Let’s get one thing straight up front: I love meat. A good steak, a juicy burger, a moist grilled chicken breast, a marinated pork tenderloin, I love them all. I seem to be having difficulty including them in my diet these days, though.
A Meaty History
This might not be surprising if you don’t know me and my history, but I come from a long line of meat-and-potatoes people. I grew up eating meals of meat, with some vegetables or pasta on the side. I learned how to cook steaks on the grill before I was in high school and rarely ate a meal that didn’t revolve around some carnation of beef, pork or, less frequently, chicken. Sure, there was the occasional fish fillet in there, but so many of my formative meals included meat that I couldn’t imagine why (or more importantly how) anyone could be a vegetarian.
Where's the Meat?
Fast-forward through several years on my own, when I managed to keep meat solidly front and center in my diet despite tight budgets, to the present when suddenly I can’t seem to figure out where the meat has gone. The other day, as I was eating my lunch of vegetable soup, saltine crackers and a salad of mixed greens, tomatoes and feta cheese, it occurred to me that I couldn’t remember the last time I ate meat. After several minutes I recalled some venison meatballs at a Labor Day picnic and a locally produced Italian sausage a few weeks before that. It’s all I could come up with. Clearly this mostly vegetarian diet was unintentional on my part, or at least subconscious.
Unlike some of my vegetarian friends, I don’t find myself morally opposed to eating meat. Unlike other vegetarians, I don’t find myself turning to vegetarianism for health reasons (although I’m sure it’s healthier than my early diet of meat, meat, meat). These days, my semi-vegetarianism stems from two things: the abundance of locally grown produce that I keep bringing home and recent information I’ve learned about where meat usually comes from.
Bring on the Vegetables
With a refrigerator full of vegetables all summer, it’s been hard to justify making room for meat in my diet, particularly with the cost of it. I’d hate to waste pounds of tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant and various other tasty vegetables just to add some chicken or a steak to my dinner.
On top of that, I found myself concerned that if I didn’t know where my meat was coming from I couldn’t be sure what was in it or what it had been eating or that it was safe for me to consume. Meat recalls, mad cow disease, hormones and genetic modification all got me wondering if there wasn’t a better way.
Since I can’t raise chickens, cows or pigs in my tiny, row house backyard, my only options for meat include relatively large price tags. I’m doing some research, and I’ve found some farmers that sell free-range, hormone-free chicken and pork at local farmers’ markets for reasonable prices, so I have some options. Now that I’ve been eating so much less meat, though, I find I don’t miss it much. Once in a while I crave meat or seafood, and I’m probably not getting enough protein, so I’ll need to be more conscious about adding protein sources to my diet. But contrary to my early inability to understand why people would choose to become vegetarians, I find myself quietly and, for the most part, unknowingly settling into a semi-vegetarian state of my own. And I like it here.
Ami writes about her attempts to stay healthy, live a local and green life and write that Great American Novel (or something like it) at Writing: My Life.
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Great article…now, go have a little bit of meat!
Don't worry, Angie. I'm being much more conscious about my protein intake and I've been adding a little meat to my diet once in a while.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting!
*lol* I noticed that myself a few weeks ago. I started referring to myself as the "accidental vegetarian" when I realized I hadn't eaten meat at all for 2 days straight.
Just remember, if you're needing protein, sprouts are a great source of plant based protein, and beans are of course also good sources.
WordVixen – I'm learning that if I really listen to my body it will tell me what I want and need. Thanks for the reminder that there are plenty of protein sources out there that don't come from animals. We don't have to eat meat to get our protein, but I find if I don't I definitely need to be more conscious about getting in that protein.