You Cook; I'll Eat

In 2020, Covid-19 was rampant in NYC, where my daughter lived. When she got tired of seeing the refrigerated trucks for dead bodies outside her Williamsburg apartment window (because the morgue was full), she and her partner decided to move to Oklahoma to live at my house for a while.

They brought with them the usual stuff that people bring during a move, but they also brought with them their vegan lifestyles. This meant that I was in for a new adventure.

I considered myself a Flexitarian. I have no qualms about being carnivorous or people who are, but in the past, I usually tended toward vegetarian eating. Veganism seemed too strict. How can I live without cheese?

I grew up with two vegetarian sisters. One still is; the other returned to meat when her low levels of iron caused her to be anemic.

Fortunately, the plant-based products are so much better these days that vegans (and vegetarians) can easily get the nutrients they need with careful planning. Also, there are excellent supplements on the market.

I am always happy to eat anything that someone else has cooked for me, and my two roommates are excellent cooks. One of the advantages of being a vegan by circumstances is that I have effortlessly lost a little bit of weight. Yeah! I’ve finally done something that my doctor has wanted me to do for years.

I am a lousy cook, so much so that I even wrote a book called, “I Cooked; Therefore, They Ran.” And, I have already accumulated enough bad cooking since that time to write a Part II.

Still, I followed a friend’s recipe and made a tasty carrot salad to go along with the vegan macaroni and cheese that my daughter made with vegan cheese (yes, it exists!). It was a great meal.