(Sidney Hollingsworth/The Daily Campus)

Why I’m not eating meat anymore – Brandon Bub

I wish I could say that I gave up meat out of some deep moral conviction about the rights of animals or as a form of active protest against factory farming and chemicals in our food, but I didn’t.

In fact, I think it’s both disingenuous and pretentious of me to go claiming that sort of false moral high ground.

In all honesty, I didn’t really become a vegetarian out of a desire to be healthier, either. The reasons why I gave up meat are disappointingly mundane. I stopped eating meat largely out of convenience: my inability to eat anything particularly heavy for a few weeks following a run-in with some rancid chicken fingers at the Metropolitan Art Museum in New York, combined with my indolence in developing a new year’s resolution for 2012, led me to adopt a meatless diet as a sort of personal challenge. In other words, I became a vegetarian because it was something to do.

When I started this challenge, I really wasn’t sure what to expect. Growing up, I never paid a lot of attention to what was actually in my food, so it was strange going to restaurants and finding that about half to three quarters of the options were suddenly closed off to me. In high school I remember going across the street to Chick-fil-A nearly every other day and buying a deluxe chicken sandwich, so when I began to realize that I might never get to eat that again I almost reconsidered my decision. Yes, I’m fully aware of their business practices. I’m sorry that bigotry happens to taste so delicious.

Moreover, the reactions of others around me weren’t exactly the most encouraging. While I do have plenty of vegetarian friends (including two of my roommates last year who helped demonstrate to me just how viable the lifestyle was), I did get a considerable amount of flak. As my father so pointedly observed, “First you tell me you’re a Democrat, and now you’re a vegetarian? What’s college doing to you?” As if I didn’t already look enough like a smug liberal, here was more proof of my being a walking stereotype.

However, eight months into my experiment, many of my expectations have been subverted. I’ve learned that people of all political stripes embrace meatless diets. I’ve learned that being a vegetarian does not necessarily mean eating a diet consisting of nothing more than broccoli and carrots, but can include a wide array of delicious foods. I’ve learned that tofu, when prepared correctly, is actually delicious.

I’ve learned that vegetarian restaurants like Spiral Diner and Cosmic Cafe are some of my favorite spots to eat in Dallas. I’ve learned that Chipotle will give you free guacamole for your burrito if you order one without any meat.

Most importantly, though, I’ve learned that I can actually live a healthier lifestyle as a vegetarian than I ever might have imagined. I still get all the proteins I need by eating beans and nuts (with the occasional fish thrown in because I guess I’m a cheater), and I’ve cut out so many unhealthy foods from my diet entirely. Eating Chick-fil-A sandwiches for lunch every single day, while certainly enjoyable, just made me feel sick after a while.

I’ve noticed that since I gave up meat I’ve felt genuinely healthier. I recognize that one can still live a healthy lifestyle without cutting out meat entirely, but as a former skeptic I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by the opportunities that a vegetarian lifestyle has to offer. I’d encourage everyone to at least give it some consideration.

Bub is a junior majoring in English, political science, and history.

Why I’m eating meat once again – Tucker Keene

I’ve identified as some form of vegetarian for most of my life, but after seven years of pure vegetarianism and five years of being vegan, I’ve decided to start eating meat again.

I don’t remember when I first indicated to my family that I was vegetarian, but it was some time before I turned eleven. I was as vegetarian as I could be at an age when my parents still prepared all my meals. It was mostly a reason not to eat meat, which I didn’t particularly like. When I was 13 I decided I was old enough to start enforcing this, so for the last seven years I have intentionally not eaten any meat.

When I was 15, I started phasing milk out of my diet, which ultimately left me lactose intolerant. Upon this news, I cut out all other dairy products from my diet and eggs as well. I went fully vegan in early 2008.

I quickly realized that a life of tofu and trail mix would bore me to death, so I taught myself how to cook. I got very good at it too, but eventually realized that forcing my guests to eat vegan just because I am was kind of annoying. I began cooking regular food for them instead. I did a Thanksgiving turkey last year which was quite good (I hear) and the fried chicken I prepared for my Super Bowl party was called by some southern friends of mine “The best [they’ve] ever had.”

After five years of learning a great deal about food, I began to wonder why I still bothered to limit myself. The ethical considerations were always a secondary concern to me, and lactose intolerant people (especially ones who brought it upon themselves) can eat normal diets, so the only thing stopping me was my own willpower.

I had gone vegan long before I even knew about most ingredients. I had fond memories of bacon, but had never heard of prosciutto or speck. I had never heard of squab, or mascarpone or any of the other gourmet ingredients that I now learned I had to live without.

My main reason for being vegetarian was a distaste for meat when I was 11. Who’s to say that my own cooking abilities, combined with a larger variety of meat wouldn’t allow me to find some meat dishes that I did like? Not to mention that tastes change over the years. Eleven year olds don’t have very sophisticated palates. I definitely have one now.

Further, I had pretty much exhausted all my options of vegan eating. There was close to nothing new or interesting left to try, aside from some exotic fruits that would be mighty difficult to come by. I’ve gotten bored with eating the same kinds of foods, and see meats and cheeses and all sorts of other non-vegan foods as a way to expand my tastes.

I had also known that I would have to transition back to a regular diet at some point, there was no way I could keep it up for the rest of my life. Five years felt like a good stopping point, so I figured I’d start what would surely be a months-long process now.

I made that decision about a month ago. I’ve worked dairy all the way back into my diet, and I’m working on eggs at the moment. I’ll move on to meat shortly after that; hopefully I’ll get to try a fried alligator at the state fair this year, and I definitely intend to eat my turkey this Thanksgiving.

Keene is a junior majoring in political science, economics, and public policy.