Vanessa of Green Ness asked me a few questions about me being a vegetarian and rather just answering her I thought I might do a post about it as I don’t think I ever have for some odd reason.
So back to the beginning. It was early November 2004 and I commented, yet again, to Kevin that “if I had a personal chief I’d become a vegetarian”. This time his reply was “well, why don’t you just do it?” Shocked I said because it was too hard and I don’t want to have make two different meals every night. I was even more shocked when he said he’d eat whatever I made at home. WOW! Even I was impressed with my hubby. There were a few periods when I’m sure he regretted agreeing to eat vegetarian at home but I think he’s reasonably happy these days.
Now, the main reason I wanted to be vegetarian was that I don’t like the way food animals are treated. If you’re in the dark and want to learn more go visit Animals Australia. When I made this decision there was very little in the range of free-range meat but these day I don’t feel the need to kill animals to meet my nutrient requirements and I don’t think I would like the taste now. I will buy free-range ham and meat for Kevin & Amy (but the meat has to be cooked outside as I can no longer stand the smell). I eat eggs from my own chickens and eat dairy (trying to get organic where possible). I know I probably shouldn’t have milk (diary cows aren’t treated the best either and I LOVE cows) but for now I buy organic.
Amy and Kevin will have meat when out and Christy is vegetarian – but only because she has such a limited diet – every couple of months she will eat a little bit of free-range ham. I don’t like them eating meat that isn’t free-range but they make their own decisions.
Now that I’ve been a vegetarian for over 5 years I have quite a large range of recipes to choose from so variety and choice isn’t the problem it was when I started. I do try to plan our meals for the week to make sure we’re having a good variety and not falling into the trap of pasta or rice every night. I also keep some meals and things like falafels/veggie snitzels in the freezer for quick easy meals. Because a lot of meals are one dish type meals they really are easy to prepare (unlike meat and a variety of veg).
Please feel free to ask any questions you have and I’ll do my best to answer.
