(no subject)
Meanwhile, unrelated to any horribleness, we've been changing our eating a bit. We haven't gone vegetarian, but we have ooched in that direction. I actually would like to be vegetarian. So many good reasons to do it, but the overhead for me is enormous. That's what's stopped me. Meat is easy and cooking for a family is relentless. To have to abandon or adapt every meal that I know how to make is a huge undertaking. It's what's stopped me, primarily. That and my basic belief that eating meat isn't wrong, just wrong in the way we do it. But we had dinner at our neighbor's house and met a guy who'd gone vegan. We spent the whole night grilling him about how and why he'd done it (for health reasons, not ethical, and he did it overnight after a heart attack, and yes, he found it incredibly easy) and ever since then, we've been eating differently. I just keep buying and serving vegetables. I don't miss the meat -- I never do when I eat vegetarian -- and the children kind of hate everything I make uniformly, so the lack of meat hasn't really blipped on their radar. They just see an upsurge in butternut squash on the menu, which is disgusting.
The truth is, I don't think milk products are actually any good for us either, and I've been trying to reduce those as well. But moderation in all things. I don't have the heart to be extremist. I spent a week or so cooking beans from scratch, which was a lot of trouble and I'm not yet convinced it was worth it. But we'll see. To eat better, to spend less, to reduce our consumption of earth-damaging products -- these are worthwhile undertakings, even if their practical applications horrify the children. Little E already eschews pork on the grounds that pigs are cute, so she is not a hard sell. But the butternut squash is still persona non grata around her. And let us not even mention the dreaded KALE.
The truth is, I don't think milk products are actually any good for us either, and I've been trying to reduce those as well. But moderation in all things. I don't have the heart to be extremist. I spent a week or so cooking beans from scratch, which was a lot of trouble and I'm not yet convinced it was worth it. But we'll see. To eat better, to spend less, to reduce our consumption of earth-damaging products -- these are worthwhile undertakings, even if their practical applications horrify the children. Little E already eschews pork on the grounds that pigs are cute, so she is not a hard sell. But the butternut squash is still persona non grata around her. And let us not even mention the dreaded KALE.