Greeks and Vegetarians--They actually CAN mix!

Okay, you've all seen My Big Fat Greek Wedding, right?

Yeah. So, as a 50% Greek girl who has been raised by only the Greek half of her family, being vegetarian at a young age was as ridiculous as being BFF's with a Turk.

(You're laughing, right? That's supposed to be a joke.)

Anyway, you may be wondering, why was it so ridiculous?

I ate ground beef almost as much as I drink water. And I drink a lot of water. Most meals, whether they were truly Greek or just something Italian that my mom made, and made better (Our Italian neighbor once had some mostaccioli that my mom made, and she said that it was better than her own recipe.), had meat in them.

Besides, I thought Sloppy Joes and hotdogs were heaven.

Being vegetarian would mean no more avgolemono soup, no more pastichio, dolmadas, mousaka(NOT Moose kaka), no more stuffed peppers...it was just outrageous, all the foods I couldn't eat!

Even so, I always ate the processed meat. Chicken nuggets were okay, but a chicken leg was nasty. Steak was just gross, especially when there were still bones on it, and ribs? Oh my gosh...I always thought they were gross. It's a body part for somebody's sake! Why someone would eat it made no sense to me.

I could never eat something that looked like the animal at any time in the cooking process, when I saw it. If it obviously came from an animal, I'd get all sad about the dead animal and refuse to eat it.

So that's how I went on with my life, until a few fateful days in my Junior year of High School. My AP Environmental Studies(or, for short, APES) teacher, Mr. Schmela, had us read Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan, and watch a movie, Food Inc.

Food Inc. taught us about the meat industry. And, to be quite honest, it's messed up. What the meat industry does to animals is most definitely abuse.

I decided after the first day of that movie, that I was going to be vegetarian. And I won't tell you that I haven't eaten meat since. I have. I had ham 3 days later because I fainted before a dance and I wouldn't be able to go unless I ate some, and it took me a while to quit eating avgolemono, but eventually I did.

Well, not really. I don't eat any meat, including fish and chicken(or lamb. I didn't even eat lamb before I went vegetarian), but I have an amazing, genius, mother. She found and/or made recipes of my favorite meaty foods, but vegetarian. My family supports my decision to be vegetarian. I just wish I knew that a Greek could be vegetarian earlier.

On a funny end note, I overheard one of my family's conversations when I was feeling a little under the weather. (Since then, my grandma's become a lot more supportive of my choice.)

my aunt(Thea): Is she sick?
My grandma(Yiayia): Of course she sick! She no eat meat!