Being a Vegetarian

I've been a vegetarian for about 8 1/2 years. A lot of people have asked me why, but I don't really have a standard answer down. Mostly I don't want other people to feel like I'm judging them for eating meat, or that they should apologize for eating meat. Other people can eat whatever they want--it's a personal choice. I certainly couldn't be married to Chris if I were on a no-meat-eating crusade; he's a happy carnivore and I can't imagine him ever becoming vegetarian.

My biggest reason is that I feel that we've reached a point in human civilization (at least in the U.S.) where we no longer have to eat meat to survive or lead a healthy life. You can be a very healthy vegetarian and still get plenty of protein and all the basics of good nutrition. So if we can avoid killing animals, why not?

But it's not that hard for me to be a vegetarian. I was never a huge fan of meat. We had meat for dinner every night growing up, and I always dreaded anything in the pig family: pork chops were the worst. I did have some things I liked, such as my mom's meatloaf. We had steak every Saturday night (while watching the Lawrence Welk Show) and the rarer it was cooked the more I liked it. I liked chicken salad, hot dogs, beef tacos, and tunafish.

I contemplated becoming a vegetarian when I was in Indiana but it just seemed too difficult there. Then when I first came back to California, most of my coworkers at NASA were vegetarian and it started seeming a lot more feasible. I had pretty much made up my mind right before I went on a road trip to Texas in December 1998 with my friend Ryan, and one night we stayed at his parents' house in Arizona. They served steaks for dinners--perfectly cooked, juicy steaks. I took one look and knew I couldn't eat it. That was my moment.

I still feel very embarrassed that my "moment" came right then, when I was a guest in someone's home, but there you go. Sorry, Mr. & Mrs. Donahue!

Anyway, I haven't looked back. About the only thing I miss are pot stickers (the vegetarian ones just aren't the same) and occasionally fried chicken. I am not 100% vegetarian: I do eat salmon, and once in a while tuna. I also eat gelatin, and once a year I have my mom's Yorkshire pudding, which has beef fat drippings. I'm sure I've ingested meat a few times over the years; no doubt there's been chicken broth in there somewhere. But I wouldn't say it's been a big hardship to give it up.

Chris has certainly eaten a lot less meat since marrying me, because I don't cook meat. I'll buy it, and he's welcome to cook it as much as he wants, but he usually doesn't bother unless it's something easy like cooking a hamburger when I have a veggie burger. I'm not very fussy about our utensils or anything; I don't have special knives or cutting boards that can't touch meat.

And that's all you ever wanted to know about me being vegetarian.