I'M NOT VEGAN...
January 17, 2014
THE HUNGER JAMES OFFICIAL RATING:
…Just in case anyone was wondering.
January is a funny month, right? Everyone has just made their New Years Resolutions, and for the month of January, we are all doing our best to stick to them. From going to the gym 4 times a week (whoops) to only drinking on the weekends (whoops) to writing in a journal everyday (whoops), we strive to stick to our resolutions.
A popular resolution among my friends this year was to “go vegetarian” or “be vegan”.
Why? I don’t know. Health reasons, maybe. But I was amazed to see how many people were going to cut meat (and dairy) out of their daily diets. I could never do something as drastic as that, but I wanted to challenge myself a little bit this year. Never going to cut meat (OR CHEESE) out of my diet, I decided that for the month of January, I would cut out red meat.
That should be easy, right? I’m too poor to buy a steak and I can always have a turkey burger, I thought. No problem.
And it wasn’t a problem! Until last night.
I went out for dinner at Wined Up with my friend, the one who “went vegan”, and we were both looking over the menu at what we could eat, a task much harder for my friend than myself.
“I could just get a plate of hummus” she said unenthusiastically.
“They have a veggie burger. You should try that!” I said, trying to be supportive.
She agreed with the choice, and it got me thinking. Damn, a cheeseburger sounds realllllllly good. I think I’ll have that! And then I remembered my no-red-meat rule for the month. What a conundrum I was having!
I sat there, perusing the rest of the menu for anything that caught my eye – but my baby blues kept being pulled back to that cheeseburger. I mainly did this no red meat thing to see if I had the will power, perseverance, and determination to stick to a goal – any goal. I figured if I could do that, I could do anything!
So, when the waitress arrived, my friend ordered her veggie burger, faking a smile and taking a huge gulp of her wine.
“And what can I get for you, sir?” the waitress asked me.
“I’ll have…” I started to stutter. “I’ll have…the cheeseburger. Medium rare, please.”
Oh yeah, I forgot. I don’t have any will-power. “Screw it!” I shouted.
When our meals finally arrived, my mouth was watering just looking at that bloody cheeseburger while my friend stared at her veggie burger with disgust and repulsion. “Is that corn!?” she asked.
The cheeseburger was good – just what I needed. Have I had a better burger? Sure. But when you go 16 days without red meat, any burger is going to be pure bliss.
So, even though I did not keep my promise on not eating red meat – or only drinking on the weekends – I am still optimistic about this year!