WE ARE WHAT WE EAT
Our body and mind are not separate. This is what the Buddha taught at least. Although “we are what we eat” is not a definitive argument, if we actually allow our ‘first thought’ to dissolve we realize that in fact we are what we eat. That this statement does in fact work on another, usually deeper level.
I became vegetarian somewhere around 13 or 14 years ago. I really had no idea what I was doing other than the notion that I did not want to eat meat any longer. It would be another few years before I would receive confirmation of something I felt: Their is an energy transfer between myself and what I eat.
In Thich Nhat Hanh’s book Anger: Wisdom for Cooling the Flames, I read about the connection between how eating is essentially one absorbing the suffering of another. When I eat chicken I am not simply eating chicken, enjoying the taste, licking my fingers and feeling satisfied. I am eating that chicken’s suffering, its life and its experiences. And whether or not you believe we (humans) have dominion over animals is inconsequential to the fact that factory farms are places of mass suffering.
So this young man, born to meat and potato parents departed the master narrative concerning food. Nope, my parents are not new age hippies or strict raw foodists. Neither do they hunt their own food. I would threaten to kick out the back window of our car unless my mother stopped at McDonald’s. I can still taste the satisfaction of the golden fries with a cheeseburger. My mom preferred Arby’s because of those coupons where you would get 10 roast beef sandwiches for 3 bucks or something. That just left me squeezing the horseradish onto my roast beef, salivating the entire time.
That was just it. I did not think about what I was eating. I made the choice to just eat and not pay attention. Then one day I started to pay attention. Some shift at some point and away I went. What was crazier is that it had nothing to do with my budding environmentalism, or even animal rights, somewhere and somehow I had gotten a hold of the notion that I did not want to ingest the suffering of other sentient beings.
Slowly my awareness around food shifted and I began to truly appreciate how deeply rooted food is to our culture, land, society and spirituality. Not by magic wand, but rather baby steps. I did not start out as healthy vegetarian let me tell you. But step by step, year by year I relearned or maybe instead deprogrammed my relationship to food.
Becoming a Vegan only recently occurred 2 years ago. I challenged myself to go Vegan for one month after 2 previously failed efforts over the past 4 or 5 years. What I have uncovered is a truly joyful world. If you think Vegan food is boring and bland you are seriously out of touch. Vegan food is imaginative and filled with plenty of flavor.
I chose Vegan because it aligns with my life, I feel better, and I love food. By being a Vegan I practice compassion with each meal, and through my choices I abstain from the violence (no matter what your position is, a slaughterhouse is a violent place). This aligns with my practice as a Buddhist, in which I know my nourishment is in accord with the Dharma and free from evil deeds.
I feel better. I have more energy, my allergies affect me less, and my face cleared up.
I love food. The more I learn the more I become inspired. The more I read the more inspired I become and the more people I meet with similar tastes the more amped I get. I love preparing, cooking and eating food right from our garden or local co-op.
So I plan to write about my adventure as a Vegan here. Who knows, maybe tomorrow I will announce my departure from the Vegan diet, but in the meantime I hope to share some of my adventures directly from my clearly corrupted-agenda-ridden-self-righteous perspective. Whether it be discussions, interactions with carnivores, cool books and/or sites, recipes, exciting restaurants or life in travel… I’ll note it here…
