This afternoon I saw a news blurb that celebrated Oprah Winfrey's survival of a 21-day stint without caffeine, sugar, alcohol, gluten or animal products. "Yipee!" I thought. I bet myself that she had spent a good portion of her trial telling her viewers how very hard that was on her. So I checked out her "21-Day Cleanse" blog.
I was happy to find that Ophra - as she's inexplicably called by just about everybody here in my adopted home state - actually had a lot of positive things to say about her temporary lifestyle change, particularly about the flavor and variety of food she was allowed to eat. Then I realized why.
Ophra had a cook. A creative, talented cook who could make soy chicken sumptuous and who could do amazing things with berries. She didn't have to know where he got his ingredients or how much time it took him to put together and delicately plate her entrees. She just had to eat up.
Needless to say, this voided any complaining allowance she may have otherwise had. If I had a cook, being a pesci-ovo-vegetarian would be a breeze. I think I speak for a big ole bunch of vegetarians when I say it's not the flavor or variety of food options that makes vegetarian eating difficult. It's the buying, the planning, and the preparation.
This is especially true for those of us in areas that are light on vegetarians. There is no tempeh in my town. If I want a Boca brats, I have to leave the tri-city area. Nobody sells Bob's Red Mill. I've been a vegetarian for two years and I can't cook good tofu to save my life. I've got a ton of cookbooks, but I've also got an eight-month-old daughter who isn't interested in letting Mommy spend an hour making delicious vegan dishes every night. I guess it just doesn't taste the same second-hand.
So I won't be throwing any parties for Ophra. Unless she wants to send that chef my way...
