For Meatless Monday, learn about one man’s
decision to go vegetarian. This is the third installment of a three-part
series. Read the first installment here and second installment here.
By Mark
Donahue
I used
to permit myself a cheat meat meal once a year, but I gave that up in 2010
after tasting my father-in-law's BBQ ribs, which I used to love. That evening
they nearly made me wretch right there on the pool deck.
My
in-laws still can't believe I did it, though they've accepted it a little more
as the years have passed. They like to imply that I'm whipped or something. I
can only ask the straight men among them if they could've resisted a chick in
leg warmers feeding them delicious food. And since then, my wife Erika has gone from a
pretty good vegan cook to one who puts pro-quality offerings on the table every
single meal. It's even become one of our little dreams to start our own
restaurant in this lacking local market.
We've
been joined in all this by our two children, Ella and Archer, three and two,
respectively. We finally have more mouths to help finish the leftovers, which
there always were so much of when it was just two of us. The vegetarian diet my
kids eat (they get some dairy and eggs) has so blown away any preconceived
notions I had about a non-meat childhood it isn't even funny. Both are smart,
healthy, extremely energetic and big, particularly Arch, who has exceeded all
percentiles for growth. He's the new Mountain Man.
All I
can say is that I royally lucked out in becoming a vegetarian by meeting my
wife. It was all given to me. But I hope this doesn't dissuade anyone
considering giving up meat from another angle, for health or ethics first, as a
single person, divorced, etc. It took time, but I did come to understand the
real reasons one should do it, and I've embraced my diet as part of my
identity. I've even considered going all the way to vegan.
I
highly recommend it from a health standpoint, an environmental-impact
standpoint and a kindness-to-animals standpoint. For me, it's become about
being a good person to all living things and the earth itself. I don't claim to
be a great environmental evangelist, but it just seems right. I hope you would
consider it too.