Last week, I led a Weight Watchers meeting where the topic was "Is a Meatless Day for Me?" Two amazing things happened during this meeting:
(1) I had one of most talkative groups ever as they rattled off, with no hesitation, a long list of foods they ALREADY EAT that are meatless. They were really getting into it! Curiously, a divergent topic emerged about quinoa spaghetti and pasta made of yam paste. However, as pasta is already meatless, I gently guided them back to the topic, but made a mental note to try one of these interesting pastas. I was genuinely excited by their enthusiasm!
(2) My excitement was short lived. As the meeting came to a close, several people smiled and nodded and found the concept interesting, but only ONE agreed to actually try it for a day. One. And another one told me she might was well file for divorce if she tried to pull this off. Keep in mind, this is after we spent most of the meeting excitedly identifying meatless meals they ALREADY incorporate into their days. And spending some time designing daily meal plans including all meatless meals. I even went so far as to share some of my favorite meatless recipes and tell them about my favorite chicken substitute which I currently use for fajitas on a regular basis.
Conclusion: People have an emotional attachment to meat. This actually grosses me out because I just had a horrific vision of Brundle-fly.
A few days later, I was at a friend's house and she prepared pasta for our running group. I found out half way through the meal that it was actually that same quinoa pasta that my Weight Watchers member told me about! And you know what? I could not tell the difference. It was excellent. My husband was sitting next to me and upon hearing this news, promptly announced "That's it. I'm going vegetarian." *sigh* I guess he was also under the mistaken impression that regular pasta is made of some sort of meat product. Regardless, his announcement was disingenuous as he had a pile of italian sausage atop his "meatless" quinoa pasta.
Today, just because I feel like it, I'm having a meatless day. I had one of my favorite fruit smoothies for breakfast and I have some leftover Sweet Potato and Black Bean Chili in my refrigerator for lunch. All I need to do is decided on a meatless dinner - which may very well be quinoa pasta with marinara sauce - and I'm set.
Anyone care to join me?
