Vegetarian Week: Day 1

Today marks the day I begin my experimental exploration of being a vegetarian for a week.

Throughout my life I have had the delightful experience of continuously being asked if I was a vegetarian and/or a vegan. Such a strange question to ask me, I have thought, since I am an avid meat-eater, and have never done a thing to hide that fact. Most of the questions started a few years ago, but the earliest, most prominent memory I have of such an incident was when I was with my ex-boyfriend in San Diego, eating dinner at his aunt and uncle's place. I met a lot of his extended family on that trip, which was quite an...interesting experience, granted I had only been dating him for hmmm maybe 6 or 7 sevens months? He has quite an array of family personalities and a lot of the time I felt very self-conscious and uncomfortable. Alas, I digress.

When I first encountered my ex's aunt, she was an older, very sweet and caring person. Throughout the night, as I was speaking with my ex's dad and himself, she kept asking me if I was a vegetarian.

"Are you sure?" she would ask.

"I'm positive. I love meat!" I would reply.

"I just want to make sure, because I'm making salmon tonight. Are you sure you're not a vegetarian? I don't have to make salmon if you don't like it," she asked.

"No no, it's perfectly fine. I really love salmon, actually," I said.

"Really? Are you sure? I just want to make sure you're comfortable with everything here," she told me.

I really appreciated her concern over my well-being--it was the most I had ever recieved from my ex or his family--but it was grating on my nerves. After dinner, she was even genuinely surprised that I had actually cleared my plate of food. She had said something along the lines of it being fantastic and great that I did so. Really, now, is it that hard to see me finishing a plate? I always felt it was rude and disrespectful to not finish your full plate of food at someone else's house, so I try to do it as much as my small stomach allows.

When we had made our way over to the living room for some chatter, I sat snuggled against my ex and asked in a low voice, "Why did she keep asking me if I was a vegetarian?"

"I guess because you're skinny and you're one of those hip, cool, artsy kids," he replied. It was probably one of the nicest things he had ever said to me; at that time in my life, I practically had no self-confidence and strived to be considered "hip and cool." Also, to be called "skinny" was also a plus--society had engineered me properly, I suppose, to take such gratification from such a silly comment. It was an aspect that stuck with me, even when I asked my mother, many weeks later why people kept asking if I was a vegetarian or not.

"I guess it's because you're skinny and look healthy," she would say. But not all vegetarians are healthy; hell, some of them are even anorexic or sickly looking for the distinct lack of protein in their system. Again, though, I took that as a compliment and an ego-booster. Can it be that any thought of a meat-eater instantly conjures the image that they only eat at McDonald's and are at least 30 pounds over-weight, when a vegetarian is a peasant-skirt wearing skinny girl with beads in her dreadlocks? Or that the plant-eater is a stick-like artist, dressing in black with edgey haircuts and razor sharp glasses, keen not only in their art, but in their fashion as well?

During this school year, a friend of mine from when I was a part of Art Club and Bjerk hadn't driven me off yet came up to me at lunch one day. She was a very heartfelt art chick, not only talented but passionate as well. After sitting down next to me in one of the black chairs in the upper level of the lunch room, she turned to me and asked, "Are you a vegetarian?"

Pausing in mid-bite of my apple, I replied, "Um, no. Why?" She stared at me like she didn't believe me.

"Because I've never ever seen you eat meat before out of all the times I've had lunch with you," she said. I laughed.

"Really?" I giggled. "That's weird, because I totally love meat! I don't know if I could ever be a vegetarian." Oh, how the irony kills me.

The aspect of receiving so much attention from a simple thing as dietary boundaries piqued my interest; I'll be the first to admit that I felt so special and different that people were so intriguied by what foods I ate. It pandered to my desire to be seen as "unique" and "different" that I've struggled with my entire life.

However, most vegetarians do not choose to live that lifestyle simply because it is "different." I'm just a silly girl who likes to do strange things. The idea of vegetarianism has always struck me as interesting though; why do these people choose to live this way? Besides the obvious religious reasons for some cultures, there's a myriad of reasons I found while doing a little research before trying this endeavor. Some people do it for animal rights, some for a statement against the government, some for their own moral values...some are simply disgusted by the fact of having to kill another living thing, exempting plants, for their own sustenance. I find all of these reasons very interesting; some I find a little more legitamite than others, but hell, everyone is entitled to do whatever the hell they want with their food.

The biggest setback I have found thus far, being only two meals into this adventure, is that you need more time to decide and prepare what, exactly you are going to eat. This extra time that is needed may only be because I am used to eating meat as a part of my dinner plate, and what I found that I may have wanted incorporated meat into its meal. I am still excited about this week, however. I may have to get up earlier than normal to prepare the meals, or, conversely, be late to school due to my procrasination, it is a necessary evil for the nature of the experiment.

Wish me luck, my dear friends!