I have dabbled in a variety of dietary life-style choices. In my history of food consumption, my timeline looks like this:
So although I fully support vegetarianism, I still haven't quite figured out how to incorporate it into my daily life without feeling some effects. During college, I embraced it. Around the time I graduated, I incorporated a small amount of fish or chicken into my diet on those days that I just couldn't feel full, or when I was feeling insanely tired. So, when I first obtained this job, I was required to get a few vaccines. I was beginning to think that feeling sleepy about 80% of the day was normal (as it had been for the past few years) when the doctor asked me about my toes. "Have they always been purple?" "Well, yeah, isn't that normal?". Apparently not. Apparently a severe iron deficiency will do that to you, among other things.
Back in August I had a real opportunity to break back into eating red meat (although I have still sworn off pork and refuse to eat it for many ethical, health, and moral reasons unless it's to sample a small bit of food couture). A colleague and I visited an Argentinian steakhouse soon after the new information I had received, and we decided to "go all out". A choice on their menu was the "typical meat platter to share" which we decided upon. The menu made it sound like a nice assortment of not-your-everyday meats on a reasonably-sized plate; something that an average couple of customers could easily finish off while enjoying the variety and flavors of Argentina...
...so they brought this.
Meat Death
This beautiful assortment was a GIGANTIC collection of (what they say) included skirt steak, blood sausage, sweetbreads, chorizo, kidney, milk tripe, and spiked cholesterol levels, enough for the whole restaurant or even a small village.
I forwent the chorizo, I did decide to try all the things I had never tasted before: blood sausage, milk tripe, sweet breads, and kidneys. Vanquishing this bad boy was an adventure. The blood sausage was surprisingly delicious and delicate, rich and dark, and NO, I do not want to know how it's made. The milk tripe was basically a long, curly fried tube that was very tough and difficult to down. It reminded me of a never-ending, uncut robe of calamari but much chewier. The skirt steak was your typical steak, with a great smokey flavor and very tender. The sweetbreads were interesting. Again, I had never had them before so a name like "sweetbreads" can be very misleading. I suppose I expected a subtly sweet (duh), very tender cut of meat with a smooth consistency. While the flavor was nice and indeed mild, it felt like biting into a large chunk of bacon fat breaded and fried with pockets of salmon fat hidden throughout. I'm not sure if I ever even tried the kidneys. Just look at the picture and see if you can figure that mess out.
By the end of the night, I felt like a greasy, weighed-down glutton who had been trapped inside a fried cow and ate her way out. So, for the next 2 weeks, I did not eat meat. I was completely disgusted by meat. My stomach punished me for days. In fact, since this endeavor, I find that if there is a decent selection of vegetarian options where I am at, I gravitate towards that.
But no matter what, I still can't deny the pure bliss of a great med rare filet mignon, and a velvety glass of red to go with it.
