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.