Off the Wagon

Our vegetarianism morphed into what we called "at-home vegetarianism." This means that when we were on vacation, at a restaurant, or eating at someone else's house, we ate whatever we wanted, which many times, included meat. Our home however, had been consistently meat free since March...until recently. I decided that we needed to occasionally eat meat, so we went to Whole Foods and bought a chicken. The packaging said that it was raised by the Amish, and I have a hard time imagining the Amish mistreating their animals, so I deemed it acceptable meat to consume.

I stuffed the chicken with thyme, garlic, and lemons, rubbed it with butter, and sprinkled it with salt and pepper. It smelled wonderful and tasted fabulous. I was feeling ok with our decision to occasionally have meat in our house...until we turned on the T.V. I found it very ironic that the show we found ourselves watching, The Fabulous Beekman Boys on Planet Green, featured city guys turned farmers who just happened to be slaughtering their pigs in the episode we caught. They did it humanely, and those pigs lived very good "piggy" lives, but it was still sad. The guys in the show were crying, I was crying, and the chicken that I was stuffing into my mouth started to taste a little less delicious. It is hard for me not to think about the animal that died so that I could have a meal.

I don't know if this was a sign that we should stick with vegetarianism a little longer, or if it was just a reminder to be grateful for the animals we eat and respect their lives as much as possible. I just couldn't believe the timing! (The show is great, by the way. You should watch it if you get the chance!)

We intend to limit our meat to one chicken a month. I can come to grips with that. Afterall, the leftovers did feed us for an entire week! The chicken most certainly was not wasted.