I'm an ovo-lacto vegetarian. I have been since 1998. So when I saw today's Ten on Tuesday topic, I had to laugh. Ten Reasons to Love Bacon. Since I can't speak to that, I thought I'd list ten things about my life as it relates to bacon and pigs.
1. Before I stopped eating meat, I loved a strip or two of bacon as much as the next girl. Now I eat Smart Bacon, the only meat substitute I use. The way I see it is if I want meat, I would eat meat. Sometimes, though, I do want a BLT, and the Smart Bacon gives the crunch I'm after to the sandwich.
2. Interesting PoMo fact: I have never eaten a BLT with real bacon. Back when I still ate the B, I did not eat the T. Stop judging. It's a family trait to dislike T (but to love T products) until adulthood.
3. Neal sometimes feels a little bad about eating pork products because pigs are often considered as smart as dogs. We are avid dog lovers around here. So he'll sign off eating Brother Pig for months at a time, until he just can't deny his craving for bacon or sausage or whatever he's craving.
4. I stopped eating meat entirely a few days after I heard a pig get slaughtered.
5. My grandfather was a pig farmer for a while.
6. Melon and prosciutto used to be my favorite appetizer.
7. I am always amused by this bit of dialog in Pulp Fiction:
8. I am grateful that Fern stopped her father from killing Wilbur. He was Some Pig.
9. Every now and then I read about bacon caramels. They sound appealing.
10. I love truffles, and pigs do a good job finding them. A great reason to love a pig!
I also just learned to eat T. It is a phenomenon that has only just occurred in the past few years. It must be sliced very thin or chopped up very small. We went to my favorite Greek restaurant the other day for gyros. The T stayed on for the first time and it was good!
I’ve never eaten a hamburger. Yep. Every. Whole life. I have meat issues. Always have. My father hunted and killing of animals has always hurt me to see. Even fishing makes me sad 🙁
You’re not the only one avoiding the T but digging the T products, Steve is the same way. Unfortunately, he has not learned to love the T with adulthood which leaves me the only T eater in the house. Bringing some to knitting tonight to give away since I can’t bear to throw another away.
Bonus news: If you want to impress Neal with any B recipes the next time he has a craving, I have The Bacon Cookbook, a gift from a foodie friend of mine, with lots of unusual B recipes!
I’m also a vegetarian, though I made bacon ice cream for friends last month. I spent a lot of time scrubbing my hands and feeling gross. I haven’t tried the Smart Bacon, because it doesn’t look appetizing. Does it actually taste like bacon?
We have friends who raise pigs and cows for meat and we used to buy a pig from them every year but that’s a lot of pork for just 2 people to eat – so we gave it up. Nice interpretation of this week’s theme.
I’d love to be a vegetarian…have tried several times, even with the help of a dietician, and I always become extremely anemic. After my last experiment, my doc just finally told me, “Face it, sometimes you just have to eat meat.” So…a couple times a week seems to keep me pretty stable. Bacon much less frequently, however, except during BLT season which is NOW!!! YAY!!!
This is a great list – I thought it might be tough to respond to for the vegetarians.