Some very important background info for those of you that don’t know me too well: I have very strange, unexplainable tendencies. For example, I wore the same shirt for every exam, paper, and game from sophomore year of high school through sophomore year of college…without ever washing it. (Yes…it was a little nasty when I would put it on to go to an exam and it was still damp from my game the night before.) Another “quirk” was my decision to stop eating meat as a New Year’s Resolution…followed by my decision to stop eating cheese as a “real life” resolution.
This decision honestly wasn’t triggered by much…I skimmed through a section of Superfreakonomics that explained how not eating meat was the best thing one could do for the environment. The point of the section was slightly to ridicule people who build “green homes” or other crazy things to decrease energy consumption…when really all they had to do was eat one less hamburger a week. Which would make sense, if I was an environmentalist of any form. I’m not really. This little section in the book only triggered me to think about it…which caused me to talk about it…which resulted in my peers/family making fun of me and saying that I would never do it…which forced me to do it.
So at 10pm on December 31 I treated myself (correction: my parents’ credit card treated me) to a double meal of a pulled pork sandwich and a full rack of ribs. And then at 4pm on June 13 (read: graduation day), I had my last Ritz cracker loaded with baked brie (Schless and I devoured about 4 pounds of brie that afternoon).
And so I entered the judgmental world of “vegetarians” (according to popular opinion…one is not a “vegetarian” unless they haven’t eaten meat for more than a year…and one is certainly not a “vegetarian” if every time she says she doesn’t eat meat she grimaces in disgust with herself and asks her dinner companions if she can just smell their steak, maybe soak her roll in its juices). I did just about everything right – I subscribed to the PETA newsletter, my mommy bought me a vegetarian cookbook that I opened just as many times as the other cookbooks she’s bought me – except for seek every reason possible to stop.
I really thought Rwanda would be that opportunity. When I met with Bill Wyman I asked him about it:
“So...I don’t eat meat or cheese…how much of an issue is that going to be in Rwanda?”
“Not an issue at all. There is no cheese and meat is a delicacy.”
“Yeah…but I wouldn’t like…want the cook to have to make anything special for me…I wouldn’t want to be a burden.”
“Oh you wouldn’t be a burden at all. Even when there are meat dishes at dinner, there are many other options.”
“But …say…I like accidentally eat meat.”
“That wouldn’t be possible. It’s such a delicacy that you would know if you’re eating meat.”
He obviously did not understand my goal of the conversation. So an hour later, I was lying to my friends:
“Mr. Wyman says that I should probably start eating meat and cheese again before going to Rwanda. Because I might accidentally eat it there and it would be terrible to see how my digestive system reacts to having meat and cheese for the first time in months when it’s already going to be busy fighting off so many other diseases and parasites and bad things. It sucks…I totally don’t want to break my New Years/Real Life Resolution…but I kind of have to eat meat now.”
Similarly, I don’t think they fell for it. But they were at least good sports and went along with it, saying that it made perfect sense why I would need to eat meat before going to a country where maybe only the top 5% of the population can even afford to eat meat. I would definitely accidentally come across it then. First meal: turkey, cheddar, and apple Panini at the Harpoon brewery. Second meal: bacon cheeseburger…I progressed quickly.
And now…I am *so excited* to celebrate America with a hotdog (or two or three) tomorrow!
This decision honestly wasn’t triggered by much…I skimmed through a section of Superfreakonomics that explained how not eating meat was the best thing one could do for the environment. The point of the section was slightly to ridicule people who build “green homes” or other crazy things to decrease energy consumption…when really all they had to do was eat one less hamburger a week. Which would make sense, if I was an environmentalist of any form. I’m not really. This little section in the book only triggered me to think about it…which caused me to talk about it…which resulted in my peers/family making fun of me and saying that I would never do it…which forced me to do it.
So at 10pm on December 31 I treated myself (correction: my parents’ credit card treated me) to a double meal of a pulled pork sandwich and a full rack of ribs. And then at 4pm on June 13 (read: graduation day), I had my last Ritz cracker loaded with baked brie (Schless and I devoured about 4 pounds of brie that afternoon).
And so I entered the judgmental world of “vegetarians” (according to popular opinion…one is not a “vegetarian” unless they haven’t eaten meat for more than a year…and one is certainly not a “vegetarian” if every time she says she doesn’t eat meat she grimaces in disgust with herself and asks her dinner companions if she can just smell their steak, maybe soak her roll in its juices). I did just about everything right – I subscribed to the PETA newsletter, my mommy bought me a vegetarian cookbook that I opened just as many times as the other cookbooks she’s bought me – except for seek every reason possible to stop.
I really thought Rwanda would be that opportunity. When I met with Bill Wyman I asked him about it:
“So...I don’t eat meat or cheese…how much of an issue is that going to be in Rwanda?”
“Not an issue at all. There is no cheese and meat is a delicacy.”
“Yeah…but I wouldn’t like…want the cook to have to make anything special for me…I wouldn’t want to be a burden.”
“Oh you wouldn’t be a burden at all. Even when there are meat dishes at dinner, there are many other options.”
“But …say…I like accidentally eat meat.”
“That wouldn’t be possible. It’s such a delicacy that you would know if you’re eating meat.”
He obviously did not understand my goal of the conversation. So an hour later, I was lying to my friends:
“Mr. Wyman says that I should probably start eating meat and cheese again before going to Rwanda. Because I might accidentally eat it there and it would be terrible to see how my digestive system reacts to having meat and cheese for the first time in months when it’s already going to be busy fighting off so many other diseases and parasites and bad things. It sucks…I totally don’t want to break my New Years/Real Life Resolution…but I kind of have to eat meat now.”
Similarly, I don’t think they fell for it. But they were at least good sports and went along with it, saying that it made perfect sense why I would need to eat meat before going to a country where maybe only the top 5% of the population can even afford to eat meat. I would definitely accidentally come across it then. First meal: turkey, cheddar, and apple Panini at the Harpoon brewery. Second meal: bacon cheeseburger…I progressed quickly.
And now…I am *so excited* to celebrate America with a hotdog (or two or three) tomorrow!
1 comment:
"Mr. Wyman says that I should probably start eating meat and cheese again before going to Rwanda. Because I might accidentally eat it there and it would be terrible to see how my digestive system reacts to having meat and cheese for the first time in months when it’s already going to be busy fighting off so many other diseases and parasites and bad things. It sucks…I totally don’t want to break my New Years/Real Life Resolution…but I kind of have to eat meat now"
i BELIEVED you. not only are you a scourge of the earth, you're a liar too.
see you in 45 minutes for the pork bulgoki lunch box!
Post a Comment