Vegetarian Pledge

In my Introduction to Food for Thought, I pledged to be a vegetarian for 30-days. For a two years during high school I only ate fish, but this was my first experience being a lacto-ovo vegetarian (meaning you do not eat meat, fish or poultry). I made the pledge on PETA.com (PETA's blog) to not eat meat for thirty days. It has been 35 days and so-far an enjoyable experience.

I will be honest, I have slipped up three times. I ate a bite of meat-based lasagna- thank you Rebecca's Mom, a shrimp dumpling-thank you Rebecca, and a bite of pepperoni pizza-thank you Rebecca. However, outside of these extenuating circumstances, all at 2 in the morning, I have stuck to the vegetarian diet.

Eating vegetarian is very easy in college, especially when cooking for yourself. Meat expires quickly and is expensive. Plus, it takes time and some skill to cook. What I have found is when you go out to eat, it is harder to stick to the pledge. Some resturants and lunch places have great options, like Amers or Seva, but I have been surprised also. I went to Cafe Zola for a birthday dinner the other night and I was very surprised to find that they offered only 3 options for vegetarians.

During this time, I have reflected on the different reasons for being a vegetarian. For the purpose of this blog, it is largely based in eating locally and environmentally-friendly. Here is a link to a very beautifully written article in the New York Times Sunday Magazine about eating vegetarian that discusses behavior, attitude and facts about being vegetarian. The more I have read about factory farms, the more I hear about the incredible amount of pollution and emissions that they contribute.

When I first stopped eating meat in high school, it was about animal rights. I was unaware of the environmental impacts entirely, and it is not surprising that I was able to eat fish. Doing research about the environmental impacts has reminded me quickly of the animal rights aspect of eating-meat and the philosophical and ethical dilemmas.

My roommate on the other hand has become vegan for health reasons. She is into the notion that you are what you eat, and is talking about the way her body feels now that she has given up animal products.

Despite what your reason is for becoming vegetarian, I think it is an interesting experiment in your dietary habits and puts you in touch with your body. In the span of a month, I was able to get a good grasp on how behavior is linked to attitude. While this blog still won't be able promoting vegetarianism, I think it is a nice segway into a discussion about attitudes towards what we eat and our ability to make conscious decisions.

I am planning on continuing a lacto-ovan vegetarian diet for the rest of the semester and I will write about interesting recipes or information I come across.



A note about this blog: Up until now, my stories have been largely based in essay. I am going to try to start using more photos and video to hopefully create a more enjoyable experience!