Here’s the logic. If I was going to be an ethical carnivore, their meat would be exactly the kind of thing I’d look for. (And we can get it from local farmers at the Sunday market at Dupont Circle.) But, like the Tierneys, those farmers are keen to show me pictures of the named live animals that are now cut up and resting on dry ice.

And that’s too real for me. But thanks for keeping it real.

I suppose I can get the free-range eggs.

I guess my main advice would be to develop a taste for vegetables. Soy and cheese have their place (though we don’t actually need nearly as much protein as your average omnivore eats), but if you rely too much on them, you’ll have this constant feeling that you’re eating a replacement. But if you get into a vegetable-based cuisine, you’ll start to forget about meat rather than having its absence hanging in front of you at every meal. Sometimes my parents will give me some ham, and I don’t know what to do with it — I wind up with vegetarian dishes that have ham grafted onto them.

There are loads of good vegetarian recipes online (I’ve been using http://vegweb.com/), and going to Indian and Vietnamese restaurants can give you some inspiration.

I have a question. Do more people swear off meat for ethical reasons or for health reasons?

I might ask for help, like where in Logan Circle can someone get a decent vegetarian meal?

As I recall, for me it was a New Years resolution. And I backslid on the very first day. After that, I righted myself, and got back on track. Beyond that point, I went cold-turkey of meat and seafood (which some don’t consider meat, but I do). Some folks do it gradually, but it really depends on what’s best for you. I just thought gradual change would allow me to put it off for too long.

For me, it was initially for health reasons, and the payoff was pretty quick in terms of how I felt after a while. I didn’t start considering the ethical reasons until about five years ago, and I’m still working on those, and figuring out just how far I can reasonably take it. (Becoming a vegan is the obvious next step, but I haven’t taken it yet.)

Also, I think it’s easier now than it was 10 years or more ago, as there are more options in restaurants, people are more accepting of it, and there are just more vegetarians than there used to be. Plus there are a lot of vegetarian products out there, that weren’t available when I started.

Anything I can do to help, you have but to ask.

The husband and ministry parallel comes from the string of “this is it” calls I’ve gotten over my life. I’ve lived a very “zubba, zubba, zubba, ping! Noah!” life. (For those who enjoy old Bill Cosby routines.)

Or put another way, I don’t think I’m the one who chose the vegetarianism for me. I tend not to bring this subject up because it makes me sound crazy or fanatical, but it tends to turn out that way.

Oh, in case y’all think the UU Enforcer is being provocative, well, he is. (You are!) But I suspect Mrs. Enforcer will take care of him.

oink. oink.

I did not go vegetarian all of a sudden though. Experiences with animals, the horrible sanitation of the meat packing industry and the pollution of the seas all added to the arguments for vegetarianism in the long run. It has not been easy but I feel bettter for it.

When I first went vegetarian I craved meat and the kinds of meals that I had experienced all my life. Then, I found Linda McCartney’s cookbook, “Home Cooking.” It’s chock full of meat-replacement recipes that made the transition easier. I have a ritual with that cookbook. Before I put it away I always kiss the late Mrs. Paul McCartney on the cover (like the Russians do their icons.) I suppose that I take that a bit more than most, yet eating food that I know has not been the product of violence is affirms my basic principles.

I would also commend to you “Simply Heavenly! The Monastery Vegetarian Cookbook” by Abbot George Burke (”1,400 recipes from the Kitchen of Holy Protection Orthodox Monastery.”) In the introduction the Abbot gives his reasoning for vegetarianism as deriving from a translation of the original text of Genesis in the early Christian era, “Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat” (Genesis 1:29) Now before everyone starts clamboring about mistranslations and such, I am only conveying this monastic order’s explanation for their vegetarianism. Their seems to be a tradition of vegetarianism and fasting in Orthodox traditions. Some hold that digestion of meat interferes with mental and spiritual awareness, slowing them down.

This is quite a long post, hope that it helps.

I embraced universalism much more recently. Veg and univ are, of course, a perfect combination.

                                                           John

At the same time, I take an even broader stance than Mrs. Philocrites in that I don’t want to show up to anybody’s house and say “This is what I eat.”

CC
Ps. The Moosewood cookbook rocks.

I eat meat at lunch, I confess, because I love to go out for lunch, but the Moosewood Cookbooks have given us plenty of really good meals for dinner. A few more years, though, and I suspect Mrs Philocrites’s gentle evangelism will have converted me to milk-&-eggs vegetarianism (free-range, of course).

Having said that, when I felt the same pull you feel now, I just made a decision to limit meat to a few times a week. In the meantime I found myself enjoying different vegetarian dishes, and finally I made the decision to go meat-free for two weeks. If over that period I didn’t find myself dying for steak, then I’d make the leap. In Atlanta we have such wonderful vegetarian restaurants that dining out wasn’t always a hard thing either (anyone who has a chance to check out Café Sunflower http://www.cafesunflower.com/ at either location should do so).

The only reason I reverted back to my evil ways was a real longing for fish and seafood, although I have had other types of meat too. I am considering being semi-vegetarian with seafood as my only meat indulgence.

As for Ethiopian vegetarian lentil dishes, we have a restaurant here in ATL which serves the best Ethiopian vegetarian food. I am salivating as I write this…