Change can occur over time and sometimes you just wake up and the change is there waiting for you to notice it.
Last Friday, I began a new journey on the road to health and well being, I decided to give up eating red meat, pork and poultry and to become a pescetarian (a vegetarian who eats only fish/seafood) or more aptly put a post-meat consumer. Now seems as good of a time as any to make the transition seeing as my dietary habits have changed remarkably over the past year. I’ve gotten away from so many bad food choices and my palate has changed so much since then.
I’ve given up red meat and pork before. I gave up meat in the mid-90s after getting ill every time I ate it. I did fairly well only consuming poultry and fish for awhile. Eventually, an Italian hoagie called my name and I gave in to temptation. Seeing as I have spent almost a decade living with my vegetarian husband, I never got into the habit of overindulging in meat. Sure, I loved my steaks, bacon and whatnot… but it didn’t bother me one bit to brew up a delicious pot of vegetarian chili or to use veggie substitutes in lieu of meat in other dishes.
I’ve always been in an ethical conundrum when it comes to meat consumption. Its gotten harder and harder to balance my feelings about factory farming and animal cruelty versus my love of meat. I could justify it in perhaps if I could be guaranteed that any meat I consume was not born of mass produced horror and cruelty via the factory farming industrial complex. In this day and age, one cannot be guaranteed of this and many places that claim things like “free range” and “humane slaughter practices” are often guilty of absolutely horrible shit too.
Amongst friends, we’ve had many conversations about knowing and understanding in no uncertain terms “where your meat comes from”. While I would like to remain woefully ignorant and keep on believing it grows on meat trees in neatly cellophane wrapped packages… its just not the case. I know and understand and just cannot make excuses for myself anymore. I have no problems with other peoples habits, but I think we should all be knowledgeable to our impact on the world around us. I’ve never really been adventurous about straying beyond the traditional mainstays of beef, pork, poultry, fish and seafood. I’m sure bunnies and duckies are tasty, but I would never eat something that I would coo over and want to keep as a pet.
Why am I continuing to eat fish, seafood, eggs and dairy? I’ve learned that I process change better over time and can be overwhelmed by too many changes at once. I feel slightly less guilty about eating fish and seafood than I do about mammals. Factory farming of dairy and eggs is also problematic and I am researching alternatives to it. I actually discovered that Veggie Slices soy-based American cheese is quite good actually. I was expecting it to be horrid and was pleasantly surprised. I’m willing to revisit soy milk. I guess more to the point, I am trying not to delve directly into the vegan extreme. Not that I have a problem with veganism, I think transitioning that quickly would spell out an easy counce bounce back to being a carnivore. As a tried and true Gemini, I often tend towards the “all or nothing” mode of thinking. Some times you have to find the middle ground, which for me is some uncharted territory or mythological place like Atlantis.
Over the past week I started asking myself questions…. do I actually like meat? or do I just eat it because I eat meat and that is what meat eaters do?
Chicken and Turkey are so mild in taste and texture that you can pretty much make anything resemble it. If I get a hankering for something prepared like that I am perfectly fine using any type of soy, seitan or other style of meat substitute. I can’t say I’ve ever craved Turkey or Chicken. Its just something I ate because I ate meat and things sometimes come made with chicken in them or I bought chicken for variety because that is what you do when you go to the grocery store, you buy meat, poultry and fish.
Pork products…. well now there is a loaded and problematic category. When I think of pork, I tend to think that I don’t like it all that much. I can do the occasional pork chop marinated in honey Dijon sauce, but lately the taste and smell has been grossing me out. I will say though that losing bacon and lunch meat is tragic, but I’ll live… hopefully. To be fair, the last time I gave up meat and pork, it was an Italian Hoagie that lured me back. This was before there was a decent variety of vegetarian products. I still remember to this day the first time we made tofu hot dogs at my aunt and uncles house, maybe in the late 80s. They were so gross… the dog wouldn’t even eat them…. and dogs eat their own poo!!!
I will mourn the loss of a good steak like the tragic death of a good friend. Other than that I’ve already gotten so far away from using ground beef that it doesn’t really bother me beyond that. I have had the same ground beef in the freezer all year and couldn’t tell you the last time I actually used it at home. Since, I’ve been on Weight Watchers, I’ve probably had maybe 3-4 cheeseburgers this calendar year and am perfectly fine tossing a veggie burger into the mix.
I’m curious to see how this goes… if I stick with it… progress further into vegetarianism… regress to meat eating… or find some happy medium. I’m excited to learn new cooking techniques and recipes. I’m excited to not have to cook two separate dinners every night or fend for myself while my husband eats a plate of veggie sausage. I thrive on change, no matter how scary it is… wish me luck!
