Vegetarian - Week 1

I was going to post this yesterday but my time on the internet ran out before I had the chance.

So far not eating meat has been fine.

Since Australia doesn’t mark things with whether they’re suitable for vegetarians or not I have to read all the ingredients, which can be a bit frustrating, especially when it says things like “gelling agent” or “glazing agent” but not if it’s a vegetable one or not. But I will have the same problem when I go back to Norway. I will also have the same problem with restaurants and cafes etc not having many vegetarian options. I was fairly spoilt with that in England. Saying that though, Australia is a lot better at marking food with whether or not it’s got gluten in it. Which I guess is more important anyway since that’s an allergy, whereas vegetarianism is usually a choice.

I really wanted some yoghurt the other day, and it was so annoying because most yoghurts have gelatine in them. I did finally find one, a vanilla one. I put some banana and grapes in it, and it was the tastiest yoghurt I’ve had in a long time!

At the IGA in Coffs Harbour they had some fresh vegetable quiches that looked really tasty. So I asked if they had gelatine in them. I don’t think the lady behind the counted knows what gelatine is, as she said there might be in the pastry… Maybe she thought I meant gluten? Anyway, I didn’t buy it; I guess it’s better to buy packed things so I can read the ingredients myself after all.

But I haven’t missed any meat yet, which is good. I have walked past places and smelt meat cooking and thought it smelt good, but I didn’t feel like actually eating it.

I bought a new handbag the other day, it looks like leather but it’s synthetic. I asked the lady in the store if it was synthetic just to make sure. She apologized for it! So I told her I would have bought it if it was real. “You WOULDN’T have bought it??” Apparently it’s weird not to want the real thing, and I guess for some people it is. But I’ve never wanted to buy real leather, even before I went vegetarian, I don’t think an animal should die just for a fashion statement, to me that just seems a bit silly.