Once a Meat Head...

Always a Meat Head


This past Saturday I went to the Athenian Agora Greek Festival held at the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Annunciation on Preston Street at Maryland Avenue and, after taking a tour of that amazing church, went downstairs to get something to eat in the building's basketball gymnasium-turned-cafeteria. As my GF grabbed a chicken breast the size of Dolly Parton's brassiere, I checked out the vegetarian options - having converted to vegetarianism almost a year ago. I settled on the Greek spinach-and-feta pie, or spanakopita.

Sitting down at a table with two young women, I noticed that one of the women had all veggie entrees, so we talked about Greek food options for vegetarians. This young woman attributed her avoidance of meat to her upbringing in the mostly vegetarian south of India and to her aversion to the smell of meat.

"So what made you convert to becoming a vegetarianism?" she asked.

I told her my decision was based strictly on the fact that my favorite Beatle, George Harrison, was one (I suspected that's why he always remained slender, even in the September of his years! Or maybe it was only because he smoked like a chimney stack!) and because another musical idol, Morrissey, had famously equated meat with murder.

She stared at me and blinked, then repied, "That's the lamest reason for vegetarianism I've ever heard."

"What can I say," I replied. "People always accuse me of being glib and shallow, so it makes sense that that's what brought me to the vegetarian table."

I guess I have to have a better cover story for the next time I'm asked to bare my meatless soul. Regardless, the spanakopita was delish.