100 DAYS OF STEEM : My Favorite Place To Eat...

Even before the Covid scare, when it comes to cooking, Home is where the heart is... Between my wife and I, I'm the one who does 90% (or more) of the cooking (she's in charge of everything else). Most days, it's cleaner, yummier and cheaper just to eat in. We used to order pizza a fair amount (the missus is a pizza-addict) but now we make our own! Same with Indian or Thai cuisine.

Nonchalantly, not too long ago, my wife recommended that I watch a documentary on Netflix, The Game Changerswhich made me revise everything that I used to think about eating meat, nutrition and plant-based diets.

One quote after another made me sit up and question my assumptions about strength (after all, the world class athletes featured in this film were all following plant-based diets) as well as the true cost of meat on our health (heart diseases, cholesterol, cancer) as well as the planet :

The single biggest source of habitat destruction is livestock sector: meat, diary, egg and fish farming use 83% of the world's farmland and are leading drivers of deforestation, depletion and pollution of fresh water.'

1 hamburger=2400 liters of embedded water

One of the interesting tidbits I learned from this fascinating documentary is that our ancestors, contrary to popular belief, might have been vegetarian, and that we were not really built for meat -- neither our long intestines nor our canines (which were designed, like gorillas, for scaring other animals, not eating them). Also, I learned that most protein is, in fact, plant based -- while animals are merely the abused and exploited middleguys.

Now, I love my greens and am something of a smoothie fiend, anyway. But, one week into this food experiment and I admit that I'm was running out of ideas. I mean, how many bean-based burgers and veggie meals can one have? And, giving up eggs, dairy products and cheese is not easy (I adore cheese and milk and yogurt are in many a yummy dish)!

Trying to remain as creative as I can, switching to brown rice, drinking my v8, soups, lentils, hummus, etc... with the limited resources I have --it's surprisingly expensive and counter-intuitive, that being vegan should cost more, but check out a plant-based restaurant menu?! Also, relying on vitamin supplements, for the time-being, such as B12 which I learned can be missing from a vegan diet.

So, I don't know how long this fast would last, but I gave it a go anyways and if felt good detoxing and losing a little weight, while I exercise my will to do something good for myself. Why not look into it and give it a try?

Eventually, (no surprise) I gave up on being a vegan (too hard) but I still like to start my days with a smoothie & a handful of almonds & maybe, have a soup for dinner. Here, for example, is a creative lunch: a kale burger, chickenless chicken and some fries :)

I, even, managed to convert my carnivorous wife to meatless meatballs (like the ones in our meal, above) which actually taste delicious —- like a cross between meat and falafell.

When in doubt, or we’ve run out of food (and I’m lazy or broke) soup is always the go-to meal for me, such as this tasty mix of black beans, tomato & greens.

Lastly, being part rabbit & wholly Mediterranean, I enjoy snacks like the one above: stuffed grape leaves (aka dolma), olives, carrots, etc... washed down with a glass of V8 (vegetable drink) & a twist of lemon.

Cheers & stay healthy!