the baltimore clause.

the smell of old bay crab seasoning lingers on my fingertips and instead of serving as a reminder of the joys of eating crabs as part of a festive 4th of july, it leaves me feeling disturbed and conflicted about the ethics of eating animals.

for the past two and a half months, i've been eating a solid vegetarian diet. i've been, or so i thought, fairly up to date on safe eating practices and know what foods help me feel and look healthy and energized. as i read eating animals by jonathan safran foer and learned more about the packaging of "nutrition" in michael pollan's in defense of food, i realized that there is still so much more to learn. it's difficult to know what sources to trust, (and how these sources are crafting their information to persuade you, the food consumer) however, the information regarding how meats are processed (dishonestly, filthily and inhumanely) is something that i, in good conscious, cannot ignore. i'm not a militant vegetarian and it's not that i'm against eating meat. but what i am against, is eating meat that has been soaking in its own feces infested water so that the meat will gain water weight and cost more per pound at the grocery store. (essentially, you're paying more for feces water, less for meat. do you really want to put that in your mouth? unfortunately, labels with buzz words like "organic" and "free range" don't mean much since the industry isn't strictly regulated and the livelihood of the animals subsist of a short, miserable, nearly always darkened existence where they can't move because there is no space. i won't even rant about slaughterhouses...)

my fellow vegetarian friend, amanda, who is also from my hometown, informed me about what she likes to call the "baltimore clause." maryland is known for being a crabby state and i don't think i've met a native marylander that has denied or declined crabs in any form: steamed, crab cake, crab soup, or soft shell sandwich. amanda who does at times eat fish, called eating crabs her "baltimore clause." she makes this exception to her otherwise vegetarian diet because she is from baltimore, hon.

i decided that, for a day, i would also adopt this clause. and while i did have a good time picking the crabs, smacking the mallet on the claws to get at the meat, i actually enjoyed crunching on some sweet corn on the cob with melted butter and a splash of salt, MORE. what can i say? i'd rather be eating vegetables, for all the reasons that are right to me.

food is so intrinsically linked to our memories. sometimes, i think more than anything else, people want a specific dish particularly because it conjures up an exact memory from childhood, rather the taste of the food itself. (food practices in those days were most likely less damaging to the environment and to our bodies!) not eating meat does make me realize that i do "miss out" on those nostalgic episodes, but, rather than looking backward, i like to focus more on the new vegetarian food memories i make instead. thank you baltimore clause for allowing me to realize that i'm actually not missing out on anything at all.