Eating out has always been one of my little pleasures in life. Many of my memories of childhood are associated with meal times and food. When I was in grade school, my father used to take me and my brother to Carl’s Jr. every Thursday before choir practice. I would order a Western Bacon cheeseburger, fries and a Coke. At that time it was a meal I viewed as a luxurious pleasure.
When I was a senior in high school, a friend invited me over for dinner and we feasted on Lean Cuisine Pasta Alfredo. At the time it was the best home cooked meal I had eaten in a while. She had recently started a vegetarian diet and every meal I ate at her home was a new taste experience. In addition, I had taken an environmental science class where an ethics of meat discussion strongly altered my ability to eat animal. It was then that I decided to give vegetarianism a try, slowly giving up beef and pork first.
In that same year I was given the household responsibility of cooking the family meal two nights a week. My mother would always put the meat of choice out to thaw in the morning for me to cook up at night. One of those evenings I was weakly cutting through the pelvis of a cornish game hen and noticed small hairs covering the entire exterior body. I was repulsed. But I had a duty to my family, so I broiled those little beasts up anyway, checking them occasionally to see if the little hairs had cooked away. They did not. When we sat down for dinner that night I watched in horror as my family bit into the imperfect flesh. I did not have the stomach to warn them. I refused to eat any on-the-bone meat after that and would have cut out all poultry from my diet if family meals had not focused on it so much.
It was a struggle to eliminate meat from my diet at first. My friend, who had served me the delicious meat-free meals before, had given up her vegetarian diet after only a few months. My family supported my new diet but continued to eat steak and chicken at every meal. Dinner for me often consisted of a baked potato and green beans.
Two years ago I stopped consuming marshmallows and jello, because they contain gelatin, an animal product; most soups and Chinese food, because they contain chicken broth; and carbonated soda because of the caffeine. I did this for my health, not out of advocation for environmental issues, although I do not ignore the importance of them.
I do not miss or crave any of the foods I have stopped eating. My diet has simplified my life rather than complicated it. With so many restaurants and menu choices the decision is made easy. I know exactly what I am going to have or where I can find it before I sit down. I still eat foods that contain eggs and cheese, although in moderation, and I still enjoy a glass of milk or a bowl of ice cream.
I do not try to convert anyone to vegetarianism, even though I think many people should cut out the amount of meat in their diet. I have always preferred pasta over a hamburger or a salad over a slice of beef.
Choosing to cut animal products out of my diet was the best decision I ever made and one of the few that I have remained committed to. It is not a diet of convenience in any way—anyone who eats at Davenport would understand that. My concern with my health and my sensitivity to what goes into my body maintains the conviction I have to vegetarianism.
There are many people in my life that I would like to force my vegetarian diet on. There are far too many people who eat meat without considering the effect it has on their body. I understand that many people enjoy the taste of meat and refuse to give up that pleasure. I would be wrong to try and take that away from them just as they would be wrong to take it from me. Nevertheless, we all should be more aware of what is entering our bodies and less concerned about how it tastes.
