According to one of my early readers, my new book Leeza McAuliffe Has Something To Say (coming soon!) is a great advert for vegetarianism. This wasn’t my intention. I made the McAuliffe family vegetarian to show how ten year old Leeza lives with rules imposed by her parents. These are rules that she's started to question and rebel against. This could have taken the form of any ideology, I just happened to make it about meat.
Even though I'm not a big meat eater, I don’t see myself ever becoming vegetarian. I don’t want to draw a line under an entire group of food one day, and then become overwhelmed by the lure of a bacon butty the next. I want to be free to eat what I want. Sounds reasonable? Except I'm a big fat hypocrite. In other ways I'm not free at all. As a long term Weight Watcher (that’s Wellness that Works to you! LOL) there are loads of foods I won’t eat purely because of their calculated points value. I'm forever weighing up whether I want the tiny slither of cake or the large glass of wine* (both weigh in at 7 points of my daily 23) so consuming whatever I fancy, is not something I'm used to. Whether it's a diet plan or vegetarianism, I guess there’s always something that dictates what we put in our mouths. (#sorrynotsorry)
Ultimately, I have one food rule. If I’m going to eat it, I have to enjoy it. So while I might work hard at ignoring a baked Camembert on a menu because I’m trying to stick to a healthier plan, I definitely won’t choose a walnut balanced on a lettuce leaf as the alternative. I need to ravenously desire everything I eat. Food is pleasure. Pleasure is food. Whether restricted by a dietary intolerance, ideological choice, or limited financial means, the end result has to be food that is enjoyable and tasty. Surely.
Long time readers of this blog will know, I love Nigella. Her twinkly fairy lights, posh kitchen gadgets, and cheerful filth as she whips up a bowl of pasta tick all my TV cook boxes. But she’s not the only culinary influence I have. Enter Jack Monroe. Author of A Girl Called Jack - where it's suggested one mixes a jar of salmon paste, natural yoghurt and pasta to make the simplest, loveliest salmon pasta sauce - and most recently Cooking on a Bootstrap. Jack’s food is wholesome, hearty and cheap. It’s also, these days, mostly vegetarian. The premise of the recipes is that they're created with supermarket ingredients, from the basic/no frills/cheap as chips range. All for mere pennies. And the results are fit. It's honest to God, properly good food. The ease of being able to knock up a three bean chilli with cheap store cupboard ingredients is a surprising yet heady thrill. Forget the fancy schmantzy gasp of a showstopper Bake Off cake. Creating an eye-wateringly tasty curry with wilting vegetables and a few basic spices, deserves all the applause. At no point am I missing the meat. Yet at no point do I feel like I’ve become vegetarian. I’m just eating lovely food, with the bonus of being fairly healthy as I do it.
A recent report says that we need to massively reduce our meat intake in order to save the planet. (I’m paraphrasing, but not much. It’s fairly drastic in its recommendations.) I don’t like being told what to do. Like Leeza, I tend to rebel against enforced food rules, whether that’s from parents, scientists or government advisors. But the reality is, I’d take a tin of chickpeas sautéd in lemon juice, seasoning and dill, over a sirloin steak any day. Likewise I wouldn't thank you for pork in any format, a chicken drumstick, or a rack of ribs. I'm much more excited by a bowl of shakshuka. It’s just the way I eat now. It isn't how it used to be, and no doubt it'll change again in the future. But here I am. Not a vegetarian but not bothered in the slightest by choosing plant and dairy based meals several times a week. 
Look, let's be honest. I’m probably not going to reduce my meat intake because of this report. But I'll definitely keep eating tasty food that makes me salivate and I'll make sure I enjoy what I eat. The fact that a tin of beans, some veg and a few basic spices can make me do that, is the real thrill.
Have a lovely week, folks.
*I teased you with an implied dilemma with which I grapple regularly. Let me give you the gift of closure. It is ALWAYS the wine.
*I teased you with an implied dilemma with which I grapple regularly. Let me give you the gift of closure. It is ALWAYS the wine.
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