MMMM Meat...or Not

Anyone who knows me knows that I love TV. Love it. In fact, my TV viewing and setting up my DVR for my weekly recordings is like a science for me. I set up my recordings a week ahead of time, not trusting the DVR to tape new episodes as it promises me it will. I trust myself to make sure I don’t miss a show. Because who knows what would happen if I missed an episode of the Real Housewives of New York.

While watching one of the shows I taped this week, Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, I was struck by how one of my more recent life changes was definitely the right one. I stopped eating any kind of chicken, beef, or pork almost a year and a half ago. Yes, I’m the bad word – vegetarian. Well, mostly anyway. I still eat fish and seafood, so I guess I’m technically a pescatarian?

Anyway, every once in awhile, I forget just why I gave up eating meat in the first place, my mind slipping into the deep dark world of the McDonald’s double cheeseburger or a hot dog from Notre Dame stadium or plain old greasy bacon. Several times, always after having a couple beers, I try to con someone into getting me some meat product that I wouldn’t eat otherwise. Don’t drink and eat. Luckily, everyone tells me no, even if it gets them in trouble. I went to the roller derby with my boyfriend recently and practically begged for a double cheeseburger on the way home. (Yes, beer was involved). He said no and then got a hard time the next day for it.

Well, Food Revolution gave my brain that little nudge that reminded me why it is that I’m abstaining from meat. Oliver showed exactly where they get part of the meat from that goes into kids school lunches and what they do to it to make it edible. I won’t go into details here. No need to gross out the meat eaters out there. But I love what his show is doing. Educating those who want to be educated (and even those who don’t) about good nutrition and exactly how to achieve it.

And if you want to educate yourself more, I highly suggest reading Eating Animals by Johnathan Safran Foer. It’s a very unbiased look at where food comes from and why it’s so important to know where the food your eating actually is coming from, especially the meat you eat. Neither Oliver or Safran Foer are advocating vegetarianism, just eating smart and healthy.

So, while my decision for not eating meat has been reinforced, I’m sure there will be a time again when I drive by a McDonald’s and beg for one of those delicious burgers, with those tiny onions and fluffy buns. But, I’ll keep resisting, reminding myself just why I chose not to do it in the first place. My love for animals far outweighs my love for eating them.