Day 14

10. Avoid foods that are pretending to be something they are not.
11. Avoid foods you see advertised on television.

Rule 11 has proved to be a pretty easy rule to follow. I don't think I eat anything I see advertised on television and, come to think of it, I don't really watch television (Hulu and Netflix are my poison). Still, I did a quick scan of the refrigerator just to be on the safe side. The only offenders, as far as I can remember of commercials, were cream cheese and milk.

But milk doesn't count... right? I realize this is the second post in a row where I've invoked an exception for milk but they both seem valid. Am I in total denial here? I know I love my dairy, but I don't think I'm just making excuses. Michael Pollan doesn't want me to be a vegan... does he?

Anyway, other than that, Rule 11 hasn't proved much of a sticking point. Rule 10, on the other hand, is a sad, sad rule. A good rule. A necessary rule. But a sad rule. Because with it, I must say goodbye to one of my favorite foods, one that has been my delicious companion since age thirteen. My best and most beloved discovery in my days as a vegetarian:

Morningstar Farms' veggie buffalo wings. These things are so delicious, I kept eating them long after I renounced vegetarianism; I still eat them today. And, lamentably, consider them a "healthy" alternative to regular buffalo wings. I never even considered how highly processed food has got to be to get vegetables to look, feel, and taste like meat.

Still, even without taking that into consideration, I think deep down, I knew I was fooling myself.

I should have stopped eating them up back in high school when I found out they were made with GMOs. (At least they're honest about it: says so right in their FAQs.) But I just didn't want to give them up. Like so many other times, I figured the list of ingredients I disapproved of was beyond my control. Instead, my mom and I wrote a letter to the company registering our discontent and requesting that they discontinue their use of genetically modified products and I closed the book on that.

It's funny, I used to eat these with delight in high school (and even college), taking pleasure in my moral high-ground because they were made without the needless deaths of animals. Now, when I consider the damage the mega-industrialization of food does to the people, animals and plants it touches, I think the less cruel choice is to just eat the damn chicken meat. Provided, of course, that the chickens come from small, humane farms and not huge, industrial factories.

Image found at www.veganoutreach.org

Doesn't that look yummy? Happy hump day, everybody!