Originally I wanted to call this blog ‘Eat Vegetarian’ but then I realised I didn’t want to appear to be telling anyone to eat vegetarian food or eat any other type of food for that matter. Food is a personal choice and people will and should make up their own minds. Frankly a lot of the material I’ve read on becoming a vegetarian could do with bearing this point in mind, and that’s what ‘Why Vegetarian’ is all about.
You see, I’ve always liked the idea of celebrating and embracing good food in all its forms. I love to eat out and I love to cook – I would definitely consider myself a foodie. Part of the reason I began dabbling with vegetarianism in the first place was that I believed I could make more interesting food if it was meat-free. Why? Because you have to – without the reliance on the main ingredient of the meal being meat, your cooking has to develop. And when it does, your taste buds develop with it. So really almost as an experiment or a challenge I began to try it. And I don’t necessarily mean fine dining here, although I like that too. I just mean quality food with good ingredients served up tastily and presented well.
I’ll cover lots of the issues surrounding vegetarianism in other parts of this site, both the perceived benefits and also arguments against going veggie. I’m not afraid to tackle the issue of ‘Why vegetarianism is bad for your health.’ I’ll also discuss the various forms of vegetarianism, what they entail and the possible pros and cons of each. My own preferences are not that important – I think you’ll find a balanced and positive approach to the whole subject in general. The only thing I would say here is that as a society we consume far too much meat.
Everybody has their own ideas on where they draw the line and what they choose to eat. People also have different reasons for their choices, whether moral, ethical or health-related. But whether you’re a vegan, a pescatarian, undecided, or hey maybe you like a bit of meat from time to time, it’s all ok to me. I really am interested in debating the question – why vegetarian? – and not just in bombarding you with a load of reasons you should give up eating animal products.
I once had the pleasure of interviewing Professor Richard Holloway, the former Bishop of Edinburgh for a television documentary and I asked him about his own personal philosophy since he resigned the post. He was talking about a much bigger subject than this but I’ll paraphrase him here because I think the analogy applies equally well to what I’m talking about.
He told me that life for him was like jazz. It doesn’t follow any one doctrine or set of beliefs, but rather picks up different strands of ideas and improvises with them to create a melting pot of ideas. I always liked that as a philosophy and now that I’m discussing food I see that it’s quite apt here too. After all, everybody follows recipes but what would cookery be without improvisation?
George Armstrong
email: post [at] whyvegetarian.net
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