02
Dec
My First Cheese Sandwich
If you’ve accidentally stumbled upon this blog, then welcome! This blog is devoted to the dining experiences of vegetarians (and by proxy, vegans, celiacs, and other finicky eaters). Most restaurant reviews are done by meat eaters, and most celebrity chefs have utter disdain for vegetarians, so the perspective of the vegetarian is often ignored. There are several websites for veg-friendly restaurants, but I think that encourages exclusionary behavior. Vegetarians are not lepers (well, some may be, but that’s purely coincidental), and I feel that a vegetarian should be able to go into any restaurant (including a steak house) and get something that hasn’t been dripping in animal fat, or has pieces of chicken that have not been fully removed from a pre-prepared dish. One day, I hope this blog can help take down the cardinal offenders against vegetarians: Chinese Restaurants, Steakhouses, and Seafood Restaurants. Meanwhile, I hope I can just edutain people and eat some decent food.
A little about me: I have been vegetarian for over 10 years, after having grown up being the sole meat eater in a family of vegetarians. I would like to say that I am not a veg-head or proselytizing vegetarian. My transition to vegetarianism began when I was faced with the Omnivore’s Dilemma*: Is it better to eat meat, or be morally superior to those who eat meat? From there, it was no contest between bacon and righteous indignation. Malcolm Gladwell wrote in his book Outliers that performing a certain activity for approximately 10,000 hours makes one an expert. I have calculated that I have spent approximately 27,000 hours of my life eating, so I am a double expert. You may find that while I eat at many ethnic restaurants, I do not show them their due deference that they deserve. It is not because I do not respect other cultures, I just want to be impartial in critiquing the food. And in doing so, I will treat every restaurant as if it were a Ponderosa.
*I should also inform you that I am an Amazon Affiliate, so only buy the book if you don’t have a library card (or you REALLY like this blog).
