Last week, I decided to eat vegetarian for an entire week. Seven days. One quarter of a month. Yeah, no, that lasted about 36 hours before I was straight-up chewing on some sticks of seared meat. No, I didn’t “break-down” after a day and half of vegetarianism and turn toward meat because of some uncontrollable carnal desire; I just totally forgot my own plan to be vegetarian when I ordered my lunch on day two, and about halfway through my meat-skewers, I was, like, "Oops."
I was vegetarian for TEN YEARS once, when I was in my 20s, and I loved it! My girlfriend was vegetarian, so I became one, but when we broke up, I started dating bacon right away. And now, even though I still eat and enjoy vegetarian and vegan food, I’m pretty locked into burgers, wings, cheesesteaks, burgers… Wait, did I already say burgers? Dang it!
The truth is I eat too many burgers. My cholesterol is a little bit higher than it should be, and lately I’m a little softer around the edges than I like to be. So, I’m trying to eat vegetarian again this week, calling it #VegWeek mach two.
To make sure I don’t forget, I went public with my plan on Instagram and Facebook, starting #VegWeek mach two on Sunday with brunch at Posana, one of Asheville’s best, most high-end, refined and healthy eateries, owned and operated by husband and wife team Martha and Chef Peter Pollay. There is no better venue to get right with your diet than Posana. There are always vegetarian and vegan offerings on the menu, and I selected one of the latter.
The mushroom-stuffed tofu with quinoa, Brussel sprouts and white truffle coconut cream sauce was great. I crushed it. The flavors were subtle and fresh, the textures were very satisfying and the overall dish was exactly the right choice to kick off my second attempt at #VegWeek.
From the fluffy, smooth, soft tofu block, which was grilled until crispy on the outside and filled with a core of mushrooms, to the crunchy and chewy quinoa, to the earthy green Brussel sprouts and the very rich and slightly sweet coconut cream sauce on the bottom, this plate of plants and fungus was very tasty to eat, really pretty to look at and as light as a kite. In other words, it did not leave me feeling all bloated and tired afterward. Yay, vegetarianism!
One day down. Six more to go. #VegWeek
