"You don't make friends with salad!"

I just finished reading Fast Food Nation by Erik Schlosser - a book I never wanted to read and planned to stay as far away from as possible. So why did I read it then? Well, a) it was a school assignment and yes, true - that's never really stopped me before - and b) I told myself I'd stop acting like a small child and just grow up. This means to do the assignments you're supposed to do. It took me thirteen days to finish the 387 pages so my reading isn't fucked up. At least that's reassuring. And you know what? It was enjoyable reading. Horrible, disgusting and absolutely intriguing reading. And yes, I'm in one of my vegetarian phases again. No surprise there really since they come and go at least once or twice a year and has done since the end of 1997. My New Year's resolution for 1998 was to become a vegetarian - or well, to just not eat pork or meat. I was thirteen.
Did you know that there's actually a name for that kind of vegetarianism? It's called ovo-demi-lacto-vegetarianism. Egg-fish-milk-vegetarian. (I just called myself "vegetarian" because it's so much shorter.) It's quite funny actually, because I still remember what triggered my decision. The Simpsons. I know, you can roll your eyes all you want, but there was a point to it. Lisa the Vegetarian - the fifth episode in season 7. Did you know that Paul and Linda McCartney guested that episode and that Paul's condition for starring was that Lisa remained a vegetarian for the rest of the series? I sure as hell didn't.

Anyway, my reason for becoming a "vegetarian" was that I couldn't eat meat and know that the animal I stuffed in my mouth suffered like hell to get there. Long transports all across Europe and stress and all that - it just didn't work for me. I'm fairly sure that Freud would say that this is the age when people start to care about their environment and want to change the world. Fits quite well, doesn't it? (I'm not a fan of Freud - just to clarify - he had to get laid more in my opinion.) I stayed vegetarian for a year - then my mother gave me an ultimatum, either I cook myself or I ate what she made. The first thing I ate in school was the arche-typical Swedish dish; potatoes, meatballs, brown sauce and lingonberries. I've never had a problem with those meatballs or the school-food in particular really. I always liked it. After that day I never was a fan of the meatballs again. They tasted horrible.

Okay, so I suppose I'm not really a vegetarian, but right now I'm staying away from beef and pork and I will until the text in Fast Food Nation starts to fade from my brain. I usually try to buy groceries which are organic (I'm still not convinced that's the right word) - you know, safely grown. I don't cook poultry - I only eat it if someone serves it to me - and I cook meat very seldom. And yes, fish does get exceedingly boring after a while. Maybe I'm just "aware". Or maybe I just care too much, but you know - read the damn book and then get back to me.