I mean, yes one of them is to do with the way the animals are treated. I've always been aware that I am eating something that once was alive and is purely bred for my benefit so that I may cover it's remains in gravy and munch on with a nice bit of mash. I really (and I push this) don't want to become a preacher, whereby anyone who cooks steak around me gets the whole "an animal died for your food" speech, resulting in a heated and almost always awkward argument around the subject. I hate all that. But I would like to know that what I'm eating didn't result in this huge industry which has so much controversy surrounding it. Nor am I saying that preaching is a negative thing, I live with a vegan for crying out loud. I've had my fair share of preaching debates. (Before you wonder if that offended Miss Vegan, it didn't. I actually respect her more than anyone I've ever met for being so strong to her beliefs.) I will admit that in a way, some of the things she said do have resonance with me. The main point being that I am so very against animal cruelty, hence why would I subject so many of them to such cruelty simply to eat? We are no longer in such a day and age whereby we have to stab mammals with a huge spike and drag them back to the cave to munch on. We have so much freedom in our food and I really want to discover that.
I also want to know what it's like to restrict myself to something, which I do enjoy being in my life. Don't get me wrong, I love meat. Especially chicken. It's not all I eat but I do try to buy decent meat and cook decent meals when I'm feeling a bit rubbish or in need of a really good meal. I'm not religious and so have never taken part in a time period whereby I cut something out of my life for my beliefs. But I do think that, due to the profession I would like to go into, restriction is something invaluable to me. Acting requires an immense amount of discipline and control, so why not teach myself that already and restrict my diet? It makes sense right.
Also, I do think it's something to do with health. Most of the food I consume is beige. And no that's not always meat. Potatoes, pasta, cheese and bread are all vegetarian and inevitably are a bigger part than they should be in my daily diet. And so I'd like to change that. I'm hoping that slowly but surely I will simply get bored of eating nothing but these foods, (although cheese is one step away from an addiction to me) which will in turn will expand my mind to go and pick up that carrot in Tescos and make a meal out of it. I want colour back in my life and I may as well start with my diet. I also think it would make me feel that little bit less like a lazy student, which I know I can be at times. (I type this at 3.45pm having done absolutely nothing except make a lasagne today and boringly flick through trashy TV shows.)
My game plan is not to go cold turkey, as it were. Please excuse the meat pun. I am going to phase this in, in order to remove the temptations from my head one animal at a time. Beginning with beef. Which is a cheat really seen as though I do eat very little of it. Never the less, as of today, this is what I have done. Then I'll cut out seafood, then turkey, pork and eventually... sniff... chicken. I don't expect everybody to do it or be on my side. As a matter of fact, I don't actually think I'll cope once the chicken disappears. I like KFC waaaay too much and qourn chicken is actually abysmal. But I'm giving it my best shot. Starting right now, with this cracking lasagne I just made. This qourn mince better be spectacular.
Wish me luck!
No comments:
Post a Comment