Aversion to meat

Three weeks and counting. I have not eaten a scrap of animal flesh in three weeks and I feel amazing. Why, I don't know? But a vegetarian life can be as full and as tasty as any other diet. It's restrictions are fairly simple, no meat. I also tend to stay low on the pastas and starches. There are a lot of vegetarians who skip over the soy products and go straight for the mac and artificial cheese.

This isn't the first time that I have gone meatless for an extended period of time. Last year, at about the same time I jumped on the tofu wagon until Christmas. The problem is, since I’m not not eating meat for a cause, I can't refuse the round table of family and friends with a big ol' chuck of dead animal in the center. My mother and my grandmother spend hours in the kitchen and this is tradition. It is my family tradition to eat meat when we gather, to talk and enjoy our time together over this hard earned meal.

My vegetarianism definitely isn't a pity thing. I love animals and eventually they will fall to a higher power on the food chain. But then again, I have always had trouble eating anything that I consider "cute". I chose not to eat rabbit, lamb, deer, or any other fuzzy frolicker. I also had a strong aversion to meat on the bone. It makes me want to barf. I just don't have that nathanderial urge to eat some animal carcass. If anything, I have a primal urge to die from survival without meat.

But strangely, I find that when I leave Manhattan, I tend to want meat. Instead of the vege-option looking appealing, I want a big hunk of steak. My taste buds revert back to my former, kind-hearted, open-minded self. All of my NY accomplishments and life decisions are thrown out the window the second I am with an old friend. Part of me thinks that I am a wimp and that I know that no matter how hard I try, I will not be able to rationalize my not liking meat to them. The other part of me feels like its a Freudian thing, I haven't been a vege for long enough. When I am put back into my old ways, my subconscious desires different things.

The other prodominant factor is that I haven't decided that eating meat is wrong or that I don't want to do it ever. I just feel better, eat healthier, and more energetic when I pass for the grass. My head feels less weighty and my body processes the soy better than flesh. I don't know if this is something that I will maintain forever. I know that for now it feels good so I am going to stick with it. Maybe later, I will reevaluate and become carnivorous again. But, I hope that I realize the benefits that pushed me to the vege in the first place. I don't want to be part of a fast food nation. I like well-prepared, health-cautious foods. Power to the vege that brings power to me!