To sort of piggy back on my earlier post about dealing with negativity, this post is for Dave, who left this comment on the blog:
Dave said: "Please write a blog about how everyone treats us "Happy Herbivores" like we are freaks or something that don't like food."
Let me start by saying, I am guilty of sometimes forgetting what I was like as an omnivore. I've only eaten a plant-based (vegan) diet for 5 years. Five years ago I was a vegetarian and a year before that I was an omnivore. Six years wasn't that long ago...
Yet it feels like a lifetime ago --- many, many lifetimes ago. Sometimes I'm in total denial and pretend like I've been a happy herbivore my entire life (I wish!)
Point is, when I was an omnivore, I was a horribly picky eater. Impossible even. My mom will tell you horror stories and Scott will too.
I wouldn't try anything new or out of the ordinary. At least not with ease and optimism.
I can distinctly remember Scott asking me to go to an Indian restaurant once and I said something awful like "ew gross! I don't want to eat curry!" and now, Indian is one of my most favorite cuisines to cook - and eat.I feel really bad about that, still.
I am always quick to tell people that I eat a much wider variety of food now than I ever did as an omnivore.
I'm also quick to try new things and explore new cuisines. Since adopting a plant-based diet I've fallen in love with Ethiopian, Thai and Indian foods -- three cuisines I'd have never - ever - tried as an omnivore.I was really missing out!
When I adopted this diet something happened deep inside of me. I became a foodie. Someone who loved food.
I used to go to a restaurant and I'd sit there angry and frustrated because not a single item on the menu appealed to me -- even though every option was a possibility.
Now when I find myself at a veg restaurant, where again every option is a possibility, it takes every effort to hold myself back from ordering everything. I have been known to order several entrees because I just couldn't limit myself to one.
My, my how the tables have turned.
I love food more now as a herbivore than I ever did as an omnivore. I eat more variety now than I ever did as an omnivore and I never quite enjoyed a meal as much as I do now.
For the love of food!
