I was a vegetarian - but now I'm a happy meat-eater

The Irish Independent ^ | February 18, 2003 | Louis Williams

[MadIvan]

I was brought up vegetarian, and remained that way until relatively recently, when a visit to Paris inspired me to move over to the carnivorous side of the culinary divide.

And since then, I've been catching up I've tried pretty much everything from hamburgers to snails to steak tartare. I've found that while chicken and turkey leave my taste buds cold, nothing can beat a medium rare fillet steak, preferably washed down with a glass of red.

My life as a vegetarian started when my parents took a trip to Amsterdam. I would have been about six at the time, left behind with my two sisters.

Rather than trying out psychedelic drugs like any sensible free-from-the-kids parents would have done (it was the 70s after all), my parents had to land in a restaurant where they tasted vegetarian food for the first time. It was called The Golden Dawn and they're a bit hazy on any other details "they wore robes and had turbans" is all they'll say.

Anyway, after that meal they swore never to eat meat again and they've never looked back at a fry-up with regret. My sisters and I had to go along with it we went from being a meat and two veg family, to being a veg family.

It's not like meat was a taboo in my house. I don't remember ever feeling guilty for stuffing down sausages at friends' parties; in fact I never missed the opportunity. But gradually, as I got into my teens, I established vegetarian convictions of my own. I wanted to be a vegetarian (didn't know any better, I like to think now) and I thought it was wrong to kill animals for food.

Like my parents (smoked salmon vegetarians if ever there were any) I continued to eat fish. Logical? Not really. But you can fall back on that argument that fish don't feel pain, so you don't actually hurt them by having them killed to feed you.

If you eat fish, visits to restaurants are much more enjoyable; you don't have to settle for the dreaded 'vegetarian dish' always a mushy amalgam of vegetables drenched in melted cheese.

I wasn't one of those vegetarians who felt the urge to lecture meat-eaters about the wrongness of their ways. But I did find that friends had certain expectations of me as a vegetarian. That I was terribly sensitive about butchers, for example. So they would practically shield my eyes from the carcasses when we passed a butcher's van. But really I was not offended by the sight of meat hanging up after all I didn't eat the stuff.

If, by accident, I ate a dish that contained meat stock or some small pieces of meat, they would also expect that I would a) be traumatised and b) get sick. Neither ever happened to me and I never had an upset tummy as a result of eating a stray piece of meat.

On the down side, dinner parties can be quite fraught. You run a couple of risks if you don't know the host, because they may not know that you're a vegetarian. You have two choices: you can alert them, so that they can make a dish that will suit you. Or you can wing it and hope that it won't matter. There you run the risk that they'll have to spend the whole evening in the kitchen rustling up a quick omelette for you. Either way, it's a hassle.

And so it went despite a year spent living in Paris (so many missed opportunities), I stuck to my vegetarian guns.

But gradually, after about 20 years as a vegetarian, I found my convictions leaving me it was frankly boring living off vegetables and I was missing out on so many wonderful classic French recipes and combinations.

And so to breaking point. I had been feeling run-down for months and I was pining for a change. I cracked in Normandy, on a work trip. I was offered a choice: a slice of pork sizzling straight from the oven or over-cooked vegetables accompanied by crackers and cheese. That first forkful of pork was sheer heaven.

The next day I set out on a voyage of discovery first stop snails in a local restaurant in nearby Brittany. The snails had been marinated in Pernod, and tasted slippery, salty and very very boozy. They went down a treat.

On to Paris, where I had the best steak of my life. It was small but perfectly formed a fillet steak, medium rare, served with pepper sauce, accompanied by pommes dauphinoises and a side order of grilled leeks. I was amazed and thrilled that the dish could be so small and yet so perfectly balanced and leave me feeling so sated the experience was unforgettable.

I've tried brains (not recommended on health or aesthetic grounds), I've tried confit de canard (delicious, duck cooked in its own fat). Hell, I even tried tripe on my last trip to France (looks like fish, tastes stale ugh). So I like to think I've been very thorough in my explorations of the world of meat.

And I can definitely conclude that it's better to eat meat it tastes amazing, it combines brilliantly with herbs and wine and it really does open up a new world to your taste buds.

Somewhere along the way of my exploration of the aesthetics of meat, I realised that I really didn't care that animals were dying in order to keep me content with my diet. Well, to be a bit more nuanced about it, I'd like them to have been kept humanely before being killed.

And now that it's easy to get organic, free-range meat at some shops and restaurants, there's really no more excuse for being a vegetarian any more.

[Desdemona]

Ever have a bout of anemia? It's not fun. The fastest way to pump up the body's iron numbers, for ladies in child-bearing years, is a couple good steaks. Just cutting back on meat, really did nasty things to the system. Being lactose intollerant doesn't help either. Without meat and a little dairy, some people develop gastro-intestinal problems. Those aren't fun either.

Be vegan, vegitarian all you want. Some of the rest of us want no part of it. Cutting back on carbs is what helped me lose weight and regular exercise, not smoking, and a daily glass of wine does wonders for the heart.

I'm glad the writer saw the light. Now he has to taste my Italian chicken.

[jeremiah]

I have cut out pasta, bread, potatoes and rice. Eat fresh veggies, meat and cheese. I feel great, although the weight loss some told me to expect hasn't come. I have lost some, and am not hungry for late night snacks, or for candy etc.

[July 4th]

I'm sure that the guy has had some wonderful meals in Paris, but he hasn't had a real steak from the USA yet.

I haven't had one good piece of beef in Paris. Duck? Fantastic. Chicken? Perfect. Mussels? The best I've ever had. But there's just something about their beef that was lacking.

I got out of Paris for a while, and made my way to Amsterdam. There, I found a steakhouse serving Argentinean beef. I haven't been that happy in a while - it was like the French curse of stringy toughness had been lifted. This author would be a lot happier eating beef elsewhere.

[aruanan]

Kudos to the French for one thing - one less vegetarian in the world is something to be grateful for.

That's exactly what went through my mind.

[Hang'emAll]

If it doesn't have a face, I won't eat it.

[B-Chan]

My wife and I were also converted from the ranks of the meatless by the culinary temptations of Paris. The only restaurant we could find within an easy walk of our riverfront rive Droit room on that cold aftternoon was this little mamán et pére place off the Rue de Rivoli. It was one of those small, menu-less restaurants -- the kind of joint where Pére pours you a glass of the house red while Mamán goes upstairs to the kitchen to bring down whatever's on the stove that day.

In our case, it was sliced roast pork with lentils, served mixed and steaming hot on plates of blue china. The smell was like someone in Heaven had left the kitchen door open. We took one look at each other, rolled our eyes to the skies, and dug in.

French politics are one thing. French food and wine are another. While I have little use for the gang of cut-rate DeGaulles over at the Elysée Palace, I'll say proudly and for the record that the food, wine, and general joie de vivre of France are the finest in the world. Vive la France.

[lysol@whitehouse]

No, despite being a vegetarian and now vegan for 30 years, anemia was never a problem. No gastro-intestinal problems either thankfully. I prefer a high complex carbohydrate, low fat, low salt diet...avoid simple carbohydates like sugar, and eat more complex carbohydrates such as baked potatoes (without butter or sour cream). I agree with the daily glass of wine! BTW: for anyone seriously interested in improving their nutritional status and achieving an ideal body weight, read "The Pritikin Weight Loss Breakthrough: Five Easy Steps to Outsmart Your Fat Instinct
by Robert Pritikin"...well researched and written...
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0451195728/qid=1045579771/sr=8-2/ref=sr_8_2/102-7125074-8915369?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

[Wolverine]

Meat eaters snackers and cola drinkers

[KLT]

Yep, animals are definately tastier then plants...no doubt....LOL

[B-Chan]

Not only would I continue to eat meat after touring a slaughterhouse, I have continued to eat it after shooting, gutting, skinning, dismembering, and butchering animals myself. Taking one of God's creatures apart for the sake of food is a great way to see for yourself what a miracle life is. Even the lowly squirrel is a marvel of complexity; how much more miraculous is the endlessly complex human mind?

There is nothing wrong with killing per se. Human beings are killers by nature. Killing animals for food or self-defense is a righteous act. Besides, every time you use mouthwash, you're killing animals, scalding billions of tiny creatures (bacteria) to death -- and every one of them is a work of art, a living system millions of times more complex than a computer chip. Should we stop using mouthwash, too?

Our ancestors ate meat, vegetables, milk, honey, and fruit. That's the fuel we are designed to run on. (Note: refined starch and sugar were unknown to them.) By limiting oneself to vegetable foods only, one goes against nature -- and that can't be healthy.

[Kevin Curry]

Brilliant! Let's hear it for . . . tasty charred animals.

Ummmmmmmmm. Tasty charred animals.

As an experiment to get my cholesterol and trigylicerides down a bit (I am not overweight, but my triglycerides have always been a bit on the high side) I once without without eating meat for four months. Toward the end of it, I went to a luncheon where prime rib was served. After the meal was over and the speaker had started, but before the plates had all been cleared away I remember detecting the odor of decomposing flesh. It was quite pungent and unpleasant.

I started eating meat again the next week and haven't noticed the odor since.

[Paul_B]

Amen. My story also. Went from vegan to a balanced diet low in starches. I've found the Schwarzbein books to be balanced and most excellent.

[William Terrell]

I suggest that the primary nutritional challenge to Americans includes a diet of excessive fats and protein.

Veganism or vegetarianism doesn't follow from an excessive diet of fats and protein. There is no need to be excessive; a moderate amount of animal protein per day or every other day will do the trick. Veganism and vegetarianism is a massive overcompensation.

Besides, excessive fats and carbohydrates is the problem. Remember that material that doesn't fit into the proper proportions to yield a usable protein is used as a carbohydrate by the body.

Why walk a razor edge of malnutrition when you can get all you need from a small amount animal muscle tissue, prepared properly?

[lysol@whitehouse]

Good thread; it was fun and issue based! Took my mind off of our frustrating delay in removing Saddam, and endless TV chats about 'What about our image to the rest of the world??'
GO GEORGE W BUSH! We finally got a good one!!

[Mamzelle]

People assume that eating fat raises cholesteral levels. For that matter, it hasn't been established yet that elevated cholesteral is a cause rather than an indicator of heart disease. It's now suspected that eating more fat, even animal fats, may very well lower triglycerides. It has yet to be proven either way.

But it can't be argued that being overweight increases many bad health risks, the most obvious of which is diabetes.

Chickens who eat grain make fat-and-protein-rich eggs. Does it follow that eating those eggs puts fat in our arteries?

I have discovered that a calorie is *not* a calorie is not a calorie. The body metabolizes what we eat in many ways. The bread and cereals I used to eat in the mornings would send my blood sugar jumping around, and I was famished by ten o'clock in the morning...then shortly after lunch I wanted a nap. That's all behind me. I have a princely breakfast of meat and eggs and lo-carb bread, some nuts or a salad for lunch, then a normal supper with lots of buttered green veggies (I've found I crave fresh, steamed green veggies now like I used to crave sweets) for dinner. No bread, no cookies or cake, few taters, and only small servings of fruit.

I started on Atkins, and am now trying to *stop* losing weight and learn to maintain. Never had a moment's hunger. I used to be quite the baker, but I'm going to order some lo carb baking stuff (gluten and soy flours and nut flours) and see what I can do about brownies.

[lafroste]

You sir are obviously an ill-informed, cliche spewing drone.

[Sloth]

That sounds like one of those made-up lists the homosexuals use. BTW, I'm sure da Vinci and Newton are spinning in their graves after having their contributions set on par with those of Dwight Yoakam and Joe Namath.

[lafroste]

your physician will marvel at the decrease in your blood pressure!

Oddly enough, eating the vegan way (for the most part) did not ease my hypertension. Only when I said the h5ll with this veggie routine, threw out the nutritional guidance from mainstream health advisors and brought on the meat, sausage, eggs, and cheese did my blood pressure, cholesterol, and triglycerides plummet dramatically. Did it ever occur to you that some people do better on a carnivorous diet than a herbiforous diet? probably not. You likely assume that everyone basically is the same with only minute variations. Your diet would kill me, so knock off your sanctimony.

[Luna]

I used to be a meat-eater, now I'm a happy vegetarian.

And it has nothing to do with animal rights!! It's just a healthier way to eat.