Reasons for Vegan

I've  never seriously considered giving up meat.  Even as a proclaimed animal lover - I haven't even come close.  I can't even think about the slaughtering of cattle, and yet- I still crave it for better or worse.

Until now -  the latest press about "pink slime" has got me :The Pink Menace.   The more I read about E Coli, Salmonella, mad cow disease, and now beef treated with ammonia, I am ready for a vegan conversion.  Or at the very least to give up red meat.

The whole thing is just gross. Period.  My late brother-in-law was a strict vegan and used to tout:  "I won't eat fear."  That is hard hitting.  It really is fear, the cattle - it is said - knows they are about to meet their demise.  So, what we are actually consuming (among other things) is the fear adrenaline and other hormones.

About five years ago, I had a good friend die in just six weeks from Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease (aka mad cow disease).  It was heart breaking.  One week she felt dizzy, and the next (literally) bed ridden.  That was another instance when even looking at red meat gave me the shivers.

In the book "Eating For Your Blood Type"  0+ blood types, which I am, are the one blood type that thrives on beef.

I have threatened to get a vegan cookbook, but never did.  I keep telling myself that vegan food is complicated and hard to prepare.  At this point in my life, I only stand to gain from giving up meat.  I have ridiculously high cholesterol, which I control with a little red pill.  More than likely,  if I gave up eating beef - I may not even need that little red pill anymore.

If I start to dine out - in the beginning at least- and patronize vegan restaurants;  it might be another easy way to ease into vegan.  The sound of "tofu" does not excite me.  It sounds so 1960-ish.Greasy   I think of the flower children and incense.

I am pondering what to prepare for dinner tonight.  That 70 percent "lean" (aka pink slime) beef is in my freezer.  When I bought it fresh, and prepared it on the grill, I saw all the greasy pink liquid and bloody particles drain off.   This is actually:  connective tissue, tallow;  meat by- products called "trimmings."This in itself should have converted me.

Preparing it with a piece of pepper jack cheese cannot make it appealing.

I think I will pull out the lean cuisine pizza from the fridge and have that instead.