I’m celebrating my two-month anniversary. And I’m celebrating by going all out with an extra large helping of…spinach salad.
And maybe some raspberry sorbet.
It was two months ago that I decided to become a vegan. No meat. No dairy. (But truth be told, once a week I do broil some salmon. Shhhh!) Becoming a vegan is huge for me. Ask Jay and Eve, I used to be addicted to cheese sticks and all things made by those nice people at In-N-Out Burger.
But I was handed a book by my uncle last November, The China Study, and all of that changed. Sure, one reason I decided to become vegan had to do with healthy living. But it was also because of political reasons. The manner in which nutritional information gets shared (or not shared) by our government is appalling to me. If I choose to eat a cheeseburger, I want it to be my fully-informed decision…after knowing all the consequences of that choice. So now I choose to only eat things that are not furry. (Except for kiwi, which are just so cute!)
This post is in no way an attempt to alter your eating habits. I’m just trying to change Jay and Eve’s eating habits. Come on, guys! Join my weirdness, would ya!?
What’s really weird is that I recently looked through the opening chapters of my middle grade novel, which I started writing about six months ago. In one scene, my main character is eating dinner with her mother. They’re eating spaghetti and meatballs. Meatballs! (I almost hurled just typing that word.) So I had to change their meal to plain ol’ meatless pasta. Is that weird? Does anyone else change their character’s habits to reflect their own? I realize I should separate myself from my story, but in this case, it’s meatless pasta and it’s going to stay meatless pasta.
Coincidentally, the Wall Street Journal had an article in Friday’s paper about NFL star Tony Gonzalez becoming vegan…because he also read The China Study. If he can do it, I can do it! My next goal is to eat a bunch of fruits and vegetables and try out for tight-end of the Kansas City Chiefs. Wish me luck!
But this vegan thing isn’t going to be easy. The other day when I went to Subway to order a sandwich, the conversation went like this:
“I’d like a six-inch veggie on wheat.”
“What kind of cheese would you like?”
“No cheese.”
“What kind of cheese?”
“No cheese.”
“What kind?”
“None. I don’t want any cheese. None at all.”
- long pause -
“No cheese?”
“No!”
I’ve never yelled no at someone in my entire life. Not only have I become a vegan…but I’ve become a b*#&*!
- Robin
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12 comments:
You don't need to change my eating habits, GF. I'm the original vegan. I mean, seriously, when have you ever seen me eat a piece of meat or drink milk or eat eggs? Never.
But I don't do it for health reasons...it's just that I can't stand to eat anything that's cute, or was cute, or has the potential to grow up to be cute.
Rock on, Robin! I'm so proud of you for giving up those Mad-Cow burgers. We need to work on Jay next.
Eve
Robin - Your experience at Subway brought to mind one of my favorite scenes from Dude, Where's My Car?, when they pull up to the Chinese drive-through:
And then?
No "and then"
And then?
And NO "and then"
etc.
Robin, I've been completely impressed by all you've done to stick with this. I know it hasn't been an easy switch to make (which I can tell by the way you stare at my meat-n-cheese packed Subways). Wish I could join ya, but...no.
When my health-obsessed wife first read Thirteen Reasons Why, she made a list of all the foods mentioned: chilidog, hamburger, fries, chocolate malt, peanutbutter and banana shake, orange soda, popcorn, Snickers, Butterfinger. That's it! She actually got a stomach ache reading my book. And I tried sticking in an apple just for her, but it just wouldn't fit.
- Jay
P.S. Evie, time to hand over that Original Vegan card. Hand it over slowly and no one gets hurt. Daily lattes? Not vegan. Village Host pizza? Nope. Cold Stone Creamery? Cream is right there in the name! But it's okay. C'mon, I'll take ya to Cold Stone...my treat. ;-)
Good for you for following your own path, and for metioning the title of that book. I'll be checking it out!
Oh, riiight...I guess lattes, pizza, and cold stone ice cream do all have cow products in them. Oops!
But at least no cows had to be slaughtered to produce the products I eat...only milked. And they like being milked. For real. I read it in a picture book!
Thanks, Jay. I'll surrender my OV card.
(Do I have to hand over my OG "Original Gangsta" card too?)
Eve
I think we should have a contest where we give a prize to whomever can come up with a funnier DM password than the one we have now.
I giggle and snort my coffee every single time I have to type that password into the computer to leave a comment on someone's blog. Thanks, Jay.
Eve
My mom went vegetarian back in the late 70s before it was cool. I spent my childhood eating things called "Cashew Casserole" and "Meatless Meatloaf". It explains a lot really...
Hope this comment doesn't turn your stomach, Robin, but your Subway story reminds me ... I used to eat there a fair amount and one of my fav's was the meatball with cheese sub.
Once I went in and said, "I'll have a meatball with cheese."
"Do you want cheese with that?"
"I want the meatball with cheese."
"Right. Do you want cheese with that?"
Um. OK.
Sort of the opposite of your experience.
Linda, that's hilarious. Meatballs and cheese...with cheese!!! But I'm reading this in the morning and feel a little queasy now.
Kelly, I *love* Dude, Where's My Car. Great scene.
Jay and Eve, let's all go to Cold Stone Creamery together. You guys can have the cream and I guess I'll be having the cold stone. (Which is a weird thing to say.)
-Robin
Good luck to you! I respect this way of life tremendously, but have not been able to pull it off. As for having my characters reflect my own choices. . . my characters are WAY more virtuous than me! I assume that faeries -- my kind, anyway -- would be vegetarian. In fact, they refer to humans with disgust as "munchmeats" (though the scene that had this term in it got cut; it's still in my head). I feel kind of like a phony given that I AM a "munchmeat" but so be it, at least for now. We do make a tremendous effort to only eat certified organic, free range, grain fed, and all that. But I do wish it was possible to know even more, to be more sure about [relatively] humane treatment of animals, and all that. One of these days, I just might join you in your madness!
P.S. Amazingly, ANOTHER fairly cool word verification! Only on this blog! I'm adding it to my name list :-)
And Eve -- that used to be sort of my brother's theory of vegetarianism. Not the cuteness exactly. But he wouldn't eat animals that "had fun" -- ha ha!
Wow cool! Didn't even know you had leanings in that direction.
Another great book to put you off meat is "Mad Cowboy" by Howard Lyman. That did it for my husband.
Also, did you read the article about in the LA Times about beef from sick cows being sold to schools. I just wrote about it on my blog - scary stuff!
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