I didn’t grow up in a vegetarian household. I didn’t know what tofu, seitan or couscous was. My mother made hot dogs weekly, meatloaf monthly and pork chops daily. She’d serve the meats with starch and one veggie. At first hiding my dislike for the meat portion of my meal was easy; my brother and I would swap. He’d take the dog and I would happily chew through the greens. Of course, we shared the potatoes. When she caught on, my mom put us on opposite sides of the table. That was when I started stuffing over cooked pork chops in my pockets to flush down the toilet. I’d hide it in my mouth like a squirrel and spit it out in my napkin.

The truth is, at first, I just didn’t like it. The animal consciousness came later.

At 13, I declared my teenage-ness with vegetarianism. In the first few years of being a Veg, I ordered the salad on every menu. I ate sautéed veggies and rice for dinner every night and got sick of it. A lot of the cookbooks I could afford were on the sale rack and the same recipes over and over again were enough for me to branch out.

My Aunt was a big part of this learning process. She had a bright yellow triumph and listened to Eric Clapton (the original stuff) while cooking her bright green vegetables. She taught me the joy of good food, top rated restaurants, wine pairings, heavy silverware, popovers and delicious desserts.

And this is where the animal consciousness came in. I started really researching where my food came from, how it was being processed and man did that change everything. Not only did I want to spice up my veggie palate but I wanted to save the world at the same time. Tall order for a 17 year-old.
I stumbled with tofu scrambles, strange combinations and ingredients like jicama (which I never heard of). In college, finances proved to be a challenge and I couldn’t afford more than $30.00 a week on groceries. I ate lots of vegetables from the bodegas on the corner of where I lived in the Bronx. As my experimenting continued I also found a handful of vegetarian restaurants in the city.

During college I tried a vegan and macrobiotic diet. I fell in love with Angelica’s kitchen, bought their cookbooks and tried everything.

I had roommates and animal friends. All of which enjoyed meat. The one thing about living with someone who enjoys meat, is being able to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries and special events at a nice restaurant together. I didn’t and still don’t want to limit anyone from a special restaurant because the menu might only have a salad for me to order.

So, I have had some interesting adventures at well-known restaurants. My turning point was on a summer vacation. I sat looking at a menu that was filled with salmon sauteed in clam sauce, tuna with a lobster tail over it and more. But there was hope. A small section that said, your server will list the vegetarian options of the evening. When the server began to list specials I didn’t hear any vegetarian dish. So, I politely asked him. He said, here’s the thing with vegetarians…we don’t really do that. The manager put that on without asking the chef. You can get the asparagus side dish. When he walked away, I looked at the menu and started to cry.

Not like sobbing, pass me a tissue type of cry but I got upset. I was at a beautiful restaurant. I could tell that this meal would be special for my dining companion; I didn’t want them to miss out on anything.

It was through my 13 years of being a vegetarian and that very moment, the blog was born.

I hope to give you (whether you are a vegan, a vegetarian, a lacto-veg or a meat eater) the sense of flavorful food all the meat lovers rant about but without the “fake bake chicken” the “meat tasting tofu” or the same old recipes. I’d like to give the vegetarian the spot light- we deserve it.

On top of that, you’ll find reviews of my tasty travels. What restaurants accommodated, which didn’t have to and where I found the vegetarian didn’t just have a little corner of the menu.

Think tasty,
Anastasia “The Gourmet Vegetarian”