Half way done with the experiment, in other words.

I hadn’t thought about it at the time, but I started the blog at the perfect time, so that half of the blog fell in one year, and the other half fell in a new year. What a great time for an evaluation and fervent vows of new resolutions! Of course it’s all just a lucky accident, but I’ll take advantage of the timing nonetheless.

So first I’ll look back. In the freezing knee-deep snow of December it’s hard to remember what June was like, much less what my eating habits were like. I realized the other night that I can’t recall the taste of chicken. I mentioned that at a family dinner, and my dad helpfully reminded me that it “tastes just like crocodile.”

I know I had been missing certain things some of the time, like bacon. But once I had those crispy, buttery shittake mushrooms in Rochester, that “need” melted away the way bacon fat would never do on my hips. I must learn to make those (note to self).

The whole experiment has been harder on others than it has been on me. I think it’s been great for me, physically and mentally. My mom used to have the faint whiff of anxiety around her whenever she knew I was coming for dinner and she was planning on serving meat. This week I opened her fridge and she had bought two packages of tofu, which I’ve been using to make dinner while over there. My family has been very supportive, and has even tried my recipes with open minds and mouths. Bob’s family has been just as wonderful, and if anything even more accommodating.

I’m getting closer and closer to not being able to imagine eating meat again. I have a lot of wonderful meat-based recipes I’d love to try (not to mention a quarter pastured pig in the freezer), so I am partially torn over this. I still have a long road ahead, so there isn’t much point in worrying about it now.

A new resolution will be to try a greater variety of vegetarian recipes. To post more often. To figure out what happens after a year of pescetarianism, and what the next steps are. To be more adventurous in my cooking (I think I’m pretty adventurous, but there’s a lot more out there!). To listen to my body better and begin working on habits that will be truly nourishing rather than merely filling.

To think more clearly and with more kindness.