Meat.

Photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/cordery/ / CC BY 2.0

As a junior in high school, I read The End of Nature, by Bill McKibbon. After finishing the book I decided to never eat meat again. Then my mom made spaghetti with meat sauce for dinner, mmmm my favorite. So, I decided I would stop eating meat tomorrow. And, until Tuesday night I didn't. That was almost 16 years ago.

Since then many changes have occurred in my life...I majored in Environmental Studies in college, started following Christ, got married, had a baby. All through this, I never ate meat. And, honestly, I never missed it. Half the time I forget I'm a vegetarian. Usually it means there are only 1 or 2 menu choices when we eat out, but I'm ok with that, pretty easy to please. It does become awkward when we're invited to friends' houses for dinner and I have to tell them of my "dietary restrictions" - I feel so high maintenance, that's the worst.

Anyway, I've been doing more and more reading on nutrition and food production lately. You can see from the books I'm reading and blogs I frequent some of the info. I've been looking at. Most of my reasons for becoming a vegetarian were because of the environmental destruction that meat production caused and because I believed it was a healthier lifestyle. I never got on the animal rights bandwagon. As I became a Christian, I found it fascinating that, in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were only given plants to eat (Genesis 2:16). It wasn't until after the Great Flood that God gave Noah and his descendants animals to eat (Genesis 9:3).

While I don't totally discredit my initial reasons for becoming a vegetarian, I really don't believe there is anything morally or biblically wrong with eating meat. As I've begun to question my non-meat-eating ways, and started to think about eating meat again, the idea of it became such a big deal for me that I've realized my vegetarianism has been a sort of idol. Being a vegetarian is a deeply ingrained part of my identity and, honestly, a source of pride (not the good kind).

So, I ate some salmon. Thang said he was a little bit sad for me. Honestly, it wasn't anything to write home about. I'd take some well-prepared tofu over that anyday. But, I needed to do it. I am by no means ready to start loading my plate with meatloaf, turkey legs and pig's feet. I'm still reading and praying and trying to determine what's healthiest and most beneficial.

And, I may never eat meat again, or maybe I'll just wait 16 more years.