Telling Facebook

So, Day One of our "Lenten Discipline". Well, considering we had only just started, and as I mentioned we hadn't planned for this, Day One wasn't really a full Day One.

But I did post to Facebook about it.

I posted what we had decided and admitted that we'd still have to finish a few things (the pork we planned to eat for dinner that night, the rest of a chicken we'd roasted earlier in the week, and some other chicken breasts that were still in the meat drawer intended for a cheesy chicken bake). Then I asked for suggestions. I know plenty of vegetarians, a small group of vegans, and lots of semi-vegetarians (those folks who identify with vegetarianism, but still eat things like chicken and fish on occasion).

The responses were varied. A few people said that "we should talk" because they have tons of recipes - near-lifers in veggie world. A few people directed me to other people. A couple people directed me to fish dishes (which I found really interesting...they immediately thought we'd be eating fish during our meat-free Lent. Isn't fish a meat? Well, if you read the Wikipedia article I included in my first post you'll see why not everyone thinks so. But Nate and I do think so, therefore no fish.) We did get a couple of good links to websites with vegetarian food ideas. The one site had a "top 20" sort of thing going on.

Ultimately though, I ate leftover chili for lunch and then pork chops with mashed potatoes for dinner. I felt a little guilty. But I chose to do this and allowed leftovers and already purchased meat in the parameters to avoid waste, so I really had no reason to feel that way. I also attended two Ash Wednesday services (one at the church I work for, and another at the church we belong to) where the message was basically that Lent isn't about feeling guilty, but finding a way to be closer to God and to others. There were a few reasons we chose to do this, but two of them were to understand vegetarians better and to pay more attention to our meat consumption and what impact that has on God's creation. (Yeah, all the reasons behind the local, organic, free range, grass fed, antibiotic free, etc. stuff)

If nothing else, I'm hoping this proves to be good lunch conversation with my two co-workers who identify vegetarian.