(Don't) Eat the Meat

As you may have gleaned from some of my posts so far, food is a big deal to me. I grew up in a food-focused home, with two parents that were excellent cooks. Also, my extended family on my father's side is completely food-driven. Like many big families, we gather around food. But we also email about food, swap recipes, report to each other on new restaurants, and have created two family cookbooks. Volume 1 came out in about 1987, Volume 2 around 2002.

Anyhow, I pretty much eat everything. I was brought up with the "Eat what's served to you" rule. As it turned out, I like most things if they're done well, and I would eat anything served to me with the exception of dog, cat, and horse. There are a few things I'm not partial to, though. They include eggs, green peppers, frisee, marshmallows, pepperoni, donuts, custard, and lentils. Luckily, this leaves a lot of of foods I like a little and many I like a lot. So, if you invite me over for dinner, chances are I'll dig whatever you make.

My husband and I have been talking for years about eating less meat and moving toward the vegetable side of things. This is a little bit for health reasons but mostly because we like animals. This is not exactly fitting with my upbringing in which the family mantra (born mostly of thriftiness I suppose) was, "Eat the meat." But as an adult, I have to confess that as much as I love pork in all its forms, I feel like a complete asshole when I think about sweet little pigs running around. And, it seems a little weird to eat some animals and not all. I wouldn't want anyone snatching my dog and roasting her up alongside some potatoes. So, I've got some ethical dilemmas.

Because neither of us is good at drastic changes, we're edging into it. We get a bi-weekly produce box delivered to our house, but we're going to start getting it weekly, with the hope that more veggies around the house mean less reason to go to the store and buy meat. We'll see how the well the animal lover in me can stand up to the girl that loves pork chops.