I’ve been tagged by Alicia at Mental Health Notes (and by Ali at Daily Tomorrow!) to share 8 random facts about myself, with the twist that they all have to be related to my blog topic (ie, to vegetarianism). I admit I usually ‘forget’ to participate in memes, but since this sounds fun and may actually be of interest to someone out there reading this, I figured I’d give it a whirl. 
First, the rules:
* Post these rules before you give your facts.
* List 8 random facts about yourself.
* At the end of your post, choose (tag) 8 people and list their names, linking to them
* Leave a comment on their blog, letting them know they’ve been tagged
And now, my 8 random facts:
- The last meat I ate before becoming a vegetarian was an Arby’s roast beef sandwich. It was lunch break at my driver’s ed class, and I forgot that I was supposedly giving vegetarianism a try (I think I was a couple days into it). It amazes me that someone so uncommitted at the start could end up being a life-long vegetarian.
- I’m allergic to high-quality red balsamic vinegar and some red wines. I’m afraid I might be allergic to eggplants, too, but I really, really don’t want that to be true.
- After six years of vegetarianism, I made a half-assed attempt to reincorporate meat into my diet. I had just moved to Italy and reasoned that I didn’t want to miss out on a single culinary delight that the country had to offer me. I injested the equivalent of maybe 3 bacon bits before deciding that I hated meat and really didn’t want to go back. I still had an amazing time eating my way around Italy.
- There’s a video of a still-moving chopped-up fish on my other blog, from dinner one night in Japan. Not very vegetarian-friendly of me, huh? (No, I didn’t eat it.)
- When I was a teen, one of the big appeals of vegetarianism was how it single-handedly eliminated 99.9% of the truely disgusting foods of the world from my diet. No more squirming about trying to explain politely why I don’t want to try my host’s regional speciality of cow hearts or chicken feet – I’m a vegetarian! Unfortunately natto is still technically a vegetable…
- Although I usually don’t like sweets, I can eat an entire bowl of chocolate frosting in one sitting. No, I wouldn’t recommend such behavior to my readers.
- I can’t get over the B12 thing. I see the fact that it doesn’t occur naturally in any plants as a sign that I’m not supposed to eat a 100% vegan diet. But I do believe it’s a good idea to eat vegan food most of the time.
- My husband’s not a vegetarian, but we eat completely vegetarian at home. He’ll often order vegetarian dishes when we go out, too (especially if there’s a second thing on the menu I’d like to try).
So there you have it. Did I shock and scandalize you?
Instead of tagging 8 specific people (I know, I know, I’m lame and breaking the rules), I want to invite all of my readers to participate in this meme. Think of it as a chance to share some personal tidbits about why you eat the way you do… If you do decide to participate on your own blog, leave a comment with a link to the post so we can find it. If you don’t have a blog of your own, feel free to share your 8 facts in a comment to this post. If you secretly want to participate but insist on being formally tagged, let me know and I’ll see what I can do.
I blogged my answers –
Aaaaw, white wine really isn’t so bad.
Allergic to some red wines? Say it isn’t so! (Yes, that’s the information that stuck out the most from everything else.)
And here it is, http://soveg.com/8-facts-about-my-vegetarian-self
Thanks.
Alicia – congrats on your new vegetarianism! Let me know if you ever have any beginning-vegetarian-type questions and I’ll try to answer them.
Rachel – veggie ‘hot dogs’ are one of the few fake meats I find myself craving every once in a while.
Andrew – very interesting stuff about B-12! Thanks for sharing it. I’m betting there are very few people (veg or not) who regularly get the RDA of every single nutrient out there from non-fortified foods, so I’m not sure why I’m so hung up on this one.
Christopher and Will – thanks for playing along! I really enjoyed your lists.
Hi Jul! And thanks for this post. I took you up on it and had fun doing it!
-Will
http://willtaft.com/blogging/ive-been-tagged-sort-of-8-facts-about-myself/
I really enjoyed your eight random facts. I think the real issue with B-12 has to do with how clean our society is. Plants often contain pleny of B-12 contamination, but our habits of cleaning vegetables so much removes that contamination. This bacteria is found in the soil. Your body’s bacteria, like many animals, do make B-12, but it is in the large intestine and doesn’t get absorbed. Of the B-12 you do have, your body is quite efficient at recycling it. So, you only need a very small amount of B-12, which you could normally get by grazing on contaminated vegetables. The only way we know for sure we are getting enough B-12, though, is by taking it in pill form. This is true for vegetarians, as well. A good percentage of meat-eaters also have B-12 deficiency. It isn’t just vegans. The B-12 in mik is probably added just like the B-12 in soy milk.
I can’t recall “my last meal” – I really just decided one day to go veg (just before Passover 2006) and never looked back. Well, that’s not entirely true. I miss Hebrew National hotdogs (weird, I know), and since my husband isn’t a vegetarian I also have to endure smelling bbq chicken wings on occasion…
Definitely a great idea. I will start working on mine tonight and leave another comment. I have a fairly un-vegetarian video from another blog to link to as well. No body’s perfect.
Wow Jul, I really enjoyed this! I’ve been an aspiring vegetarian since July 4, 2007 – haven’t had red meat since then. Haven’t had fish or chicken since about a week after that. Can’t say I miss any of it, really – well, maybe the chicken, haha.
I’ve been dabbling in veganism, too. Gave up milk, refined sugar, whatever whey is, etc. Of course, I’m not past the point of buying stuff with that stuff in it, though. It’s tough!