Meat.

For the past two years, I've been a vegetarian. Recently, I've been thinking about not being one.

In 2004, rather suddenly, I said goodbye to pork. What began as dislike, turned to aversion, and finally settled on phobia. Yes, friends, I am afraid of pork.

In 2007, after a visit to the Arizona Science Center that opened my eyes to the ugly reality of atherosclerosis, I decided to stop eating red meat.

Awhile later, I read the book Skinny Bitch. This book made me see meat as something totally different. Carcass! In my mouth! I haven't eaten meat since.

There are so many good reasons to stop or cut back your meat consumption. Your health is a biggie. A lot of meat contains hormones, antibiotics, and other harmful chemicals. It contains sick fat that you don't find in non-meat foods. Some of it even contains feces. The environment is another reason to reduce meat consumption. Raising and transporting livestock and meat makes up a good chunk of environmental pollutants. Another, and perhaps the most compelling, reason to stop eating meat is the horrible conditions of factory farming. The way that millions of animals are treated is absolutely deplorable. Animals are beings, and treating them so inhumanely is a gross display of human power and insensitivity. None of these reasons are why I couldn't just start eating meat again. I just couldn't bear the thought of flesh in my teeth. Incidentally, this is Noah's favorite part about eating meat. He is a caveman, obvs.

I like being a vegetarian because, even though none of these are the reason I don't eat meat, I do enjoy the benefits of them & I know I am a part of doing good in a simple way. I also like that, simply by being a vegetarian, I challenge the way people think, which I think is hugely important. I cannot tell you how many people say "well, what do you even eat?" and "oh, i would absolutely starve!" Many people also think they know who vegetarians are. Flower children, tree huggers, PETA freaks. The crunchy granola, commune dwellers with dreadlocks and permanent peace-sign hand. A lot of us are just people who saw a choice and made it. We're not weirdos, we just don't eat meat. That's it!

But lately...I've been seeing some meat recipes that pique my interest. & honestly, I'm beginning to want to open my options a bit. I don't cook at home, and it is very difficult to find a restaurant with more than three vegetarian options on the menu. Often I am forced to order two side dishes and call it a meal. It's weird going to dinners where people worry "what will I feed Ari?" and missing out sometimes, because I just don't want the attention. I guess I'm saying that there's a downside, and maybe I'm just tired of thinking about it all the time.

 Except, the very reasons that I never needed to stop eating meat are what keep me from starting again! Yeah, okay, I am missing out on some recipes and dinner invitations, but I have it way better off than the chickens whose talons are fused to their tiny cages. Can't I make these small sacrifices to be one person who says "no" to being part of something so awful? I mean, I guess I could buy organic products from cage-free, grain-fed, pasture-raised animals. & that is totally what I would do. I just can't separate the food from its origin, and I'm not sure I ever will be able to. 

I bet you didn't know that eating could bring so many questions to the table.

{pun most certainly intended}

A.