Farewell First Semester

Its been a journey y'all. First semester Freshman year and we've all survived... well physically anyway (we'll wait until exams are over to evaluate our sanity). But all in all it has not been as difficult as I imagined (minus exams...). Of course my semester could have been a little easier if I hadn't taken up the vegetarian quest. Though I sound regretful, I really couldn't be more happy with my decision. I've survived the "Freshman Fifteen" (for the fall semester of course). I've tried new things, and saved a lot of money on the way... and perhaps saved a few carbon emissions. Vegetarianism taught me to be more health-conscious and that's a value I'm grateful to have acquired early in my college career. Will you see me becoming super vegetarian or vegan in the near future? Probably not. Will I continue my rigorous diet of non-meat products? No. But I can tell you this, I will continue to eat tofu if it's an option, I will continue to brave the Lenoir salad bar and I will continue to not eat as much meat when dinning out to save money. So all together it's been a great semester, a wonderful journey and an invaluable learning experience.

Now y'all... lets go home!

Till next semester,

Allie.

Dear Santa, I Want a Pony and... Better Food at Lenoir.

Is it just me or has everybody noticed the declining quality of Lenoir lately? Maybe they're trying to get rid of all the left-over crappy food before everyone goes home for the holidays. But Hey Lenoir, I need my brain food to study for exams, not the crap you're serving me.

It was bad today I had cereal for lunch and a waffle for dinner. Are breakfast foods the only safe and eatable options Lenoir? Have you seriously come to this?

But the thing that reeeeaallly made me mad was that they ran out of chicken nuggets before I could get some. Ok, I know what you're thinking... this is a blog about vegetarianism and your trying to be a vegetarian. Yeah, I know but when its chicken nugget night at Lenoir, all serious life commitments go out the window. But no fear loyal followers, I stayed vegetarian tonight (MEH) because they ran out of NUGGETS.

I can't wait to go home and eat real food.

MLIA- Vegetarian Style

Today, when telling my parents about my intentions to become vegan, they told me that they saw it coming ever since I first watched Land Before Time and started eating leaves off the tree in our backyard. MLIA

Today, I told my vegetarian friend that my sandwhich had meat in it so I didnt have to share. It worked. MLIA.

Today, I decided I would start being a vegetarian. My mom made steak for dinner, I ate it. I'll try again tomorrow. MLIA

Today, I went to a restaurant, but they didn't have a vegetarian selection. That's OK considering I love meat. MLIA

The other day, I was babysitting 6 year old twins. One of them was telling me how she recently became a vegetarian. I curiously asked her why, since no one else in her family is adverse to eating meat. She calmly and seriously replied, "because, when animals take over the world in the future, I don't want them to eat me." Best reason I've ever heard. MLIA

MLIA: Best for when you're in class and have decided not to pay attention... or for when reading blogs for your ENGL class.

Go Green! In More Ways Than One.

I've already established reasons why vegetarianism can improve your health, but what about the environment?

Well here are SIX good reasons to give up meat for our mother earth:

1. Conservation of Fossil Fuels. It takes 78 calories of fossil fuel to produce 1 calorie of beef protein; 35 calories for 1 calorie of pork; 22 calories for 1 of poultry; but just 1 calorie of fossil fuel for 1 calorie of soybeans.

2. Water Conservation. It takes 3 to 15 times as much water to produce animal protein as it does plant protein.

3. Efficient use of grains. It takes up to 16 pounds of soybeans and grains to produce 1 lb. of beef and 3 to 6 lbs. to produce 1 lb of turkey & egg.

4. Soil conservation. When grains & legumes are used more efficiently, our precious topsoil is automatically made more efficient in its use.

5. Saving our forests. Tropical forests in Brazil and other tropic regions are destroyed daily, in part, to create more acreage to raise livestock. Since the forest land "filters" our air supply and contains botanical sources for new medicines, this destruction is irreversible.

6. Asthetics. Decaying animal parts, whether in a freezer case or served in restaurants, can never be as asthetically pleasing to the senses as the same foods made from wholesome vegetable sources.

Soy- Healthy or Not?

Ok so if you're looking at a soy bean its looks pretty healthy. Its green, its leafy, what else could you ask for? But new information is suggesting soy beans may be deceiving in their nutritional value.

Lowers Fertility?

-In a preliminary study done in 2008 at Harvard, evidence suggests that soy products may decrease sperm count. In a study done with 99 men, all consuming soy products daily, most men had around 41 million less sperm than before. The results were not statistically significant at there level of study but it did raise the question.

My take.

- It would make sense for soy products to decrease sperm count (eaten on a daily basis of course) when you consider this from an evolutionary standpoint. Males who don't get enough meat would obviously be considered weaker than the men who had access to meat because those men were strong enough or smart enough to acquire it. Also, doesn't sperm contain a lot of protein, maybe soy just doesn't have enough.

Meh, I'm not a science major but I don't think anyone should be worried about this in the least. Don't guys our age want to decrease their sperm count? Just saying. And it seems like every day we're finding out something else is bad for us. I say just stick to your basic food groups- yay food pyramid.

Thanks PETA

So vegetarian, vegan, or meat-lover, we all know PETA is extremist... and a bit crazy. But what shocked me the most was that they will do almost anything to get their message out. This is an advertisement of PETA's, advocating for the adoption of animals. (Warning: this may be offensive to some people- some suggestive nudity).

Great PETA you've got the guy's attention, if they could pry their eyes away from the obvious for a second to read the words. But seriously, what is PETA trying to do? Yeah that's awesome that PETA is trying to get people to adopt more animals, but reverting to sexism and offending a huge Christian population is NOT the way to go.

So way to go PETA... I've got a few things to say to you or maybe I'll just eat Chick-Fil-A every day for the rest of my life, wear ALL kinds of animal tested makeup and BUY puppies not adopt them.

How the Great Fall

Ok, so I was planning to write another blog post about how great of a vegetarian I am. I was going to tell you that with the few small slip-ups and "breaks" I've been meat-free for almost an entire semester. Well, most of that is true. There have been slip-ups and "breaks" but for the meat-free part, well, after Thanksgiving, I've pretty much failed at staying a vegetarian.

I rode the (working) escalator up to Lenoir today to meet friends for a quick lunch before class. Nothing seemed appetizing and every line was moving at a snail's pace to be polite. The salad bar would have taken too long and the vegetarian stuff looked... well just weird. All I wanted was something filling to eat, and I wanted it fast and easy, no work involved.

And there it was, a beacon of light- cheese burgers and tatter tots called to me like a sweet dong bird from the forbidden grill station. The line was moving fast and I caved.

But this is not the only incident. In fact, since I've been back from Thanksgiving Break, I've eaten meat almost everyday and I only suspect this will continue or get worse as finals and stress close in on us.

Do I feel bad? Well, a little. I am proud of myself for my effort and I will definitely continue to try, but for the time being if you see me eat a smidgen of chicken at Lenoir... well, opps?

A Traveling Vegetarian

I just bought tickets to go over seas! Seat #28B and I'm next to the window (called it)... I've never been out of the country and for spring break this year my boyfriend and I are traveling to England and Scotland to visit his sister studying abroad.

So of course my first thought after buying the tickets was "How is being a vegetarian and traveling going to work out?" Ok, so that wasn't my first question, but its definitely an important one. I'm sure London won't be a problem considering the diverse and eclectic population but Scotland... I'm not so sure. From what I can tell Scottish food almost always contains meat if not meat products. Maybe I'll take another one of those "breaks" from being a vegetarian over spring break. Yeah, what could be more American than spring break and meat...?

Well whatever the argument, I'm almost sure I'm not going to be picky about what I eat over there... or drink for that matter. By the way yall, we're both 18 or older, got to love Europe.

2009 Most Vegetarian-Friendly Colleges

A stop by the Peta website brought my attention to this year's list of the most veggie-friendly collages. The list was based on a voting system of the students and the variety and selection of vegetarian options.

Drum roll please.....

1st place: Wesleyan University

2nd place: Oberlin Collage

3rd place: American University

So I've never heard of these schools and I don't know how competitive their academics or athletics are but they are vegetarian friendly by Peta standards. Worth it? Not for me thanks.

Anyway, Lenior?

Yeah, didn't see a trace of it on the list.

Verdict On Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving dinner: probably my favorite meal of the year.

Let us just say I'm very glad I took a break during break and consumed meat for the first time in a month. I almost felt like I was on Survivor and I had just won one of those challenges and I was able to gorge on a feast of Thanksgiving goodness. The people on Survivor are always so excited to be eating whatever is put in front of them because they've basically have been eating rice for the past month. I'm not saying all I was eating was rice, or that it was that tortuous, but if you could have seen my face during Thanksgiving dinner- it would have probably resumed that of a starving caveman presented with smoked bacon for the first time. I love Thanksgiving.

When I was little the theme song to Survivor would give me chills- whatever happened to that show?

A Vegetarian Thanksgiving?

I'm so excited to get home for Turkey Break! There will be long naps, food in the fridge, a big screen TV, a laundry fairy, and Thanksgiving dinner.

Our Thanksgivings are pretty typical. We cook potatoes, green bean casserole, field peas, cornbread, turkey, possibly some ham, those purple things that look like jello, and scallops rapped in bacon (my all-time favorite thing). These things plus my grandmother's southern cooking=heaven.

Coming back home as a vegetarian for fall break was a little difficult, but nothing to stress about. But this is Thanksgiving. The holiday created by Americans for just eating. It would be downright unpatriotic of me to refuse to consume our (almost) national bird, honey smoked ham, and scallops rapped in bacon- it would be blasphemy.

So, for this break, I'm taking a break. I'm laying my vegetarian sword to the side and I'm leaving my green gospel at Chapel Hill. Sure I might feel a little bad as I pile meat and more meat onto my plate, but I'm sure that feeling will subside after I consume said food stuffs. Lets be honest yall, its freaking Thanksgiving.

BLT- Vegetarian Style

So I went to Alpine the other day with my friends. I don't typically eat there as like a meal because their vegetarian options are limited and not Allie-friendly. I always get a blueberry bagel with cream cheese. Anyway, someone in our group got a BLT.

They were obsessed with it and exclaimed, "Best thing at Alpine I've ever gotten." To which I replied, "What can be so great? It's just bacon, lettuce, and tomato and it's probably really unhealthy for you." Now at this point I'd never actually had a BLT so I had no idea what I was talking about until he made me try it...

Let me tell yall, it was amazing! And so totally disheartened, I sat back down in my seat and sulked because I was a vegetarian. So long beautifully crafted sandwich, alas- you contain meat.

But today I had an idea. Why is the bacon on the sandwich so good, what does it specifically add to the combination? Crunchiness? No, the lettuce takes care of that. Sweetness? No, the mayonnaise is sweet enough. It was the salt factor. So for lunch today I stood in line at Alpine and ordered a BLT without bacon- on a salt bagel. Verdict? Just as good;)

Dear McDonalds, Where's your Veggie Burger?

Drive-throughs are particularly hard for vegetarians. You could always order a salad, but if I don't trust the salad bar at Lenoir, there's no way you'll ever catch me within a 5ft radius of a McDonalds salad. And I suppose you could always order fries and a drink and eat real food later, but McDonalds actually got into a messy lawsuit when they were discovered cooking their fries with meat products and serving them to known vegetarians. In India, the vegetarian and meat dishes are cooked in separate kitchens and the vegetarian cooks wear special gloves and green aprons. So vegetarians, and people in general, I wouldn't eat the fries at McDonalds.

Anyway, that brings me back to my first question: where is McDonalds' veggie burger? And I'm not the only person asking. Here's McDonalds' official statement regarding the absence of a veggie burger:

"After testing several types of veggie burgers in different parts of the country, we've chosen not to offer one on our national menu at this time. We'll continue to look at these options and make decisions based on good business sense from a customer interest and sales perspective. Ultimately, however, it's our customers who choose what's on our menu. We'll continue to offer those menu items that are most popular with a majority of our customers."

You would think that a company that owns a massive chunk of the world would have the man power and money to invest in an option for vegetarians but then again...

Anyway, thanks for trying McDonalds.

Feeling Down?

Its absolutely terrible outside. The torrential rain, puddles, bitter wind, and the freezing temperature combined to make this week a cold hell. When the weather outside is depressing, its hard not to feel a little sad yourself but I have some foods that will make you feel a-OK.

Chocolate:

Ok, we all know about this one. Eating chocolate releases hormones that can induce little feelings of euphoria and happiness. Of course this one is a bit tricky because too much chocolate is very unhealthy. But don't fear! Studies done suggest that eating one bonbon a day is actually healthy for you!

Chick Peas:

Weird, I know, but chick peas contain an amino acid that regulates your hormones which in turn makes you happier. Not only are chick peas good for your phycological health, but they are extremely good for your energy level and digestive system.

Anti-Depressant Teas: (not available at your local Lenior)

Licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra)- also available as sweet (which would probably put you in a better mood).

St. John's-wort- Old remedy that's proven to be effective.

Hope this helps. If yall try any one of these- let me know how it goes!

Vegan Fail

I've been hearing about this next step in vegetarianism for a while called "vegan", and I'll be honest, it sounded pretty hard core. If you consider yourself a vegan you eat no animal products whatsoever. This includes things like milk and eggs. There are even some extremists that will not eat fruits or vegetables unless they have already fallen to the ground. They extremists believe by pulling the fruits or vegetables from their stalks/stems you are literally killing them.

Well I wasn't going to attempt to be an extremist, I'm not even sure where you find food for that lifestyle but I did experience an attempt at veganism...

...until I wanted a cupcake and milk.

All in a day.

Just exposing yall to another aspect of the green side. Have a safe and fun weekend!

Freshman Fifteen?

Its apparently a big deal this "freshman fifteen". I was completely prepared to gain some weight, but so far I've seen only poor results. Actually I haven't seen much of a change in my weight but a wavering five pounds, and I'm pretty sure that was from the summer. My eating habits have some what changed, I mean I eat lunch and dinner and a snack once in a while... except for the whole eating meat thing. Perhaps that is the cure for the freshman fifteen- eat less meat. Its proven to be much healthier given you get an amble amount of protein and veges. Have I convinced you yet?

Vegetarianism: easy on the wallet and the scale.

Halloween Fun

Let's face it. It's not that hard to be vegetarian during halloween. Its not like the mass majority of candy has meat in it. Or does it?

Vegans beware! Some gummy candy has a certain gelatin that is manufactured from hoofs of animals. Also, some candy was dyed using dye that was produced using animal products. Actually the more I read about this the more I don't ever want to eat candy again, vegan or not. Ew.

Another thing... many not be meat technically but it's close. A company called Hotlix is the original manufacturers of the lollipops with real bugs inside. REAL. They have a plethora of options. You can order insects such as: worms, crickets, larvae, scorpions (umm, is that safe?), ants, and butterflies (aw, that's so sad). And for the 21 some of their lollipops contain tequila- appropriate has that's probably the only ways anyone will eat them.

Anywho, hop these were some fun facts about creepy candy. Have a fun and safe Halloween yall!

Cheap Is Nice

I've been slowly realizing this but I think its time to officially spill the beans.

Being vegetarian is much cheaper.

I went to Ye Old Waffles today and ordered what I always order at breakfast places- two eggs over medium, hash browns, and biscuits. (Let me just inform you, Ye Old has some of the BEST biscuits I've ever had and I grew up Southern.) Anyway, I usually order bacon as well but of course that wasn't an option. I wonder if they have tofu bacon... So at the end of the meal my order rang up for around 3.75. Wow, that's not bad usually little breakfast shops are a bit pricy. Not anymore now that I don't order meat. Meat with my meal would have cost me another 1.50 for two strips of bacon. Now that may not sound like a huge difference but imagine when all those 1.50s stack up.

It's not only Ye Old, being vegetarian is traditionally cheaper everywhere including everyone of my favorite eateries on Franklin.

Just another good reason to come over to the green side. By the way I'm being grapes for Halloween- Yay fruits and vegetables.

Supplements

SUPPLEMENTS.

The big question. Ok, it wasn't so big until someone mentioned to me that as a vegetarian I really should consider taking these things. Well the idea had crossed my mind but I've never looked into it because I'm a bit of a hypochondriac. I hate taking pills of any kind so I wasn't about to swallow random bits "earth products" mashed into capsules from far-away hippie land. Oh, and it turns out that if you eat the right things as a vegetarian you don't need to take supplements. If I find one day I'm running a bit low on iron or zinc (there's an app for that) I could eat some eggs (which I LOVE), whole grain cereals, green leafys, orange juice, or fresh fruits or vegetables- all available at your local Lenior. And if I'm running low on calcium- duh, drink more milk (which I do drink for every meal).

So, supplements aren't necessary but are kind-of like a back up for vegetarians. Pissahhh... back-ups? No thanks, I work alone. And I'd rather eat right and stay away from the unknown pills coming fresh off the hippie farms.*

* Disclaimer: supplements are NOT all from "hippie farms" and are proven safe. Many non-hypochondriac vegetarians and carnivores alike take them.

Family Time

My friends continue to be huge supporters of my changing lifestyle. And by friends I mean comedians, by support I mean joke, and by lifestyle I mean more vege's.

No, just kidding. My friends have gotten used to it and only wave chicken in front of my face once or twice a week at most now.

So my friends have gotten used to it, but how would my family react? I soon found out during Fall Break. First meal we had? Meatloaf. Now most of you would say "Meatloaf, sweet! I've been praying for an excuse not to eat that stuff forever!" But I was singing a different tune. My mother's meatloaf is amazing and I was looking for an excuse to eat it. But no fear blog followers, I did not give into my temptation and I ate the vegetables and potatoes my mother cooked as well. Second meal? Beef and broccoli, and that one was easy- all I had to do was pick out the bits of meat and give them my ravenous teenage brothers. So we can agree that being vegetarian at home was not a huge deal, but my family's reactions?

Different.

Brothers: "Allie's a hippie now. But its cool, we get the meat she won't eat, and that's good cause we LOVE meat."

Dad: " Yeah, its just a phase. Let her eat vegetables for now, this will be over by the end of the semester."

Mom: "Probably just a little phase but she's a strong girl. Let her do want she wants."

Thanks family!

Oh and they didn't wave chicken in front of my face the entire time...

I Bet Luna Lovegood Is a Vegetarian

Aristotle

Brad Pitt

Buddha

Charles Darwin

Ellen Degeneres

Emily Dickinson

Franz Kafka

Jason Mraz

Kate Winslet

Leonardo de Vinci

Lisa Simpson

Lord Byron

Paul McCartney

Prince

Steve-O

Voltaire

Do you know what all these people have in common? They are all vegetarians. I was pleasantly surprised at all the people I could find who were proven vegetarians- and they're not all vain Hollywood actors. "Vegetarian Times" claims there to be 7.3 million Americans who are officially vegetarian and 22.8 million more who following a vegetarian diet.

Oh yeah, and JESUS was a vegetarian/pescetarian ... beat THAT carnivores.

It's a Video!

Burritos

Random question: Just got out a rise krispy treat to eat as I write this post and noticed something. I have some of the special rise krispys that have a chocolate drizzle on top, cool I know, but the package says "chocolaty drizzle." I didn't think much of it at first but then I began to wonder: Did they add the "Y" to make the name more enticing? Or are they covering their bases and hinting that the chocolate drizzle on your rise krispy is not chocolate at all but simple "chocolaty" in flavor? Oh marketing...

Anywho.

Some of my friends and I decided to go back to our hometown (good old Wilmington) for the weekend. The first thing we did? Ok, unpacked and probably went for a trip to the bathroom. But after that? We rushed to the local favorite- Flaming Amys Burrito Barn. and when I say "local favorite", I'm not exaggerating, in fact that might have been an understatement. Go into Flaming Amys on any given day and you are guaranteed to see at least one close friend or relative that lives in the port city. Why so famous? Simple. Hot, Fast, Cheap and Easy. (That's their slogan.) That and they have the best burritos on the East Coast.

So one of the blue haired, religiously tattooed, pissed-off Flaming Amys women was about to take my order when I had a panic attack. I always ordered the same thing. I always ordered a Bandito Burrito with honey mustard. Do you know what's in a Bandito Burrito? No! Of course not! But a Bandito Burrito has chicken in it. God forbid.

So, I walked right up to that frightening woman, honestly I have nightmares about the workers at Falming Amys, and asked for my same buritto But. With. Out. Chicken. The first bite was hard, it wasn't the same. But honestly after that, I didn't even notice my burrito was missing anything. I realized that even before this I would take out most of the chicken anyway.

So all in all being a vegetarian this weekend back at home was much easier than expected, even at Flaming Amys. The meal was still Hot. Fast. Cheap and Easy.

Waffles on Wednesday

Needless to say, on a particular day this week I found myself in Lenoir disgusted. Nothing looked the least bit appetizing. Even the salad bar- which on a good day is pretty sketchy- was looking rough. I was in distress until I found the breakfast alcove.

The breakfast alcove is adjacent to the Grill and the vegetarian bar. Ironic? Perhaps. Anyway, did you know not only can you get cereal at Lenoir anytime of the day but make your won waffle? And I'm not talking about some Eggo frozen one either- don't get me wrong I do love those things- but no, these are gigantic frisbee sized warm waffles made by yours truly. Unfortunately with this new knowledge I might now be committing carbo-cide once in a while but it will be worth it. Those golden plates of warm fluff are simply amazing and make me feel nice and... Ok, this might be going too far but I love these things and guess what????

WAFFLES DON'T HAVE MEAT.

Rush Hour at Rams Head (Well, I mean Lenoir but Rams Head works for my alliteration.)

Has anyone been outside today? Its absolutely gorgeous.

"Carolina blue baby, God's favorite color."

Oh Mother...

I've been to Lenior plenty of times during 12am and 6pm and I am surprised.

I am traditionally a very clumsy person. Curious, because I was a dancer for eleven years. But I truly tell you I am usually a blundering fool and I have many bumps, bruises, and scars to prove my awkwardness. The world and I always seem to want to go in an opposite direction. I am walking in a strait line, the world throws a brick in front of my feet. Its a rainy day and the world slathers the sidewalk, grass, and my leather Rainbows* with the cruelest combination of water and slime. Maybe the world has a vendetta against me, you know, like the physics have it out for the Virgos- if your a Virgo like me and you read your horoscope, you know all about that discrimination.

Anyway, I am very surprised. Tell me, with all the horrendous traffic at Lenoir during rush hours (mainly around 12 and 6), WHY HAVEN'T I RUN INTO ANYONE? Why haven't I seen a head-on collision? Why haven't I seen someone trip over a foot or two and witness a rain of mash potatoes, greens, and chicken?**

If you have visited the dining hall during these hazardous hours, you know how insane people are. Am I standing in the salad line or the Grill line? Which way are you going dude in front or me? Did they really just stop in the middle of the intersection? I'm surprised we don't have lines painted on the floor and traffic lights to get to our desired destinations.

Perhaps as Carolina students, we are naturally more intelligent and observant. Perhaps Carolina students will always weave their way through the throng of people unscathed because we're just THAT cool.

Perhaps not. Maybe the delay of the many mini collisions will result in a debacle of epic proportions... and knowing me, I'll be the cause of it.

Good luck fellow Lenoir dwellers.

* Rainbows, for non Wilmingtonians, are leather flips flops worn year round in the Port City. When worn in the rain or dipped into the ocean the shoes become increasingly slippery and will turn your feet bright orange.

** This actually happened to me once when I was in middle school. I was at a ballet summer intensive in Austin TX and was eating at the University of Texas dining hall. My clumsiness plus carpeted stairs resulted in said food stuffs everywhere, including myself and others. That was an awkward elevator ride with mashed potatoes in my hair...

Some Points on Pescetarians (Hardest Word to Spell Ever- Besides Dyslexic of Course)

Well, it's been awhile since last blog, and I'm proud to say everything has been going swimmingly. I always wonder where that ridiculous saying came from....swimmingly. It kind of reminds me of Finding Nemo or salmon trying really hard. To. Get. Up. Stream... and then a bear eats it. Yeah, perhaps the saying "swimmingly" refers to one of those times when the salmon escapes the clutches of the bear and continues to- dare I say it? Swim.

I think its a good guess.

Anyway, this does bring me to a point. I had a friend in high school who was vegetarian, but not really, I mean technically he wasn't vegetarian at all- but he kind of was you know? No? Well I didn't explain that well at all. His name was Spencer and he was a pescetarian. We weren't particularly surprised when he told us what he was, I mean we've always kind of known- all those signs... finding fish sticks hidden conspicuously in his mini fridge, eating tuna salad voluntarily, getting defensive about those discriminatory fish jokes... Just kidding, we weren't fish racist.

Ok, well just in case you're a bit slow, a pescetarian is a vegetarian who eats fish. I can see the benefits. You can still be cool and hip like me and assign a sweet name to your life style that sounds pretty intelligent in civilized conversations. Other benefits to this life style is the source of protein, iron, and food options... Lenoir fish anyone? Yeah, not so much.

I won't be turning pescetarian anytime soon but its simply another branch on the brilliant tree of vegetarianism.

Remember those salmon I was mentioning earlier? You know how they're supposed to swim up stream? All aboard the fail train.

Tofu Thursday

Ok yall, when I looked into the beautiful university here at Chapel Hill no one informed me that it was located in the middle of a tropical rainforest. I would just love it if I could see the sun once in a while...

Anyway.

I promised I would talk about my adventures into the land of vegetarianism so here it goes. I was scanning Lenoir for something non meat related when I passed by the "world" bar. You know, that part of Lenoir where they put cubed food particles- and perhaps some noodles- into a pan, fry it, slap a foreign name on it and call it food? Well, I walked by that night and I was particularly enticed by the teriyaki chicken and vegetables... too bad I'm vegetarian.

Wait Allie!

Do you see those brown cubes in the frying pan on the end?

Why yes, yes I do.

It's called TOFU and it's a staple in every vegetarian diet.

It sounded fun, so I tried it. Honestly I didn't mind it a all. (Don't tell my carnivorous friends but I might like it better than meat.) Tofu tastes like whatever you cook it in, and in this case it simply tasted like Lenoir teriyaki sauce.

My skeptical brain wanted to know a little more about what I was consuming so I researched tofu a little bit more. Tofu is a soy product that contains primarily protein and fat and can be consumed and cooked in three different forms: firm, soft, and silken. If you would like MORE info on tofu check out these websites!

http://www.soyfoods.com/soyfoodsdescriptions/tofu.html

http://vegetarian.about.com/od/glossary/g/Tofu.htm

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Vegetable-and-Tofu-Stir-fry/Detail.aspx

A Trying Tuesday

Yes I know its late, but its been a long day and what's another hour or so? So the last time I updated I talked about my first encounter with Lenoir as a vegetarian and the salad bar. Well since then I've taken many a venture. I went home on Friday for some family time and... Ok, I had to take a "Defensive Driving" course to get a speeding ticket revoked. Speeding is a particular vice of mine. Anyway, the thrill of a home cooked meal was too much for my little heat to handle and I sat there at my wonderful family dinner table and tucked in. My mom made pork chops.

Ok, all aboard the fail train.

But seriously you guys, they were delicious... and not a bit sketchy.

So I arrived back to the hill relieved of my sins and ready to start anew. Which I did quite successfully thank you. And I will tell you all about those adventures later, but tonight's theme is of defeat. Did anyone see our weather today? That was a rhetorical question because only unless you were a deaf hermit would you have not noticed / been drenched in our weather today. Well anyway, my morning started off with a few clouds, a little sunshine, then it began to drizzle, and suddenly it was pouring and I left my rain boots in the dorm. I had two exams today in classes I'm a little less than poor in and that was a bit disheartening, and then I began my three hour trip on a city bus trying to find the middle school I'm volunteering at, and I came home drenched from head to un-booted toe only to find my exam scores.

It was raining and I needed a break. I had just trekked miles in the rain and dinner called at Lenoir? I don't think so! Dinner at a decent place on Franklin? Hell no. Greek chicken leftovers in the fridge? Yes please! And again, I sat there at my wonderful family dinner table - bed anyone?- and tucked in.

All aboard the fail train!

But its alright, once in a while I can slip in the puddles and eat awesome greek chicken.

P.S.

If you don't have a Greek roommate, I highly suggest it.

A Salad Bar Story

Last night was my first meal as a vegetarian in our Lenoir cafeteria. Through the haze of bustling carnivores, I skimmed the menus for eatable dishes. I can't say that today was particularly hard to be vegetarian. I wasn't tempted in the least. I couldn't pronounce the name of a meat at one station- and if I can't pronounce it, I don't trust it. Similarly, every other meat product looked suspiciously like our rainy sky- grey. So, I turned to the vegetarian table. Ok, I admit, I couldn't pronounce most of those options either. I will try them one day of course but I decided because it was my first day- I'll ease into the process.

Baby steps.

The most elementary vegetarian option I had at Lenoir that fine evening was the salad bar. I had never ventured over to that table of foliage until tonight. Like funny foreign dubbed cuisine, I don't trust salad bars. You don't know how long that lettuce has been out, a fly could have landed on that cucumber minutes ago and what if those carrots fell into the cheese and then someone put them back? The sane argument would be that these things could happen with just about any food bar, but for some reason my OCD mind will not except reason and insists on hating salad bars. But what other choice did I have? So I edged my way into line and started filling up my bowl. The lettuce looked green- ok -some of it was brown but I just smothered the brown parts with dressing. The cucumbers were crunchy and cold, but I couldn't really tell because I smothered those with dressing as well. So at the end of the night, I was full of yummy salad- ok - yummy dressing with a crunch and two chocolate chip cookies. First day a success? My carnivorous friends think so.

A Virgin Vegetarian

It's been almost four weeks since we moved in here at Carolina. So it's been almost four weeks of Lenoir dinner, lunch, repeat. After the first couple of meals I began to look at the "turkey", "chicken", and "meatloaf" in disgust. Are you sure this wasn't yesterday's ham? This looks pink. How long has this been out? Lenoir advertises their 100% Angus Beef Burgers on Tuesdays and Thursdays... but if it's not a Tuesday or Thursday, tell me, what exactly are they serving us? 20% beef? I would not be surprised.

So fellow first years of UNC, I have officially decided to become a "tree hugger", a "hippi", a "greenie"- a vegetarian.

The health benefits are a plus, and saving little chicklits is a nice added bonus, but all I can think about is how I'll be avoiding the mystery meat at the cafeteria. This blog is about my path to becoming vegetarian. I have no doubt there will be slip-ups, mistakes and the occasional triumph. So followers... here it goes.