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Chris Kuhn

Editor, skirt! Tampa Bay

I'm an outspoken thirtysomething who has lived in the Tampa Bay area since 1992, full of useless facts on just about every facet of pop culture. I'm passionate about vegetarianism without passing judgment. I love to laugh. If we can't talk politics, music, movies, sports, TV or current events, you'...

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Eat Your Vegetables

Chris, Editor for skirt! Tampa Bay

Earth Day is a special time of year for me. It marks a big decision I made 3 years ago to go all-vegetarian. No, I’m not vegan – I still eat eggs and dairy. As if our lifestyle isn’t complicated enough, I’m a lacto-ova vegetarian. Yeah, sure, whatever.

A colleague of mine walked into work one day in late winter of 2002 and declared that she had become a vegan. I’ll admit – I had to look that up in the dictionary at the time. Just like a snap of the fingers, she went from eating steak, chicken, pork – every kind of meat one night –  to absolutely none the next day and no dairy or other animal products eaten or worn...just ilke that!

I was at first baffled – and a little mad. This would clearly interfere with our future lunch choices. But as I slowly learned more and more about animals and had grown to absolutely adore my own dog, I realized that what I was doing at the dinner table for me personally was unforgiveable. But I can’t do anything cold turkey (pardon the inappropriate pun), so as with everything else in my life, I took it one step at a time.

First, I dropped all red meat. I haven’t indulged in a burger or any beef incarnation (knowingly) since my birthday in early April 2002. Four months after that, I gave up pork products. Around Christmas 2004, I bit the bullet and knocked seafood off the plate. And on Earth Day 2005, I made the toughest move of all, eliminating poultry from my diet.

It’s the typical luncheon main course. It truly is a hard one to overcome. I’m going to a luncheon tomorrow in fact, and I’m just sure the main dish will involve something with a beak.

You wouldn’t guess I was vegetarian to look at me. I’m not slim like many of the veggies I’ve met. Quite the opposite. I think my plumpitude throws some when I tell them I’m a vegetarian. I know a surefire way I could curtail this would be to go all vegan and drop the dairy from my diet – it’s a real weakness for me. Cheese and chocolate...pizza! Who needs anything else?

I don’t judge others who choose to eat meat. It’s an individual decision and I’m all about personal choice in every respect. But if people ask me – really ask me to know more about it for themselves and not just because it’s an interesting idiosyncracy they want to grill me about (again, sorry for the pun), I’ll talk about it. But if it’s just to get into a heated debate or pull apart  theories I support, then I’m not  looking for a challenge.

I’ve been amazed how many people are more interested in sharing with me theories from the Atkins Diet that support a high meat diet...and my response to them is take a hike. You’ll never convince me that it’s right. Not when there are plenty of non-animal sources of protein available. And you’ll never persuade me that it’s doing the environment better than partaking in a veggie lifestyle. Just can’t sell me on that one, sorry.

Now, thanks to my good friend Kim who informed me that Evos is giving out free organic milkshakes for Earth Day, I have lunch plans... and yes, they involve a burger and fries but my kind of burger.