{"id":1096,"date":"2016-01-08T17:14:55","date_gmt":"2016-01-08T22:14:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/smithreports.com\/eatshopgo\/?p=1096"},"modified":"2016-01-08T17:16:50","modified_gmt":"2016-01-08T22:16:50","slug":"veganuary-week-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smithreports.com\/eatshopgo\/2016\/01\/08\/veganuary-week-one\/","title":{"rendered":"Veganuary: Week One"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"cow-face\"<\/a>After one week with no meat, no refined sugar and no alcohol, I don’t feel especially virtuous.<\/p>\n

Still, it’s clear that\u00a0animals like me better, really they do.\u00a0As I stroll through this peaceable kingdom, cows amble up from\u00a0the meadow, just to lick my hand. Pigs squeal with delight as I pass by. Roosters crow their greetings. Salmon leap from streams and give me a finny high-five.<\/p>\n

I feel more productive, plowing through work, then tackling jobs around the house. I confess a slight sense of accomplishment. And I’m bored.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0719\"<\/a>Specifically, I am bored with my food. Whole wheat penne with pesto; pizza with spinach and roasted red peppers; black beans with salsa; hummus and flax crackers; baked sweet potatoes sprinkled with granola; the seemingly endless vat of homemade navy bean soup with tomatoes, carrots and kale.<\/p>\n

And I wonder: am I getting boring, too?<\/p>\n

I must decline an invitation from an Italian restaurant to sample new dishes and wines they are adding to the menu. I take a raincheck when a neighbor asks if I would like to share the venison she is roasting for dinner. I join a friend who is having a few people over for wine and cheese. I’m OK with my club soda and crackers. But I would prefer a buttery Chardonnay with brie.<\/p>\n

On Day Eight I realize that I need to summon enthusiasm for the fare I’ve committed to for 31 days. As an adventurous eater, I ask myself: why do I embrace sea urchin yet turn up my nose at tofu? Perhaps it’s because I have tasted both and sea urchin is wild, creamy and sensual and tofu reminds me of a plastic bag distilled into squishy cubes.<\/p>\n

So tomorrow I will buy a small container of tofu and marinate it. I will do my best to create a dish that is healthy and delicious.<\/p>\n

If I still don’t like it I never have to eat it again. So there.<\/p>\n

Day Eight. Twenty-three days to go.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After one week with no meat, no refined sugar and no alcohol, I don’t feel especially virtuous. Still, it’s clear that\u00a0animals like me better, really they do.\u00a0As I stroll through this peaceable kingdom, cows amble up from\u00a0the meadow, just to … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[31,32],"tags":[559,558,560,537,82],"class_list":["post-1096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-eat","category-shop","tag-alcohol","tag-meat","tag-sugar","tag-veganuary","tag-wine"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2zjZK-hG","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smithreports.com\/eatshopgo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smithreports.com\/eatshopgo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smithreports.com\/eatshopgo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smithreports.com\/eatshopgo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smithreports.com\/eatshopgo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1096"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/smithreports.com\/eatshopgo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1096\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1100,"href":"https:\/\/smithreports.com\/eatshopgo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1096\/revisions\/1100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smithreports.com\/eatshopgo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smithreports.com\/eatshopgo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smithreports.com\/eatshopgo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}