Pescetarianism

I'm not much of a meat-lover. I enjoy steak and chicken, but I never crave it, and I'm usually just as happy to eat something without meat if it tastes good. If I had to actually kill my own food in order to eat meat, though,it probably wouldn't happen. Not as long as I had plenty of other food, anyway. If I were starving...who knows what a starving woman is capable of?

Over Thanksgiving, James was helping his uncle feed the calves on the farm, and they were so cute as they played and ran around. They have soft hair and big eyes and it was hard for me to not think of them as pets. I felt a little sad knowing their fate. This was the first moment I felt a little guilty about eating beef. It also occurred to me that I could stop eating beef, that it wasn't impossible, and that for me, it would probably be easier than for most people since I only have beef a few times a year when eating out. We rarely--as in twice this year--cook beef at home, opting for ground turkey instead of ground beef for our spaghetti and chili.

Then this idea spread to pork and poultry. James and I typically eat about one or two pork loins per month, and though James eats ham for breakfast sometimes, I never do. It would be easy to stop making pork loins. Poultry--chicken and turkey--would, by far, be the most difficult to do away with, but it didn't seem impossible. We probably have ground turkey once a week or less and we have chicken less than once a week. The toughest part about the chicken is that I always get that in my Chipotle burritos, but since I hope to cut back on that, anyway, maybe it won't be so bad.

As heartless as this may sound, I can't bring myself to think of fish as cute or worth not eating. I would probably be able to kill and cook my own fish without feeling too bad about it. Besides that, most fish/seafood is much healthier for people than other meat (or that's what I've been led to believe) and I don't think I eat enough of it as is. So, if I cut out the beef, pork, and poultry, I will probably consume more fish and seafood, which is good. I will probably also consume more vegetables, which is great. I think my diet would greatly improve just out of necessity.

So, I have decided to practice some form of 'pescetarianism' in 2009. As you may have guessed, this means the only meat I will consume will be fish and seafood--no land animals. By 'some form' I mean that I will not be super-strict about it--obviously, if the moral dilemma was bothering me so much, I wouldn't have eaten pork loin for dinner three times since Thanksgiving, right? My only goal is to not purchase beef, chicken, or pork for my consumption. This means that if I eat dinner at my parents' house and they are eating steak, I will eat steak, too. Or, for example, I will still eat all the frozen meat in our freezer--I just won't buy any more of it. Anyway, this whole thing is more of an experiment, not a goal. If I can easily live without the meat, great! If it causes a lot of problems, and I end up missing it more than I thought, maybe it will be a short-lived experiment.

When I told James of my ideas, he was supportive and wanted to join me, so that will make it easier, too. We are five days into the plan, and so far it has been fine, but I don't think that's saying much. We still have a LOT of meat in our freezer, so I don't feel like we're having to go without yet. Yesterday was our first trip to the grocery store in which we bypassed all meat, and it was probably the cheapest trip to the store we've ever had since being married. One unexpected thing I've noticed is that I'm not really wanting to go out to eat--fast food or otherwise--since I know what I typically would eat would contain meat, so I would be forced to get something other than what I might really want. Maybe I'll be saving more money than I thought.