Question from a former vegetarian page 3

[ForensicArtist]

.... I see my husband cook tuna on the grill and it just grosses me out. It's all pink in the middle, ugh! I tried his salmon the other day, which he assured me was fabulous, and the texture just didn't do it for me

I know! So glad to know I'm not the only one. Everyone else's mouth waters when they see what's on the grill, I run away

..The first time I ate a burger I cried...but I did it. ..... I also only ate meat from local farms so I could see how "happy" the animals were. I still can't eat CAFO meats and probably never will.

Same here, I cried when I told my husband I was just considering eating chicken again! If I ever get back to eating chicken (red meat ain't gonna happen for a while) it will only be at home, because that's the only place I know it will have come from our local farm, raised and treated humanely (there's no place like home! )

[Dice Monkey]

I love that!! I just ate a can of tuna (disguised heavily with mayo, red peppers, and lots of Mrs Dash) and it was the texture that bothered me most, as I had obliterated all taste! The good thing with a wallop of 40 grams of protein, is that I'm too full to eat anything else.

I'll try your trick tomorrow! I've told myself, if I can just do tuna once a day, then I'll get the rest of my protein from cheese, yogurt, nuts, and the occasional bite of tofu until I can progress. Thanks again for this thread! PS: I have always detested shrimp, I doubt I'll ever try that unless held down and force-fed

Yeah! So proud of my little Grokette as she takes the first steps to what I think are going to be positive and healthy changes. Who knows she soon may be able to have a bit of the kick-ass beef stew she makes, yet has never tasted...
Mwah!

[SaraVZ]

I'm just coming off of 8 months of being a vegetarian. Even though it was only for a few months it's hard wrapping my mind around eating meat again. So I'm starting slowly and just eating fish right now. Eventually I'll add chicken and then beef. Baby steps

[ForensicArtist]

Yeah! So proud of my little Grokette as she takes the first steps to what I think are going to be positive and healthy changes. Who knows she soon may be able to have a bit of the kick-ass beef stew she makes, yet has never tasted...
Mwah!

Mwah back atcha!

[YogaBare]

Have you thought about starting with something like chicken broth (without bits of chicken in it)? That way you could start getting used to the taste without the texture. Then you can graduate to this amazing soup (without the rice ): Closet Cooking: Avgolemono Soup

I'm still veggie, but am really reconsidering the whole thing. I can't imagine jumping back in with tinned tuna would be easy - it's so potent!

[RaeVynn]

Hey... I've also recently came off Vegan island (and I spent some months on the raw vegan diet. 80-10-10 nearly killed me!)... and I was also vegan for 6 years... and veggie for 11!

I'm having less trouble with it than my husband is. He can handle chicken and fish, though. I can eat it all. I think I was actually starving for so long, I'm finally feeling fed.

[palebluedots]

RaeVynn, how interesting! I also got very ill with 80-10-10, omg!

I'm so glad that there are other ex-veggies here. When I first made the decision to eat meat again, I thought it would be hard to find other ex long-term vegetarians. But it's really nice to see you all here. :-)

My meat eating is going fairly well. I have discovered that I like some white fishes, but not all. Can't stand tilapia for some reason. But I like mahi-mahi. And I tried chilean sea bass the other day, and wowzer, so good.

I also experimented last night with cooking a chicken breast. I just baked it, but I felt so nervous about it, worrying about keeping it sanitary, is it cooked right, etc. I feel like a total newbie in the kitchen.. I just really have no idea how to cook meat! Anyway, I liked the chicken a lot. I think I might try to settle into a routine of fish & chicken, and not worry just yet about beef/pork/other kinds of meats. I still can't believe I'm eating meat again after all those years of avoiding it like the plague, hehe.

[earthspirit]

TBH meat (and thinking of it) still kinda grosses me out. When I cook I try to "disguise" the meat the best I can with spices, and chopping it up finely and eating it with copious amounts of vegetables.

[Hilary]

Minced meat and burgers are certainly a good way to disguise the texture.

But honestly... it is so much easier to cook with meat that it's not even funny. I remember the hoops I used to jump through, trying to make a lentil-tomato sauce for pasta that would have a good, strong taste my (always-omnivorous) husband would actually like, or at least be able to taste at all. Heat oil, brown onions and peppers, add ground spices and Marmite, add tomato and cooking wine (and pre-cooked lentils), add bay leaf and rosemary now, add oregano at the end of cooking, and quite possibly dry-fry some pumpkin seeds separately and grind them to powder to get a savoury thickener to finish it off. And this would be sort of OK, at least once it had a mountain of cheese on top... or he'd be polite about it, anyway.

It's been something of a revelation to me to learn you can get a good, savoury taste with one ingredient.

[ForensicArtist]

Have you thought about starting with something like chicken broth (without bits of chicken in it)? That way you could start getting used to the taste without the texture. Then you can graduate to this amazing soup (without the rice ): Closet Cooking: Avgolemono Soup

I'm still veggie, but am really reconsidering the whole thing. I can't imagine jumping back in with tinned tuna would be easy - it's so potent!

Yeah, ditched the tuna...I thought because I liked it as a kid it might help now. Nope. Heck, I used to like Spaghettios as a kid!! What was I thinking?!

My intrinsic problem is that I was never a fan of meat...not the texture or taste. So, if all I can manage is to have chicken at one meal a day, I will consider that quite a paleo-ish feat! If not for my husband and what he's accomplished with MDA and primal, I wouldn't be here to try.