I Cooked My First Vegetarian Meal
And it won’t be my last
The easing of COVID-19 restrictions has provided an occasion for people to reexamine their lives and consider some changes. I know I have, and I surprised myself the other day by deciding to regularly cook vegetarian meals. I don’t see myself adopting the entire lifestyle soon, but I have introduced a modest change into my diet. In case you’ve ever thought about cooking your first vegetarian meal, here’s my process in four easy steps.
Step 1: Choose Vegetarian
I suppose I’ve never been a vegetarian for the same reason as many non-vegetarians: I grew up in a family and culture that loved meat, so I did too. And it didn’t help that many born-again vegetarians in college thought the best way to win converts was to be obnoxious. Yet I’ve never had anything against vegetarianism and I’ve always supported anyone’s right to choose it, or veganism, for whatever reason — health, animal rights, religion.
My reasons for dabbling now aren’t clear even to me. There must be some health benefits to eating less meat, and there’s no denying that the suffering to animals caused by how we produce food is unconscionable. Yet my reasons are more inchoate, part of an unfolding, still amorphous line of thought spanning everything from ancient religion to modern philosophy, mindfulness to environmentalism, and somewhere in all of that is a growing sense that things — especially living things — have a value in themselves, and that means leaving them alone. At least sometimes.
Step 2: Find a Recipe
I knew I needed an insanely easy recipe, because I’m basically Norm MacDonald in the kitchen. So I Googled “insanely easy vegetarian recipes” and found . . . “Insanely Easy Vegetarian Chili” on allrecipes.com. Prep time: 25 minutes. Cooking time: 30 minutes. Ingredients: nothing that looked hard to obtain — except maybe those kidney beans. I live in Japan, where sometimes a product I’d take for granted back home simply isn’t available. But I’d deal with that when the time came.
Some alterations to the recipe were necessary. First, I axed the corn. Then, when I couldn’t find kidney beans, I bought soybeans. But kidney beans showed up on the shelves a couple days later, so I threw all the beans into the mix. Then, fluctuating work and family schedules meant I ended up cooking on Sunday, thereby dashing my dreams of posting to Twitter a gorgeous photo with the hashtag #MeatlessMonday.
Step 3: Do the Work
Sunday, 4:00 p.m., Japan Standard Time: I rolled up my sleeves and got started. I spread out my ingredients, fired up the Cuisinart, and fed it waves of veggies, then some shrooms. The blender tends to more mince than dice, with large chunks left over, but whatever. Then everything went into the saucepan according to the correct procedure. Set timer and simmer.
After adding the chili pepper, the kitchen smelled good, even the way I would expect chili to smell. That’s only to be expected, but it was encouraging anyway. At the beep, I gave it a taste and decided it was a little bland, so I tossed in some salt and pepper, all the while rejecting calls from my wife and son to add chicken stock and meat. If I was going to do this, I was going to do what I set out to do.
And that was vegetarian chili.
Step 4: Dig In
It tasted good. After the first few bites, I didn’t miss the meat at all, yet it reminded me of all the meaty chili I ate growing up in the Midwest, especially in the fall after hayrides or before the homecoming game. Then I wrapped some chili in burrito tortillas with hot sauce and cheese (the goal was vegetarian, not vegan), which was also great. My son, who can sulk over dinner like you would not believe, said it was easy to eat but pressed me not to add kidney beans next time. Apparently, he’s not a fan.
Which is fine, because I’m already thinking about further alterations to the recipe. It wasn’t exactly “insanely” easy to prepare, and it took a little longer than I would have liked. Also, the ingredient list could use some simplifying. Maybe send the celery the way of the corn, pick either green or red pepper, replace the kidney beans with garbanzo beans like in Indian chana masala curry, and . . . add jalapeño to spice it up?
Sounds worth a try.
I’m still not a vegetarian — my wife added meat to the leftover chili on a later date and served it on saffron rice — but I do intend to look for another insanely easy vegetarian dish to cook soon. If you have any suggestions, by all means let me know in a comment below.
