I have to
confess that during Vegetarian Month there were times when I almost fell off
the vegetable wagon. Most days it was easy to sit down in front of a colourful
display of vegetables, a giant aubergine or a steaming plate of root vegetable
curry. I enjoyed it, but the real test came when I attended my monthly dinner
club called The Intellectual Dinner Club. Just three days away from completing
a whole month without meat I visited 'Discovery Bay' in Huddersfield, a
delicious Caribbean restaurant which makes my two favourite Caribbean dishes to
perfection: Rum Pork and Salt Fish with Ackee. I didn't know what to do, the
temptation was too difficult to resist and was made even harder when Janne gave
me permission to have a 'veggie night off'. But as I sat down and began to
peruse the menu I realised that actually I didn't want to do it, I was happy
being vegetarian; I had come this far and I wasn't about to give up now for a
slab of pork. Instead I ordered two vegetable dishes, which turned out to be
fantastic! The vegetarian menu was actually great and as my friends tucked into
huge pieces of meat I felt completely satisfied with my plate of steamed
Caribbean vegetable curry, I had no idea what kind of vegetables I was eating
but the flavours were fantastic. I had done it...I made it to the end of the
month, meat free and feeling rather good about myself.
But now
here's the bit I'm sure you want to know more than anything...what did I get
out of it? Well...firstly I got a size 8 pair of jeans out of it! Seriously! I
managed to lose 1 stone in weight and now my bottom actually fits into a size 8.
I couldn't believe it. I felt a lot healthier towards the end, the first two
weeks I craved meat like a crazy woman but then that subsided and I started to
crave asparagus and parsnips...honestly! I really, really enjoyed it...Janne
got even more creative in the kitchen and cooked up some amazing dishes . Thanks
to Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, one of my last vegetarian meals was so good I made
it last most of the evening, I wanted to take my time and savour every mouthful
and capture every flavour because it was so incredibly delicious. Our food
shopping bill was cut by about twenty-five percent, which I still think is
amazing. What I thought would be just a month of eating plates of vegetables
actually turned out to be an incredible journey and I've loved every minute of
it. One of the things that kept me on the project was watching Diners,
Drive-ins and Dives (or Triple D!) a cheesy (very meaty) American show I
discovered on the Food Network. The meat and the sheer size of the portions
made me feel like I could never look at a slab of meat ever again, it was
disgusting and made me feel healthy and glad that I was eating so many
vegetables...the sight of a vegetable or a rogue lettuce leaf on this programme
would make it a rare and rather special episode.
So what's
the outcome? The day I finished I rewarded myself with a giant chicken burger,
chips, barbecue sauce and onion rings (a la Triple D.) I didn't feel guilty, it
didn't feel wrong and I certainly won't be turning vegetarian but what it has
taught me is that I definitely want to eat more vegetarian food. I won't be
eating red meat again but then I never did really anyway. Instead I'll be eating more fish, veggies and
occasionally chicken. At the burger place it was the veggie burgers that I had
my eye on the most, they sounded far more flavoursome and interesting than just
a plain old chicken burger. After that I ate meat every day until the following
Monday when I cooked (yes I cooked) vegetable kebab skewers and do you know
what...they were delicious and just what I needed. Maybe I'll be able to wear
those size 8 jeans for a little while longer.
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