Vegetarianism not good reaction to McDonalds


Image via Wikipedia

I’ve been encountering a lot more vegetarians lately. It’s probably not so much that I’m encountering more, as I’m not driving them off as quickly. In the past I was an asshole if you were a vegetarian. Something along the lines of, “But we are omnivores, you’re just depriving your body.” Also, “Plants have feelings too.”

But as part of my laziness new cooking regiment, I’ve been using epicurious.com’s weekly meal planners to plan my meals for the week. They pretty much always do a vegetarian meal or two. Something that at first I just left out. Or filled in with something meatier. Like hanger steaks and fries.

But recently I’ve started cooking them. And Julie and Stella have been enjoying them. Mostly. The meals are hit and miss. Often the things that sound horrible are quite good, and the things that sound good are completely horribly foul. We had a side dish composed almost entirely of zucchini and I liked it. I didn’t like it for zucchini. I really liked it.

I even cooked tofu last week. And last night. Which still gives me a bit of a weird feeling. Because I’d rather cook an animal, than an animal substitute. I actually like tofu. But I’d prefer to cook it as tofu. This really cool vegetable product. Rather than tofu, “I can’t believe it’s not chicken”!

I’ve noticed a trend. There are a lot of vegetarians I’ve encountered who don’t really eat vegetables. This is supposed to be a diet about health. Or politics. Or both. But I’m seeing a lot of people who just eat McDonalds fries. And Annie’s Mac and Cheese. And Mission cheese burritos. Which seems like it’s defeating the point. Vegetarianism has become big business. The business being providing calories without requiring the actual consumption of vegetables.

It’s the same bad diet that is making most of America obese, but without the benefit of getting second-hand vitamins and minerals from animals that have already predigested those noxious vegetables for us.

I’m still learning to love vegetables. But we’re working through this together.  Stella’s my mascot. She’ll eat pretty much anything raw, but once I cook it she becomes uninterested. Potatoes. Zucchini. Red peppers. Garlic. Ginger.

Julie would prefer that I not give her raw garlic.

Maybe I should join the raw foods movement.

Joking.