Vegetarianism

This is my official announcement. As of Saturday, February 16th, 2008, I am officially a vegetarian. My last bite of meat was half of a Carl's Jr. burger on Friday night. I put all of the meat in my house in a bag and in the back corner of my freezer... I will probably be gifting it to my neighbor quite soon. I have two reasons for making this decision, and while I don't think it will be a permanent change, I am 100% committed to it.

First, I don't want to put bad food in my body. The animals used to produce this meat are not raised in a natural or a humane way, creating a situation where they are not only fed a disgusting diet, but they are medicated to prevent them from getting sick on that diet. I think this situation is wrong, but more so, I don't want to put the meat that results from these CAFOs into my body. If I lived in a place where I had more access to a local cattle farm or something similar I might be making a different decision, but vegetarianism works for now.

Second, I'm fascinated by food culture in the United States. I am currently choosing to opt out of US food culture in many ways (ex. eating a generally healthy diet with only a few Carl's Jr. exceptions). But, I am curious as to how difficult it will be to opt out more dramatically. How difficult is it to eat out if you're a vegetarian, how difficult is it to participate in other social eating situations as a vegetarian? What will my students say?

This is going to be a great experiment. I'm hoping to do this for at least six months... and then I'll reevaluate. I will keep everyone updated!