The older I get, the more evidence I find that I’ve been the same person since the minute I popped out into the world. Does this happen to everyone as they age? It’s possible that when I was born, it was with a tiny fork and knife in hand. As I struggle with the inevitable January-imposed menu of “sensible” meals, I recall always being someone with a big appetite for the rich, salty, savory, meaty flavors that I adore now. My mom reports that my favorite foods when I was a toddler were the chicken livers and black olives that were sold at the Jewish delis where we lived in New York. When I was older, I remember coming home from school and not plowing into the Oreos or Chips-a-Hoy that my sisters liked, but making (and I think I used this phrasing in my head even then) “a delightful platter of Cheesy Roll Ups”. Cheesy Roll Ups were my own invention: a selection of sliced cheddar, jack, and cream cheese rolled up inside sliced salami. Preferably with a dill pickle on the side. It was only three years ago that I discovered that the French have their own word for this particular approach to ingredients and plating centered on cured, fatty meats. And when I learned how to pronounce “Charcuterie” correctly, the 8 year old in me nodded with smug approval.
Which explains why I’ve had such a time with the inevitable question of To Veg Or Not To Veg. You, lovely readers, may never run into this line of soul-searching yourself. You may, as my youngest sister did, march into the living room after a particularly illuminating day in the 3rd grade and announce that you are now a vegetarian and never look back. Or you may never give your love of bacon a second thought. As for me, my love for food has only served to draw me closer and closer into the knowledge of what food is, how it is made, what it means…and where it comes from. The enormity of that last bit is too much to cover in our dorky little blog, but I think everybody is on board with the idea that our food sources are somewhat begging for review at this point. (Did you guys notice that the FDA has just given a big thumbs-up to incorporating cloned meat into our current meat supply? It’s a move that begs more than a few questions. If you want to find out more about this-and feel like giving the FDA a big finger up of your own, check out this article and resource).
And so, way back when in 93, when there weren’t the alternative meat sources that I like to cook with these days, I became a vegetarian. Dah-dah-dah-dahhhhhhh….. And man, did it suck. First of all, there was a whole world of cooking that just shut down for me. I would read stories about things like the village differences of cassoulet or the lore of the whey-fed pigs of Prosciutto di Parma, and it was like reading about a magical land that I was banished from visiting. But secondly, I was never as unhealthy as during that (gulp) two-year stretch of meatlessness. I picked up colds and flus easier, felt run-down much of the month, and had spells of being either light-headed or so absent minded that I could barley function. And then one day, I met an irresistibly handsome barbecued bacon cheeseburger that changed my life forever…
And I never looked back. Although I admit for the next 10 years it took a bit of consumer denial to revel in my meaty friends like Bacon Wrapped Scallops with Balsamic Glaze and Tuscan Grilled Steak . But revel I did, and revel I shall continue to do, because for me, meats are not only delicious but necessary. I’m throwing more vegetarian dinners in these days, but they tend to have the same meaty, salty, richness that the meat-nights do. Case in point; Warm Red Hawk Cheese and Wild Mushroom Crepes. I’m also trying to get to the point where all the meats that I eat are of the feel-good, California home-grown variety (duuuuude…California home grown…mmmmm). But it’s a work in progress, and if I’m occasionally caught face-down in a plate of pork tamales from The Tamale Lady during one of my weaker moments at Zeitgeist , I hope you’ll understand. Meat, as they say, is meat. And this girl has got to eat. 
