While pregnant, I gained a strong aversion to meat. Once a proud carnivore, now even the smell of
chicken put me in a mad dash to the bathroom.
Without this important source of protein, I was grateful I still had an appetite for fish and shellfish.
While dining at a restaurant one evening, I asked for a salad with
chicken and asked to replace my meat nemesis with salmon. The waiter looked at me with a crooked face and
asked, “Wait, so you eat fish but not meat?
So what are you?”
Good question, I thought.
What was I? Is there a name for
people like me? With this question in
mind, I began exploring the world of vegetarian eating. Below is a summary of what I learned. And for those interested, no, I never
regained my appetite for meat. I gave
birth to my baby girl in January, and the smell of meat still makes me
ill. Sad but true.
Semi-Vegetarian: someone who is cutting back on his or her
intake of meat. For example, a pollo
vegetarian avoids red meat, but eats fish and chicken. A pesco pollo vegetarian also avoids meat,
but consumes chicken and fish.
Pescatarian: someone, like me, who abstains from eating
meat and animal flesh, with the exception of fish. For health reasons, more and more people are
adopting this kind of diet.
Lacto Ovo Vegetarian: someone who excludes meat, fish and
poultry from his or her diet, but eats dairy and eggs. Food such as ice cream, yogurt and milk are
included in the diet.
Lacto Vegetarian: someone who excludes meat, fish, poultry and
eggs from his or her diet. Dairy
products such as ice cream, yogurt and milk are consumed.
Vegan: someone who does not eat meat or use animal
products. This person does not consume
meat, fish, poultry eggs, dairy and any foods containing by-products of woold,
silk and leather. Beyond diet, some
vegans also exclude nonfood items made with animal byproducts. Some also avoid honey.
It always interests me to find out why a person does not eat meat. I find it fascinating the multitude of reasons why they chose to give up red meat, fish, chicken or become a Vegan. Your story is a new one and makes perfect sense to me. I feel I could be a vegetarian, but I am a midwest country girl and to be honest I love a good Steak! I have enjoyed your blog. It is informative and to the point. I like your catchy titles too.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great topic! I quit eating red meat about 3 years ago, when writing a term paper on the meat industry. I have a very weak stomach and the reports I was reading through for research just grossed me out. I cut out all meat for a few months, but then slowly added chicken and turkey back into my diet, as I distanced myself from the less than appealing literature I had been studying. I made a conscious choice to keep Red meat out of my diet. At first, I had simply put off eating it because I was told that red meat tends to be hard on your stomach when you first reintroduce it into your diet. Has anyone else heard of this? Regardless, before I knew it, I had gone a year without any red meat in my diet, so I just kept with it.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I get the same questions as you mentioned all the time! I had no idea there was an actual classification for someone who eats chicken and fish, but not red meat :) Thank you for informing me that I am a Pollo Vegetarian, sometimes it is nice to have a label! I can't tell you how many times I have had to awkwardly turn down red meat entrees, and then also explain myself when someone incorrectly refers to me as vegetarian!