Vegging Out!

It's been about 2 years since I officially went over to the Veg Side (pause to raise a glass...of carrot juice), and in that time I've had to learn a delicate dance, as I quietly sneak meatless variations of our favorite dishes into our everyday fare, gently convert the previously-bean-phobic, and fearlessly experiment with all kinds of exotic condiments (green curry paste, anyone?). I must say, my house full of male Carnivores have been very patient and open-minded...which is a good thing, since the longer I live as a Vegetarian, the less I want to handle or cook meat at all.

As a matter of fact, since no one usually complains about the lack of dead animals in our diet, I sometimes forget to buy them for a while. Then we go to a social event of some kind, like yesterday, where the hosts have prepared a large hunk of BEEF. You should have seen my boys (big and small) salivating like cavemen when it came off the grill. I'm not exaggerating when I say: they practically wept with joy. I was subjected to a great deal of ribbing (ha ha!) about "not feeding my menfolk the kind of hearty food they need", blah, blah, blah. I just offered my "to each his own" peaceful smile, ate the delicious ziti and delightful salad, and stayed far, far away from the medium-rare-former-cow...

So today, I went to the chiropractor for a tuneup of my creaky, cranky neck. After poking and prodding a bit, he mentioned that there might be some mild pinching of the nerves in there, which could possibly be relieved by a supplement that supports collagen growth (thereby re-cushioning the disks). When I asked what it contained, he said, "manganese and Vitamin C".  Sounded harmless, and didn't cost much, so I agreed to try it for a while...right up until I had the bottle in my hand and got to read the tiny print on the label, where it listed ALL of the ingredients...these include (and I am NOT making this up!): bovine bone, bovine liver, veal bone, bovine kidney, bovine spleen, and ovine spleen, among other things.  Are you KIDDING ME? Why, why, WHY would I want to take a pill full of repulsive cow and sheep parts? I'm going to go out on a limb here, and say that even if I wasn't a Vegetarian, I would find this absolutely disgusting!  About the only way it could be worse, in my opinion, is if they had listed cow BUTT on the label.  Ew, ew, ew!  Needless to say, crunchy neck or not, I won't be popping the Cow Guts supplement. (And yes, I will be having a talk with the good doctor about springing this sort of unpleasant surprise on his patients in the future!)

Maybe my crackly disks and I will make a trip to Whole Foods, where we can safely browse the Vitamin Aisle, without the risk of being ambushed by hidden cows and sheep...wish me luck!