On Sunday, my foodie friend dragged me to the Ottawa Veg Fest in the Glebe. Okay, she didn’t “drag me,” I volunteered—I love food and the perspective of sampling delicacies from restaurants all across Ottawa was exciting enough that I actually got up early and skipped breakfast.
I’m a lapsed vegetarian. When I lived in France, I stopped eating meat for a few years. Mind you, a lot of Europeans did following the Mad Cow disease outbreak and subsequent scandal: suddenly, the perspective of a nice steak (“enjoy now, get sick later!”) wasn’t that appealing.
Then, I met Feng and started travelling. I dare you to explain to a Chinese person what being vegetarian means. “So you don’t eat meat?” “Nope.” “Oh, alright, we’ll just have chicken then.”
When travelling, we ate whatever we could. Backpacking is pretty intense and when you finally find a restaurant in a small town in the middle of nowhere, you usually don’t inquire about vegetarian options. I had “pollo” in Latin America, a steak in Argentina and Beijing duck in China. But at home, I don’t usually eat meat simply because first, I don’t crave it, second, it’s expensive. Unless Feng is cooking, I get my proteins from tofu or egg and I can go weeks on a vegetarian diet.
The Veg Fest was fun. We sampled treats from Café My House and grabbed a quick lunch from Zen Kitchen. Dessert was one of Auntie Loo’s tasty treats: not only they were picturesque but they were excellent!
On the other side, I wasn’t a huge fan of the “propaganda stands,” such as the Christian Vegetarian Association or other associations that frown upon “meat-eaters” and display pictures of dead animals to get their point across. The holier-than-thou attitude of some radical animal rights groups doesn’t help promote the vegetarian lifestyle. I hate arguing with people who ramble on about how carnivores are cruel, unhealthy, etc. Don’t freaking judge people based on their diet!
And don’t get me started on vegan or raw-food diets… Once again, I respect people’s choices and I don’t judge them so I expect the same freaking courtesy. I’ve always had a problem with people who try to ram their beliefs down my throat.
It doesn’t take much to show people that being vegetarian and eating healthy can be fun and easy. The food we had was tasty and affordable—to me, that’s the best way to get the message across!
Now, some food porn… don’t look if you haven’t eaten yet!
Very beautiful and look yummy.
Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Thank you! It tasted yummy too 🙂
ok – you just made me so hungry. I think I need to cook a meal now! Literally it’s lunch time and there isn’t much here to eat without cooking it!
I so agree with your laxed attitude with “go with the flow” when you are traveling or are in a small town. My friend is vegan and is that way if there is say fish oil in the soup or a bit of cheese somehow in the sauce.
Great pics!
Thank you! I would find it very hard to be on a strict whatever diet when traveling. North America is a pretty accommodating of all lifestyles and religious practices but the same isn’t true everywhere.
I don’t believe in killing vegetables; vegetables have feelings too. 🙂
I respect people who choose to be vegetarians even though most of them tend to overdue it on the carbs and, as a consequence, live an unhealthy obese lifestyle. But I don’t like vegetarians who proselytize. I also find that many people call themselves vegetarians but eat fish.
People are indeed picky about meat. Hindus don’t eat beef and Muslims don’t eat pork. Christians were instructed that what is bad for you is not what goes into your mouth but what comes out of it (lies, abuse, wrath, etc.) but many of them don’t follow this. A lot of people don’t like seafood or mutton because of the strong odour. Then you’ve got the strict vegetarians who don’t eat eggs or things made with them or milk.
On another note (since you mentioned China), whenever I told people I don’t eat seafood, they would serve me some . When I protested they would say, “It’s not from the sea; it’s from the river”.
Alas, we should all become fruitarians and just eat stuff that falls naturally from the trees, including nuts.
😆 Never heard that one about seafood in China! But I’m not a huge fan of shrimps and I often have to battle with local restaurant. “Yes, this dish is just meat” and then there are shrimps on top…
Feng’s reply about you not eating meat reminds me of the line in My Big Fat Greek Wedding when she tells her aunt that her fiancé doesn’t eat meat. “What do you mean he don’t eat no meat!? I’ll make lamb then.” LOL
Oh, that rings a bell… I must have seen the movie long long time ago! I guess Greeks are like Chinese when it comes to meat!
Hey Zhu,
Sometimes I metamorphose into a foodie as well lol. I drooled over the goodies you presented here…..yummyyyyy!
I agree with you on anti-meat-eating radicals/animal rights: eat and let eat, dude!
Excellent post :D! Delicious too…
Cheers
I’m a foodie but the friend I went to the event with, man, she knows her food! We arrived starving and left way too full!
You know, I’ve tried vegetarianism in the past as well. I stopped eating meat when I was in my last year in college, in 2004. I continued that all the way until 2006. Ironically, it was Europe that made me eat meat again. I was in Prague, Czech Republic in 2006, visiting my parents for 2.5 months. I just couldn’t resist sampling the local food, which included meat. I’ve been thinking of going back to vegetarianism, but I just don’t have the proper motivation to do it again.
I don’t really have the motivation to follow a strict diet, whatever it is. I tend to eat a bit of everything, and yes, some meat. Makes my life easier…
Hi,
Nice to know that u too r vegetarian like me .. Though m not a Strict vegitarian as I do eat eggs and milk products… and that is it.. No meat no fish nothing. I am preparing to apply for MPNP soon. Good to c vegetarians have good options in terms of eating out 🙂
Gr8 Post.
Keep it up.
I’ve always eaten milk and dairy products, as well as eggs, even when I was a “vegetarian”. Can’t take cheese way from a French!
Oh wow, these make me drool! It’s like an entire food entry dedicated to me! XD
You would have loved it! A vegetarian paradise 🙂
Yum!
We have many food festivals around here, unfortunately, I always seem to be working when they happen.
I miss a lot of events because of that too. This one just happened to be on a Sunday, which was convenient!