5 months ago yesterday was the last time I ate meat. I can still remember it, but wasn’t very exciting; it was grilled chicken from an airline meal on a plane coming back from London. At that point, I was already set on becoming a vegetarian, and wrote about it on the blog a few weeks later.

I haven’t written about being a vegetarian very much since because—honestly—it doesn’t seem like a big deal to me. I eat the same 90% of the time as I did before being a vegetarian. My grocery cart is virtually identical as before. I’ve eaten out a few times as a vegetarian and it’s been slightly difficult, but not even close to as difficult as it is to eat out gluten-free so it’s nothing I’m not used to. Basically it’s going well, I’m a happy eater, and I’m never at a lack of recipes to try.

Even before becoming a vegetarian, I was aware of the reasons some vegetarians choose to eat meat again: They start craving chicken and red meat; they develop vitamin deficiencies that leave them feeling weak; they gain weight; they can’t eat enough to feel full anymore.

None of those have affected me on a vegetarian diet. If I crave animal protein, I can usually curb that by eating eggs, tempeh, or something sodium-rich. I’ve been running faster than before. I’ve gained muscle lifting. Any weight I’ve gained I assure you is from sugar and chocolate—not vegetables and beans. And if I’m not full, I just eat more.

But there is one thing I miss, and it’s something nobody told me to expect before becoming a vegetarian: I miss cooking meat. Not eating it; just cooking it. You can’t replicate the smell of a roasted chicken pulled straight out of the oven filling up a kitchen, the sound of sizzling from searing a steak so that the outside turns a deep brown and the inside is pink and bloody, or the complex flavor that bacon grease adds to golden home fries. Tofu and tempeh just don’t work that way.

Does that mean I’m going to stop being a vegetarian? Of course not. While I miss these intricate parts of cooking, being a vegetarian for ethical reasons is much more important to me. Maybe if I’m lucky my family will let me cook and carve the Thanksgiving turkey, but I’ll take an extra helping of potatoes on my plate instead, please.

Sidenote

This week is also the first time I’ve made a “vegetarian blunder”, i.e. ate something not vegetarian.

I could have sworn Brach’s candy corn were gluten-free and vegetarian, but after I finished off my first big size bag I looked at the ingredients and sure enough gelatin was on there. I’ve always avoided things made with gelatin like most commercial marshmallows in the past, and while I considered making an exception for sweet, sweet candy corn I couldn’t accept my own hypocrisy. Luckily, I’ve found a solution:

The generic CVS brand candy corn and candy pumpkins are both completely vegetarian. While I remember these having a somewhat stale texture from my childhood, I’ve eaten 2 bags over the past 2 days and they get an “A” grade from me. They’re still clearly not health food, but if you’re a vegetarian who just can’t see yourself giving up candy corn, give these a shot and you won’t be sorry.