Cracking an egg

For the last 10 years, I have been a diligent vegan. I almost wrote something about following a very strict vegan diet. That doesn't sound right somehow, as it sounds as if I was depriving myself and following someone else's dictates. It was a choice that I made in college as I learned about the industrial machine that produces meat and milk products. I have memories as a child requesting steak on my birthday and drank a ton of milk as I was growing up. I religiously ordered milk when we went out to eat as a family and when the team went out after a game during high school sports. My college roommates likely have memories of my getting a glass or 2 of milk with dinner and dunking rolls in the milk. So, it wasn't like I grew up on a similar diet to the one I adopted after leaving home. I also have a memory sometime during my senior year of high school in which I was having a very difficult time cleaning and preparing some store-bought chicken for dinner. Either my mother thought to herself or said out loud that she thought I'd become a vegetarian at some point.

During these years I didn't buy or wear wool or leather, use honey, eat anything that I knew had been prepared with animal products. I was part of a animal rights club in college. I was very committed to this way of life. And, I think I was healthy. The only thing that I noticed was that my hair thinned out some, not noticeable since it is still thick. I can think of only a handful of times that I inadvertently, or in one instance, under full consciousness (we went as a family to Blake Island and had salmon as part of the meal, of which I agreed to eat a little), consumed meat.

Last summer I attended a wedding reception at a French restaurant. One meal option was kindly and thoughtfully (!) vegan. The desserts were certainly not. Nevertheless I decided to partake. Oh my. That was the day I fell in love with creme brulee.

For awhile, my only excursion into the non-vegan world was an occasional creme brulee, of which all of our favorite local restaurants seem to have on their menu.

Then, I finally picked up a book that I had purchased at Powell's last summer called Nourishing Traditions: The cookbook that challenges politically correct nutrition and the diet dictocrats. I felt like I had seen the book around here and there for awhile, finally bought a copy and had it sit for nearly a year before really being read. The book talks about traditional, native diets and how they differ from what people currently eat. And, how what we are told to eat has differed from what people ate for millenia. The author discusses how grains eaten without soaking contain phytates that bind up calcium and other nutrients, which actually depletes the body of nutrients rather than adding anything to the body. She also claims that unfermented soy products do the same thing. The authors are large proponents of raw milk from grass-fed cows of traditional breeds. They also discuss how people in this country are deficient in omega-3 fatty acids since nearly all vegetable oils are high in omega-6 fatty acids. Anyhow, I could go on, but I'll stop since this is all ramblings and book regurgitations.

In addition, I went to the library the other day and came up on a book called Real Food by Nina Planck. It is more of the same with a little different take and little less militancy on the foods that one should eat.

The books discuss a so-called fertility diet of what foods those wishing to conceive should be eating as well.

So, reading all of this lately has had an impact. In addition, I'm living with someone who isn't vegan/vegetarian although he is very supportive and mainly eats a vegetarian diet with cheese a few times a week and meat probably once a week.

A few weeks ago I wanted to buy some eggs from the farmer's market but was on call. This meant the I was working at the start of the market when one needs to get there to buy eggs since people only have a few dozen eggs to sell. He didn't buy any. We stopped at our local health food store and I bought a dozen from a local farm. anyhow, I wasn't feeling much support for this decision to buy and eat eggs. We finally talked about it, and I guess he was feeling a little guilty for having a "negative" impact on my eating habits and that being vegan has been such a large part of my identity for the decade.

Recently I visited a local dairy that sells raw milk from grass-fed cows. I must say that it is pretty good. Once I get something to incubate the milk in, I'm going to start making yogurt.

It feels good to be able to buy "protein" from sources locally, rather than buying soy milk and tofu produced who knows where. And, from the reading lately, these are seeming less and less like the healthy options I had previously thought.

This is a dietary change still in progress and an identity that is shifting slightly.