Dear America,
Recently, I attended a business luncheon hosted by a local restaurant. To streamline the process, the restaurant had put together a short menu of options for us, saving time on the ordering: fewer options = less time deciding and less time deciding = faster turnaround in the kitchen.
I was hungry, so anxiously perused the edited menu in search of something I could eat. There it was: a vegetable plate, my one option. Well, that’s not entirely fair – I was allowed to choose four side items to fill my vegetable plate.
I had seven choices:
1. Mashed potatoes 2. Sweet mashed potatoes 3. Fried okra 4. Steamed broccoli 5. Green beans 6. French fries 7. Pasta saladMmmm. How very tasty. Let me fill a plate with starches, some deep-fried goodness, and a little bit of oil-soaked pasta on the side. The steamed broccoli is the only item on that list of seven that vaguely interested me, but since the $13 price tag didn’t pull me in where the menu failed, I fasted that meal.
Not having been a vegetarian my entire life I understand the misconceptions. It’s easy to assume that a vegetarian simply eats no meat.
“What do you mean he don’t eat no meat?! Oh, that’s okay. I make lamb.”
It’s also easy to assume we only eat salads. We’re not rabbits. Look – the absence of meat does not a complete meal make, nor does the consumption of a salad necessarily satisfy. And please – stop being so fixated on where I get my protein.
I eat a diet chock-full of fiber-rich carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients, protein, simple carbohydrates, lots of antioxidants, essential fatty acids, and a few starches, as needed.
Where do you get that in YOUR diet? Because the last time I checked – America is fat.
Sincerely,
A Healthy Vegetarian
Look Who’s Talking!