being a vegetarian

I've been a vegetarian for well over 15 years. When I began it was all about animal rights - I learned about how animals were treated in conventional agriculture and I wanted nothing to do with it.

This was in a suburban midwest town in the early 1990s. If free range chicken or beef was available, I didn't know about it. So I gave meat up. Luckily my parents have always given me the space to be myself, so they said that as long as I researched my nutritional needs and made sure I was eating healthy, they didn't pester me about it. I did not know any other vegetarians. I'm somewhat grateful to have had that experience, as it taught early on that I have the strength to stand up for what I believe in, and what is important to me, even if I am the only one doing so. Fitting in doesn't make sense to me.

Then I moved to Eugene, OR and probably half the people I spent time with were vegetarians. It was awesome! If friends or coworkers had a potluck, I could eat most of the food people had brought. And in grocery stores, free-range chicken and beef were available (though expensive). Still, I could not imagine putting a piece of flesh into my mouth and chewing it. I was happy with my processed soy fake meat products.

Towards the end of my time in Eugene I was learning more about local food. Long story short, processed soy isn't great for you and the vast majority certainly isn't local. Now, there are other vegetarian options: tempeh is a fermented soy bean cake that is high in protein and in my opinion, delicious. It is sold here at health food stores and could be made in my kitchen from raw soy beans (one of my criteria for eating locally). But right now I'm facing the question of whether or not I would want to eat tempeh, beans, and peanut butter as my protein sources for the rest of my life. I have always enjoyed eating my veggie burgers and not-hamburger crumbles in my spaghetti sauce. I am convinced that treated humanely, animals are a vital part of a sustainable, biodynamic food system. For one thing, cow and chicken manure enrich the soil. Additionally, chickens are great to have in a garden because they keep bugs under control. Humanely raised chickens and cows produce milk and eggs that I have always been pretty happy to eat. I would encourage anyone who eats meat to switch to organic free range before I would try to get them to give up meat altogether. Yet, I still can't imagine eating meat anytime in the near future.