Eating Grass

Though I annouced more than a month ago that I've become a vegan (a real one, meaning no meat or milk/dairy), I didn't announce that I've stepped out of the vegan world after barely three weeks of giving it a try.

Not that I can't stop eating meat. In fact, I love eating greens. Must be the Ilocano in me. It's just that If I won't eat animals or any of their by-products, I'll end up not eating anything. Bread has milk, cereals - egg. Bean sprout lumpia has ground meat. Chopsuey has pieces of meat and animal innards, even salads has strips of ham and bits of bacon or worse, mayonnaise. The only thing I could eat "legally" then was rice and fried tofu from the Chinaman who sells spiced meat downstairs but the tofu (tao-fu according to Lifestyle Channel's Ming Tsai) are not cooked in time for lunch. Mr. Chinaman usually brings out his tofu at about 3 or 4 p.m. to sell it to the arrozcaldo and pancit-eating crowd.

The vegetarian starter kit sent to me by PETA wasn't of great help either for it requires me to buy "hard to find" products such as "mock-chicken" and "nay-onnaise."

It's hard to be a vegetarian in this meat-crazy country. I once told the Geisha (who once told me "I'm so glad we're in this together"," now only her is still a vegetarian) that this side of the planet is not too vegetarian-friendly. Every food stall sells meat and the price of a vegetarian dish is enough to feed a meat-eating family of six. And if you indeed decide to be a vegetarian, you'll get the tag that you are "maarte" or a "hypocrite". They'll even accuse you of being obsessed with some kind of a fad diet.

But I'm not saying that I'll never be going back to my vegetarian ways someday soon. True enough, a plant-based diet does justice to our animal friends. Besides, it doesn't leave you feeling bloated, heavy or greasy like meat does. Maybe someday. I'll consider that lifestyle again, but right now, I am not just ready. The place I live in is not ready.