Flesh Eating

Barneys Holiday 2010. Nobuyoshi Araki w/ Kiko Mizuhara

I posted on my Tumblr that I'm eating seafood and fish, and was absolutely enjoying this new adventure in flavors. I've been a strict vegetarian for the past 11-12 years and don't really remember how all these animals tasted like. Now I remember. They are tasty.

One of the funny things about being a vegetarian for a long extended period is that tons of people in SF thinks they are a vegetarian for sometimes eating vegetables.

"Oh I'm a vegetarian, but I eat fish."

 "I'm totally vegan, but sometimes I'll eat a burger."

Just because you actually ate some string beans with your steak does not make you a vegetarian. Also, some vegans and vegetarians were some of the most unhealthy people I knew (some ate only rice with nutritional yeast on top, some ate nothing but junk food). SF is full of characters.

But, I digress.

I've debated for the past year or so about eating fish and found out I'm a type O- (we are the only blood type that can't be vegetarian). I'm tired all the time and take naps a lot (though, I think this is mostly a stereotype about vegetarians). I was not eating enough food in general (so unheathy). I picked up pick up Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer to mull over this moral dillema of what it would mean for me if i abandon 12 years if saving animals for tasty tandoori fish on my dinner plate.

Then I finally had some sushi. Then soft shell crab. Then Chilean Sea Bass.

I may go back to eating strictly vegetarian, but for now the exploration is really exciting. Do I feel guilty sometimes about eating fish? Of course. Will I ever eat beef, pork or chicken again? Is that the next step for me? Fuck no. That is disgusting.

I think something I will take from being a vegetarian is that I think I appreciate simple flavors from things like vegetables more and that food is better appreciated/cherished/understood in the long run. I pay attention more to what I eat, where it comes from and the quality and work brought to making it available to me. I think educating yourself about food is like doing the same with fashion, music, art, academics.