Fish Fridays

So I was debating about writing this or not, seeing as how when you fast, you shouldn't advertise that you're fasting. But I figured this was about letting people know what's going on in my life, and this is pertinent.

I gave up meat for lent. (minus fish...) For a couple reasons:

1. It's a traditional thing to give up. Usually Lent is a time of fasting, and I wanted to experience an actual "fast" where I was cutting out one major thing from my diet. Sure, I'm still eating full meals every meal but by not eating meat, it influences each of my meals, rather than times when I've give up chocolate and am only tempted when I see it.

2. "Environmental" reasons. I put environmental in quotation marks, because as it is, I rarely buy meat. Most of the meat I eat is from the Poverello, which means that its meat that would've gone to waste otherwise and thus my eating it doesn't really have an environmental impact. I do, however, always order meat when I'm eating out. I think that as a whole, the way I choose to eat is fairly ethical, so this isn't a huge departure from that.

3. Solidarity. This is probably the biggest one. Most of the world doesn't eat meat every day, but growing up, I definitely did. Or 3 times a day. The main reason I gave up meat was to remember 1) what a luxury it is, and 2) how much I enjoy it. (Trust me...I'm not going veg anytime soon!)

So how is it going?

1) Lots of pasta. Which is ironic, because I've cooked vegetarian most of my meals for the last 2 years. However, my roommates made chili last weekend and ended up eating the leftovers for the weekend, so I just ate pasta.

2) Really tough at the Pov. Most of the lunches there are meat based, so I end up eating potatoes/bread/salad. This is the part where its more the "fasting" part than the "solidarity" part. It's not enjoyable, I'll say that.

Health reasons aren't really a factor here. I think you can eat meat and be healthy, and eat vegetarian and eat unhealthily. But trust me - I can't wait for Easter!