The Why of the Try, #1
January 3rd, 2009
There are many reasons I’ve decided to embark on this meat-endeavor, but one main one is that I love food and I want to be able to enjoy more of it.
This is not to say in any way that I feel I’ve lived a life of deprivation or feel, as people often ask me, that I am “missing out on meat” — I’ve never eaten meat, so I really don’t know what I’m missing, and on a day-to-day basis, there is more than enough choice in the fruit, vegetable, fish, and fowl categories that is delicious and nutrious.
But as I’ve grown older and become more interested in food: both growing it (I have kept a garden in my backyard for 2 years now), cooking it (I received not 1, not 2, not 3, but 4 cookbooks for gifts recently every one of which I am super psyched for), and eating out, I have found myself more open to the idea of occasionally meeting meat at the table.
Case in point: Today for the first time I tried (and failed) to get a reservation at Momofuku Ko, a 12-seat restaurant famous in New York City both for its food and its “baffling” online-only reservation system. I actually didn’t find it baffling — I kind of dig the egalitarian, first-click, first-serve method of getting in — but it is true that when the available seats go up at 10 am each day, they are indeed gone in under a minute. This prix-fixe only, tiny restaurant is a place that makes no substitutions of any sort, but all who go there lavish praise upon it and the “wacky and wonderful blizzard” of food in a way rare even for the most-hyped restaurant in NYC. I’ve wanted to try it since I first heard about it, but even the most cursory glance at their FAQ or menu makes it clear that those who do not eat meat should probably not bother.
So while I’ll say I haven’t felt I’ve missed out on meat in and of itself, I am very much excited to be able to eat at any damn restaurant I please this year without having to research online if there are acceptable menu options for me, your formerly meat-impaired “oh I’m not sure I can eat there, can we choose another place?” friend.
Ground (beef) Rules
January 2nd, 2009
So last night we ate out at the traditional welcome-the-new-year’s Chinese Buffet. What, you don’t do that every January 1st?
Now, were I wanting to check off many of my never-eaten meats at once, it would have been ideal place to do so. They not only had the expected options of beef with broccoli, pork ribs, dumplings, and other usual choices, but also fried frog and oxtail soup. But I ate none of it. It didn’t look good, and I get sick enough just eating the stuff I’m used to eating there. In any case, I thought it would be a good idea to set down some basic rules for this project.
The Ground Meat Rules:
- I do NOT have to eat a new meat the first time it is available
- If on the other hand, anyone around me is eating a “new meat” and says “This is the best steak/meatloaf/sweetbread/chicken foot/kangaroo/etc I have ever had” I must ask for a bite to try.
- Related: I will seek out the best experiences/places to try new meats
- I will try to eat/try as many of the “new meats” as possible by December 31st, 2009
- I will favor local/farm raised/organic meats over others
- I will try cooking new meats myself
I am still undecided as what I’m going to do about fast food. I haven’t eaten at a fast food restaurant outside of a very few times while traveling since I read Fast Food Nation in 2002. It does seem if I’m taking a real journey into meat in America, it should include a Big Mac. On the other hand, I can already tell when someone I am kissing has recently eaten a Big Mac. I don’t know why, but it has the most distinct (and disgusting) second-hand breath. Luckily, the husband eats no fast food either.
Day 1: This little piggy went to stomach
January 1st, 2009
Many years ago I made a new year’s resolution that amused many of my friends: To start eating bacon. I was tired of resolutions of doing less, behaving better, of deprivation and starvation. Screw that, said I. I decided to welcome the new Millenium with a resolution I could possibly keep: Eating more. Specifically, of a meat that I had never tried but smelled oh so delicious. Also, I was a big fan of breakfast and brunches and resented the fact that so many meal-deals came with a side of sausage, bacon, or ham which I had to pay for yet could not eat. It was what my husband called my typical Jew’s dilemma: I didn’t get a dollar off or an extra egg for not eating pig, so it seemed like a waste, yet I was raised to not eat meat. Oy vey!
So I decided to eat bacon when it was part of the meal. I still haven’t eaten ham or sausage, but bacon became the first four-legged friend I would occasionally munch upon.
As I begin my year-long journey into meat, I thought it appropriate to begin again with bacon. Pork is a traditional New Year’s meat around the world — some believe it to be lucky, some say they symbolize progress, while here in the U.S. I think it most commonly symbolizes the welcoming of the new dawn by the hungover. For me, it means a meat I know I enjoy and can eat without getting sick. So let the meating begin!