Former Vegetarian

I was a vegetarian for many years. And while I appreciated the plight of animal rights activists, it had little to do with my choice to not eat meat. I just didn't care for it very much and didn't miss it. Ultimately, the reason I started eating it again was to simplify. My partner is not a vegetarian. I do most of the cooking. At the time, she was a very picky eater. She didn't dislike veggies, but she was very particular with which ones she would eat and how she would eat them. It's simpler cooking one meal for two than two meals for one. Her palette has since expanded considerably, and she even tried, briefly, to live as a pesco-lacto-ovo vegetarian, but the diet, according to her tastes, was still too limited to be healthy. She prefers to relate a tale of turkey jerky, but really, that was a one time thing. Of all the meat sources, turkey's always been my favorite, and jerky is her favorite snack, so I wanted to taste it. I did, and I enjoyed it immensely. But it was a long time after that that I started adding meat back to my regular diet. :P As it is, I still try to keep it to a minimum. I try to approach it with a more eastern philosophy - as a flavoring more than a main ingredient. And when possible, I try to purchase free range, organic, humanely treated and killed products. Just because it's going to end up someone's dinner is no excuse to mistreat an animal while it's living.

I was a vegetarian for 4 years. And then I ordered a grilled vegetable sandwich that came with bacon on it. I didn't check to see if it had been left off. It hadn't. The first bite was so delicious. There's no going back to a pork free world.