A friend* recently noticed (from a Facebook post) that I’d eaten dinner at Morton’s Steakhouse. She seemed more than a little shocked given my formerly-hippie ways (back in the day when I eschewed meat, wore all organic-cotton clothing, and grew my own veggies in my expansive compost-fertilized garden). It’s a huge change from the now-me, who has only a handful of potted herbs, who often buys clothes because of expediency/necessity for events rather than for their sustainability, who spends most of her outdoor-time with a paddle in hand instead of a shovel, and who has a long-ish daily commute from Irvine to Orange.
I don’t think that I’m any less authentic or intentioned than in the days when I had the luxury of time to follow environmentalist ideals and could spend a day biking to and wandering around the local grower’s market or in search of clothing in second-hand stores. It was a season of my life that I enjoyed, much, but is now behind me.
I wouldn’t say that I’ve evolved past those ways of doing things–not at all. Instead, my choices are pragmatic ones. In order to have the time with my family that I relish, I have to make choices in other parts of my life to keep things simple. And, these days I’m shopping at Whole Foods instead of the Farmer’s Market, and catching up with friends via Facebook instead of over the garden fence (oh, that’s probably the hardest part I’d say).
*The friend who made that observation will understand why there’s a photo of Eggs Benedict from my recent Montreal trip accompanying this post–it’s one of my favorite breakfasts when I travel. ;-)
5 comments
I was a vegetarian for about a year, but honestly finally got bored with it — it takes a good deal of time and creativity keeping food interesting. Besides, I didn’t evolve over millions of years to enjoy eating meat occasionally for nothing. :) But I still try to be conscientious to eat it sparingly and work on increasing the raw, whole foods percentages to keep myself healthy.
Rich: Because of some digestion/metabolism issues, I can’t eat raw very much anymore (I have to do so sparingly). It’s such a huge change from my former ways, and sometimes it’s really difficult to pass up citrus, fresh fruit, cherry tomatoes, etc. FWIW, the OJ in the image above wasn’t mine and I couldn’t eat any of the fresh fruit cocktail either. Sigh.
Last night I indulged in a big spinach salad (because a friend made it and I love it). I woke up several times through the night with gastric distress as a result. :(
It’s such a huge change from the days that lunch would be slices of tomatoes picked from my garden…
I was fat-free and mostly vegetarian for several years before finally finding a food philosophy that works better for me. I love all my ethical omnivorism foods now!
Also, I hadn’t noticed until this year that I do better with cooked veggies too (I’m okay with raw fruit as a snack by itself). If I do eat raw veggies, I have to have a really good olive oil & apple cider vinegar dressing with it to aid in digestion. Plus I take a lot of probiotics in general which seem to help.
I want to come to California and have a grass-fed steak with you sometime :D
I was vegetarian for most of my 20s, and vegan for a couple of those…but now, can’t eat anything except meat, green veggies, and cauliflower. Anything with more than 2 grams of sugar and I’m basically hungover the next more. How interesting that our bodies change so much!
Kendahl: I would love that!! Let’s do it soon :)
Melissa: It’s interesting, isn’t it, how those things change? I crave salad so much sometimes, and wish I could still eat it (sometimes I do in small quantities)…