On Saturday night, I attended a birthday dinner party. The hostess knew I was a veg, and made a wonderful veg friendly lasagna. Upon hearing about my culinary choices, I heard the phrase, "Oh wow, a vegetarian? Now, WHY would you EVER want to be one? What made you decide to be one?" My favorite was, "Vegetarian, well that means you can eat this shrimp, right?"
My life as a veg started about 2 years ago. In May 2007, I traveled to Cambodia for a month, volunteering with several NGOs (non government organizations). We were warned that sanitation was not the highest quality and be weary about what we ate. During the beginning of the month (this time I was still a meatatarian) I ate some chicken, beef and pork. This all changed after 2 life altering experience. The first, happened during a visit to the Russian Market. Essentially, this market is hundreds of 'shops' huddled together in a small area. You can buy clothes, purses, jewelery and food. We walked through the market and came to the food shops. Now, when I say shops, I mean, we saw where and how food, especially meat, was prepared. I won't go into details, but essentially, I saw bare feet touching meat, meat laying out in the sun, flies and other bugs landing on meat, among other sights. This definitely turned my stomach.
The second experience happened during our visit to Angkor Wat. I was walking back to the tuk tuk (Cambodian mode of transportation) and saw recently deceased pigs, bundled together, on the back of a motorcycle. Gross! After this, I swore off pork and beef. I stopped eating chicken and fish this past summer, just to see if I could do it. And, I have! I mean, if someone forgot that I am a veg, then I may eat seafood. Majority of the time I love my veggies!
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