A Tale of Two Pizzas

Nina was out this afternoon, so I made lunch for Willow and myself. We didn't have much around, so Nina had suggested a Trader Joe's Gruyere pizza we had in the freezer. But that has ham, I countered. No problem, she said, just take off the ham before you cook it. I did it, and you can se the result. My side (on the left) was burnt and thin and Willow's looked delicious. Mine tasted OK, but it was far from filling. I had to supplement it with a protein shake.

—Todd

Day 14: A New Source of Iron

So I am with a late night gathering of friends and serving up hot chocolate. I casually look at the nutritional chart on the back: 35% of my daily iron needs!!!! You have got to be kidding me? I announce this to the group. Did you know this?? All shrug cluelessly. Why has this been kept a secret from women? I check the labels of all the other chocolate sources in my cabinet--there are many. The iron amounts vary--dark chocolate seems to have more--but they all have some in it.

Around once a month I get quite fatigued and am pretty sure it is iron depletion. In the past, I usually have eaten a hamburger or other red meat to boost iron levels. Well, I know what I'm going to do now...

Two Takes on the Protein Thing

"I figure if horses can eat green s**t and be strong and run like m*********ers why shouldn't I?" —Miles Davis, who gave up meat and began studying boxing in 1969 prior to recording Bitches Brew

"I hired a vegetarian moving company, but they were too weak to pick up the furniture"—Rita Rudner

—Todd

DAY 11: Brain Food

"It is true, as we are often reminded, that kindness to animals is among the humbler duties of human charity--though for just that reason among the most easily neglected. And it is true that there will always be enough injustice and human suffering in the world to make the wrongs done to animals seem small and secondary. The answer is that justice is not a finite commodity, nor are kindness and love. Where we find wrongs done to animals, it is no excuse to say that more important wrongs are done to human beings, and let us concentrate on those. A wrong is a wrong, and often the little ones, when they are shrugged off as nothing, spread and do the gravest harm to ourselves and others."

From Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy by Matthew Scully 

--Nina

Day 10: In Which the Co-Author "Accidentally" Ingests Pig

Yes, it's true. I had a power lunch at the Blue Water Grill today and there was jack squat on the menu for non-carnivore types. There was one item on the prix fixe I wasn't sure of: Harlot-shaped New England this or that. I asked and the waiter said it was fish. Fair enough. Fish is kosher under the new diet. I forgot that in the risotto portion there were "ribs." Completely forgot. I started eating it and saw strands of pig-flesh and then remembered. At that point, I could have delicately put the strands on the side of the plate and went about my business, I suppose, but I made a quick moral calculation: That pig will be no more alive if I don't eat it. Plus it looks very tasty. So, I ate probably 3 oz. of pork. I don't take that as permission to bail on this whole vegetarian thing though. The next time, I'll make sure it's a vegetarian meal. The only thing I saw there that fit that description was grilled cheese. Seemed kind of weird to get grilled cheese in a fancy restaurant like that, but next time I will. To make amends to Nina, I propose that she can indulge in one meat dish. Her birthday's in two days. Perfect!

—Todd

Getting Into It a Little-Day 9

Over the weekend we had salmon with sauteed cabbage and baked yams. So glad Todd agreed to fish. How could he go forever without sushi anyway? I cooked with teriyaki-flavored tofu for the first time and made fried rice for our Sunday meal. Nothing that exciting, but nourishment nonetheless.

I had to cook for a church function tonight and wanted to make sure there was something we could eat. I have been wanting to see how good vegetarian chili could be so I searched google for recipes. I found Spicy Two-Bean Vegetarian Chili on Epicurious.

I love Epicurious. I find them consistently reliable with such a vast database. This chili was full of veggies, beans (both kidney and black) and great spices including cumin and cinnamon. It asked for bulgar wheat as a thickener, but I was out of it. I substituted farro, a barley-like grain, and it did the trick. We'll see how folks like it tonight.

--Nina

Day 6: Talking Vegetarianism with the Soup Man

Close call yesterday. I decided to try the Soup Man, which I thought would be a nice change of place from Karen's on Astor. I saw "corn chowder" and asked for a bowl. But as the woman was pouring it, I looked again and discovered it was actually "chicken corn chowder." I stopped her before she poured it and asked what veg options she had. Mushroom Barley. Yuck. So much for the Soup Man. So I ate at Karen's where they had four vegan soup options. I got the red bean, which was pretty disgusting. Plus they forgot to include a spoon, so I ate it (3/4 of it, anyway) at my desk with a fork. —Todd

Day 6: Still Looking for Exceptions

Once a week I volunteer to help students with their homework. The students are Vietnamese and are from several families living under one roof. The last count had the number of occupants in the home at 20, but I only help about five kids. Coincidentally, I happen to love Vietnamese food (see earlier post) and always smell amazing things coming from their very busy kitchen. There are usually one or two women always present with a younger helper sitting on the kitchen floor chopping piles of lemongrass or other unidentified greens and seasonings. I secretly hope to be given a take-home bag one day, but it's not my motivation for coming. Well, this week my hopes were realized. The family said they would be dropping off something special to my home. I kept thinking of those delicious pork- or beef-filled spring rolls we used to order at the restaurant. I rationalized to myself that there was no way I was going to a) tell them I was vegetarian because I thought that would be rude and presumptuous or b) throw away perfectly good--heck, amazing--spring rolls. I reasoned there is a higher value of honoring our neighbor to our concern for the treatment of animals. So, thus philosophically armed, I was ready to face-off Todd when he got home.

Well, the delivery came. I ran out to receive the bag of goodies expressing a million thank-you's. I eagerly opened the bag and, alas, it was a warm, sweet soup  with rice balls injected with some form of bean paste. Not a sinew of meat in sight. Sigh. It was very delicious nonetheless.

--Nina

Day 4: Clothes Call

Last night, Nina asked (perhaps half-kiddingly) whether we should also make a point of wearing clothes that weren't made in sweatshops, etc. and are "cruelty-free." I thought about it and wondered whether we should also not eat food like strawberries that are picked by migrants in similarly horrible working conditions. I decided that you have to draw the line somewhere. Here's my rationalization: Working in a sweatshop might be horrible, but at least you could argue that the sweatshop worker's kids may have a better life. Maybe. But you can't do the same for pigs that are being slaughtered. If anything, their offspring's life will be even worse.

—Todd 

An Ode to Peanut Butter

Now that I'm brown bagging it almost every day and on a vegetarian regime, I expect to eat lots and lots of peanut butter sandwiches. I love peanut butter. When I'm really hungry, I eat spoonfuls out of the jar really fast, which gives me hiccups. When I have the time, I make a PB sandwich on toast with raisins and bananas. Not everyone shares the love. When we lived in Costa Rica, I discovered that peanut butter isn't universal. It seemed like only Americans eat it and it's as stereotypical American as, say, kimchi is for Koreans. (Wikipedia says it's also popular with the Dutch.)  Even here, it's treated a bit suspect. When I was eating a PB sandwich at my desk once, a colleague remarked that she didn't know that adults at peanut butter sandwiches, which is sort of true. I never see anyone else eating them here, except for one copy editor, who I bonded with instantly. Their loss. Peanut butter is filling, delicious and a completely vegan food. Trader Joe's is probably the best peanut butter out there and it's less than $2 a jar, meaning I could probably eat a week's worth of lunches for $2. And oh yeah, peanut butter can also save the world. 

—Todd 

Day 3: Eggs

I love eggs. I can eat three or even four a day, no sweat. Unlike Todd I have genetically awesome cholesterol levels so I can go to town on eggs and cheese and such. But as the egg industry is just as shady as the meat industry, I try to avoid supermarket eggs. I have been ordering my eggs at $4 a dozen from a local farmer in New Jersey who is committed to small farm methods of gathering eggs. I have not personally been to his Havenwood Farm in Newton, NJ, but I know friends who have worked with him personally. In addition to being a better choice as far as the farm's treatment of chickens, the eggs are delicious. They are large, with thick shells, firm whites, and deep yellow yolks that have some height to them when you crack them in the pan. Conversely, store eggs, even the organic ones, have paper-thin shells, watery whites and flat, pale yolks.

Now, a little thought has just wended it's way into my must-have-meat-justification system. Ken, the farmer, will seasonally sell his spent laying hens. Layers are not good eating--way too tough, but they make a rich soup broth. Would it go against this new philosophy to slurp up a tasty spent chicken noodle soup now and then? Hmmmm.

--Nina

Grumpy

Okay, maybe I'm partly grumpy from being woken up at 3:30 am by my cranky kid, but I do think some of my grumpiness comes from this whole non-meat diet. I almost had a melt-down at Trader Joe's today as I looked at all the delicacies I once filled my cart with. I simply could not bring myself to purchase "meatless meatballs". On the DISC personality profile, it shows that I am a high "S" which basically means I do not like change. I think I always patted myself on the back for not eating that much meat because I rarely ate steak, hot dogs or hamburgers. But the truth is, I now realize, I ate A LOT. It came in the form of bits of proscuitto on pizza, a hint of pork in a dumpling, or the stock of a soup. As I write, beloved chicken recipes dance before my eyes.

This is going to be a difficult journey for me, but God has taught me there is much one can learn from difficult journeys. And I also need to put this in perspective. As I shed tears over pate and meat lasagne, there is a world of incomparable suffering out there. When we started this blog, Haiti was hit by an earthquake killing tens of thousands of people and leaving many injured and starving people behind. It's important to keep this perspective. Not that my trial is unworthy of mention, but that it cannot dominate my life. At some point, I have to stop whining.

--Nina

An Inconvenient Food

One of the things you're supposed to do when you have high cholesterol is eat oatmeal, not just once in a while, but every damn day. If you look into oatmeal, though, you discover that the steel-cut sort tastes better than the quick kind. It's sort of like trying real maple syrup after eating Aunt Jemima. On the other hand, quick oats live up to their name—they're ready in about three minutes. Comparatively, it takes more than a half hour to cook some steel-cut oats, which is a long, long time to wait for breakfast, especially if you're going to work that day. This morning is MLK Day, so I'm not, but I was on Willow Duty and she threw a prolonged fit waiting for her oats to cook. There seems to be no way around this extended prep time. I've tried soaking oats the night before, but that didn't make it go much faster. I've also tried cooking it the previous night, but they don't taste as good. Turning up the heat only results in burnt oats sticking to the bottom of the pot. All this no doubt slows the adoption of steel-cut oats. But does it have to? I was thinking manufacturers could play up the long prep time in advertising, sort of like how the Peek Frean people did by stating that theirs was a serious cookie, not for the masses. McCann and other steel oats makers could claim their oats are for those who are willing to put in the time. Then again, in our time-starved society, maybe that's not such a great idea.

—Todd

Inauspicious Beginnings

As Todd already explained, trying to figure out when to begin this experiment was hard. We kept putting it off for various reasons. I guess the main reason for me is that I love the taste of meat. In fact, it is because of me that "pesce" precedes "tarian" and not "vege." My latest ploy was to claim that the frozen meat loaf in the freezer from my mother would be wasted and, of course, we are against waste! Todd won out in the end and we began today. You see, Todd has been going through a transformation in the last few years as he has devoured books like Fast Food Nation, Omnivores' Dilemma, Dominion, Consider the Lobster, etc. As he reads, he drops compelling little morsels of information at my feet such as, all male chicks are killed upon hatching or runt pigs are killed by smashing their heads or egg-laying hens are put in cages the size of a piece of paper. Unnerving bits of information that have actually kept me from picking up any of the aforementioned titles. But it came time for me to realize that I can't ignore the unsettled feeling in my gut that wasn't quelled by purchasing organic chop meat from Trader Joe's. So here we are.

I have some concerns about my 2-year-old daughter and how this will affect her, but I know she'll get plenty of protein from fish, beans, tofu, and cheese. (No, I'm not giving up my dairy!). I think mostly I just don't like major change--especially change that interferes with personal pleasures. And that's what turned the tides for me--how could I ignore this prick of conscience in the name of satisfying my lust for food? There's a spiritual side to these things--more on that later--and I am convicted. It's one thing if I disagreed with Todd's argument. I didn't. I was simply fighting it because I did not want to sacrifice the earthly things that make me happy.

--Nina

Day 1: Dealing with the Vietnamese

There was a lot of discussion about when exactly to start this experiment. We have some leftover meat in the freezer, for instance, so should we eat that first, give it away or give it to the dog? The last week we were also on vacation with the family, so we decided not to make that the first week since we'd spend most of our mealtimes defending our new lifestyle.

Officially then, things kicked into gear today. We had egg sandwiches at Starbucks for breakfast, not the most auspicious beginning because a. Eggs are kind of a compromise on my part since they still support factory farming and are rotten with cholesterol and b. They don't have an egg and cheese-only sandwich, so the barista merely took a slab of sausage and threw it in the garbage. If there's any point to eating vegetarian it's to save the lives of animals like pigs (much more on that later), so this still puts us in the negative category.
As I said, not the best way to start. Then, to complicate things, we found out our favorite Vietnamese restaurant, the one that initially attracted us to Nutley and then burned down and then moved to Montclair, is now just a few doors down from us. So that got us thinking: Is there anything vegetarian there? It turns out there is quite a bit. The spring rolls weren't quite as tasty with tofu instead of pork, but they were serviceable. My red curry with vegetables was great except for the occasional mushroom (which maybe I'll learn to love now, though I doubt it). Nina's soup was also fabulous, but she strongly suspected that it was made with chicken stock. We were tempted to ask, but the owner's English is at the third grade level at best and he was extremely busy tonight. Nina said she kind of didn't want to know so she can continue enjoying it. I differ with her on that opinion, to put it mildly. We left the meal as we often do these days, with Willow screaming because she fell and hit her head on the floor and with me frantically looking for her hat.

Why are we doing this? Here are a few quick reasons:

1. Factory farming is unbelievably cruel. You wouldn't subject your dog to anything close to this, so why are we so blase about putting, say, pigs--which are smarter than dogs--through it?

2. A meat diet isn't great for you. And it's really not good for me. My cholesterol count was 240 last time I went and, while a diet of red meat seems to be a fine choice for Nina's father, it could conceivably kill me.

3. Speaking of which, since my metabolism is slowing down, meat is an especially bad choice for me. I've been a steady 182 or so pounds since college, but recently hit 191 (today it was 189). I'm willing to give up steak to avoid a major gut.

4. Factory farming is also really bad for the environment. Switching to a veg diet might even do more to offset your carbon footprint than riding your bike to work.

5. I hate that over-full feeling after a meal and I think that I'd avoid that with a veg diet.

Those are my primary reasons, in that order.

--Todd

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