Becoming Vegetarian

I don't think I ever seriously tampered with the idea of becoming vegetarian, but recently it struck me. I think it was primarily the health aspect that hooked me, but after reading Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer, the ethical and ecological grounds for vegetarianism became much clearer to me (not to say that I didn't have a fairly good idea of where my meat was coming from, but his book does go into pretty graphic detail).

Having been a meat-eater for the 22 past years of my life, I'm not about to make this transition cold-turkey. I'm hoping to experiment with vegetarian and vegan recipes, build up a collection of staple-recipes and eventually transition into full-vegetarian. I'm living at home right now (blech!) and my parents are very much not vegetarian, so it should be an interesting change. For now, I am trying to achieve 2 vegetarian meals per day. I figure that will be a fairly easy difference in diet to deal with (both psychologically and physically).

As for the vegan option, I don't know if I'll ever get quite that far, but it's appealing. I've already taken a liking to almond milk, and can definitely see myself phasing out milk entirely (although I do occasionally enjoy a good slice of cheese). I'm not particularly fond of eggs but every now and then, breakfast just isn't complete without them. Fortunately there are a few people around where I live who sell eggs from their own chickens, so I know there are humane local sources for eggs. Still, the concept of vegan baking intrigues me. Today I got Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar by Isa Chandra Moskowitz from the library and once I acquire some ground flaxseed, I'll be good to go and can't wait to try a few of her recipes. I also borrowed the Veganomicon from the library, by the same author. There are some tasty looking recipes but I have no idea where to start. I bought some tofu a few days ago and I really want to try making something with it (might as well begin learning how to use tofu, I figure). So I guess I'll look through the book for a good-lookin' recipe with tofu as its centerpiece.

So for now, I'm still 1/3 meat-eater (probably the way it should have been in the first place). I'm really looking forward to trying new recipes and finding new favorites.