Business & Tech
In Foodie Heaven, Going Vegetarian For A Month
Can a devoted neighborhood carnivore give up meat for 31 days?
It would be difficult to find a harder-core carnivore than myself. I drop by and G. Esposito & Sons’ Pork Store on the regular and, when I’m not cooking their products at home, I can be found scarfing a carne asada burrito at Calexico or a burger at .
But after a 2010 that included my wedding (main courses: pulled pork and fried chicken), honeymoon (ten days of poutine and sausage in French Canada), a trip to Paris and Spain wherein I ate what might best be described as “all the ham” and a meat-fueled holiday season, I found myself feeling lethargic, bloated and altogether gross.
So I decided to give meat up for a month.
A week or so in, my experiment with vegetarianism is going pretty well: I swapped out my carne asada burrito for a black bean at Calexico: it was pleasantly hearty and two bucks cheaper than my usual order. Bonus! Monday, my husband chowed down on a shawarma platter from while I enjoyed an order of fattoush -- savory with za’taar spices, though heavier on out-of-season cucumber than I would have preferred.
It wasn’t until midway through the week that I found my groove, though. First, a visit to . As a carnivore, I alternated between the meatloaf sandwich and the BLT. This time, I ventured out to try the winter squash panini, a blend of winter squash, mozzarella and pumpkin-walnut pesto. It was hearty, hot, and delicious: a perfect sandwich for a cold day and one I think will remain in my ordering repertoire long after February 1, when I fully plan to start eating meat again.
The next day, I dropped by where I had the single best meal of my week: a garlic and herb roasted portobello perched atop a creamy mass of Northern beans and topped with lettuce and crispy fried shallots. Each mouthful was unctuous and rich. I didn’t miss meat once.
Neither was I regretful of my dietary restrictions during lunch at . For a starter, the smoothness of a mound of pureed cannellini beans perched on a just-crisp-enough bruschetta is set off beautifully by a drizzle of salty olive tapenade. The main course of a roasted vegetable and goat cheese panini didn’t disappoint either: warm and cheesy, it was the stuff snowy day dreams are made of.
Despite all this good eating, it’s been a long week. I’m still figuring out this whole non-meat protein thing, which means I’m hungry quite a bit of the time and I would sell my soul for an order of chicken pad thai from . Nonetheless, with the promise of an eggplant marinara sandwich at , a long-overdue visit to , and the vegetarian tasting menu at to tide me over, I just might make it through the next three weeks.
