For my experience diving into sustainability, I chose to go vegetarian. I told this to my mom today and she replied with the expected skepticism. There was a long pause and then a “Really?”
Really, I am going vegetarian. Earlier, one of my friends tried to convince me to eat some meat. “It’s not like your teacher is going to know,” she replied when I told her, and it’s true. No one would know if I slipped a piece of bacon or ate some meat sauce, except me. This is something I am tackling for myself, to show that I have the ability to change my lifestyle to make the world a little more inhabitable. So far it has not been all that difficult. Sure, sometimes I see my friends eating meat that looks good, but I have not yet been seriously tempted to break the vow, with the exception of one time.
Last weekend I went to Coachella in Indio, California. There were quite a few vegetarian options, as it was a gathering of well to do hippies. One particularly hot afternoon, after waiting in a crowd for a band to start on one of the outdoor stages, my lack of sleep and dehydration caught up with me, and I had to abandon my spot and seek refuge in the misty and shady rest areas. I believe that my change in diet had to do with this temporary weakness, as I had gone vegetarian only a few days before and my body was still adjusting to different types and amounts of protein and fats. At that moment, I wanted nothing more than a good American hot dog, or even spaghetti and meatballs, and the food vendors at the festival offered more than enough meat options to tempt me. I resisted and got a delicious falafel instead, but it got me thinking. If it was hard to be a vegetarian at a festival like Coachella, there must be some situations in which is seems near impossible.
The dining halls at UCLA are a great place to be vegetarian. There are always vegetarian options and plentiful salad bars. There are even a lot of vegan options, and it takes no extra work or special planning to simply ask for the vegetarian sauce. However, the real world is not like this. Not every culture is so willing to accept someone who says no to meat. Even going to a backyard barbeque is difficult, and the California tradition that is In-N-Out is greatly diminished without the hamburger.
This effect of culture on our food patterns is something that I find interesting and would like to explore as part of my project. From the American obsession with red meat to the Hindu aversion to it, where we grow up and what society says about eating influences what we choose to eat. This is a topic I will explore in further posts about the status of my adventure. As of now, I am on week two of being vegetarian and going strong!
I really admire what you are doing for your project! It is such a challenge to change any part of your lifestyle, especially something as drastic as what you eat. I don't consider myself to be a huge meat eater, but I know I would have a hard time cutting it out of my diet completely.
ReplyDeleteStay strong and nice job resisting the Coachelle temptations!
I like your ideas to look at the cultural side of our meaty (or nonmeaty) diets. Also, I wonder about health benefits as well? Aren't vegetarians, if they eat correctly, generally considered "heathier" and live longer lives? It would be interesting to look at lifespans and diseases of the different cultures.
Keep it up!
Wow, I admire your resolve to become vegetarian, and how great you're doing keeping yourself in check. For me, I think I'll always eat meat, but I definitely think that it's important for me to choose carefully what kind of meat I eat and how much, to really maximize my health and the environment's capacity to support my diet. (ie. Not eating beef on a regular basis, since cattle take so many resources to grow and marbleized meat contains a ton of fat)
ReplyDeleteAnyways, good job and keep up the good work!
Serena,
ReplyDeleteI just read your comment and according to my PhySci 5 class, vegetarians live on average an extra 1.5 years. Which really isn't much. What is really important, is that people that are vegetarian tend to be more health conscious in general, and this leads to maintenance of normal weight, which extends life expectancy a whopping 11 years. So overall, although being vegetarian doesn't necessarily make you live longer...it prevents you from falling into those patterns of In-n-Out + Couch + TV that lead to major killer lifestyle diseases.
Thanks for the support guys! It hasn't been too bad, although there was some really good looking fish last night that I really wished I could've eaten. What Vicki said makes sense, because while you might be avoiding some fats and antibiotics, unless you eat organic you will still get a fair dose of pesticides. Also it's easy to fall into a pattern of eating tons of carbs like pasta as an attempt to make up for the lost protein.
ReplyDelete