GROW Diary - One Month In

There are two things that struck me early on in my attempt to eat less meat. Firstly, I felt like I was hungrier on vegetarian days. Secondly, I have been eating a lot of chips and beans. Neither of these two statements helps with my grand plan to be healthier and fitter but they are quite true.


The best thing about this mission of mine has been my friends’ reactions when I’ve declined meat, picked an uncharacteristic option off a menu or said to them that I’m a part-time vegetarian now. My friend NM laughed and said “You can’t be a part-time vegetarian. You either are one or you aren’t”. My friend ST said “Haha! I’ve never heard anything as hilarious as someone who doesn’t like vegetables trying to become vegetarian”. Another friend, FL, did a double-take when I told her the plan and the funniest was PG who exclaimed in incredulity “Why would you do that?!”

I’m obviously well aware of the reasons for the doubt in the minds of my friends. It hasn’t been a walk in the park. There have been some challenges, particularly with eating out. I went to a Thai restaurant and was assaulted by vegetarian meals with the detestable base of cooked vegetables so my initial plan for a meat-free day was thrown out the window. I eat lots of chips and beans in the office canteen because I like hot lunches and hot vegetarian options seem to involve lots of cooked vegetables. It also doesn’t help when I get home after a long day of eating vegetables and my sister has made a delicious chicken stew and left me a plate for dinner.

Overall, though, it’s been easier than I expected. I am trying out new things. In the last few weeks I’ve ticked tofu, coriander, butternut squash and cottage cheese off my hate list. I am trying things that would have previously been unimaginable – ‘pure vegetarian restaurants’ were on my hit list for years – and getting a lot more fibre and vegetables than I have eaten since I moved out of the family home.

This month I’ve had 4 vegetarian days out of 6 and hope to make it 5 of 7 today. I’m aiming for 15 vegetarian days and I think I might make it. I got a vegetarian cook-book and will attempt to make my first meatless meal this weekend ahead of a (hopefully) vegetarian dinner party that I will be hosting next week.

Food power

Anyone who knows me at all, even a teeny bit, will be surprised by this post. I have been such a fervent meat eater that I got the nickname “anti-vegetarian”. I spent most of 2011 trying to get my vegetarian friend Nika to eat some meat. Fortunately she had a far greater conviction than I did and has now become vegan. In my defence, my carnivorous tendencies are largely down to nurture. Growing up in Nigeria, our meals comprised carbs, vegetables and non-meat proteins in large quantities with a little piece of meat holding court as the cherry on the cake. Meat was the reward for good behaviour and special treats generally involved getting taken out for (or getting take away) suya (charcoal fired beef or chicken), nkwobi (cow hoof delicacy), isi ewu (goat head delicacy), grilled fish and other meat based delicacies. This is in addition to the fact that being a textures person, meat has a great texture and I can’t stand most vegetables/vegetarian food items in their cooked form. Or so I thought…

My challenge, from Sunday July 29th till Monday August was to eat vegetarian food because I visited a friend of mine who is vegetarian and has been for about 8 years. I thought the first half might be OK because there wouldn’t be any temptation but I had zero faith that I would get through 4 days at a festival without consuming any meat. I didn’t succeed. I had some tuna, a bacon & cheese quiche and some gravy but I have good reasons for those three incidents. I was offered the tuna melt and accepted without realising for a second until it was pointed out that it wasn’t vegetarian, I didn’t like any of the other quiches available because I can’t stand most cooked vegetables and I honestly didn’t realise that gravy is highly unlikely to be vegetarian.

So while I wasn’t 100% successful, I gave it 100% effort. The upside of this experiment has been that I have realised that I will not die without meat and some vegetarian food is tasty. I just have to pick right and make some clever substitutions. I do not feel at this point that I could go completely vegetarian but I’m inspired to cut down on my meat consumption as much as I can over the next few months. Much of my plans are never followed through but since I came into work with some meat free pasta today, I think it’s safe to say this is one campaign that will be staying alive.