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Pescatarianism and the World as I Know It

glub! (That's 'hello' in fish, according to one source.) :)

Here's a light-ish in heart post about me and food.

Before The Prisoning, I ate meat. Not a lot of it, choosing fish or meat alternatives at least half the time I went out to eat, buying Just / Beyond / Impossible products as well as some of the new contenders showing up on the market to help prove that they are viable and there are interested folks, and even making my own black bean and veggie burgers from scratch (a hat tip here to Imperfect Foods -- I needed something to do with the pulp from my veggie juice making project).

Since coming to prison, I went fully pescatarian, mainly in following my faith, and find it a struggle sometimes to get the daily vegetable alternative trays.

Food Porn and the Hungry Mammal

Since coming in, I occasionally look up at the television and catch a McDonald's or Hardee's Carl's Jr or Arby's ad, and see burgers, chicken, roast beefs, or whatever they're pushing for the month and think, "Wow, that looks good. I just wish it were vegetarian or pescatarian."

Too rare are commercials that advertise meat alternatives or even fish. Red Lobster flogs their Endless Shrimp (which I cannot eat, due to allergies) or something with crab or lobster, but fish never seems to be their foreground food. Burger King mentions their Impossible Whopper by name only, but never lets the ad screed elevate itself to the nearly food porn level of billing that the Classic Whopper or their Royal Crispy Chicken gets. McDonald's still doesn't have a veggie alternative on their menu here in the States.

Those of us who do not eat meat, or limit ourselves to fish aren't marketing targets, and it's silly. Were any of the money normally spent on sexing up a McDonald's Quarter Pounder With Cheese turned toward a vegetarian alternate, and the resulting ad actually looked good instead of being a footnote on a meat ad, I would expect a (not so) surprising uptick in sales of that new product: people are prone to curiosity buys.
It would also turn to us non-meat eaters and say "Hey. Have you had your break?"

Right now, if I were free, I would...

  • pass on McDonald's: They have one sandwich option, the (double) filet-o-fish, and a boring salad.
  • eat at Carl's Jr: they have a fish sandwich, as well as the Beyond Famous Star, as well as a boring salad.
  • eat at Burger King: Impossible Whopper, a fish sandwich, and a boring salad.
  • sadly pass on Arby's: they have the meats**. There is probably a fish sandwich on-menu, and the requisite boring salad.

Boring Salad

Hey. Quick service food places. Your salads are boring. You provide no flavor but sad. No wonder Uncle Roger takes stabs at vegetarians and vegans -- it's the face you put on food to us!
An unimaginative iceberg lettuce salad with half-cut cherry tomatoes and a teaspoon of grated carrot isn't even worth being called a salad. You see stuff like this and think, You cannot spell salad without sad.

Mix up your greens a bit, seriously. Try something other than iceberg or romaine, and find other flavors to give the bowl a pop.
It's summertime! Add some orange bits and zest to the mixed greens bowl with a light, creamy poppyseed dressing. Oh, fall has cast its dreariness on us? Bits of roasted beet and dried, slightly sweetened cranberry shows a change in imagination! What's for winter? Asian pear chunks and a light vinaigrette!

Think just beyond the norm, and you might find it impossible to not keep trying new things.

I'm going to spend a little time imagining a spicy mixed greens salad with candied walnut pieces, cranberries, and roasted beet sticks as I encourage you to also spread your imagination.

Imagine what good you can do, and figure out what you can do to transform it into reality. Don't trap yourself in the "everyone can do that" mindset -- what might come easy to you might be techno-wizardry to another person.

I exhort you to look to your fellow human and extend that offer of camaraderie and aid you've bitten back. Too little of it is in the world; let's grow it again.

Take care and thank you for reading. :)