Hi, My name is Dia, and I am a brain surgery survivor many times over. I have been diagnosed over the years with, in addition to my Becoming a vegetarian
Posted by Administrator on January 15th, 2009. Filed under: Vegetarian.I have always tried to incorporate as many veggies as possible in my recipes. One reason is because I have been slowly trying to give up meat and fish. This has been extremely hard for me (especially because of the fish) since I like many others, grew up with this idea indented in my brain– “God gave us animals for us to eat”. I’m not kidding, this is an exact quote from the pastor of my first church. In the King James Bible it states: And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. Apparently my old church like many, took the word “dominion” to mean slaughter, chop and fry. Seems humans just wanted a reason not to feel guilty about killing innocent animals for their own pleasure, and manipulated the words of the Bible to mean what they wanted them to mean.
When you grow up with this mind set, it is hard to shake it, but I have. Here are two of the reasons why:
Meet Pin and Fig, my two lovely dogs that made me realize eating meat was something I personally could no longer do. In some parts of Asia, they eat dogs. Many say this is animal cruelty at its worst. I agree, but how much of a hypocrite would I look like if I continued eating cow, pig, chicken, turkey, deer, rabbit, sheep and fish? If it is cruel to slaughter dogs for a good meal, it is just as cruel, in my opinion to kill any other animal.
I considered becoming vegan, but for now I am just going to go the traditional vegetarian route. I thought if I became a Pesce-Vegetarian, my life would be a lot easier. Creating meals, recipes, etc. would be a lot easier, but it wouldn’t make any sense if I didn’t want to eat animals. Fish are the animals of the sea and they deserve a life too.
So, for the next 30 days I am going to see how it goes. It will be difficult, but also fun creating recipes that don’t include meat. I honestly believe this blog will thrive–comfort food doesn’t need to include cow or pig to be delicious. Again, this is something I feel personally, and am not trying to push my point of view onto anyone else. I would never judge anyone who still likes a good hamburger or nice steak from Spagos. I just wanted to write a little post on the matter because my readers might wonder why there seem to be more and more vegetables and less and less meat products in my recipes. I will always give you alternate ingredients as well because I don’t want my carnivorous friends feeling left out. Let’s just see how it goes for now 
.
Cheers!
P.S. I guarantee if you watch this too, you would never eat meat again.
January 16th, 2009 at 10:07 pm
I hear ya, I have been tempted meself to go vegetarian, but I was told that my blood type needs red meat.
January 17th, 2009 at 7:18 pm
Dia — congratulations on taking this step! I did so many years ago, for the same reasons as you. There really are so many ways to cook delicious veggie food, you will never feel like you’re missing out. Have fun and bon appetit
Jen Jen — you may find this an interesting to read on blood-type diets:
http://www.earthsave.org/news/bloodtyp.htm
p.s. I’m “supposed” to be a carnivore according to my blood type, but I’ve been veggie for a long time and enjoy excellent health
January 17th, 2009 at 11:46 pm
Thanks Felicity, that really makes me feel better. The person I live with has been really bringing me down about it. But I’m happy to say I have had no meat or fish in 4 days, and I feel like I don’t even miss it. In fact I thought it would be more difficult to stop eating meat. After watching the video I just posted I don’t even want to drink milk or eat eggs now. It really disgusted me how these cows and chickens are raised and treated. People have been trying to convince me that eating free range eggs is OK because those chickens can run around and play, but I think unless I have my own chickens, I will never really know. I am going to start drinking soy milk now too.
January 18th, 2009 at 12:01 am
That’s great to hear. I was vegan on and off during my years as a veggie, but have been vegan again now for the past three years. I too would only eat eggs if I had my own chickens. BTW, if you don’t like the first soy milk you try, sample other brands as well… they do differ in taste.
January 18th, 2009 at 1:47 am
Thanks Felicity
I bought some soy ice cream as well.
January 18th, 2009 at 10:29 am
P.S. I have just been reading up on soy milk, and there is a lot of bad press about it because it has something in it that mimics estrogen. Some articles even went as far as saying it could bring back breast cancer in patients in remission if they were to drink 2 glasses of soy milk per day. And also make a woman’s menstruation cycle go out of whack.
I found two other milk alternatives : rice milk and this oat milk called oatly. Oatly sounds good to me because I bake often and apparently it has a better flavor than the soy. I ordered one of each and will be taste testing them soon to see which one is best for me. I am just happy there are so many alternatives.
January 30th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
Rice Milk is super delicious!
I’m very wary about these Soy scare stories. Personally, I think they are just propaganda started by the dairy industry.
So long as you’re not eating Soy for breakfast, Soy for lunch and Soy for dinner then you’ve nothing to worry about. The important thing to remember is everything in moderation is fine and there is certainly room for Soya in a healthy diet.
Congrats on taking this step.