After
living here a few weeks, I’ve come to the conclusion that, in Medellin, finding
food that is suitable for an egg and dairy intolerant meat and deep-fry
sceptic, who likes her seafood fresh, her fruits without sugar and her coffee
black, pure and strong, simply isn’t enough of a challenge for me. I’ve therefore
come up with a brilliant plan to make life just a bit more complicated for
myself for a while …
Becoming
a vegetarian is not something I have ever really considered seriously, and I
still don’t find the idea of me giving up pinnakjøt, trout or crayfish neither tempting
nor likely. However, over the last few years, I have gradually cut down on my
meat intake, and the vegetable portion of my diet has grown correspondingly
larger. Partly as a result of my own and E’s food intolerances, I’ve also
developed more of an interest in food: what it contains, where it comes from,
how to cook it, what it does to us, etc. I’ve also thought quite a bit about
eating more vegetarian food. It’s mostly a matter of habit, I think: we’re so
used to building our dinners around meat or fish, but there’s no reason we
shouldn’t be able to cook tasty food without meat now and then.
I
heard about Meatless Mondays a while ago, and thought it was a good idea, but
never got around to implementing it. Also, in Norway, where I usually cook for
several people, everyone’s food wishes and needs have to be taken into account,
limiting the craziness I can get up to (E and H may object to the claim that I
avoid craziness in the kitchen, but I honestly do restrain myself …).
At
the moment, however, I am cooking just for me. I also have to approach the
whole issue of cooking slightly differently, since I don’t have the equipment
and ingredients I am used to. It’s the perfect opportunity to explore and
experiment. So I made a decision: rather than eating vegetarian – which in
practice, because of my egg and dairy intolerance, means vegan – one day a
week, I’m going all out, completely vegan for a month. Instead of Meatless
Mondays, I’m doing Meatless March.
Why?
Why not.
In part, it’s the challenge, I suppose. I want to see if I can do it, and how hard it will be. Another reason is to force myself to cook vegan food. I always mean to, but as long as nothing’s forcing me, I tend to stick to more familiar approaches. And finally, most importantly, it’s a health thing. I want to see what happens to my rather troublesome stomach if I limit it to pure plant-foods for a while. Missionaries of a vegan diet claim it will solve all your problems and cure all your ills. I have a deep mistrust of all kinds of missionaries, but I am curious, none the less. I love fresh and well-prepared vegetables, I’d really like to learn to cook more bean and lentil based dishes, and Colombia is Heaven when it comes to fruit, all of which provides a good starting point. I already find meat heavy and hard to digest, so I’m pretty sure I’ll be all right without it for a while. I fear the challenge is going to be fish and seafood. I’ve never contemplated giving those up before, and come April I’ll be stuffing my face with whatever I can get my hands on, but the truth is that Medellín is not fish country anyway, and the quality of the seafood found in supermarkets here is not necessarily the best. So … time will show. That’s the point of experiments.
And
before any of you consider commenting or writing to tell me this is madness and
not to be stupid: I have already been told. Nobody here quite seems to
understand why I want to do this, and some are actively trying to get me to
“just taste” or “just make a little exception”. However, I am quite determined
(for now, at least) to do this, and to do it without exceptions or breaks. Since
an important point is to investigate the effects of a purely plant-based diet,
there will be NO EXCEPTIONS – that is, if I can help it and don’t buckle before
the month is up. I do realize that I am making myself even more difficult in
restaurants, and therefore to go out and eat with, but as long as I’m willing
to pay full price for a (considerably) reduced dish (or if I could convince
people to go to proper restaurants now and then, rather than the chain variety
where everything is pre-prepared in some central factory), there should be a
salad or something for me. It will give me an excuse (as if I needed one) to
try out some new restaurants as well – I already have my eye on a couple of
Medellín’s vegetarian ones.
