Week 4: Polenta Quiche (& The V Word)

• Weight: 1/2 k down (2.5 down, 6.5 to go). Quite amazing…
• Energy level: Still poop out way too early in the day. Starting to suspect early rising is due not to more energy, but to Daylight Savings Time having ended.

I am not, and probably never will be, A Vegetarian. On the other hand, for about 5 months I haven’t eaten meat or poultry. And the Flax-y plan is all-out vegan. But I am certainly not A Vegan.

I would like to be. But it’s similar to how I’d like to be energetic: I see that it’d be a good thing, and I try to conduct myself as if I were; but, on the most basic level, I’m just faking it.

Intellectually and morally I’m on board. I’ve read, and been suitably appalled by, exposés of the meat industry such as Eating Animals and My Year of Meats. And my earlier assumption that V-ans are dangerously malnourished has been trounced. For example, my vegetarian son is an enthusiastic and accomplished runner. He recently earned 2nd place in the 61k heat of the Sovev Emek ultra-marathon. The guy who came in 1st place is a vegan. And so are the 1st, 2nd & 3rd place winners of the 200k (!!!!) heat. Googling “vegan athletes” produces 7,750,000 results.

So I’m convinced. And not eating animal products. But cannot declare myself a V.

I have been exempting myself at home from preparing/serving dishes with animal products. My family at first generously credited this to my having become squeamish in the presence of meat. I wish. It’s actually because I fear that, in a moment of weakness, I’ll seize someone else’s plate &, before he can react, cram his entire steak into my mouth at once. Sadly, I’m still powerfully attracted by the scent of roasting flesh. No matter how much time and effort I invest in the V meals, they seem a pallid & insubstantial alternative.

Case in point: the polenta quiche I prepared for Shabbat.

It wasn’t bad–just not equivalent to the golden, crispy, roast chicken my son prepared.

In general, while I’m not truly hungry these days, I deeply miss emotional/recreational/carnivorous eating. Absence of hunger ≠ satiety.

So I’m not a V. I’m simply not eating meat products today.