The First Week

It has been over a week since we started on our journey, so there are few things worth reporting.

Our first grocery shop came to about $180, thats up by about $30 from our normal spend. Kind of a surprise since we expected going vegetarian to save us money.

The temptation to break has been minimal when we have been cooking for ourselves. The meals have been very tasty, and our energy levels have been as high as ever. We have noticed that we don't get that 'full' feeling that we normally get when eating a meal with meat, so regulating our meal sizes has been a bit of a challenge.

When we go out to eat, things have been more challenging.
The first time we went for a potluck dinner, someone had brought along some chicken nibbles that smelt absolutely DEVINE! So much so that I expressed how good they smelt before Melissa reminded me that it was chicken. I had completely forgotten about the diet before she did.
At the same dinner, I struggled to find tasty, nutritious options until someone suggested that I try the cream corn. It was great and I had a couple of servings before I spied a piece of ham stuck to my dipping bread.
You know, its strange rationalizing the feeling of guilt that comes over you when you have accidentally eaten meat only a couple of day after leaving a life long meat eating diet. A couple of days ago this would have just been lunch. And now today it is suddenly a super sized serving of guilt. Strange. Stange indeed.

Similarly outings to eat at malls, or anywhere else in public where meat is on offer has been a challenge. Why does meat have to smell so damn GOOD!

Our first meal was Salmon and vege's which we felt quite bad about since it was our first night striving to eat vegetarian and we had already added some kind of meat.
It did however bring up discussions about the ethics of mass produced salmon, and a little research showed up that indeed mass farming of Salmon does have detrimental environmental effects. So, in the interest of ethics, mass produced Salmon has also been black listed from our diet for now.

In fact, all week our thoughts and discussions have been pre occupied with the theme of ethical eating, and we have thought long and hard about issues that we really took very little notice of before. As such we are thinking seriously about also cutting down on our dairy intake, at least from mass farmed sources.

And then there comes the issue of where ones Vegetables are sources from. Since monoculture is also damaging to the environment, it would be better to source ones vegetables from sources that are not megalithic monoculture aswel.

This all becomes no small task to perform, but I think we are going to give it a try. As we ponder the question of what it takes to eat ethically and try to change our diet to suit, it becomes apparent that it is very hard to do so, and that society is not only heavily reliant on food sources that are in essence unethical, but also propagates this further due to the lack of availability of ethical food sources.

What started out as an innocent dabbling with vegetarianism is very quickly turning into a necessary complete changing of lifestyle. I am not going to make any promises here, but at first glance, this appears to be the path that we are on.

Every Journey starts with a Single Step

For quite a while now I have held the opinion that choosing to be vegetarian is more ethical than choosing to eating meat, and yet I have continued to eat meat just as eagerly as always.

You see, I was brought up on a farm, where meat was plentiful and the natural cycle of life was very much accepted. I have no problem with the idea of where my meat comes from, and if need be, I have no problem killing an animal so that I can eat.

I still hold that position in regards to meat eating, and often suggest that anyone who eats meat should be prepared to take responsibility for their choices and be prepared to slaughter an animal if the need, or even opportunity arises.

So why go vegetarian?

As time has gone by an overwhelming amount of information has crossed my path that leads me to believe that the current agricultural model is unsustainable and that the production of meat is largely responsible for a lot of the worlds ecological problems. There is so much evidence of this ( If you are prepared to look at it) that is seems to me that it is no longer ethical to consume meat that has been farmed in a monocultural system.

If you are unfamiliar with this information and are blessed with an open mind, this video presents some of this information along with other issues in a very entertaining and informative manner:

http://youtu.be/jqxENMKaeCU


Now, despite being overwhelmed by the weight of this information I am still not overly keen to change my meat eating ways. You see, I like meat. It tastes great! I see no moral problem killing an animal for my own sustenance and I have been brought up in a culture in which meat eating has played a central role.

A couple of days ago my partner Melissa was given a book called "a higher taste"a recipe book full of dishes prepared to hare krishna specifications . Great, I thought. Hare Krishna food tastes FANTASTIC and I wouldn't mind replacing a few meat dishes a week with some krishna food, y-know, to be more ethical and all that.

Then Melissa started reading the embedded literature about vegetarianism and arguments against meat eating, and before long she had decided that she wanted to take the leap and go full on vegetarian.

Every part of my emotional self wanted to shriek in opposition. I don't want to give up meat! I enjoy eating meat! Why would we want to change something that is so normal and natural to us!
I struggled to hold back all of the irrational arguments that were swelling up inside clutching to a past that the subconscious would prefer to see preserved and propagated.

But in reality I had no logical argument against a move to vegetarianism. Apart from the fear of change (which is a false fear) I had nothing to cling to.
I had already formed the opinion that vegetarianism was a more ethical way of life, so what could I possibly say in opposition to the suggestion of adopting it?

Nothing. Thats what.

And so it begins.
A steadfast meat eaters journey into Vegetarianism.

I hope to update this blog with some kind of regularity with reports on our progress.
health effects, budget effects, temptations, difficulties, and successes.

Its great to have you along for the ride. Maybe some of you will join me in this experiment and adopt vegetarianism yourself?

No pressure or judgment if you don't but it would be cool to have some company on the journey :)

First vegetarian shop / budget and first vegetarian meals coming up shortly