Two nights ago, my brother and I went to visit my cousin in Sunnyvale; she had just given birth to a baby boy about a month earlier. His name is Wilbur, and he pretty much slept through the whole three hours we were there. He did eventually wake up at the end to nurse though.
Because my cousin’s husband is a vegetarian (probably more vegan, but I’m not sure), we went out to a Chinese-style vegan restaurant for dinner…which means all the ingredients used to prepare our meal were 100% plant based. Yes. That means no meat. *shock!* Now, a couple years ago, I would have been highly skeptical of a meatless dinner, but I think I’ve been in the Bay Area long enough that I’ve acclimated to the notion of eating only vegetables in a meal…so long as it’s only once in a while.
But what really amazes me is how creative these vegan restaurants get in their preparation and presentation of the food. A lot of times (or at least with the restaurants I’ve tried), the food is really, really good. As in, you-almost-don’t-feel-you’re-missing-out-on-meat good. Sometimes, the dishes even have components that look like real meat. For example, one of the items we ordered was fried rice. When I looked at my plate, I almost did a double take, b/c I could have sworn (not that I swear, but if I did) that there were pieces of chopped ham mixed in. That couldn’t possibly be true, so after a closer look, I verified that it was indeed tofu masquerading as ham. Even so, it sure fooled me for a moment.
Which brings in another question: Why dress plant-based foods up like meat if the point is not to eat meat in the first place (aside from health reasons)?