The title of this doodle is “The Vegetarian”. Yes. One day I may look like that.
Recently, I have become a social meat eater. But why? Nothing as dramatic as quiting alcohol since January 2008. Of which, I still owe you a why. And I will. Meanwhile, why give up on meat?
A simple answer would be: romancing with a different lifestyle. To be frank, I have little feeling towards another chicken dies because I want one of its legs for my lunch. Though now that my dietary doesn’t necessarily require the killing of say a chicken, it seems like a good thing to do. I am more intrigued by the studies that say meat takes much longer time to digest compares to vegetables. Or in one of the talks, the exact words used was “meat rots longer inside our stomachs”. Gross, I know. But maybe there is an ounce of truth in it. Maybe we don’t need to eat meat to live.
I do eat vegetarian meals from time to time. Catholics abstain from eating meat on the Fridays of Lent. Or to follow the older tradition, the entire 40 days of Lent. My Chinese heritage encourages me to abstain from eating meat during key occasions, such as the first meal of the Chinese New Year. Even when I am outside Hong Kong, I still follow that tradition till today. It was hard, especially when I was studying overseas. No one around me seemed to understand. But I know if I do follow, my parents would be happy. Even when I am thousands of miles away from them.
What on earth is a “social meat eater”? If I am on my own, I would stick to vegetarian diet, provided that I can find it. If I am with my friend, I would order vegetarian dishes if it is not too much of a trouble. Otherwise, my next choice would be seafood. I probably wouldn’t feel bad eating meat with my friends. Because this decision of mine is neither based on religion nor on the basis of health. It is a lifestyle choice.
Now, how do I feel eating vegetarian dishes most of the time? Initially, I felt unfulfilled, to be honest. I got hungry very often. Normally I would get depressed. Like during the days when I have to stick to non-meat dishes (such as Lent). This time round, unknown to me, I do feel happy not eating meat. More than one week has passed and I think my body begins to adapt to the lack of meat diet. I eat fruits when I feel hungry at night. I choose brown rice when it is available. Back to how I feel. In fact, I feel great, happy. Seems more agile. Less lethargic. Maybe because my body doesn’t need to work so hard to digest the food, I don’t know. All of a sudden, I feel like doing more exercise. What a transformation!
The next thing I wish to do is to work out a nutrition table. If I am going to be a serious vegetarian, or social meat eater, I need to make sure that all my daily nutrition intake is taken care of.