The vegetarian entry
11:51 a.m.
How I Became a Vegetarian (or How to Save Money and Influence People)
Once upon a time there was a little girl named Elgan who lived with her mummy and daddy and two older brothers in a house in a city at a time when vegetarianism was unheard of among westerners. If it was heard of, it was thought to be worth ridicule. Elgan and the rest of her family consumed great quantities of meat every day. They had rib steaks, roast beef, lamb chops, veal, chicken, and on very special occasions, stuffed cornish hens (I'm not kidding). They also had hamburger in various incarnations (which I need not mention because everyone knows what they are). They ate fish only rarely, and when they did it was invariably out of a can or "fish sticks" from a box in the freezer. It's true, the mother of the family worked long hard hours at a job, and she spent all her weekends cooking and preparing for the week ahead so that her husband, who arrived home earlier than she, could simply thaw and heat up a roast, or a chicken, or meatballs, or whatever.
Now it just so happened at some point when Elgan was a teenager (early 70's for those of you with an interest in historical placement) that the price of meat skyrocketed. Elgan's mother was predictably upset, considering how much meat the family consumed, and began boycotting the butcher. Without any real knowledge of what she was doing, she prepared meatless meals based on kidney beans. There were stews made from vegetables and kidney beans, and seasoned with something called Kitchen Bouquet, which was meant for dressing roasts, I believe. Elgan liked these meatless meals, and was almost sorry when the price of meat again fell and they went back to their wanton, carnivorous ways.
Let us skip ahead now to when Elgan left home and went to university. She was familiar by this time with the Smal1 P1anet books and protein complementarity, and was ready to try it out. During her second year, she basically stopped buying meat as a grocery, and started cooking lentils, brown rice, and other interesting forms of nourishment. The first thing she noticed was that she was saving an incredible amount of money on her grocery bill. Actually, that's the only thing she noticed, because there were no great changes in health or well-being. As she began enjoying her way of eating more and more, she began to eat less and less meat when outside the house, finally giving it up completely.
This last coincided with the arrival in her life of the young man who later became her lawfully wedded husband, who had been a vegetarian for the past couple of years himself. He lived in a house with a bunch of guys, sharing meal preparation and pooling grocery money. One of the guys had been a vegetarian for years and refused to pool his money with the others if they were going to buy meat. So they all decided to go "cold turkey" after one big blowout hamburger meal, and then hit the Moosewood trail. The funny thing is that Hubby is the only one who is still a vegetarian. Even the original guy lapsed not long afterwards.
So, Elgan gave up all meat at that point, including fish, but kept the dairy and eggs in. After a year she added fish back into the menu, just because it's so good for you and so good, period. She and her young man got married, and had two children, who were also raised vegetarian. They have always been healthier than their peers, and are smarter, too, although I don't know if a meatless diet had anything to do with it.
Now, a word of warning to you out there who are contemplating a vegetarian lifestyle. You can eat just as poorly as a vegetarian as you can eating meat. Not eating meat does not guarantee that you won't eat junk food or excessive amounts of fat, suger and salt in other ways. You can get just as much saturated fat from cheese and foods made with palm oils as you can from a big mac, so beware. Also, if you are female and planning at some point to have children, beware public health nurses and obstetrical doctors. They will question you so closely about your diet once they find out you exclude meat to make sure that you and your unborn child are getting the proper nutrition. I know, I've been there, twice.
On a practical note, eating vegetarian is a challenge. I own all of Mollie's cookbooks. I love the pictures and I love her recipes. She's my hero. But I rarely cook out of books, unless I'm expecting company. Mostly I rely on meals based on brown rice or pasta. We have lots of vegetables, either stir-fried or as salad; fish twice a week tops. I make my own whole-wheat bread (I have a bread machine now, but used to do it by hand), and we hardly ever eat dessert. Remember my musings on calorie restriction? We're all on diets.
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