At some point in my early teenage years I decided to stop eating meat. I was probably about 14 or so, and I'm pretty sure my best friend at the time also decided to stop eating meat — power in numbers! Nothing original there, I think there are lots of teenage girls who go through vegetarian phases, until some evil-doer comes along and tempts them with a big pile of fragrant bacon. I'd compare it to the number of young women who tell their parents they want to be a veterinarian when they grow up.
My youthful vegetarianism lasted four — count 'em, four — whole years, until one day I was sitting in a McDonald's with my friend Kellen. He was happily devouring a tray full of cheeseburgers and I was probably staring at him, making him feel self-conscious enough to persuade me to join him in his carnivorous delight. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it was not bacon that acted as my gateway meat, but Chicken McNuggets, with all of their glorious dipping potential and tantalizing sauces.
The funny thing is, I don't think it was the meat that I was really drawn to. Once I discovered there were highly suitable, soy-based "chicken" nuggets available (Schneider's Au Naturel anyone?), I bought them instead, even though I ate meat. But, as a 19-year-old preparing for a backpacking adventure around Europe, it was even more practical to give up this vegetarianism thing if only because it is so inconvenient to travel with dietary restrictions. Some may call this lazy, but it's a proven fact that human beings will usually take the path of least resistance.
As I got older, I still found myself eating vegetarian meals frequently because I enjoyed them (and because I don't like cooking meat), but I just couldn't seem to commit. I still ate meat, it was just easier. I've never believed that people shouldn't eat meat, I'm just fundamentally against the mass production of animals for human consumption. If people weren't meant to eat meat, they wouldn't have the teeth and digestive enzymes to facilitate this action. Animals who are herbivores by nature don't go around telling other herbivores to stop eating chickens and cows — they just don't eat the stuff.
So now, after many years as a "flexitarian" (a clever term for us sometimes-veggies) and a weekend trip to visit a vegetarian friend in Ottawa, I've decided to take the next step in my relationship with meat: I've stopped eating it full stop. No chickeny snacks consumed while inebriated, no bacon sneaking into my cream-based pasta sauces, no meats period. However, don't let me climb up on that high horse yet — I am still eating seafood, which makes me a pescetarian, not a vegetarian, but how many non-English majors are familiar with that term?
All in all, I haven't really made that big of a sacrifice, and the more I think about meat and how much I dislike preparing carcasses for consumption, the less I miss it. I'm not about to give up eggs and dairy though. I think becoming a vegan, while insanely restrictive and possibly unhealthy, may give you super powers (I saw Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, I know how these things work), but I also think it is way harder to give up all things animal-related than it is to cut out meat. Seriously, eggs and dairy are in EVERYTHING. Plus, you can't fake cheese, it's just not the same.
As good as a vegan restaurant like Aux Vivre (in Montreal) is, I still don't think I'll ever go vegan, it is way too complicated. Instead, I'll keep looking out for ethical options when it comes to eggs and dairy, and if I one day find myself with access to a farm where I know that the animals were treated with respect, I just might decide to eat their meat. For now though, I'm gonna stick with this no meat business (and possibly give up the seafood, too) and keep naively hoping that my efforts might impact the way meat is farmed — or at least I might lose a few pounds: I bet you don't know many fat vegetarians!
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