I tried to go vegetarian a couple of years ago and it was a total failure. I was hungry all the time and generally not determined enough to keep it up in the face of delicious meat options.
This time, it was different. I've actually really enjoyed my diet this term. Meat has appeared on my plate only a handful of times, though I still keep some fish in the menu, but will try to phase it out next term. I definitely got some more variety in my meals: butternut squash peanut curry, stir-fires, potato and leek pie, pear and Stilton tart, veggie pasta sauces, fennel risotto... These were are delicious and filling. However, kidney bean burgers were a failure on both occasions when I attempted to make them, but maybe next time I'll be more successful.
I'm really looking forward to making black bean spinach enchiladas and maybe I'll have enough courage to make something with tofu. I still stay away from falafel: I like it a lot, but when I tried to make it from scratch it was major disaster, even more so than the kidney bean burgers.
Admittedly, being a vegetarian is inconvenient, especially if you spend a lot of time with meat-eaters. It requires some planning, because I cannot simply heat up some hot dogs, but it is healthier for me. And for the environment too. I'm not sure about arguments for vegetarianism of a sort that it is cruel and painful for the animals. It probably it, though we still have more humane methods of killing food than a few centuries ago. I probably wouldn't like to kill my food with my own hands anyway. But I do worry about the planet, we produce so much meat these days, and it is simply not sustainable. You might think what sort of a difference I make as a single person, but if each one of us decided not to eat meat on a single day each week, the impact would be huge. But the choice is yours.
I'm not one of those fighting vegetarians who will keep telling you that it is one and only proper way to live, but it's worth looking beyond our own little lives and see the bigger impact we make. There's 7bn of us. We do make a huge impact with our daily choices.
Admittedly, being a vegetarian is inconvenient, especially if you spend a lot of time with meat-eaters. It requires some planning, because I cannot simply heat up some hot dogs, but it is healthier for me. And for the environment too. I'm not sure about arguments for vegetarianism of a sort that it is cruel and painful for the animals. It probably it, though we still have more humane methods of killing food than a few centuries ago. I probably wouldn't like to kill my food with my own hands anyway. But I do worry about the planet, we produce so much meat these days, and it is simply not sustainable. You might think what sort of a difference I make as a single person, but if each one of us decided not to eat meat on a single day each week, the impact would be huge. But the choice is yours.
I'm not one of those fighting vegetarians who will keep telling you that it is one and only proper way to live, but it's worth looking beyond our own little lives and see the bigger impact we make. There's 7bn of us. We do make a huge impact with our daily choices.
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