Link to original post: [drupal=3492]This is either going to be really great or really terrible[/drupal]
I was in my local Gamestop, purchasing Sonic Unleashed with my wife. Next to the register was a little cardboard display for Monster Hunter Tri, with free demo discs. I’d never played a Monster Hunter game, but Tri was getting a lot of hype, and hell the disc was free, so I thought, why not? I grabbed one and threw it into my bag.
It sat on my bookshelf for a week or two, until I was bored enough to remember that it was there. So I popped it in, cursing the absurdity of the wiimote and nunchuck setup as I stumbled across the game world. I was a character with red, spiky armor and a gigantic sword. After wondering aimlessly for a minute or so, I came across two dinosaurs, minding their own business and eating grass in a field. I hadn’t used my gigantic sword yet, and this was the perfect opportunity. My character pulled it from off his back, lifted it high above his head, and swung it down ferociously. It slammed into the dinosaur, who cried out in agony and collapsed to the earth, writhing in agony for a few moments before dying.
For reasons that are still not entirely clear to me, I thought, “Cows are killed like this to make hamburger.” And in that moment, I decided to stop eating beef.
Now hold one second. Am I really suggesting that a videogame made me aware of the moral dubiousness of eating beef? I am, and believe me, I know just how stupid that sounds. For whatever reason, the two linked together in my mind on that day. That was back in April, and I’ve only had beef once since then, and only as a mistake.
Once it became clear that this was for real (and no one was more surprised than me), I began thinking about sealing the deal and going full vegetarian. What a development. I’d spent my entire life making fun of vegetarians as over-sentimental chumps, and here I was seriously contemplating joining their ranks. There was only one thing standing in my way: a footlong oven roasted chicken breast sub, with bacon, lettuce, tomato and ranch sauce. That’s the bootleg Chicken Bacon Ranch sandwich that I get at the Subway next to my job (for whatever reason, getting the chicken breast as opposed to the chicken strips makes the sandwich almost a dollar cheaper). That’s what I ate for lunch at work every day, six days a week. I loved it, and I’d be ****ed if I was going to start ordering a Veggie Delight sub.
But along came another videogame to ruin my fun. I blame Smash this time, because if there was no Smash there would be no SWF, and if there was no SWF there would be no WWYP, and if there was no WWYP I would have never read KrazyGlue’s story. You should read it, it’s pretty good, and without giving away the plot, that story pushed me to finally become a full-blown vegetarian. My wife had joined me in leaving beef behind, but how would she react to a firm “no face on my plate!” policy?
She took it pretty well. Extremely well, actually. My plan was to phase out meat gradually, and become fully vegetarian by January 1st. When I told my wife about it, she gave away all our meat the very next day. I am now going on one week being meat-free.
How is it working out? It’s still too early to tell. I’ve given up my Subway, and instead pack two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to work. But PB & J isn’t going to sustain our family forever, so we have to learn how to cook vegetarian food. Today was my first trip to the grocery store since the transition. Here’s a sample of our list:
My wife has constantly asked me for assurances that I wouldn’t go back, that I’m committed to being a vegetarian forever. I intend to be. After all, this was my idea. But I’m human. I’m weak. And I like chicken. In the end, those “Meat is Murder” nutjobs got me. Let’s see how long they can hold me.
P.S.- I tried the Veggie Delight at Subway. It tastes like someone compressed hay and sawdust into a patty.
I was in my local Gamestop, purchasing Sonic Unleashed with my wife. Next to the register was a little cardboard display for Monster Hunter Tri, with free demo discs. I’d never played a Monster Hunter game, but Tri was getting a lot of hype, and hell the disc was free, so I thought, why not? I grabbed one and threw it into my bag.
It sat on my bookshelf for a week or two, until I was bored enough to remember that it was there. So I popped it in, cursing the absurdity of the wiimote and nunchuck setup as I stumbled across the game world. I was a character with red, spiky armor and a gigantic sword. After wondering aimlessly for a minute or so, I came across two dinosaurs, minding their own business and eating grass in a field. I hadn’t used my gigantic sword yet, and this was the perfect opportunity. My character pulled it from off his back, lifted it high above his head, and swung it down ferociously. It slammed into the dinosaur, who cried out in agony and collapsed to the earth, writhing in agony for a few moments before dying.
For reasons that are still not entirely clear to me, I thought, “Cows are killed like this to make hamburger.” And in that moment, I decided to stop eating beef.
Now hold one second. Am I really suggesting that a videogame made me aware of the moral dubiousness of eating beef? I am, and believe me, I know just how stupid that sounds. For whatever reason, the two linked together in my mind on that day. That was back in April, and I’ve only had beef once since then, and only as a mistake.
Once it became clear that this was for real (and no one was more surprised than me), I began thinking about sealing the deal and going full vegetarian. What a development. I’d spent my entire life making fun of vegetarians as over-sentimental chumps, and here I was seriously contemplating joining their ranks. There was only one thing standing in my way: a footlong oven roasted chicken breast sub, with bacon, lettuce, tomato and ranch sauce. That’s the bootleg Chicken Bacon Ranch sandwich that I get at the Subway next to my job (for whatever reason, getting the chicken breast as opposed to the chicken strips makes the sandwich almost a dollar cheaper). That’s what I ate for lunch at work every day, six days a week. I loved it, and I’d be ****ed if I was going to start ordering a Veggie Delight sub.
But along came another videogame to ruin my fun. I blame Smash this time, because if there was no Smash there would be no SWF, and if there was no SWF there would be no WWYP, and if there was no WWYP I would have never read KrazyGlue’s story. You should read it, it’s pretty good, and without giving away the plot, that story pushed me to finally become a full-blown vegetarian. My wife had joined me in leaving beef behind, but how would she react to a firm “no face on my plate!” policy?
She took it pretty well. Extremely well, actually. My plan was to phase out meat gradually, and become fully vegetarian by January 1st. When I told my wife about it, she gave away all our meat the very next day. I am now going on one week being meat-free.
How is it working out? It’s still too early to tell. I’ve given up my Subway, and instead pack two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to work. But PB & J isn’t going to sustain our family forever, so we have to learn how to cook vegetarian food. Today was my first trip to the grocery store since the transition. Here’s a sample of our list:
And it goes on like that. I’d never even heard of coriander before today. What the hell is it? All I know is that I paid almost $7 for it. To be fair though, once I was done buying everything, my post-meat total expenditure was almost 33% less than what I spent when chicken, hot dogs, lunch meat and ground turkey were still on the list.
My wife has constantly asked me for assurances that I wouldn’t go back, that I’m committed to being a vegetarian forever. I intend to be. After all, this was my idea. But I’m human. I’m weak. And I like chicken. In the end, those “Meat is Murder” nutjobs got me. Let’s see how long they can hold me.
P.S.- I tried the Veggie Delight at Subway. It tastes like someone compressed hay and sawdust into a patty.
The English do it much better. Personally I think Indian meals are the best way to go for home cooking. If I could have someone cook me curries for the rest of my life, I'd honestly switch to vegetarian right now and wouldn't miss meat in the slightest.
