mary eats

Graphic by Kevin Crowe

Today I officially surrender my Vegetarian Membership card. A few nights ago, of my own will, I sank my teeth into a tender medium rare medallion of filet mignon. No, I didn’t jump off the deep end; it was, rather, a gradual process that began innocently re-introducing fish into my diet well over five years ago. A recent trip to Italy secured a place for cured-pork products in my heart forever, and my father’s smoked pulled pork shoulder sent me down a path I thought I’d never go.

On our last night in Seattle, our families dined at Tosoni, a truffle that has sat under the nose of my mother for 23 years. (I’m guessing it had something to do with its strip mall location). The menu was pure meat, aside from a salmon entrée (vegetarians can special order a veggie lasagna). Once the waiter mentioned the misto misto (half and half) with lobster, I knew my fate.

Abnegating meat was my way of supporting an organic lifestyle, but started at an early age from being a picky eater. Omitting meat from my diet made me feel as though I was part of a green insurgency against slaughterhouses, mad cow, and horrifying chicken farms. I may not have donated blood to the Red Cross or cash to NPR, but I could stick it to the mass-production factory farms more concerned with profit than producing quality meat.

But I owe the turn of this leaf to a man, or as I thought of him a charlatan, I’d despised for years. His sarcastic, cooler than thou wit, and his acrid stance against vegetarians led me to roll my eyes whenever his name was mentioned and to boycott his books and television shows. However Anthony Bordaine’s new show No Reservations, is less about him swallowing live beating cobra hearts or half fertilized eggs, but explores people and places through local food.

Being an expat, and having traveled over Asia, eating the local cuisine is one of the few ways to immediately acclimate yourself into a culture. It places you in the shoes of locals, gives you instant conversation topics, and provides memories for a lifetime. If you spend an entire trip eating pizza and banana pancakes, you have missed out on half of what it means to be a traveler. I know I did when I refused to eat Korean food our first year here.

By adopting Bourdaine’s no fear attitude when it comes to jungle tucker or city street fare, I feel more connected to the place I live and the places I’ve traveled to. In my restaurant reviews I’ve been able to better represent the menu and pass on a more rounded opinion to my readers. My reviews have improved as a result, and point blank, I’m excited to start a new dialogue with meat.

Though I’ve accepted an animal protein future, this doesn’t mean (MOM and DAD) that I’m ebullient to sit down to roasts, chops, rumps, and breasts. I still feel squeamish about eating things I can hug and chickens freak me out, but I’m trying to put those feelings aside. Actually, last night I had a nightmare about a beautifully cooked golden roasted Cornish hen, flecked with herbs and dripping with juices. I was being forced to eat it.

To some I have fallen, no doubt, others will welcome me back to reality. My vegetarian lifestyle taught me the importance of health, the environment, sustainable agriculture, organics, and slow foods. I hope to carry these qualities over into a responsible meat consumer. That, or start a new life as a bacon hedonist.