August 1, 2007

• It's been nearly three months since I became vegetarian.  It's been a pretty easy transition, although I've probably inadvertently slipped a couple times by ordering items that involve meat -- who knew caesar salad dressing contains anchovies and that a lot of restaurant rice is cooked in chicken broth?  Not me, although it seems like everyone else I talk to knew one or both of those things. 

  What I've been struggling with the past couple days is whether I should become vegan.  It's an issue I alluded to in my earlier post.  There I decided against it as being too dramatic, because it involved taking a position whose benefit to the environment and animals did not clear exceed its cost to me, which would be substantial.  It severely limits the range of things you can eat, and especially so for me since I don't really like a lot of these faux meats or soy dairy products (although tofu is pretty good).   

  The problem is that there's no logical reason to draw a line between eating meat and consuming dairy.  The dairy cow is treated no better than the animals that are slaughtered, and perhaps worse since industrial farmers have to squeeze every drop of milk out of the cow they possibly can to maintain profitability.  And it makes a mockery of the aniimals' dignity to replace a club sandwich with a huge grilled cheese sandwich, extra cheese.

  I think a place to start is to emphasize substance over form.  I can't be concerned with whether every stir fry of vegetables is cooked in vegetable oil rather than butter or swear off ever eating another cookie or pancake.  But I should stop eating grilled cheese sandwiches and adding cheese to my burritos--or at least eat less of those things.  And in the meantime, I'll have to take extra vitamins and look for other sources of nutrients that I may not be able to obtain from non-animal sources, and do some research into alternative foods I eat that contain no animal products.

  So maybe I'll toy with the idea of becoming a half-vegan, although it may not stick.  In the meantime, though, the vegetarian thing has been easier than I thought.   

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