Grapefeed

As I went through my morning blog feeds, I learned that yesterday was World Vegan Day, an observance cooked up (no pun intended) by the Vegan Society based in the U.K. (I can thank Biz Stone for that bit of trivia.)

I myself can’t imagine going vegan; I enjoy my semi-annual trips to Outback Steakhouse too much. I did, however, make a genuine attempt at going vegetarian several years ago. (Yes, there is a difference between veganism and vegetarianism.)

For 30 days in early 1999, I became an ovo-lacto vegetarian; I ate no meat, but continued to consume eggs (the ovo) and dairy (the lacto). Oddly enough, this was spurred on by my father who, in an rather uncharacteristically progressive move, decided to give up meat for lent. By then, I was already devoid of spirituality — I stopped going to church years before — but to support his decision, I went along with it. Vegetarianism was something I considered doing anyway.

Going meatless was difficult, but not as much as I thought it would be, considering I stopped eating meat cold turkey. (Again, no pun intended.) Vegetables and starches filled the voids in my stomach that meat used to. It became usual for me to have pasta for lunch instead of a burger when I was at work, or to pick up an egg salad sub at the deli instead of turkey on my days off.

I fell off the wagon after those 30 days. A tasty slice of meatloaf did me in.

The 30-day experience wasn’t bad, even if I didn’t look into proper meat substitutes. In the years since, I’ve consumed several vegetarian and vegan meals to varying degrees of satisfaction. A recent dinner at a friend’s new place allowed me to enjoy a vegan lasagna. In contrast, I had a tasteless and strangely-textured General Tsao’s “Chicken” at the Green Festival a couple of years ago. I enjoy Boca Burgers occasionally. (Though I think I have some in the freezer to get rid of.

I don’t think I’ll be repeating that experience anytime soon, but to anyone who successfully does (without quoting PETA ad nauseum) kudos to you!