Vegetarian

To save me from having to start yet another blog that probably nobody will read - I decided to quickly jot in here why I have decided to slowly become a vegetarian (5-6 days a week or so to start).

When I was a teenager it's something I wanted to try.  I wanted to see what it was like to not eat meat.  Possibly not eat fish as well.  I just wanted to try it and see what it's like (be in a vegetarian's shoes) and to see if I could do it.
When the question was raised to my parents - my mother instantly shot it down because she didn't want to do the extra cooking and preparing of a meat-free meal for me.  Fair enough.
When I was in university and living on my own - I easily skipped meat in my lunches (peanut butter sandwiches or Kraft dinner was good enough!) but usually had meat for supper thanks to the food court that I worked in at the mall.  I ate for free where I worked and it was on a paper plate - so there was minimal dishes to be done...why not?  And meat's somewhat expensive (at least chicken is in Nova Scotia) when you're living on your own and on a student budget.

Then I married someone that enjoys Chinese food as much as I do - and I never thought of becoming a vegetarian until I met one of my best friends, Sarah.
She's presently a vegan (something I could not personally do but kudos for her and all the other vegans out there!) but when we met - she was a vegetarian, occasionally eating fish on special occasion.  I thought about converting then - but wasn't sure if I could do it or wanted to.


After a few years of being married - we moved to Finland and had a baby - definitely didn't want to try a vegetarian diet then!  I exclusively breast fed and ate like a pack of lions!  It takes a lot of energy to breast feed - surprisingly.
Anyway, besides the point.
Now that my son is DONE (it's been a week and a half - wahoo!) - I feel comfortable enough to stop eating meat and fish.  I'm almost 25 and I think this is a huge deal for me, as eating meat is a huge part of the Chinese culture.  Yes they eat lots of vegetables and rice too - but meat is where it's at with the Asians.


Some foods I have eaten since trying this new diet (I only started yesterday, January 18th):

• Flash-fried spinach with garlic and avocado...yum.  It's heaven.  Who knew avocados could be pan-fried and with a bit of soya sauce - be SO FREAKING DELICIOUS?!
• Cheesy garlic bread topped with some avocado slices sprinkled with pepper and drizzled with sesame oil...how weird yet absolutely yummy!

Those are the big and new things to me.  I always thought avocados were strictly for salads, sandwiches and the mighty guacamole!  

I am borrowing some vegetarian cook books from friends and am so excited to see what else there is besides "salad".

It's not for everybody and I am not one to preach life styles to anybody else.  But I am enjoying it so far and find that Finland has lots of great vegetables and alternatives for people of all kinds of food-life styles.

Especially those with lactose-intolerances and Celiac.

And yes, I will cheat occasionally and eat meat or fish when on holiday or visiting, so as to not inconvenience someone else into preparing me a special meal.  

I just feel more energetic already - and it's been less than 72 hours!