What It's All About

I have been thinking about starting this blog for a while now. I was inspired by another cooking blog and by people’s reactions to what I do and don’t eat. This first post is just to introduce myself and explain what the blog is about.

I am a vegetarian and have been since I was about 10 or 11 years old. My wonderful mother was very supportive when I told her I didn’t want to eat meat any more. I had been inspired by a friend and had read quite a bit (at least for a kid) about meat and vegetarianism. I don’t think Mom thought I would actually keep up with the diet change, but I did and now, 15 years later, I still do not eat meat. There are many reasons for this type of diet (I use the word diet to describe regular eating habits, not the sort of eating that a person takes on for a limited time usually to loose weight), which I will talk more about later.

When I first stopped eating meat I was considered a lacto-ovo vegetarian, which means I didn’t eat anything that used to be alive, red meat, poultry, or fish, but I did eat dairy and eggs. But it turns out that as an adult I have a pretty bad milk allergy, so basically all dairy products are out of the picture. I do still eat eggs, although I do not know what to call my type of vegetarian, an ovo vegetarian?

When people discover that I do not eat meat or dairy, the first and most common reaction I get is “Well, what DO you eat?” This question is often very hard for me to answer. I eat food... grains, legumes (beans and bean like foods), nuts, eggs, fruit, vegetables. To me the list of what I do eat is so much longer than the list of what I do not eat, that it is hard to come up with an answer to that oh so often asked question. Also I have been doing the meatless thing for so long now, that the way I eat is totally normal and natural to me.

There is a more important underlying question that I think most people mean to ask me, how do you make meals without meat or dairy? This is a much more complex question. And part of the purpose of this blog.

My plan for this blog is to have information about food, vegetarian cooking, and vegetarian eating. I plan to post everything from recipes to how-to information to book reviews. I hope that the information on this blog will be interesting to a variety of people for a variety of reasons. Maybe you know me and just want to know what in the world I really do eat. Maybe you are a vegetarian or are cooking for one and want some ideas. Maybe you just want some new healthy meal ideas. Maybe you just want to be more informed about the food choices you make. Just because you eat meat doesn’t mean you can’t or shouldn't eat a meat-less meal once or twice a week, your body will probably thank you for it.