One of the biggest challenges Meat and I faced on our journey together has been what we should eat. Being a firm Meaty meant that every meal should at least have one huge Slab O Animal included. Double bonus points for him if it was a restaurant or fast food. If you were ever a vegetarian before the late-1990s and/or a vegetarian in any meat-eating stronghold then you understand the dilemma. Aside from salads and a few vegetable dishes, eating out as a vegetarian or vegan wasn't much fun. And the worst part was that it wasn't something a Meaty easily understood. After all, the menu was fairly swimming...or gamboling...with choices so what's the Big Deal? Vegetarians love veggies so enjoy that salad. Yes, first hurdle indeed. My friends were concerned I was too thin and told me I should eat more. I had to sneak Real Food when Meat wasn't looking.
It might have worked better if Meat wasn't a culinary xenophobe for many years of our marriage. Yes, the man lived in Greece but he still ate foods he could recognise. Animal products, that is. One New Year's Eve we went to dinner with friends to a brilliant restaurant in Patrai. When I told the owner I was a vegetarian he beamed and proclaimed that he was going to make me the most delicious vegetarian meal ever. Indeed he did. A huge platter full of pasta, capers, olive oil, tomatoes, peppers, vegetables I don't even remember although my taste buds do. To this day I try to recreate that dish. Did Meat even venture a bite? What do you think? "I don't like capers" he said. Meat has never been good about taking "just one bite to see if you like it" which I was always encouraged as a child to do. If I didn't like it, or had a moral objection to the dish, I was never forced to eat any or any more but I was taught to appreciate a variety of foods that way. Oddly when I make my Pasta Patrai variations now, he happily eats them and even regularly makes his own versions (sans meat) himself.
Reasonable options Stateside would have included Indian, Middle East or African restaurants. Meat was frightened of all of those cuisines. Truly. He was scared he wouldn't like anything. He preferred to stick with what he knew and what was comfortable. Thanks to an Indian-via-Trinidad college friend I became enamored of Indian food and learned to make many dishes myself. These, Meat liked. Eventually. After many years of eyeballing suspiciously. Only within the last year has he become a fiend for coconut curry. He could eat it daily. Perhaps you're seeing the picture now. It's been about three years since Meat decided that felafel was yummy, within the last few months he's become addicted to hummus. Last year he couldn't get enough tabouleh. All foods which were my best friends in my early vegetarian years. Seitan is his True Love. Last winter miso soup was his passion. He joyfully eats steamed rice with kimchi. It's just taken him a while to get there.
So with lots of love and patience, it is possible to make vegan food even a meat-eater will love. I now giggle every time Meat bemoans the fact that he spent so many years without these veg staples, not enough time for so much good food. I'm very thankful for his now-open mind and love for (almost all) foods.
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