Vegetarian Times

I actually wrote this a few years ago, but we are revisiting vegetarianism again in my family so I decided to repost it to give a frame of reference for future posts. In a fit of family solidarity and madness, I agreed to become vegetarian for lent. My son wanted to try eating a lacto-ovo vegetarian diet, motivated by two vegetarian friends. Did I mention they are girls, and he is in high school? Being a supportive mother, I decided that any move towards healthy eating was definitely a move in the right direction. His middle-school sisters also wanted to become vegetarian for lent (and my husband declined). I decided that I would occasionally add seafood to my diet. At first we were very enthusiastic and we have had some great meals at home. Going out to eat caused problems: Did you know that a Wendy’s Caesar salad has bacon on it? I was ok with anchovies in the dressing, but the bacon bits were very irritating. At Applebees, I ended up ordering a fried chicken salad with the chicken on the side (for my husband’s lunch the next day). I have eaten a lot of pasta at my favorite Italian restaurant, which is never a bad thing. Now, we are all ready for some meat, but are holding firm to our commitment—some of us are more firm than others. The daughters have joined me in eating a few seafood meals, but my son believes in finishing what he started. It has been good for us to stretch ourselves a little. We discussed the different reasons people choose vegetarianism and examined our values regarding food. We may be eating steak for Easter, but I think our vegetarian lent may make some permanent changes in our eating.