Being a Vegetarian*
Ichose to become a vegetarian nearly two years ago and this choice was inspired by my vegan friend Gerald, my vegan sister-in-law Mia, and sister, Gretchen, who sent me care packages with vegetarian paraphernalia from the local vegan restaurants in Los Angeles she frequently visited, as well as Peta short films on animal cruelty.
Though I used to enjoy In-N-Out cheeseburgers and the occasional medium-rare prime rib from The House of Prime Rib, I wasn't really a big meat eater to begin with, so my transition from being a meat-eater to being a vegetarian was fairly smooth.
I began by eating salads everyday, which bored my taste buds after a while. Then Vietnamese tofu pho became an obsession for a few weeks. Then guacamole nachos, then Vietnamese tofu sandwiches, sushi (yes, yes -- I eat fish meat), fried tofu on top of baby greens, flax cereal all day, power shakes, chile-spiced mangoes, Indian food from Naan N Curry, and lately, it's tofu meatball open-faced sandwiches on a toasted slice of multi-grain bread, topped with melted jalapeño yogurt cheese and lot of caramelized onions, baby greens, with extra extra extra ketchup from Trader Joe's and ofcourse, tofu meatballs.
* Fish meat is the exception.
