Consider the vegetable

  Looking back over my week I recognize that I have not eaten any meat. I have enjoyed noodles, veggies, and even pizza with no meat in sight. I am considering being vegetarian.

  I’m not considering if I want to be a vegetarian, I know that answer. I’m considering what it means to be a vegetarian. For instance, is there a time threshold you must cross before you can claim the title. “I have not consumed meat for one full month, I am now a vegetarian.” Or do you claim the title and then live into the reality, something like, “from this day forward I am a vegetarian, bring on the quinoa.”

  Image you are on a boat somewhere off the coast of Greenland. You and the crew have been out to sea for many days, possibly weeks. You have eaten the meat rations and all that is left are potatoes and continually souring cabbage in a big wooden barrel. The boat is not in any danger of running out of these and other life sustaining options. But gone are the days of braised rabbit over field greens. Are you now on a boat full of vegetarians?

  Now you know full well that once the boat gets back to shore every person will walk their leather boots to the local tavern for fresh water and a big hunk of an animal’s leg. Every one of them will relish the tearing and chomping of the whole ordeal. But while on the boat they had no meat; vegetarians?

  Or you are on the farm in early spring. Flowers are blooming and the young animals are learning to walk on their spindly legs. It will be months until any of these new young are ready for the grill, so we eat from the bounty of the garden. The season is filled with steamed vegetables and wonderful salads. Are we currently vegetarians, or simply waiting for the day when the bird is plump enough for the feathers to be ripped off and the skin to crackle over the charcoal?

  So if this week has been filled with pizza but no pepperonis, spaghetti with no meat balls, and salads topped with bacon bits that never knew a pig, can I call myself a vegetarian? Or should I wait a week or two before I claim the title?