eaten meat for 18 months so let's discuss that

It's Sunday AGAIN?
Not that I have anything against Sundays, of course, but they do seem to come up awfully frequently. *Regards Sunday with some suspicion*.

Anyway! I was going to skip Sunday Sundries (I always want to call it SS but then I'm like 'NO! Nazis. Bad.) this week since I've been updating things every day on this post right here, and, you know, that's pretty much my week neatly laid out in little paragraphs and page counts. I was also going to skip it because, you know, LAZY, but but but did you see in the title that it's kind of my not-eating-meat birthday and a half (which is a thing now, apparently) so I'll ramble about that for a bit and then let you be on your way.

Oh, ALSO, it's this dude's actual birthday. It's worth a mention.

Anyway! Meat. Or, rather, the lack thereof. Let's see... It's weird when you choose to do a certain thing (or, choose NOT to do a certain thing) and people have all these questions about it, which I do choose to take as interest rather than, you know, horror and aghastness (which I fear they actually are). The most common questions, though, are without a doubt: 1) Why don't you eat meat? Don't you like it? 2) Don't you miss meat? and 3) What do you eat?

Well, that seems as good a structure as any for a post! (See what I did there?) Why don't I eat meat? I mean, I feel like I've probably covered this enough already, but I'm always stumped for an answer when someone asks me in real life because what were those moral things again? Basically, I guess in the most simple terms, I don't really think that other beings should have to die so I can eat when there are plentiful sources of other foods and also meat is so gross. Like... Really really gross. Antibiotic abuse and standing in their own shit and never seeing daylight and just no. Nope. Can't.

And don't I like meat? I love it. I think it's delicious. But I also think there are things more important than tasty things (I know, whut?) and for me, personally, it's more important that I not be involved in, you know, killing animals and stuff than to have a really good burger. But I still willingly acknowledge that burgers taste good! I feel like other people feel like I judge them for eating meat, and I don't. At all. Just because I've made this choice doesn't mean that I look down on people for not having made it, but I sometimes feel like I am being judged for not eating meat, which is pretty weird.

Don't I miss meat? I don't. I really truly don't. I mean, sure, whenever I smell bacon cooking, all of my senses go into overdrive, but bacon smells way better than it tastes anyway, and nobody ever said anything about not being able to sniff meat. But really and truly, it's not like I spend my days fantasising about burgers and then sadly go and eat some falafels or something- I just don't even consider meat as a thing I eat. It's kind of on a mental list of foods I'm just not interested in, along with peppers and mushrooms and cauliflower. And this isn't the same thing as pretending that I don't like meat, it's just not a thing that I think about because I know that I don't want to eat it. If anything, that would be my number one tip to converting to vegetarianness- as long as you know you don't want to eat it, then you won't eat it. It's really that simple.

What do I eat?
Well, this is my favourite question because MY GOD I eat so many different foods now. Seriously, as long as there was meat, I was the least adventurous eater in the whole world. I would have been happy just with some chicken and noodles and beansprouts and, you know, not much flavour. But now? You have to do something to replace meat, and flavour is the answer. I can cook a lot more things than I ever used to be able to, and I like SO many more vegetables than I ever did (asparagus is probably my favourite. Asparagus makes all the burgers in the world irrelevant to me. And aubergine is reaaaaally meaty!) The answer to the question then, really, is (apart from cakeballs) so many more things than I used to eat, and all of them are doing better things for me than meat, I suspect.

Having said that, I'll never get used to asparagus pee. NEVER.

So basically, the update is this: It's all going well, I still don't miss meat and the smell of bacon cooking is still good. The thing I probably miss the most, actually, is jelly sweets, but when you think about all the crap that goes in them anyway... It's definitely a good thing that I don't eat them. I don't really have a definitive ending here because, I don't know, nothing's over, it's just getting started, but basically a meatless life? It's not as bad as you might think, and it's much easier than I ever thought it would be. Expect another update in about six months, I guess!

14 comments:

  1. I get weird questions like that too, because I don't eat beef or pork, which people automatically translate to "Why don't you eat meat?" And I have to say "I eat meat, idiot, just not those two specific kinds." and yeah, long-winded, weird discussions in which people are judgey-judgey.

    I also totally get your "it's just not a thing I eat" thing. Those things just aren't options anymore, and all of the sudden you have a whole crap ton of other options, and it's not even a real thing you think about a lot.

    Except for street vendor hot dogs. Holy crap I miss street vendor hot dogs.

    Anyways, congrats on your 1.5 year Anniversary of Meatlessness! :)


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    1. See, I WOULD say that their judginess comes from their uncomfortableness with thinking about where their meat comes from, but I would never say that because I'm not all judgemental like that. (but that's clearly the reason.)

      And, I know right? At first it is a bit like 'what AM I going to eat?' but after a while it's just like 'how can I incorporate asparagus into every meal?' It's awesome! (I have never ever ever liked hot dogs. I really only miss bacon, and I only actually miss it when someone is cooking it. So it's fine.)

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  2. I'm not officially meatless but I don't eat much of it. I don't like it, for the most part. It grosses me out.

    Isn't it fun having your choices questioned and dissected? Hooray! Ugh.

    Good for you, congrats!!

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    1. "Isn't it fun having your choices questioned and dissected? Hooray! Ugh." THIS could have just been my blog post!! It's just like 'leave me alooooone, I'm not making disgusted faces at your cow burger!' Mainly because burgers are delicious and I still understand that! But yeah. Le sigh.

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  3. Good for you and yes, people are so judgy when it comes to food choices. I am a meat eater and can't see that changing but I agree that vegetarian food is awesome and just as good as meat. We try to have non-meat meals at least three days of the week and I've learned loads of new recipes.

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    1. People are soooooooo judgy. It's annoying. And heyyyy, nice job having non-meat meals! I'll bet its saving you some money too, right? I think I've probably made a better transition than some people would because I really like making new things, so that's cool :)

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  4. "nobody ever said anything about not being able to sniff meat" And then I laughed and laughed

    I think a lot of the "you don't eat meat WHA" judgement comes from the presumed judgement from vegetarians on meat eaters. It's like I WILL JUDGE YOU BEFORE YOU JUDGE ME.

    How do you not do mushrooms though? Oh man, I could super go for a grilled portobello mushroom. Mmm I want to go to there.

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    1. Sniffing meat is most of the fun of it! I mean, not raw meat because OMG EW, but cooking meat does taste awesome and I don't deny it!

      I think you're probably right about the presumed judgement thing, but it's weird because most vegetarians probably used to eat meat which I feel makes us less able to judge? Or maybe it's like a 'reformed smokers are the worst' kind of thing. Except me! I'm always taken aback when someone comments on my not-eating meat because I never have anything to say about other people's food choices!

      Mushrooms are basically my nightmare food. Apart from peppers. Peppers are probably worse. Oh and nuts! Nuts are gross. *shudders*

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    2. You just keep listing delicious things. Peppers and mushrooms mmm. and do you dislike all nuts?

      I think it's just when people are like "Oh, you feel like things must DIE in order for you to eat? That's dark of you. Don't you have a heart?" Even when that's not actually said it's like if you've ever heard it from someone you start to think all vegetarians are going to say that. OBV they are not but I feel like that's where some of the "I'll judge you first" stuff comes from.

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  5. Congrats on your anniversary of non-meat-eating! I apparently went through months-long phases as a small child of being a vegetarian, but I do not remember those times. My Mom likes to keep talking about them, though.

    LIke Alley, I also snorted when I read your line about being able to sniff meat.

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    1. SNIFFING MEAT IS FINE! :)

      Awww, I think I basically solely ate meat as a child! Maybe I'm just doing this to make up for all the animals I've already eaten... You know, like a subconscious thing. But nice work being a fussy child eater hahaha!

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  6. Well done! That's brilliant! Fact is, everything you've said about antibiotic abuse, standing in their poo, never seeing daylight - people say, "Well eat free range, eat organic". I know stories about organic / free ranging farming that would turn your stomach. It's simply not good enough.

    As for all these reasons why you, me, anyone else who doesn't eat meat - I wish people would understand, the simplest reason of all, the one that trumps all reasons in my mind - that animal is alive - people should justify to us why they think it's reasonable to kill that animal when there are so many alternatives. That's why I don't eat meat, and it infuriates me that I (or you and anyone else) have to justify themselves. People should justify to their own self why they would do that and not drag me into it!

    (I'm quite heated about this one - it's been such a hard road for my ex battery chickens and we nearly lost one, and I was angry beyond reason).

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    1. I don't even want people to justify themselves to me, I just don't want to have to justify myself to them! I think it's a little bit ridiculous though that if I broached some of the reasons it's maaaybe not an amazing idea to eat meat, it'd just be like 'GOD stop preaching' but still I get 'OMG why don't you eat meat?!'

      It's kind of annoying, is what I'm saying.

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  7. Interesting to hear from someone who gave up meat as an adult. I've not eaten meat since I was 13, so basically as long as I can remember. And you're right that people do ask a lot of questions about it, but from genuine curiosity, in my experience. I haven't had anyone be weird or nasty about it since I was at school, and schoolkids are weird and nasty about everything, right?

    Actually I did have one GP who got sniffy about it and tried to convince me I was anaemic or lacking some other vital nutrient because of my diet but the blood tests proved her wrong. Ha!

    So yeah, basically my experience is that people are curious about each other's diet not judgey. But maybe I only talk to really nice people. It's safest that way.

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