Face Your Food

I don't write much about vegetarianism, except as it comes up in context (what I'm cooking, going to the farm, etc.). I'm not a vegan (though I don't eat a lot of dairy) or really even a vegetarian since I eat fish and seafood. I've just slowly worked my way here over the years -- first the red meat went (after I didn't eat it for a while and then had some prime rib which I felt pass under my ribs for 3 painful days, and that was that). In Wisconsin, I qualified as a vegetarian at that point. It's true, I can recall being at a barbeque in Wisconsin, eating some chicken, and being asked, "so, how long have you been a vegetarian?"

Then I stopped cooking meat at home. I just didn't like dealing with the raw meat. After a while, I stopped ordering it in restaurants. I still ate meat if I was served it at someone's house, but that didn't happen too often. So, at some point about 12 or 13 years ago, I realized I was basically not eating any meat except seafood, and I didn't miss it, so I would try intentionally not eating meat to see how that was. Turns out, it was pretty darn good.

I'm choosing to have my child eat the same as I do, for my convenience and for her health. I do think the right meat in small amounts can be part of a healthy diet, but I don't think it is required for proper nutrition as long as care is taken for a balance of protein sources. When she is older, my kid can make her own choices about what she eats, and she will no doubt go scarf some Big Macs and pepperoni pizzas. Lord knows I did. But I do talk to her about making careful choices about where your food comes from, and if the way it comes to you is something you can support with your beliefs and moral compass. If nothing else, I hope that message sticks. Her generation is going to bear the brunt of some of the choices of mine and my parents, and perhaps see the fall of the megafarms, mass production of monocultures and massive inputs to the soil. If she has a solid footing in local, organic, sustainable farming and how to create real food from things you get there and in your own yard, she will be equipped for what she may face.

Speaking of face, I started this post with a more light-hearted agenda, which was to say that there may be some irony in the fact that I frequently make Adelaide's food in the form of a smiley face. Today it was cereal for breakfast, and this for second breakfast:He looks a bit like the scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz books. Lunch was face-free, but dinner tonight included some junk food (requested by A when shopping at Target, because she had seen kids eating them at school lunch):I won't bother to post more, but many a face-filled meal has graced her plate over the years.