One reason it took me so many years to finally become a vegetarian was the misconception that they only eat weird food, laking in any real taste, and textures that resembled regurgitated food. Eating piles of beans with a side of green muck, either in a glass or on a plate, and somehow LIKED it. I have to admit, I'm not a bean fan, vegetarian refried beans are alright, once some ketchup is added to make it not so pasty, but even then definitely has to be added to something.
If I was going to be a vegetarian it wasn't to pretend I was a rabbit and eat green salads all the time (I'm not too fond of them, perhaps I just need to rethink them). I wanted good food. Like the kind you'd eat instead of a bag of chips, or bread and butter, or Mac & Cheese. For quite some time I didn't think food like that honestly existed, well, not after you left the meat out of it.
In an attempt to eat more veggies I bought a couple of vegetarian cookbooks. My first one I found at Walden Books was Vegetarian: The Greatest Ever Vegetarian Cookbook for about $20. This is still my favorite reference, if nothing else than for the food encyclopedia that's in the front. This is a big book at nearly 2 inches thick and 512 pages long, full of BEAUTIFUL photography. I have a paperback copy that came with a sturdy plastic jacket that makes it nice if you need to wipe it down after experimenting. :D
For quite some time I would simply look through the book, seeing the huge variety of things available, and realized that there was a significant number of things I was eating that were already vegetarian, or at least nearly.
The second book I bought was The Clueless Vegetarian, a cookbook aimed at beginners full of great recipes in a very non-intimidating format. My mother and sisters loved the Fancy French Potato Salad, not what I'd think of a traditional potato salad, but I liked it even better.
Between these two books I began to see that it was not only possible to have vegetarian food that was not only good food but better than what I had been eating before. Realizing that I had finally found some of the information I was casually looking for over many years.
Thanksgiving and Christmas had come and gone and the lights from New Year's were just fading, the time of year when there seems to be a constant overflow of good food, or at least comfort foods. 'Tis the season to eat without thinking, right? After growing so tired of doing things the same way that I always did, I was finally ready for a change.
I always thought it would be hard to finally take the last few steps into vegetarianism, but all it took was a change in thinking, helpful cookbooks for encouragement, and some good food.
If I was going to be a vegetarian it wasn't to pretend I was a rabbit and eat green salads all the time (I'm not too fond of them, perhaps I just need to rethink them). I wanted good food. Like the kind you'd eat instead of a bag of chips, or bread and butter, or Mac & Cheese. For quite some time I didn't think food like that honestly existed, well, not after you left the meat out of it.
In an attempt to eat more veggies I bought a couple of vegetarian cookbooks. My first one I found at Walden Books was Vegetarian: The Greatest Ever Vegetarian Cookbook for about $20. This is still my favorite reference, if nothing else than for the food encyclopedia that's in the front. This is a big book at nearly 2 inches thick and 512 pages long, full of BEAUTIFUL photography. I have a paperback copy that came with a sturdy plastic jacket that makes it nice if you need to wipe it down after experimenting. :D
For quite some time I would simply look through the book, seeing the huge variety of things available, and realized that there was a significant number of things I was eating that were already vegetarian, or at least nearly.
The second book I bought was The Clueless Vegetarian, a cookbook aimed at beginners full of great recipes in a very non-intimidating format. My mother and sisters loved the Fancy French Potato Salad, not what I'd think of a traditional potato salad, but I liked it even better.
Between these two books I began to see that it was not only possible to have vegetarian food that was not only good food but better than what I had been eating before. Realizing that I had finally found some of the information I was casually looking for over many years.
Thanksgiving and Christmas had come and gone and the lights from New Year's were just fading, the time of year when there seems to be a constant overflow of good food, or at least comfort foods. 'Tis the season to eat without thinking, right? After growing so tired of doing things the same way that I always did, I was finally ready for a change.
I always thought it would be hard to finally take the last few steps into vegetarianism, but all it took was a change in thinking, helpful cookbooks for encouragement, and some good food.
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