Meat Log: Carnivorously Challenged

Day 27

So you may have noticed that there was no Meat Log last week. Apologies. Aside from how busy the week was, I realized that I did that math wrong. I was under the impression that I had until March 16th to forgo everything I love. Someone pointed out to me that 90 days would actually be April 16th. What a miscalculation!

What is the Point?

Meat is the best part of who I am. Until I began to be a vegetarian (which I only learned to properly spell last week), I looked forward to eating meat. It was at least one of the reasons that I got up in the morning (or afternoon). Now I have trouble seeing the point of food when I can’t eat meat. And let me tell you that the Super Bowl was a muted affair without all of the delicious animal products I usually eat. It would have been a complete loss if the Patriots hadn’t blown it.

Case in point, here are my top 5 favorite foods:

1. Prime Rib
2. Corned Beef
3. Any Steak
4. Chicken Wings
5. All Burgers

All of these are meat.

This is my stomach in every restaurant.

And it occurs to me that meat, culturally, is a kind of focus around which we build our meals. If you go to most restaurants you will find that there are a scant number of items where meat isn’t the point. I went to Olive Garden last month and found three items on the menu that didn’t have meat. Three of dozens. Outback Steakhouse (granted, it is a steakhouse) had one. Burger King has three if you include all the salads as a variation of one thing.

When I consider cooking a meal, I almost always start with the protein dish. I don’t think, Today I will make spinach! OH! I could use a 16 ounce steak as a garnish! Those same restaurants are a testament to the mentality. I ordered a veggie burger from Wendy’s recently and discovered that fast food without meat is awful. They literally handed me a junior bun with pickles, onions, tomatoes, ketchup, mustard, and cheese on it.

COME ON!

I take comfort in the probability that Burger King found a way to make it as bad for me as real meat.

It’s not like Wendy’s has the best buns. They certainly aren’t known for their fantastic collection of onions and pickles. Eating a Wendy’s bun with stock toppings is is kind of an insult. Burger King is the same way. I recently had a veggie burger, which was surprisingly good, and realized it was the only concession to the “not meat” crowd.

Now I’m not saying that I am owed veggie alternatives. It’s fast food after all and probably shouldn’t be a staple of my diet. And if you get what you pay for, you probably can’t expect a lot for $1.99. But it does come back to my point about the centrality of meat. Restaurants seem to admit that there is not point in their food without it. The few veggie options are a token offering to the tag-alongs that go with their friends.

Ignorance Is Not Bliss

When everyone found out that I was quitting meat they posted all kinds of vegetarian articles, blogs, tips, and whatnot on my Facebook wall. I can say with complete certainty that I haven’t read any of them. Thanks to the meat war I have actually read more articles about preparing meat than about vegetarianism. I have become acutely aware of that failure.

I’ve hit a wall. I do not believe I will gain anything more from this adventure until I change my tactics. The challenge, in the coming weeks, will be to do more than survive without meat. I mean to thrive.

As a final note: Sorry to all you Patriots fans. Hope the NBA season treats you better.