I’m Going Vege!
I like the term “vege” because it reminds me of vag, which makes me snicker like a school girl, ’cause I’m immature like that. And vaginas are a pretty great thing, I think.
So yeah. I used to date a vegan. He was tall and skinny. No, lanky. Your typical vegan build. 6’2″ to my 5’1″. He had a long neck and reminded me of a giraffe, but he was hot. Maybe not in the conventional sense, but I’ve never been one for convention. He was an emo kid and I was a little scenester. Two indie poseurs in Portland, Oregon. He was the only person I’ve dated that’s not a musician, but with his collection of vinyls and compact discs (remember those?) ranging over 10,000, it was practically the same thing, and maybe even more annoying. He gave me a Saves the Day LP once, and played Black Heart Procession and Botch on our car rides together, just to prove that he could be sweet and manly. Or something like that. I played Jessie and My Whetstone over and over again. It reminded me of our relationship.
One night, we watched “Dancer in the Dark” in his room sharing a futon. And by watch I mean made out. The whole time. Best movie ever. No, really. We both love Bjork.
We were eachothers NCMOs. That’s what the Mormons call Non-Committal Make-Outs for people who don’t want to fuck around. I’m not Mormon but I’m a little bit Puritan like that. Whatever. Whatever works. I was 19 and still a virgin and not about to give it up to just anyone.
We went to vegan cafes together, and we’d buy vegan Oreos (the generic brand) and then dip them into a glass of soy milk. He’d make me vegan smoothies and share vegan ice cream. Pint sized with one spoon. Then we’d play tennis together and he’d beat me every time but I loved the challenge. He took me to this abandoned barge in the middle of the city during nighttime. It was a little bit mysterious and a little bit creepy and maybe some parts romantic, too. Then he took me to Mt. Tabor. The kind of spot where Jimmy Bob and Sally Sue go to watch the moonlight and the stars and make-out. Every city should have a spot like that. For the romantics.
As all things of impermanence go, I cried when it ended. He was maybe the funnest “relationship” I’ve ever had. He told me the thought of making out with me when I could have meat stuck to my teeth or milk down my throat just grossed him out. I don’t even drink milk, and so that hurt. Silly and laughable now, but I vowed never to date a vegan again.
Flash forward 7 years. Four months strong and I’m still a vegetarian. The food is perfect, and I’m realizing, I could do this. Really do this. I’ve always been a bit curious of the vegetarian lifestyle. I dated a vegan, after all. When things ended, it didn’t stop my curiosity to read vegan propaganda like John Robbin’s Diet for a New America and other literature about the foods we eat and the choices we make. I read Fast Food Nation and watched Supersize Me. I’ve been interested in the topic of food production for awhile. I even read through Skinny Bitch at Powell’s book store once and felt the oppression of two skinny bitches telling me I needed to shove carrots down my throat (wink) to lose weight.
Heart shaped dumpling! <3
Being vegetarian doesn’t make me skinny, but it doesn’t make me fat either. I’ve experimented with vegetarianism before, but never consistently, and often, with fish so that pretty much cancels out the vegetarian part. When my friends back in the states had a “bring your own meat” barbecue, I brought a boca (soy) burger instead, because that seemed more yummy. Maybe I’m naturally inclined towards vegetarianism. Who knows.
The Philippines is a meat-heavy culture. I’m sugar coated at the temple where they feed delicious (to me) vegetarian meals three times a day. Who knew that I would start my vegetarianism in the Philippines of all places? If I can do it here (the real test will be outside, after the temple stay), I can do it anywhere.
It goes without saying that I’m against the meat industry. It’s a pretty disgusting thing to think about once you read about it. The hormones and chemicals and commodifying living things like they were mere objects. But it’s also a pretty easy thing to ignore when you see packaged meat at your local grocery store, or bight into a big, juicy hamburger. There’s a disconnect there that people don’t think about and I’m just as guilty as anyone else. I still miss that burger, sometimes.
Buddhism taught me how not to ignore. We’ve learned the illusory nature of the table. The table as a sum of all its parts. The wood. The tree to make the wood. The people to cut it down. The machinery. The roots. The ground. The Earth. We learned about “causes and conditions”. To take into consideration all of the elements to make the desk a desk, or the food on your plate available. The people it took to cut the vegetables and cook the meal. The transportation it took to get to the market. The garden it took to yield crop. And the farmers it took to grow them. We learned to be mindful.
Suddenly, that perfectly packaged meat isn’t so perfect anymore. When you look with new eyes–with eyes of awareness and mindfulness–you can’t ignore the process.
Sure, I believe animals are a natural part of the food cycle like the best of us. Animals eat animals. They’ve had to suffer in the wild where its survival of the fittest. What makes the killing for food from a human’s hands any different? This is the thought that propelled me to continue eating meat after all the books I read.
But then, there’s mass production. The mechanization. Human’s being wasteful. The energy it takes for consumption. The amount of grain needed to feed the cows to feed the people when the grain could be used to make bread or to feed the poor. The excess. Always so much excess.
There’s all kinds of things I no longer want to be a part of. And when I see meat in the market or on the plate, it’s not just meat anymore. It’s all these things. When you take into account the process the “natural” food cycle or food chain just isn’t natural anymore. Humans have warped the process and take more than they give. Consumption drives production and while one more vegetarian may not be much, it’s something. That’s a something I want to be a part of.
“Be the change.” – Gandhi
What Gandhi said is so simple, but it’s one of the things I try to keep mindful of everyday when trying to make conscious decisions. What kind of world do I want to live in? What kind of person do I have to be to make that world possible? Being vegetarian is a choice of compassion. My conscious decision to go vege (snicker) is a direct result of the compassion that I have begun to cultivate, not just during this monastery retreat, but before that too. It’s the baby steps, the causes and conditions that have lead me here. The conscious decision to stop living my life on automaton and really start living my life. It’s the little things–the day-to-day things–that help change the world. It really is that simple.
Sample of our vegetarian meals
I hate PETA and the shock value advertising tactics they use to get people interested in their cause. You’ll never see me picketing for animal rights or berating you for your food choices. I’m not against meat-eaters, but I’m against the ways we make our food and the systems that we’ve created and grown to become so dependent upon. It’s bigger than just meat and animals rights. It’s human rights too. It’s environmental rights. It’s oil. It’s our economy. It’s the homogenization of food crop and the genetically modified plants like Monsanto. It’s globalization. It’s everything. Taking the steps towards vegetarianism might not be much, and it won’t tackle this everything but it’s something. It’s a passive activism that I can get behind. And it’s learning how to live more consciously. Growing your own food. Buying local. Participating in a community garden share. Those are all something.
And so, I vowed never to date a vegan again but now I’m vowing never to eat meat… The changes in my lifetime are hard to believe sometimes, even to me. Especially to me. It’s a trip. Trippy. But, it’s also a journey. Maybe I’ll date a vegan again. Or at least know one person (my vegan NCMO) I can screw in New York. Maybe I’m not so puritanical, after all, but who knows. It’s been way too long to tell and that’s another story…
Leave a Reply
25 Responses to “I’m Going Vege!”
TrackBack URL :
Everbody’s going vegan! Meanhwhile, I’m reading this while drinking chocolate milk & eating yogurt…
Thank for making me feel terrible
haha.
lol i’m not going vegan!! just vegetarian.
as far as i know, chocolate milk and yogurt sound good to me!!
just wait…give it 3 months and you’ll be all in
hahah more like give it 3 months and i’ll be eating meat again..
actually I’m pretty lactose intolerant so it might be good to cut that out.. but I love cheese and yogurt too much!
Yum… your meals look delicious!
yes, they really are!!
Hello Janet,
It’s destiny…
Just for your infos I have started a small kiosk selling vegetarian food for the pass 2 months. I have no ideas i would do that but I just did. Destiny I guess.
I like the post, in fact there’s lot of interesting stories how people turn vegetarian.
I am not a vegetarian right now… if the destiny wants me to be a vegetarian in due time… vegetarian that is
anyway, great article and I salute you monastery retreat
wow where is this vegetarian stand?? hehe. maybe i should take a visit. you’re in malaysia?? or where..
Destiny huh? hehe. Here I was worried that my entry and writing in general is starting to sound very cheesy and new agey lately but you’ve brought on destiny.. hmm. Maybe it is, in that view of destiny I might agree with you. I just hate the cheesy language sometimes =/
I like vegetarian food usually, but that heart shaped dumpling is just weird.
lol, oh come on, not a fan of the heart-shaped dumpling?
we learned how to make them but got creative on how to close the filling. yumm.
I also remember you saying you’ve been vegetarian from 20sb..
Agreed on all accounts!! Good for you! Those dumplings look great. If you ever get a chance to come to NYC, visit the Vegetarian Dumpling House in Chinatown. Deliciousness!!!
yay!! I’m really glad to be taking this new journey in my life of vegetarianism
I think it’s an exciting step.. And rather than closing my options (meat).. I feel it opens sooo much more! Yayness! Definitely, NYC is a stop I really want to visit when I come back to the states! Vegetarian Dumpling House sounds good already!!
WHAT IS IT WITH GIANT GIRAFFE-LIKE VEGAN DUDES? When I went vegan I actually gained weight from eating too many bagels. Oops. Of course, my friends in my vegan circle were all giant, lanky dudes–picture perfect.
Stopped by from 20SB and loved this post. I look forward to reading more of your stuff!
i KNOW right!? i didn’t realize more vegans looked like giraffes too but YES they’re all tall and lanky. haha. Gaining weight by eating too many bagels would probably be something I’d do. Whoops. Haha. I’m not quite vegan here.. But almost nearly. I only sometimes get ice cream or fro-yo outside of the temple.. and sometimes we get pizza at the temple too! But most the meals are vegan.
I love meat, like every kind. Go to Buenos Aires for a few months next and try to not eat the beef haha
hahaha i’ve actually had another traveler tell me i should go to buenos aires and try their steak. this guy doesn’t like steaks but he loooved buenos aires steak. tempting. and that’s not to say that i won’t change my mind and give in to some meat eventually.. who knows! i’m not entirely sure how serious my sentiments are… i’m not really hardcore about anything now that i think about it.. but this is how i feel at this moment of my life
My husband and I are mostly vegetarians (we eat meat maybe once every few months). It really isn’t that hard at this point. I don’t even like most meat. Being a vegan seems much harder though. My husband was a vegan for a few years and he said it took up a ton of his time to check and see what was in each piece of food. I really enjoyed this post!
Vegan would be really hard. I don’t think I could give up yogurt/fro-yo, cheese and eggs!! I could give up ice cream only because there are such yummy vegan options for that that I love to buy anyway
I think it would also be REALLY hard for me to give up seafood.. I think meat is easy for me at this point because I don’t even miss it or like it that much. I think vegetarianism is as much a label and a club/group to belong to.. So I wouldn’t mind myself being more like you and your husband where I only eat meat (or seafood, most likely) every few months.. I think people get caught up on the labels and having to NOT eat meat because of it. when really I don’t have a problem with it on few occasion. it’s also a better way to ease yourself into vegetarianism!
I find your post about going vege very inspiring. This is coming from someone who has been avoiding veggies my whole life (I consider myself mostly meatarian. haha). Lol.
I don’t foresee myself being able to give up on meat completely, but I have been adding more veggies into my meals as I have been warned of the dangers of not having enough vege intake
aw i’m glad it was inspiring! I didn’t want to sound too high on myself or better than meat eaters. That’s not what it’s about. It’s just a personal choice but I respect other people’s choices too and really, who knows if I’ll change my mind. haha. Yes, the trick is to slowly add more veggies and ease it into your diet! You don’t have to go all the way veg, if ever, but humans don’t need to eat meat as much as they do! It shouldn’t even be the meal staple but it’s become a big part of our culture. I used to HATE vegetables but for some reason my tastebuds have really changed as I’ve grown up.
Great story! Vegetarians are almost always better looking aren’t they? Never figured that one out!
woohoo! I’m glad to be in the better looking club then!
I guess that they are. I don’t see many fat (chubby) ones and they usually look healthier and younger. Plus Natalie Portman is vegetarian and she’s one of my girl crushes..
I think it’s very admirable to give up meat. Between the ethics and the environment and the health issues, it just makes a lot of sense. But it comes down to me being too lazy to make the change…and too selfish, since I really like to eat meat. I need a vegetarian boyfriend to get me going on the right track. What I can imagine doing some day is giving up meat in my own cooking, but still eating it if I, say, went to a dinner party and the host served it (I wouldn’t want to inconvenience them…and I’d probably want to be naughty and indulge once in a while). I couldn’t go vegan–I love yogurt and cheese and milk and ice cream too much. Chocolate soy milk is delicious, but I need some real dairy here and there.
That vegetarian meal looks really yummy! I can definitely imagine going vegetarian if I could eat things like that.
Yes, for a long time I’ve been like you. Thinking it makes a lot of sense ethically, environmentally, etc. but never doing anything about it because of being too lazy!! In fact, a good rebuttal to this is to think “well, they’re already dead…” so you eat it when it’s available since its there to be eaten ANYWAY, and you wouldn’t want to waste food. Vegetarian boyfriends can be nice, but if you’re a meateater they can also get annoying. It’s important to just respect eachother and your choices. I would rather be what I call “humanistic vegetarian” which means that I’ll eat meat if people offer it to me or if there’s no other choice at a social gathering, etc. I don’t want to inconvenience people just because I’m against eating meat. This gives a happy balance.. Saying you choose NOT to eat meat on your own time, resources, and under your control. But if left out of your control, when others make food, etc. then you don’t mind eating meat because you’d rather not cause conflicts or issues. Telling people you’re vegetarian won’t automatically cause conflicts of course, but I think there’s a fine line there.. Between militancy and humanism.. If you’re faced with a situation where you might seem a little militant then I’d rather take the meat than make my point! So yes, definitely agree with your sense of ‘vegetarian’.. plus I wouldn’t mind the indulgence every now and then as well.. heheh.
And yes, it’s SO easy and yummy being vegetarian at the temple!! I would probably move to India for the food alone, also.
Good thought about vegetarianism. I would like to admit that I ain’t vegetarian, neither do I have anything against vegans. My consumption of meat and fish is limited to a few times a year, and I love it that way. I sort of have to cook my own food (emphasis on the ‘have to’), and since I don’t like cooking (especially can’t cook meat), I go the vegetarian way and I love it too. Vegetarian food is nice to taste, easy to cook and quick to digest as well. I recommend semi-vegetarian food (meat dishes only a few times a month) for cubicle dwellers. I like milk and most milk products, and also eggs sometimes. I don’t know what that makes of me, but I like the way I am.
Well, I don’t oppose PETA just because I don’t see anything in them except the noise they make around venues of importance, and that a host of celebrities take pride in saying that they are members of this group. I don’t know much about them and I don’t care. Having said that, I would also like to reinstate my love for animals be it domesticated or wild. And believe me when I say this, there is no animal species on the surface of the earth (underline the “no”) that we can’t make friends with.
Interesting entry. Keep writing!!