Meat Eating Vegetarian

For the last three years or so, Mac and I have been huge fans of Iron Chef America. In fact, we've seen almost every episode in that time frame (thanks DVR). The chefs create culinary masterpieces that make me salivate in my La-Z-Boy. And while the dishes are unique to each chef, it seems that the basic recipe for success has protein, and particularly meat, on center stage, with veggies as a supporting role. Even when the secret ingredient is a vegetable or fish, there's a lot of meat being cooked in that kitchen. And it works - everything looks delectable. During our viewership, I have joked to Mac that I would give up being a vegetarian if I ever got to be a judge on Iron Chef.

But this year, the idea of eating meat became less of a joke and something I pondered more seriously, especially as I began running with more intensity. I have been reading about athlete nutrition and I think I have been under-estimating my protein needs. I think I am still doing ok in that regard (fresh eggs from our chickens certainly help!) and I know I can be successful with my running and be a vegetarian, since I have been doing it since my sophomore year in college (15 years ago!). But still I kept chewing over my vegetarian choices.

My main motivation for giving up meat was health (environmental issues were a minor component). As I studied human disease, it became increasingly clear that avoiding meat is good for your health. And yet, I do recognize that humans were meant to eat meat: we have canine teeth, we can't synthesize some of the B vitamins that are almost exclusively found in animal proteins, and we are very inefficient at extracting iron from plant material. But vegetarians have lower rates of cancer, heart disease and obesity - the leading killers in our society.

For me, I think humans were meant to eat like the bear: lots of nuts, fruits, berries and fish, an occasional picnic basket, and a rare meal of red meat. But we've become like the tiger - gorging ourselves on meat and fat at every meal without a lot of veggies for balance. And so it would seem one could have a very healthy diet without avoiding meat entirely.

Which brings me to the present. I told Mac I wanted to go to a great restaurant in L.A. while we had his mom to watch the kids. On the advice of others, including another L.A. area chef, we choose Lucques. I figure these infrequent trips to foodie places will be as close as I get to being an Iron Chef judge. And so I decided to just order and eat what comes.

I started with the "sunshine" squash soup with bacon, cavolo nero, and amaretti crumbs. When it came there were chunks of fatty slab bacon floating on the silky soup. "Oh, you totally could have gotten that without the bacon," Mac commented. But I disagree - the bacon added a smokiness and a richness to the buttery squash puree that elevated the dish and served as a foil for the sweet amaretti crumbs. And to be honest, the bacon was just good. For my entree, I did have fish (grilled barramundi), partly because I do just really like fish, partly because a fish and mushroom combination is fairly unusual, and partly because I still really don't want to eat a big hunk of meat. But I had a bite of Mac's lamb as well as a large mouthful of my friend's stuffed rabbit.

I finished with a pumpkin mousse and pastry combo that was ok, but Mac had the most amazing dessert - "churros" with chocolate dipping sauce and dulce du leche ice cream. These weren't ordinary churros; as my friend Anne put it, these were "the veal of the churro world." The pastries had the lightest and fluffiest consistency with a coating that was both cinnamon-sugary and salty. This dessert in itself was worth the long drive from Mac's parents' house!

Dinner was great - just what I was hoping for. I ate and enjoyed (some) meat without guilt or worry for my health. It made for a memorable meal, but didn't really leave me longing to be a carnivore again. So I guess that makes me a meat eating vegetarian!