I’m a big fan of food. I love to cook and bake, and I love eating out. One of the best things about My Prairie City is that we’re made up of so many immigrants that we have food from every corner of the world, and we’re so close to so many farmers you can eat local without even thinking about it. If you’re feeling hungry and are downtown, there’s authentic east Indian, Ethiopian, Thai, Irish pub fare, Mexican, Japanese and vegan restaurants all within walking distance. It’s my favourite part of the city, aside from the amazing arts scene here.

But maybe you and I have just met for the first time to go out for lunch, and I place an elaborate order like “club sandwich, no meat, and could you add to caramelized onions and jack cheese from that other sandwich onto it?” and we start to have a conversation that goes like this:

You: “Oh, are you vegetarian?”

Me: “Yep!”

You: “Oh cool! How long have you been at that?”

Me: “Um…well, since I was six years old.”

You: “WHAT? WHY?”

(Don’t worry. By this point I can give my speech without notes.)

My mom went vegetarian when I was six. She didn’t have a parade, but eventually I noticed she wasn’t eating the same food as me and I asked her why, and she said “animals are my friends and I don’t eat my friends”. It seemed like the most obvious thing in the world, so I asked if I could stop eating the star shaped chicken stuff and tuna that I ate, and my parents said that was fine. In terms of major life decisions it couldn’t have been more of a non-event, I was so little that I was barely eating any meat at all. I just stopped, and unless I was having sandwich meat waved in my face by the boys at my elementary school I didn’t really think about it.

Growing up in my house, what you ate was never about right or wrong, it was just a fact: some people eat different things and some people are comfortable with different things. When it comes right down to it, I guess I started being vegetarian because I never really learned how to eat meat.

This isn’t to say that I haven’t been curious. While I’ve never tried red meat, I’ve had pizza where I got a slice of peperoni instead of cheese (oh my gosh, gross) and I’ve tried chicken once. Each time I felt sick after trying meat- my body isn’t used to it and my palate isn’t either. Even cooked chicken tastes rubbery and charred to me, like what I would imagine somethings body to taste like. Beyond not liking how it tastes I find the way most animals are raised and slaughtered is just straight up awful. If I was used to eating meat I would buy local organic meat, but I’m not used to it so I don’t. I’m healthy now so my logic is why bother eating something that I don’t like and that makes me sick when I’m fine without it?

While to me this seems straight forward, you wouldn’t believe how many friends, employers, and clients have refused to accept “I don’t like it” as an answer. They barrage me with questions and get defensive. They start explaining their eating habits when I haven’t asked. I’ve had well intentioned friends freak out and try to re-order their meals so they don’t offend me by eating meat in front of me (ps – who are the vegetarians that scare people into this kind of behaviour?? Please cut it out, you’re embarrassing the rest of us!!) and I’ve had supervisors drill me about my family history, how I grew up and my politics over a working lunch.

I get it.  People anticipate that I’m going to become a pushy salesmen about it, but once they get to know me and how much I love good food they start to see how my eating choices aren’t an issue, they’re something I’m positive and excited about. And they’re certainly not about anyone other than me.

Our Split Kitchen

After the big “Why?” the next thing that people want to know is how Mister dealt with becoming vegetarian when we moved in together. The answer is easy: Mister is not vegetarian- we have a split kitchen. I would never ask him to change something so fundamental as what he eats, and he has a slate of severe food allergies to contend with (corn, soy, fish, all nuts…) that mean he’ll never be vegetarian and will always have an Epi Pen. When we first moved in together we were worried about how it would work, but after the first month it became clear: cooking in a split kitchen isn’t that hard. It makes you think about cooking, and when you’re thinking about what you eat and how you make it, cooking can be a lot of fun.

How we eat is very straight forward, and it helps us to keep cooking fun and manageable:

1. We meal plan in a way that’s not a hassle. Mid-morning on Saturday we sit down and brainstorm for ideas. If I’m feeling uninspired I hit FoodBlogSearch.com and see what’s out there. Any ingredients that we know we don’t have goes on the list, and then we do a sweep of the kitchen basics and make sure we have enough of what we like to stock (milk, eggs, sugar, spinach, chickpeas, deli meats, tofu, black beans…). Ta da! Our grocery list is done. After a little streamlining this takes 5-10 minutes, or 15 if I decide to languish on food blogs.

2. We have a store of fail safe meals up our sleeves, and always stock the ingredients for them. Always. “Um….pizza?” is a common phrase in our house, especially if mid-week we’re getting tired of cooking. We have a pizza stone (you need one) and whenever we run out of dough I toss some together (15 min max), let it proof over night and then freeze it. As a result, making pizza only involves putting two pieces of dough into the fridge to thaw out during the day. We also always have stuff for croque-madames, Mexican, spicy tomato chickpea soup, and pasta. If we lived on a desert island I could subsist on these alone, and having them handy means we never have to think too hard if a recipe we picked out suddenly looks daunting mid-week.

3. We look for basics that can be built in stages so we can both eat how we like.This allows me to work from one recipe for the first half of cooking, and then split off into two dishes in the final stages of prep. Most soups and pasta sauces can be built like this, where we start with a veggie broth or a basic tomato or Alfredo sauce and at the last minute I split into two pots and add meat for Mister and tofu for me (or just leave mine as it is). Build your own pizza, Greek pitas, Mexican, melty sandwiches also fall into this category.

4. We cook like it’s Thanksgiving all the time because side dishes are awesome & everyone can eat them. Beyond our main dish we always have a couple sides, from beans, peas, potatoes, yam fries, to veg & non-veg appetizers, olive trays, rices and salads.

5. We understand the other person’s limitations. Mister used to hate veggies- but having them not over cooked and seeing that if you put butter on anything it tastes good he’s slowly come around. I am weirded out by cooking meat, but I have a morbid fascination with it and a sense that it’s kind of lame that I never cook anything meaty for Mister, so we both try to meet in the middle. It’s not a written agreement, it’s just our quiet way of trying to be a little adventurous.

6. I don’t cook scary or elaborate vegetarian recipes. A lot of veg. cookbooks have ingredients that I would love to try someday, but that day is not today. I don’t have time or energy after work to try to figure out how to use star anise in my dinner, so the only vegetarian cookbooks I buy are family cookbooks. These books cater to Moms who need fast food that their picky eaters will partake in. I have one that even gives alternate vegetable choices for some dishes based on common texture issues & has the nutritional information for everything. It’s my best friend.

Having a split kitchen isn’t the most straight forward thing in the world, but cooking with some restrictions isn’t as hard as it sounds. Now that I don’t have to grocery shop after work when I’m stressed and tired, it’s not a stressful thing. Add white wine to the equation- even less stress!

If you’re considering trying out a couple vegetarian meals a week, please don’t fall into the trap of thinking that this kind of cooking is hard. It’s simple, healthy, way less expensive and if you have a partner who is hesitant you don’t have to count yourself out.

Do you have any tips for keeping cooking simple & still keeping everyone happy with dinner?

ps – I have a post for next month brewing on my vegan experiment, if you have any questions you’d like touched on please pop them in the comments below!