Research.....

So, as I mentioned in the opening blog, I think this challenge will take some planning. So I did a bit of googling into starting out as a vegetarian, what to expect and how to go about it. Here's some interesting stuff I discovered:

1. Lent is Wednesday February 13th to Saturday March 30th - good to actually know when its starting and ending! This does mean that I will have to pick the vegetarian option at the Veterinary Christian Fellowship conference in March. I think that'll be a good opportunity to try out being the "awkward person" in a different setting. I am a bit worried that I'll get distracted and just plain forget though!

2. Whether you become vegetarian gradually (not an option for me) or go "cold turkey" (should that be "cold tofu?"), most new vegetarians are more hungry generally for the first few weeks. Seeing as the whole experiment only lasts for a few weeks.......

3. It seems to be impossible to find an unbiased vegetarian group/society/website. They all appear to me strongly motivated by either the health benefits - carnivores/omnivores are all going to die of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, etc - and/or environmentally friendly stuff - methane production, carbon footprints, land use - and/or animal welfare. I find it somewhat hard to them trust the information and advice they are giving as its so politically motivated rather than just plain facts.

4. Animal products can turn up in weird places, so I'm going to have to stick to things labelled with "suitable for vegetarians" or read the ingredients list on everything. This is no doubt going to get annoying and time consuming. If you read the label and can't find anything that sounds animal-based, but it doesn't have a veggie friendly label, then what???

5. Vegetarians produce more gas, particularly in the first few weeks. Oh the joy.

Further research plans include more googling and maybe some online cooking lessons.