A few of nights ago, I watched the movie Vegucated.  While not overtly substantive, I did find it to be a funny, interesting documentary.  For those of you who’ve watched Food, Inc, you would find this movie much in the same vein.  Its basic point is to educate us on food agriculture, processes, & more importantly… show us that not only shouldn’t we support the meat & dairy industries, that we don’t need/have to.

I don’t know if Vegucated quite makes its point perfectly, as it would probably take quite a bit longer than an hour ‘n change to do so.  And while I was frustrated by the one-sided fact spouting, I was able to put that aside & ingest the message.  Not surprisingly, it hit close to home on quite a few things that, while I don’t regularly like to think about them, do give me pause from time to time.

Many questions come to mind as I ponder the omnivorous lifestyle most of us Americans have chosen.  While some of these appear easy to answer at first take, I think they, at the very least, should be questioned on a slightly deeper level by each & every one of us.

• Do humans need meat to eat?
• Should we eat meat?  (Very different from the above question.)
• What kinds of meat are “ok” to eat?
• Why are these “ok” & others not?  Is it purely culturally-based subjectivity, or can the decision be rooted in physiology?
• If we do eat meat, should we care how the animals that we eat are treated &/or slaughtered?

If you know me personally, you’ll probably find it strange that I am even asking these questions, as I have always been a fan of meat, of many kinds of meat, & when it comes to red meat, I even it like it quite rare.  I totally dig me a bloody, super tender, cut of filet mignon steaming with a slab of butter on top of a heated plate from Ruth’s Chris.  My Cuban heritage gives me a strong affinity towards pork of basically every style & way… And cured meats are my some of my absolutely favorite things to munch on (it’s bacon!)  I could go on & on about my  taste buds enjoyment of flesh, but it’s making me hungry…

The whole point of this is I’m trying.  What am I trying, you ask?  I’m on Day 2 of a month-long Vegetarian Experiment.  In this case, vegetarian means no meat.  No fish.  No shellfish.  No eggs.

I won’t go into the differences of vegan vs vegetarian here as you can Google that yourselves, but no, I am not eliminating dairy.  One of the questions I do NOT ask myself (although I’m sure many do) is whether or not it is ok to consume dairy.  Given everything I’ve read (yes, I know we’re the only mammals to do so after nursing, etc. etc.), the conclusion I’ve personally come to, is that I’m ok with it, so I’m not including this as part of my experiment.

My goal is to just do it.  See how it feels.  See how I physically & mentally react to it.  See if it feels like something I could do permanently.  If not, why would I not, & what would justify closing the open questions above.  If I determine that I am just not willing to give it up for life, what steps would I have to take to eat meat, but also feel that I’m not betraying my…. morality (?) by doing so.

As a brief intro to what the coming blogs will look like, I can tell you that so far, it pretty much sucks.  It’s not that I’ve begun craving meat, but I do feel like options are SO unbelievably limited that it makes eating a serious chore.

I’ll continue to post additional observations & thoughts.