felisarahi

[felisarahi]

Fun Times On The Road

My first challenge as newly vegetarian was faced driving back home from Mexico.  I was facing 1,166 miles in a car with meat lovers, including myself.  The easy choice was to cave in and just start when I arrived in Utah.  I couldn't do that.  I had committed to it and if I backed out now I wouldn't do it again.  It would have been a failed venture.  I couldn't add failure to unemployed and living at home, that’s sad.  So I ventured on hoping meatless meals would not be too hard to come by.  

We left my grandma’s house really early one morning to begin the long drive back.  First mistake already committed.  I left too early to even think about breakfast and didn’t pack any snacks.  That meant we had to stop somewhere to eat on the way.  After a few hours of driving everybody got hungry.  We stopped at a taco stand.  My first thought was that there wouldn't be anything for me to eat there.  We sat down and looked at the menu.  It was packed with delicious meat choices: tacos, quesadillas and alambres.  I saw that they had a custom breakfast choice so I decided to go with that. As it was January 2nd they were understaffed and the waitress told me that they were not serving that.  I decided to go with the quesadilla with mushrooms. My cousin, Dario, was the first one to give me a look of disbelief.  “Why was I choosing mushrooms when I could eat delicious meat?” That’s what his face said to me. I explained that I was going vegetarian.  His face did not change.

When everybody got their carne asada filled goodies and I got my quesadilla we got ready to chow down.  I got up to get all the fixings.  I filled my plate with cucumbers and guacamole.  I am pretty sure I scraped that bowl clean. Avocados are one of my favorite things in the world. Anyway, I was enjoying my meal.  To me those mushrooms were heaven.  I was really hungry. Dario kept asking me if I wanted some of his food and I kept refusing.  I knew he was just trying to be funny but after a while it started to feel a little personal.

After eating we resumed driving.  We got to Nogales, Sonora and prepared to cross the border.  We were waiting for what seemed like forever.  I had to pee, my sister had to pee, we were nowhere near the end of the line. Then, I saw my mom and my cousin Crystal walk across the street.  They were in another car.  I rolled down the window and confirmed what I suspected.  They were going to pee in the bushes.  I immediately opened the car door and joined them.  It was the most glorious bladder relief of my life. It was so long it turned into a squat workout.  I still can’t believe my sister held it for the nearly three hours that we waited in line.  She said that she had a bad experience peeing in the bushes once and would never do it again.  Understandable.  It was probably torture for her when we got to the end of the line and the customs agent was so friendly he wanted to chat.  It felt like forever even though we weren’t there for more than five minutes.  The first gas station we saw she beelined to the bathroom.  Bladders emptied and tanks filled we got back on the road.

Challenge number two started when we arrived to Tucson where we were going to spend the night at my brother’s house.  My uncle had asked me to get him some pork product in Tucson.  I feel like I should explain what this product is.  There are two types of chicharrones: one is pork rinds, the other pork belly.  When they are fried there’s stuff that settles at the bottom of the pot.  My uncle wanted those little bits of meat and fat from the pork belly.  Now that that’s explained, I searched for butcher shops in Tucson that might have it.  After going to the second shop and not finding that pork thing I decided I was done.  Mexican butcher shops are different from regular ones.  They usually have a small restaurant attached and lots of pictures of yummy food.  I had been on the road for a long time with nothing but that quesadilla and some snacks in my belly.  The memory of meat still fresh in my mind I couldn’t risk walking into another place like that.  I fled from the meat to my brother’s house where more quesadillas awaited me.  

Challenge number three did not take long to manifest itself.  Although not as tough as the first one.  My mom, sister, sister-in-law and cousins went out to the store after settling down a bit.  When they returned they had a heaving box from In-N-Out.  The smell was intoxicating.  I hunkered down with my book and tried not to imagine the juicy burger in my mouth.  There were so many people eating that soon everything was consumed and the smell dissipated.  And with that last challenge I survived to be a vegetarian another day.  

There was more road to traverse through.  Tucson was only the beginning.  The next day we got up early again and headed out.  We had breakfast in Phoenix at Jack-in-the-Box.  I don’t think it’s common knowledge that their 99 cent tacos are made with soy and not real meat.  My sister told me that and that’s what I ended up ordering. The trip went on without any mishaps, thankfully.  We didn’t really stop for food after that.  When we arrived in Salt Lake City, Utah that night I was glad to be home.  I wondered what eating at home would be like now for me.  That was an issue for the next day.  I was too tired to care at that moment.

[felisarahi]

😂😂

This Is So Sad

[felisarahi]

Vegetarian, The Beginning

This year I decided to become a vegetarian and I am hungry all the time.  Granted this is only the fourth day of the year and I still have lots to figure out. First, let me start with how and why I decided to make the switch.

Last December, I had recently returned home to Utah from a seasonal job for the forest service in Oregon.  I was unemployed and getting used to being back at my mom’s house.  As a single Mexican female and a millennial, I might add, that is not so strange.  Anyway, I got a phone call from my aunt asking me to help her out with something.  I was to help her make a large amount of tamales.  I got ready with comfy clothes, fully charged phone, downloaded podcasts and headphones and headed out to my aunt’s house.  She was paying me $50 and I was unemployed.  

When I got there, I greeted my aunt and uncle and we had a delicious breakfast of tamales she had previously made.  After that, we got down to business.  I got the corn husks in water to start rinsing them out.  Put on my apron, put my headphones in and chose a podcasts to listen to.  I think my first choice was The Teacher’s Pet by The Australian.  I had finished listening to that earlier in the year but there was some new developments in the case that warranted new episodes so I dove in.  After a while and a lot of rinsed corn leaves I switched podcasts to  Outside/In by New Hampshire Public Radio.  If anyone is interested, this is a podcast that explores the natural world around us and how we use it.  I’ve learned a lot from it.  That morning’s peace of wisdom was the meat industry.  It was mostly about a woman who was really passionate about veganism.  She believed that every world crisis could be attributed to eating meat.  

The things I heard that day were not new discoveries for me.  The last couple of years I have worked with many environmentalists some of them vegetarian and one vegan.  I had heard their arguments and I agreed.  I just really liked meat and I justified it by eating a smaller amount than the average american.  So why did the stranger in a podcast make me change my diet when friends and colleagues couldn’t? There was something in that podcast that no one had ever told me before and I had never thought of.  The environmental issues that industrial farming contributes to are too big for me to have any real impact on.  Just one person that stops consuming their products is not going to make a difference compared to billions who do.  That does not mean that I can’t do anything about it.  Something that stood out to me was that people say that they would go vegetarian if it wasn’t for bacon or they would go vegan but they can’t give up cheese.  The lady on the podcast said that the one thing that you can’t give up shouldn't keep you from giving up the things you can or reducing your meat consumption. Why don’t we give up everything else we think we can? It was like “no duh!”.  Every movement starts small with its own set of challenges and this particular one is fighting against human nature.  Like recycling, lots of people don’t do it but I still try to.  Why can’t I do the same with vegetarianism?  If everyone had that same thought, than maybe a single food choice can have a bigger impact than we believe.  We live in a consumerist and capitalist country after all.  There is power in the choices we make as we check out. 

Right then and there I decided it was time to join, but I would wait until the holidays were over.  I was going to Mexico and thought it would be a great farewell to meat to have all my favorite childhood treats.  I had been eating meat all my life.  You can’t blame me for wanting to indulge in it for a few more weeks.  I knew that this was not going to be a perfect journey or an easy one for that matter.  I didn’t think my family, who had never even considered vegetarianism, would understand. 

I was determined to do it though.  I told anyone that would listen.  I had mixed reactions.  I think I told one of my sisters, Karen, first.  She didn’t think I would stick to it. She thought I would cave at the first family gathering with carne asada. Gina, my sister-in-law, was more supportive but worried about where I would get certain nutrients from.  She suggested a couple vitamin supplements.  My boyfriend, Wesley, who I am still not comfortable calling my boyfriend because I have a cold heart compared to his compassionate kind one, a story for another time, was so supportive that he instantly decided to do it with me.  Those were all the people I told before I was actually making vegetarian food choices.  People I have told while actively making meat free food choices were just as varied in their reactions, as I suspect people I tell in the future will be as well.  I guess that’s what this whole thing will be about.  How other people will be affected by my choice,  how the people I live with will have to adjust to fit my new diet, how I will have to adjust to fit my new diet, what effect this will have on my relationship with food etc. etc. etc. I predict that it will not always be super exciting but it will be true.