I'm Vegetarian!

Hello folks! I have exciting news: I've decided to go Vegetarian!

This decision has been coming for a long time now, but it wasn't until this Tuesday that I went cold turkey (haha, food puns!) and stopped eating meat. You're probably wondering what caused me to ditch meat. I can't pinpoint one traumatizing experience or defining moment, it was more like a culmination of a lot of instances of being exposed to the disgusting machine our food industry has turned into through articles, documentaries and word-of-mouth. And what sent me over the edge was that one final day of being bombarded with all news and facts and statistics about the unsustainable practice of large-scale meat production and how this malpractice is affecting the environment and our health. When you're as in touch with food news as I am, its hard to avoid all of the facts, and I've come to the point where I can't ignore them anymore. It comes down to this: I cant be confident in the healthfulness and safeness of the practices that go into raising, slaughtering, and processing livestock in our country, so I must rule meat out altogether.

*The only thing that I am making an exception for is crickets or any other bug because crickets are raised using sustainable methods, and they are a great source of protein!*

So I'm turning over a new leaf and tearing open a fresh new package of herbivorism! And so far -although it hasn't been that long -  vegetarianism has been surprisingly easy! Prior to Wednesday I hadn't been eating that much meat anyway (besides chicken), so it has been a pretty smooth transition.

I'm excited to embark on this journey because it's a chance to be creative and to discover new foods and recipes. I've been searching Pinterest and Instagram for inspiration and have recruited my vegan (ex-vegetarian) friend to coach me. If you guys have any advice please tell me in the comments or via Instagram!

Thank you for your support! It's time for a new chapter!

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Gourmanda

TIME Magazine Cracks Open the Labeling Shell/Vegetarian Considerations Brought to you by Buzzfeed

Image from www.ferretharmony.net

In their January 13th issue, Anita Hamilton, writer for TIME Magazine, wrote a piece about what the labels on your egg carton really mean. "Omega-3?" Your hen has been fed algae, flaxseed, or fish oil. "Cage Free?" Your chicken was probably living in a giant house, suffocating on the feathers of it's neighbor. This article is a very important one because we innocently believe what the producer wants us to believe, and that is not how it should be. I urge you guys to read the full article here.

Another brilliant thing that I came across this week was a video made by Buzzfeed. It showed some of their staff, who considered themselves foodies, go to a farms and go through the whole chicken raising and "harvesting" (slaughtering) process. As I consider myself a foodie, I really enjoyed watching this because it really made me question whether killing an animal for my consumption is a just and humane thing to do. I have been considering going vegetarian for a while now, and I have been slowly eating less meat at home, ordering tofu instead at restaurants, and cooking new Asian dishes that use tofu. I recently made a recipe that included firm tofu, enoki mushrooms, and rice that my neighbor suggested I make and it tasted amazing! I wish I had some pictures for you, but I will definitely be making it again, so you wont need to wait long!

I have been having so many snow days recently (not complaining!) that I have had a lot more time to think about what I am eating and also experiment with more sophisticated dishes.  It has been really fun, I wish I usually got this much time for food!

That said, the snow in New York is getting to be a little much. What did Punxsutawney Phil say? Six more weeks 'til Spring? I guess I can wait. :)

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Gourmanda