I have been Vegetarian for the past fifty years. While at boarding school in Connemara during the 1970s, I met a foreign student, who was vegetarian. It was a new idea for me because my family followed the traditional “meat and two veg” diet.
While the other girls saved their tears for the censored-version of “Love Story”, which the nuns allowed the travelling projectionist to show us schoolgirls, Lizzie and I cried at the end of the movie “Ring of Bright Water” (which is about a lovable rescued otter, who eventually meets a violent death at the hands of a human).
Affected by the movie, I realised that I could no longer eat the flesh of animals, which are slaughtered with such thoughtlessness, when there are other foods available to eat. Even our ancestors only ate meat once a week, usually on a Sunday, because it was an expensive luxury for most budgets.
In fact, vegetarianism has been around for a long time and comes in all shapes and sizes. For many, it is the only choice they have because their livestock is just too valuable to kill.
At the beginning of the 1900s, what we now call Vegetarianism was often referred to as “Fruitarianism”, although the modern definition of the Fruitanian diet refers to the exclusive eating of fruit and nuts.
Turning Vegetarian in 1970s Ireland was no easy matter! The nuns at school refused to accept my new diet without the permission of my parents, who were away in the Middle East. I stubbornly stuck to my adopted regime, cutting out meat and fish without additional proteins to counterbalance the change. Inevitably, my health suffered and I developed painful mouth ulcers, which did not encourage my parents to accept my decision. “Vegetarianism isn’t healthy!” everyone told me!
Even when eating out in 1970s Ireland, the kitchens would grudgingly provide me with a plate of over-cooked frozen vegetables, accompanied by some tasteless sauce. “We don’t do Vegetarian”, was the attitude at the time. Needless to say, I learnt to cook for myself very quickly! I discovered that I enjoyed cooking too.
I am a Lacto-Vegetarian. This means that I include dairy products in my non-meat diet. In contrast, Vegans do not include dairy products in their non-meat diet, substituting vegetable oils for butter, suet and lard; and vegetable-derived “milk” products made from coconut, soya, oats and the like. I have seen some supermarket products labelled as suitable for vegans, which include dried eggs. Technically, eggs are an animal-derived product. Hello!
Apart from vegetables and fruit, I eat a lot of cereal grains and pulses. My menus are often dairy-free, depending on what ingredients I am working with. I picked up a Vegan recipe book recently, hoping to get some new ideas, but was disappointed to find that it relied too heavily on commercially-made “substitutes” for dairy products and meats. No wonder some meat-eaters accuse vegetarians of being frauds because they use products that look like mincemeat or sausages!
Thankfully, a lot has changed in fifty years! Now most countries around the world (including Ireland) have fabulous vegetarian restaurants, or at least offer a vegetarian menu. The mixing of cultures has allowed more knowledge about different diets. Also food products are available from far distant lands, including flours, grains, pulses. I no longer have to find the nearest health-food shop for my ingredients because the big supermarkets carry a huge range of vegetarian items.
Whether you agree with Vegetarianism on ethical grounds or not, it is often chosen because of health issues such as allergies or digestive problems, or because of cultural traditions. It is a diet which is here to stay (I am still alive after fifty years!)
ENDS
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