abstinence (from meat)

I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but here I will again, I'm a vegetarian. Partially. I'm a pretty bad one, and that used to bother me, but I'm okay with it now. Basically I just don't eat red meat. I eat turkey on special occasions and chicken every so often (I love Chinese and Japanese chicken), so I guess I'm in the middle of vegetarian to meat eater scale. Don't even talk to me about veganism. Depriving yourself of cheese, milk, butter and all else that makes life worth living? INSANITY!

I'm a vegetarian for a few reasons and the list changes when I get new reasons (such as when I watched Hank of the vlogbrothers talk about how meat isn't very environmentally friendly):

1. At first I just wanted to try it out, see if I could survive without hamburgers. But after a while you adjust to it and you can't imagine eating meat again. It's been about three years on and off (more on than off).

2. I don't really like meat that much, I mean I like it, but I don't LOVE it. Not as much as I love cheese. Even so, it's hard to give up meat. When I started, I'll see my family eating bacon and burgers and I'd wonder why I wasn't eating it too. Then I'd feel guilty for sneaking a piece of bacon onto my plate and eating it. It felt like cheating. But I don't feel guilty anymore. It's a choice that I make, and if I want to make exceptions, I'm allowed to do that. Now when I eat meat it's not as delicious as I remember. For instance, a few months ago I had a hot dog to commemorate my great Aunt Jenny (it was her favourite food) and I decided that I was okay living without hot dogs.

3. Being a vegetarian is more healthy.

4. It's more environmentally friendly.

5. Animal rights. I'm not saying it's evil to eat a cow's butt and I don't look down on people who do (eat cow butt, I mean)--people have been eating animals for a really long time--I'm saying that I disagree with injecting baby pigs with hormones so that they mature faster, while living in disgusting, extremely cramped stalls, before being slaughtered. I disagree with feeding a cow hormones so that it produces more milk and then exploiting that. I understand that people have to eat, but I don't think we have to be so greedy and horrible about it. What's wrong with letting a cow outside before you eat it?

Being a part-vegetarian can be frustrating. It's really annoying when say, you're a volunteer at an event for Canada Day and afterwards when you head to the hospitality tent to get your complimentary meal there are no vegetarian options. So I got to eat a bun. That was my dinner, a plain hamburger bun.

I'm pleased to say that more fast food establishments are starting to serve veggie burgers. The only option you have at McDonald's is a chicken casaer salad with no chicken, but there are places such as Triple-O and Fatburger that are open minded enough to think of vegetarians.

My mother has an aversion to Fatburger. I can say that I've never actually been there, but I do know they have a veggie burger on their menu, so I respect them. She says that she won't eat at any place that has the word 'fat' in the name. My response to this is that at least Fatburger is open enough to admit that there is fat in their food as opposed to masquerading as a happy little farm, where you can get 'service with a smile'.

I have a good question this time. Are you a customer of Starbucks? If so, what is your favourite summer drink? Or winter drink? What do you drink...?

I will answer this one because I'm just that thoughtful. If I want something hot, I get a London Fog, which is an Earl Grey tea latte thing. London Fog is so delicious. Cold drink-wise I go with ice coffee. And if I want a Frappechino I'll either get a Chai Creme or a Vanilla Bean. Yum.