Thirty (30) days of vegetarianism is the MEX or the Monthly Experiment X. No meat of any kind. Animal products such as dairy products, eggs, oils and whatnot I'll still consume and I'll still wear my leather shoes. I also intend to still slap mosquitoes that wish to feed on me and spray for cockroaches as they give me the heebee jeebees.
For those of you at that missed the last post I am doing a monthly experiment or MEX (a cool acronym that I created).
What I Am Not Doing
I'm not leaping into vegetarianism fervently claiming to want to stand up for animal rights, to save the planet or to become more healthy. Honestly I know little about any of those in areas in relation to vegetarianism.
What I Am Doing
I'm doing it to try it out. My 30 days will also include 30 days of research and reading, discussion with vegetarians, posting on forums and watching the occasional scary PETA video. By the end of the 30 days I will look at my findings, see how I feel and make a decision whether to continue or not.
So Why Vegetarianism?
- I have a love for animals and life.
- I don't like seeing things killed and/or tortured.
- I wanted to see why so many great people I knew were becoming vegetarians.
- It seemed like a change that would be challenging on many different levels.
- Becoming a PETA protester. They're pretty full on now aren't they?
- Losing bacon. I really do like bacon.
- Getting bored with food choices.
- Losing weight and/or becoming malnourished.
- Being in awkward social situations. ie: Being in the middle of a group of blood thirsty meat eating cattle farmers and them asking me why I don't eat meat with snarly looks on their faces.
- I'm afraid I'll like the change so much and never eat meat again.
- Being the blunt of vegetarian jokes, ie:
Vegetarianism in China
"Great to jian fei" say most of my female students. "Jian fei" meaning to lose weight. Very few Chinese are vegetarian and usually the associations with vegetarianism include Buddhist monks, losing weight and or some kind of mental abnormality. China however does host what appears to be a veggie friendly platter of options. There is tofu galore and enough variety of veggies to keep me occupied for at least, emm... 3 or 4 days? (Please see my fear or boredom with food choices)
Surely there must be some kind of vegetarian underground society here - I just haven't found them yet.
Numbers
According to Google Answers there are 250 000 "proper" Canadian vegetarians and 100 000 "proper" Canadian vegans. When I say "proper" they shaved off a million or so other vegetarian groups who partake in other varieties of vegetarianism. The country with the most vegetarians is India, with roughly 30 to 40 percent of the population being vegetarian.
Final Jibber Jabber
As always, any comments or questions please leave a comment below.
4 comments:
I think you're very lucky to have so much support from XF! I know that if I ever attempted vegetarianism Sam would be wafting the bacon, BLTs, pepperoni, jerky, etc. under my nose. I think it would be a hard change to make by yourself in complete opposition.
I think you could also get snarly looks from those PETA folk. Snarly looks abound no matter what you do. You should find a place that makes a good falafel. I would go vegetarian if I could eat falafels all day. I think Charles and Jane have a pretty good handle on it. Charles discovered some bacon on garlic fingers that we were all eating after he had already ate them, and he sort of just shrugged it off. (Probably "simulated" anyway). I do recall however, going out to dinner with a fellow who had been a vegetarian for a couple of years and his spaghetti accidently had meat in the sauce and he became pale and had to go throw up. So... people react to it in different ways. I can understand becoming scared of changing so drastically.
Yes, the support from Xiao Feng is just great. She was practically vegetarian before we started so it wasn't too big of a switch for her.
I completely agree that snarly looks come with new territory - but that's not our problem now is it?
Hehe, your stories about Charles and the other spaghetti eating fellow remind me of the two Italians that stayed at our place. One of them was vegetarian for 7 years and she found herself in a situation where they were staying with a Tibetan family. There was no common language to speak. The Tibetan family was extremely hospitable and in Tibetan style they took out the big piece of yak meat that was especially saved for guests, sawed off a piece, cooked it slightly and plunked it down in front of her. She ate it. But she laughed about it later.
Change is a scary thing often times but I pride myself in my courage. I'll take a change any day over no change. I had the feeling after starting the first day of vegetarianism it was something I really wanted to do... and it may not just be 30 days.
I LOVE falafels. Totally "heart" them. That'll be our first meal together upon reuniting. ;)
Falafels are delicious. I look forward to it. Cedar's Eatery is a great place for them in Charlottetown. You'll have to scout out somewhere in Ottawa that has good falafels as well if I'm to visit!
Also, kudos to the Italian. It would've been a sticky situation to reject the yak... as a meat eater, the thought of slightly cooked yak meat isn't that appealing to me, much less a vegetarian!
I've always heard Cedar's was a good spot but had never got around to trying the place. Cedars it is. Or in Ottawa we're bound to find a place as well ;)
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