Becoming Vegetarian by choice…

My five-year old son was holding the silver foiled edge of the spicy chicken Lollipop. Keeping his tiny mouth wide open, he tried to pull a large piece of it using his deciduous teeth. He chewed and chewed the mouth-watering fried chicken and asked me:

“Amma…where did these Chicken piece come from?”

Me:  “from Chicken”.

My son:  “I asked you, from which plant or tree it comes ?….like  mango from mango trees.”

I did not want to give him a detailed explanation about the origin of that cooked chicken piece. I was sure, if I did so he may not like to eat it. I just diverted him by telling, “you know Hrishick…, Chicken is good for health. It contains protein, B Vitamins…”

Obviously, in India most of the meat eaters or lovers have these type of guiltiness at their corner about slaughtering animals to make a sumptuous meal. India, being a proud vegetarian country has the highest percentage of vegetarians in the world, which stands at 99% in 2006.

There are as many different kinds of vegetarians as there are vegetables to eat. A few types would include ovo-vegetarian. This is where you eat eggs, but not dairy products. If you use dairy products, but don’t eat eggs, you would be a lacto-vegetarian. Then there are just plain vegetarians. I describe this as not eating anything with a face or any products that have animal by products in them. There are many who say they are vegetarian, but eat fish, I do not consider this vegetarian as I do think fish can feel pain. You would be called a pescatarian, but not vegetarian. Finally What I have chosen is lacto-ovo vegetarian.

Well, coming to me, I was not brought up as meat-eater during my childhood. As my father was a vegetarian, my mom followed him and never cooked it in our house. So I was the lover of veggies during school days. After my father’s demise, my brother who was in his teens was demanding my mom to cook fish for him at first. He loved eating everything under the sun.

Slowly I started loving it and at one point I was telling,” I just can’t imagine a life without these fried fish or chicken. I really feel pity over the vegetarians who miss this taste.” Those words I uttered while I was in my college days. Later I was eating like crazy all those but mostly fish, chicken and mutton.

After becoming a mom I found a change in my mindset which was against slaughtering to satisfy our appetite and adding up the sins to our life’s good list. For years, I was trying to give up eating meats, but it was so crazy and kept postponing for some reasons. As I underwent c-section for both of my kids, I was also in the position to listen doctor’s advise.

When I announced, I am going to shun myself from eating meat, some friends and family relatives came out of their valuable suggestions:

“Do not stop fully. You can opt to reduce the frequency of eating if you like”

“Why can’t you avoid red meat and take fish as it is more healthier?”

“You may feel bad if you fly to western countries. You won’t get any good food you like sometimes.”

Of course these words were the outcome of the people who really cared me. Though their words were discouraging, it had its own value. And some one started to bet that I cannot keep my words or tongue against it as I loved eating fish and meat. It was disgusting. Just ignored those things too.

For past few months I have been eating Lacto-ovo Vegetarian stuffs. My kids and my husband are still meat eaters and it is my duty to cook for them during weekends at least. I do not want to force them anyway. When they grow up they might choose this. It’s up to their tastes and thoughts.

It’s quite easy to turn against meat-eating with Indian staple foods. We need not to worry that we may end up with protein deficiency if we give up meats. Every traditional dish of India or of tamilnadu have a balanced nutritious of Carbohydrates and protein. Whether it is Idly and sambar, Chapati with dal and sabji, Puttu and payuru, venpongal and sambar, all our breakfast or dinner dishes have sufficient protein. As they are mostly a mix of cereal and pulses.

A bowl of boiled rice topping with dal grave (paruppu) and a spoonful of ghee, and broken pieces of pappodom as garnish. And for side dish, Avial which is made up of mixed veggies, yogurt and coconut would be the tastiest in the world. The aroma of this cannot be replaced by any other meat dishes. That’s my all time favorite dish.

But I also love the taste of the fish or chicken grave. I really don’t want to miss that taste too. So I just opted for alternate foods like Mushrooms,Tofu or Paneer. While I cooked chicken for my husband and kids, I made it separately with the same spicy masala with mushrooms or paneer. It was awesome. No change in the taste of the dish.

And the pleasure of being a vegetarian is something cannot be expressed through words and it is greater than anything else. This could be attained only by experiencing it. Go green. Go vegetarian!