Krishnan and I are vegetarians, we Eat Plants, Not Animals !! We don’t eat meat, fish or even eggs. Before I started to OPOS, when we travelled outside India, we kept looking out for vegetarian restaurants. Amma and Appa travelled with us to Egypt in 2004 and that was the first time, we carried ready-to-eat food with us. Surprisingly we didn’t struggle to find vegetarian food in Egypt.
The two countries where we really struggled to find vegetarian food are Cambodia and Laos. The first restaurant we went to in Cambodia, removed the pieces of chicken from the broth in front of us and handed the bowl back to us saying, it has only vegetables now :):). In Laos we realised quickly that the tour operator took us to restaurants where they didn’t understand vegetarian food. In Nong Khiaw, during a boat trip, the guide actually packed vegetarian food for us with fish!!
With OPOS cooking, we have nearly stopped eating out even when we travel outside the country. We just find an Indian grocery store and we are all set with rice and lentils. Vegetables and fruits are usually available fresh in most countries, so it has made it easy for us to eat vegetarian food.
We are huge fans of Masterchef Australia and season 12 is being telecast now in India. Every dish is considered incomplete without animal protein which is really unfortunate!! Veganism is the newest trend to hit Europe and Israel, but it seems to be slow in coming to Australia. Its a very welcome trend as dairy and animal protein is harmful to human beings. I do wish that Masterchef Australia goes vegan. That will be something.
Krishnan came across the following pro-vegan TV advert.
This video has apparently reached 35% of the Israeli population ! I certainly hope that the intake of non-veg and animal protein reduces across the world. Am not even mentioning China because their “live” animal markets led to the Corona Virus pandemic. Its disgusting to watch some of the videos that were doing the rounds, where someone eats a live animal, raw.
Osho has also spoken on eating vegetarian food –
“…If man is not a vegetarian and he goes on eating meat, the body is burdened. In the East, all the great meditators – Buddha, Mahavir – have emphasized the fact. Not because of any concept of nonviolence – that is a secondary thing – but because if you really want to move in deep meditation your body needs to be weightless, natural, flowing. Your body needs to be unloaded; and a non-vegetarian’s body is very loaded.
Just watch what happens when you eat meat: when you kill an animal what happens to the animal when he is killed? Of course, nobody wants to be killed. Life wants to prolong itself; the animal is not dying willingly. If somebody kills you, you will not die willingly. If a lion jumps on you and kills you, what will happen to your mind? The same happens when you kill a lion. Agony, fear, death, anguish, anxiety, anger, violence, sadness – all these things happen to the animal. All over his body violence, anguish, agony spreads. The whole body becomes full of toxins, poisons. All the body glands release poisons because the animal is dying very unwillingly. And then you eat the meat; that meat carries all the poisons that the animal has released. The whole energy is poisonous. Then those poisons are carried in your body.”
The above excerpt is taken from – Body Dharma: Being a Vegetarian.
So please Eat Plants, Not Animals.
#GoVegan #GoVegetarian
I just finished reading and commenting on a more recent blog, I think, on the cheetahs and impala. I am mostly vegetarian, but I wonder whether anyone can find “pure” food anywhere anymore, given all the chemicals used in producing, packaging, or distributing food.
I read an interesting anecdote about Benjamin Franklin, who became vegetarian for awhile. When he was aboard a ship crossing the Atlantic, they supplied some food by fishing. Franklin noted that the codfish they caught had smaller fish in their bellies. He decided that if fish weren’t vegetarian, he needn’t be, either.
I guess eating vegetarian most of the time helps the planet too .. what you say about the chemicals is unfortunately true :(. There is a move towards eating organic food but it will be a really long time before food becomes pure and unadulterated.