Monday, July 31, 2006
I can’t really remember the last meat product I ate, but I think it was a fried chicken liver at a truck stop in Missouri. It was roughly three months ago, and it was delicious.
I was on the last leg of a three-week road trip, and I had no money. Taco Bell became my kitchen. Wendy’s became my dining hall. Things were grim. Somewhere in the middle of a Sourdough Jack, I had a moment of clarity, alcoholic-style, and I decided to make a change.
I swore when I got home I would eat nothing but garden salads with vinaigrette for a week. And I stuck to it for almost four days before succumbing to a tuna salad sandwich. Traditional vegetarians abstain from seafood. But I live in southern Louisiana, and I love crawfish and oysters, so forget that. When the week was over, I felt like a new person. I had more energy and a better attitude, and I wasn’t craving meat at all. That’s when I became a vegetarian, and I have been taking crap from my friends ever since. But so what?
As I found out pretty quickly, you have to pay attention whenever you drastically change your routine. My new diet was depriving me of protein and iron and other nutrients I needed. I got jittery and had trouble sleeping sometimes, until I learned about diversifying my meals and taking multi-vitamins. (Nature’s Plus Source of Life pills did the trick.) My nutrition-conscious friends told me my new diet was actually unhealthy and it would make me sick in the long run. Interestingly, they didn’t seem to mind when I ate chili dogs every day. My Republican friend became irate and insisted I was well on my way to becoming a commie. I didn’t care. I stuck to my guns and decided to figure out how to make it work.
Pat Fellows is not a vegetarian, but he is something of an authority on healthy food in Baton Rouge. He started Rocket Fajitas four years ago, and he also owns The Supper Studio on Perkins Road. Fellows is 34, runs triathlons and looks like he’s about 26. When I asked him if he knew of any restaurants in town that cater specifically to vegetarians, in about .5 seconds he said, “Absolutely not.”
It’s true. I have yet to hear of a vegetarian restaurant in Baton Rouge, but almost every restaurant has something on the menu that suits me. And believe me, I’m no health nut. The clerks at Capital Corner Grocery could tell you that I eat Funyuns basically every day. When I need iron? Can of spinach, out of the tin, Popeye-style. Protein? Boiled peanuts and tuna salad—although now my mercury levels are probably comparable to that of the boat launch at Avondale shipyard.
I noticed becoming a vegetarian made me more carnivorous in some strange other ways. I have a recurring dream now that I’m the chef in the Nintendo game Burgertime, where I have to pile up hamburgers in a weird maze while >> other food characters chase me. I noticed the back corners of my jaw pulsing when I watched a pride of lions ambush a giant water buffalo on the National Geographic Channel. And, oddly, I’m drawn to barbecue-flavored chips way more than before.
I’m not looking forward to my first football season as a vegetarian because I’ve never been to a tailgate party that wasn’t stocked with boudin and burgers. But since I’ve been paying attention, I’ve noticed our native cuisine also has plenty of vegetarian staples: red beans and rice, okra, vegetable gumbo, stuffed eggplant, plenty of fresh fruit. Last week my roommate made me some gnocchi with basil and tomato sauce that brought a tear to my eye. This might not be too hard after all.
GRANT’S VEGGIE DELIGHTS
Eggplant Parmesan at Pinetta’s European Restaurant (387-9174)
Even before I was a vegetarian, this was my favorite meal at my favorite restaurant in town. It’s always seasoned perfectly, and the portions aren’t too big. Good thing, because I would probably hurt myself.
Veggie Muffaletta at Monjuni’s Italian Café and Grocery (231-1595)
The idea of a muffaletta without salami and ham seemed silly to me until I tried this. They use artichoke hearts and marinated eggplant instead, and it still tastes just as unhealthy as the real thing.
Grilled Veggies On Foccacia at Chelsea’s Café (387-3679)
These are real seasoned and grilled vegetables, not cooked-down onions and wet-sponge carrots. And the thick toasted Italian bread is a perfect foundation.
Hot Crawfish Salad at The Chimes (383-1754)
I love this with the honey mustard dressing and fresh tomatoes. It’s so big, it can easily work for two meals.
Falafel Combo (with Fries) at Arzi’s Restaurant (927-2111)
If you get the Super Combo—a great name for any meal—they throw in some flat bread and spinach fattura. This is the junk food of the vegetarian world.
Comments
Posted by khat5 on August 4, 2006 at 12:24 p.m. (Suggest removal)
It is a mistake to characterize people who eat fish as vegetarians and it really makes it hard for those of us who are vegetarians to order food. Traditionally, the line for vegetarianism is drawn at whether an animal was killed for your food. So something like milk or honey comes from an animal, but the animal doesn't die providing it. Vegans eat no animal products whatsoever. Eating fish makes you a pescetarian. Crawfish Salad is not and never will be vegetarian. Red beans and rice is often cooked with pork fat and is almost never vegetarian.
Pescetarianism is certainly a healthy diet choice and is often a stepping stone to becoming vegetarian. I commend the author for taking the healthy diet plunge. However, since moving to Baton Rouge I've been presented on multiple occassions with "vegetarian" food that contained bacon or fish. The term "vegetarian" as used in this article adds to the confusion instead of clearing it up.
Posted by grantwidmer on August 5, 2006 at 2:41 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Hey! I wrote this article.
Good point! Traditional vegetarians abstain from seafood, including crawfish, or any fish. Which is why I said,
"Traditional vegetarians abstain from seafood. But I live in southern Louisiana... "
in the third paragraph.
Sorry if any ambiguity causes you a problem when you order food. And good luck in your plight here in Baton Rouge!
Posted by megnez on August 9, 2006 at 9:23 a.m. (Suggest removal)
But you still label yourself a vegetarian, when you clearly are not? I'm so sick of the question: "Oh, you're a vegetarian? Do you want to try some of my [insert fish dish here]?" It's annoying, and this artical is not helping the confusion. I've been a true vegetarian for 3 and a half years in Baton Rouge. Its easy because there are so many different kinds of ethnic restaurants here. I have no problem unless McDonalds is involved.
Posted by whenyouseesparks on August 9, 2006 at 9:55 a.m. (Suggest removal)
As the previous commenter said:
By definition, you are NOT a vegetarian. You are a pescetarian.
As a journalist, you have a commitment to integrity, accuracy, and truth in your writing. Calling yourself a vegetarian, especially when you have a large base of readers, is false and irresponsible. This isn't a matter of a techinicality, or being picky.
There is no such thing as a vegetarian that eats fish when it's convenient, or eats 1 hamburger every 3rd new moon, or only eats hot dogs when attending the world series. You may be health conscious, environmentally conscious, have a diet that consists mainly of non-meat products, be a pesctarian, and so on, (which is commendable) but you are NOT a vegetarian.
Posted by crackrabbit on August 9, 2006 at 11:08 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Gah! You are not a vegetarian if you eat meat -- and, yes, fish is meat, and it comes from an animal that has to die for you to eat it. It doesn't matter that you added a disclaimer; the fact remains that vegetarians do not eat meat. It's a "by definition" thing, so there's really not much wiggle room there. How silly would it be to say, "Traditional non-drinkers abstain from alcohol. But I live in Milwaukee, and I love beer, so forget that" while insisting you never drink.
Pescetarianism is great in its own right, but it is NOT vegetarianism. You're a journalist; surely you understand the importance of calling things what they are.
Regardless, good for you for choosing a healthier diet and promoting it. I'm a pescetarian (not! a vegetarian) myself, and I love the changes in my diet and my body.
Posted by crackrabbit on August 9, 2006 at 11:17 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Oh! I forgot to add:
"My nutrition-conscious friends told me my new diet was actually unhealthy and it would make me sick in the long run. Interestingly, they didn’t seem to mind when I ate chili dogs every day."
Hee. I get this so much. I love how everyone's concerned about my diet now, but when I was hugely overweight and lived off fast food, no one said anything. People are weird.
Posted by grantwidmer on August 9, 2006 at 12:53 p.m. (Suggest removal)
It's me. The author again.
You guys are all making good points. A disclaimer like mine doesn't give you license to trample all over a premise. But to my mind, the term "vegetarian" is broad enough to include lots of stripes of non-meat eaters, including Lacto vegetarians who do not eat meat or eggs but do consume dairy products, Lacto-ovo vegetarians who do not eat meat but do consume dairy products and eggs, Ovo vegetarians do not eat meat or dairy products but do eat eggs, and
Vegans who avoid eating any animal products, including eggs, milk, cheese, and sometimes honey. Which are you? If you're a vegan, do you eat honey? Who cares? It's your call.
The term is broad, different people may define it narrowly, but for instance, I don't think animal cruelty or having things die for your food necessarily has anything to do with the rationale for vegetarianism.
Once a term like vegetarian gets used by lots of different people to mean lots of different things, which began long before I was even born, you lose the right to define it narrowly and be correct. It's relative to whomever says it that time. To me it means something else (and mind you I never implied that I was a good vegetarian). Some of you guys remind me of Catholics who say things like, "If you believe in birth control, you're not a real Catholic." I think you're getting too hung up on semantics because you want to be exclusive about your lifestyle.
Be cool my babies. -conan o'brian
Posted by grantwidmer on August 9, 2006 at 1:04 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I probably wouldn't have been inspired to rant that if not for the jabs about my "integrity" as a journalist me being irresponsible. Irresponsible? Jeez. Get off it, go yell about how cattle ranchers are irresponsible if you want. How ridiculous.
Posted by crackrabbit on August 9, 2006 at 2:07 p.m. (Suggest removal)
"I think you're getting too hung up on semantics because you want to be exclusive about your lifestyle."
Dude, I'm not even a vegetarian. I'm a pescetarian, like you.
Yeah, vegetarianism encompasses lots of things -- people who drink milk and eat eggs and people who don't for example -- but the definition, what all typed of vegetarians have in common, is that they don't eat meat. Because that's what vegetarianism is. The definition of Catholic doesn't include not believing in birth control. The definition of vegetariansim DOES include not eating meat. I think my alcohol example is a much more pertinent analogy.
I'm not trying to be bitchy or beat a dea horse here, so I'll make this my last response. My point is that, no matter how broad the definition of vegetariansm is, it still means a meat-free diet. Yeah, language is fluid, but when you talk about being a vegetarian who eats meat, you remove the actual meaning of the word. And, again, this isn't me wanting to be exclusive about "my lifestyle." I eat fish, too. Ergo, I'm not a vegetarian. ;)
Posted by whenyouseesparks on August 9, 2006 at 2:09 p.m. (Suggest removal)
While I would agree that there are a number of different types of vegetarians, and that vegetarians have difference reasons for their lifestyle choices, the one point that you seem to miss is that none of them eat animals. What is a fish if not an animal?
The people that have commented here aren't debating what it is to be a "good" vegetarian, they are clarifying what it means to BE a vegetarian. I think all vegetarians can whole-heartedly agree that that by any logical definition they don't eat animals. (Thanks to the Catholic church & Fridays during Lent, people seem to have forgotten that fish are animals, too.) I might even go so far as to say "not eating animals" is the BROADEST term for a vegetarian, not a narrow definition as you call it.
Some of these comments may seen snarky or uppity to you, but vegetarians deal with these misconceptions every day of their life. It's frustrating when a journalist perpetuates them.
Sorry, but I was under the impression that any respectable journalist had a responsibility to their reader to present the truth. Don't you do ANY research before writing articles? Any vegetarian resource would tell you what we are pointing out to you now. I don't understand what there is for you to debate. Did you write this article with the impression that your vegetarian readers would shower you with praise? Are you really defending your incorrect definition of vegetarianism or are you defending your pride?
Posted by grantwidmer on August 9, 2006 at 4:44 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Ok. Listen. I have a friend who is on the editorial staff. In conversation, I told him about my diet thing at a restaurant two months ago. The next day, I get a call from the editor-in-chief: "That sounds interesting. Must be hard to that in Baton Rouge. Why don't you write me 600 words about what it's been like?"
"It's actually been kinda funny. I can do that."
Two months later, here we all are. I was actually shocked that anyone would care enough to comment on this issue, much moreso to learn that I have inadvertently enraged some of you and I've had my integrity assailed as a "journalist." I just think there are too many really important things going on right this second to get so wound up about this.
Not only do I not want anyone to shower me with praise (whenyouseesparks was the only one to imply this), I was actually trying to be FUNNY at my own expense in the article (failed in this respect), not preachy, which is the primary problem with the entire health-diet movement. Nobody likes preachy, you should try a different angle. I wouldn't consider this a piece of real "journalism" any more than a first-person, highly subjective narrative about what it's like to go to Madame Tousseaud's Wax Museum. What research? It's about me and the goofy experiences I had.
This creates an uncomfortable situation for some of you in Baton Rouge because sometimes, people offer you "vegetarian" meals that include shrimp or crawfish and you. have. just. had. it. up. to. HERE with that. Ooh, that chaps you when people do that. Why not just politely decline and go find something you want to eat?
whenyouseesparks:
"Some of these comments may seen snarky or uppity to you, but vegetarians deal with these misconceptions every day of their life.
That sounds really hard. I'm sure you must lose a lot of sleep wrestling with the torment, the grizzled, barbed wire of that situation. Just deal with it. I realize its a miserable way to live, having misconceptions spread around about your group. Maybe some of you could start a circle somewhere every Friday where you talk about your frustrations and how people like me are the problem.
Please, just, stop getting so upset. I meant no offense to any of you. Please, can we bury this hatchet over some Veggie Omelets at Louie's?
Posted by Jeff_Roedel on August 9, 2006 at 6:07 p.m. (Suggest removal)
All right everyone. I appreciate you reading and thinking about Grant’s piece, but I’m going to have to kindly ask you all to get off his back about the technicalities and differing tenets of vegetarianism. Early in the article Grant writes “Traditional vegetarians abstain from seafood. But I live in southern Louisiana, and I love crawfish and oysters, so forget that.” In doing so he admits he is not a traditional vegetarian. Why then do you think he is claiming to be one? He and the editorial staff know that crawfish and seafood come from animals. To say we are trying to convince people otherwise is absurd. This is not an investigative or all-encompassing article about vegetarianism in Baton Rouge. Nor is it a piece designed to push any type of vegetarian agenda. It’s a 225 story. And at 225 we’re pretty big on the personal narrative. And Grant did a great job of explaining what the first few months of his new diet were like. You yourself may be a stricter vegetarian, vegan or something else all together, and that’s great, but that does not make Grant’s abstention from meat and poultry and his classification of such as “vegetarian” any less valid. In fact, I would venture to guess there are more people like Grant in Baton Rouge who don’t eat red meat or chicken, but do occasionally eat seafood, than strict vegetarians. His account is honest and funny (check out the photo) and that’s really all there is to it. If you think there is more, then you’re reading too much into it and missing the point. Thank you for your time. Jeff Roedel, 225 magazine
Posted by grantwidmer on August 9, 2006 at 7:12 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Hey I JUST found out I have a friend who works as a chef at Living Foods. They're supposed to be pretty good. If anybody wants to hit that up this weekend, call me at (504) 782-7935. I don't bite [beef. hah].
Posted by whenyouseesparks on August 10, 2006 at 7:40 a.m.
(This comment was removed by the site staff.)
Posted by brandi on August 10, 2006 at 9:26 a.m. (Suggest removal)
We allow these public forums to give our readers the opportunity to comment on the stories and interact with our writers. If we happen to make a mistake, you are more than welcome to point it out. What we do not allow is personal attacks on our staff, and the posts that include anything of that nature will be deleted. Had I known that this would escalate to this point, I would have pulled the plug on it a while ago. I kept the comments listed based on the fact that it is giving readers an opportunity to see things from the side of a practicing vegetarian, and to assist in your cause of proving that vegetarians do not eat animals of any kind, including fish.
Please be courteous so we can continue to allow you the capability to interact with us in this manner.
Brandi Simmons, 225 magazine
Posted by whenyouseesparks on August 10, 2006 at 9:34 a.m. (Suggest removal)
i hope grant got to read my comment, i think it would have really helped out his writing career. :(
Posted by moriar on August 10, 2006 at 6:07 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Grant, my primary complaint beyond what is said is that you're trying to disclaim by claiming to not be a "traditional vegetarian". That's like claiming a turtle to be a fish, but not a "traditional fish".
The turtle has characteristics that cause it to fall outside of the bounds of what is considered to be a fish.
You're not a vegetarian. You're not a variety of a vegetarian. You're some sort of an omnivore.
This is a sore subject for alot of vegetarians, despite the dictionary agreeing with them.
Posted by grantwidmer on August 11, 2006 at 9:43 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Update kids!:
I haven't had any fish or seafood in almost 10 days. I think I'm morphing into the real deal here.
Posted by crackrabbit on August 11, 2006 at 12:37 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Wow, go you! I keep wanting to make the switch myself, but I just can't seem to cut out that little bit of shellfish I eat occasionally. Good luck with that. :)
(By the way, sorry things got so nuts in here. Vegetarians get heated on this subject, but that's no reason to attack you or be condescending about it. You took it all in stride pretty admirably.)
Posted by dancevegan on September 17, 2006 at 10:10 p.m. (Suggest removal)
The Advocate did an article on me in August. I am a Vegan/Vegetarian and apply southern cooking techniques to my dishes. I will be teaching classes at Whole Foods in November and December. Here is the link to my article: www.2theadvocate.com/features/ 3778947.html.
Posted by blythe on September 29, 2006 at 9:14 p.m. (Suggest removal)
hey grant, :) hah... sorry you got smashed here... actually, i'm only re-reading this online coz i decided to try out this whole vegetarian lifestyle for myself. like you... i figure hell, i live in south louisiana, there is no way in hell i'm giving up shrimp, crabs, crawfish and catfish. :) so i've taken to calling it my "coonass" vegetarian diet. (i'll probably have a bite of the first piece of deer to walk in here, too. *eeek*) anyway, cheers on your article. it made me both laugh and realize i'm about to eat a ton of serops and india's. :) hope all is well. -blythe.
Posted by Jamie on June 27, 2008 at 1:44 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I'm a couple years late reading this, but I just moved to Baton Rouge...
Anyway, I've been a vegetarian for almost 2 months now. I've noticed my sugar cravings are rare these days. I've also lost weight, am more confident, have more energy, and feel healthier.
Just for information...
pesco-vegetarian (eats seafood)
lacto-vegetarian (eats dairy)
ovo-vegetarian (eats eggs)
They're still valid forms. I chose to be all 3 when I began this lifestyle to make the transition easier. I still consume eggs about once a week, dairy every other day or so, and fish has been eliminated from my diet.
Oh, and I should let you know, be sure you read your ingredients lable on your vitamins. Some are made with animal protiens.
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