Its wingspan is huge
For an insect; dingy as
Dust yet compelling.
Becoming a vegetarian started off as a far different type of commitment than my commitment to exercising every day. Unlike my workout routine, I don’t know exactly when I started, nor did I have any previous experience with that kind of diet change and I wasn’t convinced at the outset how healthy it would be or how long I would give it a go. But now the shoe is kind of on the other foot, because I could see taking a day off or two of exercising somewhere down the road and it might annoy me, but I might also feel somewhat relieved. I don’t know. I’m not there yet. But I can’t foresee foregoing my commitment to never eating meat. At some point, I may even dabble with veganism, though I don’t see any compelling reasons to go down that path at the moment.
I’ll say I became a vegetarian when I was 22. I know it was around Thanksgiving and I was in college so it had to be between the ages of 20-22. I’ll say 22 so I don’t have to feel like I’m stretching the truth. I was a Philosophy major - enough said, and was also dating a woman that was thinking about becoming a vegetarian, but the icing on the carrot cake was reading Diet for a New America. I still find it difficult to understand how anyone would not consider becoming a vegetarian after reading that book. But, initially, my commitment wasn’t that strong. If I became sick or weak or heard from a trusted and reliable source that it might not be the best way to go, I was willing to bail and consider occasionally eating meat.
And it wasn’t like I enjoyed meat all that much anyway, particularly at the time I gave it up. I never really enjoyed seafood or chicken, so cattle and pigs were literally the last steaks to the heart I had to overcome. And when I moved away from home at about that time my diet had boiled down,or maybe fried down to would be a more apt description, to the poor bachelor’s menu of pastrami, burgers and minute steaks. So really my health and eating habits had no where to go but up when switching to a vegetarian diet.
But what was I going to eat? At the time the trending topic in vegetarianism (for a long time now, thankfully debunked) was eating complimentary food, like rice and beans, to insure that all the essential amino acids required for protein synthesis was present at the same meal. So I gave that a half hearted go, but really mostly ate a plate of pasta, Boboli pizza, or made a fried egg and cheese sandwich. At the beginning really not much more variety than the end of my meat eating days.
And now I’m going to throw one of those “back in the day” stories at you, like when my mom had to go to school she had to walk 30 miles across the icy tundra of Minnesota and how we all had it so easy with our short walk under the warm glow of the California sun. When I became a vegetarian there was no comparison to the variety and convenience of vegetarian choices that there is today, particularly in a market like Los Angeles. I remember, now don’t let me see those eyes glossing over or looking out the window kids!, trying to make my own veggie burgers or scooping out the dog food like concoction that Loma Linda sold in very dog food like cans. It wasn’t pretty and it wasn’t fun. But somehow I managed and over the years it became easier and easier until it’s no longer a part of the thought process, It’s just the way it is.
In fact, one of the surprises for me has been how the thinking about vegetarianism has changed over the last 30+ years. For example, when I started I was frequently asked about it with the intonation being it wasn’t healthy and/or it was a fad that wouldn’t last. But now the inflection has changed to more of an admiration and “Maybe, I should give it a try.” response. But damned this is getting long and I’m butting up against my time to hop on the bike, do some weed pulling and a quick grocery stop before my afternoon session of reading and writing. So I’m going to cut it off here and further discuss the unintended consequences of my diet change and how Panama figures into that equation tomorrow. Stay tuned and maybe I’ll save a slice of a gluten free Blaze pizza for you. Damned there’s nothing like that here. Hey, more tomorrow. Now, not only is my mouth watering, but my mind’s wandering. Better stop.
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