My Experiences
This is a page dedicated to vegetarianism and animal rights. Since 1997, when I decided to go vegetarian, I have repeatedly stumbled over certain sticking points that those of you who are just starting out might like to know about.
My Vegetarianism
In 1997 I undertook to make many fundamental changes in the way I was living my life. First, I dumped my boyfriend of 7 years and freed myself from eternal indentured servitude. Second, I stopped smoking weed and drinking any alcoholic beverages. I am not proud of having gotten sucked into a "pothead" lifestyle, but honestly it taught me the value of an aware, clearheaded lifestyle. I won't go into my straightedge stance here (that can be saved for another time), but I will say that I am back here for life. Third, I decided that (although I did not eat a large quantity of "red" meat before) eating meat and other animal products was unethical and unnecessary, and therefore I should cease my consumption of them.
I am what is called an lacto-ovo-vegetarian right now. I do not eat meat, fish, or poultry, and strictly avoid (as best I can with information given to me) animal products in my food and other household items. I do eat dairy and egg products still, although I hope that someday I will be able to free myself from them.
In this whole process, I have realized that, as important as the choices themselves are, the necessity to do things one step at a time is likewise vital. You can easily burn out when you realize that it is very difficult to completely avoid animal products. I myself try to do the best I can, and make the choices that have the greatest effect first. Don't undo all your attitude changes by frustrating yourself with improbable goals. This is a path, and you make progress as you go.
A lot of the problems I had (and still have) involve hidden animal ingredients. Perhaps one of the biggest tenets of beginning vegetarianism is to READ THE LABEL! You will be amazed at what you've been putting into your body. Here are a few that tripped me up early on, or surprised me:
Worcestershire Sauce and Caesar salad dressing contain anchovies for seasoning. Ew, little fish!
Gelatine is made with animal by-products. I thought that the days of this were over, and that it amounted to an old wives' tale sort of thing, but when I went vegetarian I found out otherwise. Then later one of my friends called around to Knox and Jell-O, etc. to asked why they didn't use plant keratin or pectin instead of gelatine, and they were very proud to say that they only used "the choicest connecting tendons and hooves" in their products, thank you very much!
Oven-ready Biscuits (such as some of Pillsbury's refrigerated biscuit tubes, etc.) and prepared pie crusts frequently contain lard (on the labels it is listed as "animal shortening") in the tradition of old-fashioned baking. Just READ THE LABEL and you'll be fine. Also in this department, watch out for individually wrapped snack foods (I believe Drake's is a prime culprit here) which contain animal shortening.
McDonald's uses meat flavoring in the preparation of their fries! I just found this out. Ech... Click here to quickly check out some restaurant's info.
Doritos newer flavors, such as Salsa Verde and BBQ, have chicken and beef broth added for flavoring. Gross and unnecessary. You wouldn't think you'd have to check your chips for this kind of crap! That'll teach me to make assumptions...
Cheese is frequently made with rennet (also listed on the ingredients as "enzymes"), which is made of enzymes from cow stomach. However, there are some cheese makers out there who care enough to use vegetable rennet! I personally am a big fan of Cabot Cheeses. They seem to have a conscience.
Progresso Soups have a lot of meat broths in even their vegetable soups. However, they do have some good soups that appear to be vegetarian, such as their tomato, tomato rotini, lentil, and macaroni and white bean soups. Just keep your eye out, that's all.
Spaghetti sauces are also frequently flavored with meat and poultry stock. Classico has a number of meat-free sauces that are good, such as their Spicy Pesto etc.
International House of Pancakes is a place I frequent here and there, and I found to my amusement (it really is ludicrous) that they have a meat for meat exchange policy. I tried to order one of their breakfast deals and get hashbrowns substituted for the meat item in the deal. The waitress informed me that "We have a policy that we only substitute meat for meat items." In other words, instead of giving me the less expensive vegetables (according to side order prices on the menu) they would give me meat or nothing. ?! Are you as confused as I am??? Oh well...
Keep in mind that these are a few to start out with. Don't bog yourself down with too much at once or you'll never be able to remember it all, and grocery shopping will become a nightmare. If you want to go really in depth, and are willing to give up a lot of your processed sugars, read this. If you really want to know what's what, check out PETA's comprehensive Animal Ingredients and Their Alternatives, and for ethical concerns regarding different industries and food items, etc. go to Vegan-L's Vegetarian FAQ.
So far as shopping goes, I have been rearranging mine ever since I made the switch, and I finally feel like I've achieved a good balance. Here's what I do...
I buy a few staple items like Florida Natural (grown by a co-op, not owned by a mondo corporation like Minute Maid/Tropicana... yet!) orange juice and frozen pizza, and Tom's Natural Toothpaste at the local chain store, Shop'n'Save. I try to give them as little of my money as possible, but occasionally take advantage of choice savings.
For my produce, bread, milk, and cheese, I shop at our local Public Market here in Portland (Maine), where Smiling Hill Farms provides me with cruelty-free milk, organic free-range eggs, and Maine cheese made with vegetable enzymes, and Big Sky Bread Company sells me *really* good bread fresh baked every day with no preservatives or anything. It's nice to look at an ingredients list and recognize everything on it at a glance.
For cereals, bulk foods (cane sugar, rice, nuts, sunflower seeds, tea, etc.), snack foods (Little Bearitos rules!), and other sundries I shop at our local alternative, The Whole Grocer.
I guess in closing all I can say is be aware of what you are buying/consuming, and try to make the right choices. Knowing exactly what you are consuming is a really exciting thing... step by step you will reach your goal! The Web offers a tremendous amount of resources that several years ago would have been hard to find for novice vegetarians curious about it all... use it! Get curious!!!
If you want to correct anything mentioned above, or need more info, or just have a "Dear Veggie..." question, please feed free to e-mail me at any time at msouliere@porthouse.org ! I'd be happy to help.
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