When I was a teenager, I stopped eating meat. I’ve never been much of a cook, but especially back then, I had no idea what went on in the kitchen. I’d never paid much attention. One evening, I’m watching my mom cook and was thoroughly grossed out by the bloody meat she was prepping for our dinner. My naïve little brain instantly declared that no animals be eaten by me ever again. Animals are cute and deserving of better than to end up on my plate.

I was 14 and living in Texas at the time. Not eating animals turned out to be very, very difficult. Try finding a vegetarian meal in cattle country in the 80’s – it was hard. I had to scale back my “no meat” policy to a “no mammals” policy. I begrudgingly ate only poultry and fish to get enough protein in my still growing system. Still gross but at least I wasn’t eating a being from own branch of the tree of life.

I tell you, I did feel a little bit crazy every time I had to explain my food choices. I come from middle class, southern folk and boy did the extended family just not get it. Pork or beef fat is in just about every dish so I know there was a bunch of “don’t tell her, she won’t know,” going on at gatherings. There was a lot of piling food on my plate, no matter what. I was really thin, people thought I should eat more. I was starving myself in their minds. It didn’t take long of not eating meat, for the smell of it cooking to be disgusting to me.

Over time, the Austin area became more vegetarian friendly and it was easier and easier to find a meal to fit my diet. After I started dating, I didn’t have much problem explaining my diet to new people. My Ex didn’t have an issue with it but again, the extended southern family issues repeated. Once I started dating my now husband, he gently and sometimes not so gently, razzed me about not eating beef. He comes from a ranching family, like “slaughter a cow for a family reunion barbecue,” kind of ranching family. He often teased, “you don’t know what you are missing.”

Little did I know….

On one of our first trips to Japan, husband and I went to a yakitori restaurant. We were drawn in to the place by the smoke billowing out of the place from their fires. We ordered beef and pork for him and a couple types of chicken for me. The food came to our table plate by plate, as it was finished. I grabbed a skewer that looked like a square piece of really fatty chicken. It wasn’t. After a bite or two, I looked over and tell my husband, “this buttery chicken is really good.” He burst out laughing…. “I don’t think that is chicken.” It wasn’t chicken, it was ham.

After that dinner, the smell of cooking meat started to not make my stomach churn. And in the next couple of years, the smell started to make my mouth water. I experimented with bacon – it was amazing. I moved up to various pork products, ham slices and pork chops. Eventually, I went to eat lunch with a friend and had a steak. It was a two for one lunch deal and holy smokes that was amazing. I ate my first burger in many years at Five Guys a few days later. I am now back to eating anything, anytime.

I found a few things not eating meat that I didn’t mention above.

• It’s expensive – husband and I could rarely make meals together or share plates at restaurants.
• Listening to your body is really important. I was ALWAYS hungry before I started eating meat again. I am not constantly looking ahead to my next meal now that I eat more balanced proteins.

Eating meat is not for everyone. I still have some ethical and gross factor issues with eating meat but it has changed my life. I do not have to think about food and where I eat as much. There are more choices for food. The food is more flavorful.

Are you a vegetarian or an ex vegetarian? What made you give up meat or start eating again?