The Conscious Meat Eater

OK. So I think this vegetarian experiment needs to end.

I gave it a fair shake. I found that I can pretty easily go without eating meat for long stretches. I can plan meat-free dinners, I can find alternatives when eating out, I do not need to eat meat or fish as much as I did. What I also found out during this last 2 months eating only vegetarian is that... sometimes I just want to eat meat. And it wasn't even the Thanksgiving spread that did it- I ate the vegetarian stuffing, left the turkey gravy off the mashed potatoes, and resisted the impulse to finish Evelyn's leftover ham. It was after this yummy dinner that I decided that probably going veg is not for me. The thing is that I WANTED SOME TURKEY. I WANTED GRAVY ON MY MASHED POTATOES. And when we got to our condo later that night, our friend who stayed before us left a salmon in the freezer. I WANT TO EAT THAT SALMON.

So, although I'd like to say that I will always and forever stand on principle and resists all notions and cravings to eat animals, the truth is that sometimes I just would like a tuna sandwich.

But also, I have to say that this process was a good one, a conscious-raising one. I learned that though I'm not so much opposed to sometimes eating animals, I'm more opposed to the grand scale on which they're processed. And the litany of hormones and antibiotics that go into our meat to keep it healthy in order to serve that grand scale. So for me, that probably means seeking out more expensive meat that been raised and processed on smaller farms and ranches outside of the industrial food complex. It also probably means eating a lot less of it than before.

I've always wanted to know if vegetarianism is for me. I gave it a fair shake, I thought that my taste would change. It hasn't. I can eat a lot of plants, but sometimes I just want a burger.