ANNIVERSARY

korean new year
round at my mother-in-law's place
with jy's brother and sister and their families
m-i-l cooks up two different menus
bless her
the solitary vegan menu for me
great big plate of fried tofu
delicious green bean pancakes
rice dyed purple by kidney beans
beans left, right and centre!
side dishes of spinach and mountain herbs
prepared with garlic and sesame seeds...
the carnivorous menu for everyone else
prodigious quantities of barbecued cow
piled up on large plates...
this year fireseed celebrating a decade of being vegan
eleven years of vegetarianism
that should really read nearly vegan
as too often i stray from the path of righteousness
a pair of leather shoes here
a woollen jumper there
a silk tie or two
an occasional pizza with some cheese on it
the odd doughnut or muffin containing some egg or milk
honey and lemon for a nasty cold
but absolutely no flesh of a dead animal has passed my lips
be it fish, fowl, mammal or sea creature
since 1996...
i'm ashamed it took me so long
for many years the veggies and vegans of my imagination
(i scarcely recall actually making the acquaintance of any)
were odd pale and pasty anemics
far beyond my ken as a rampant red-blooded carnivore
a fully paid-up member of Generation S (the supermarket generation)
meat for me had always been
an odourless unassuming, unthreatening lump of flesh
lying there in the chiller cabinet
in its little white polystyrene tray
wrapped up in cellophane
a handy paper towel hidden away underneath
to absorb any unpleasant blood like a sanitary towel
a tidy rectangle of bloodless steak
a pink oval-shaped chicken breast
boneless, skinless and, it goes without saying, featherless
or a neat round orange slice of salmon steak
farmed somewhere up in scotland
all devoid of blood and guts
and free of any resemblence to a real living breathing feeling creature
yet something of the horror
of what lay behind the bland supermarket experience
must somehow have permeated
for i remember distinctly the event that led me to forego animal flesh
i was in the cinema watching a film version of hardy's jude the obscure
set in the days long before Generation S was ever thought of
in the scene in question the innocent young jude cannot bring himself to slaughter a pig
so his impatient new wife
well versed in the harsh ways of country life
grabs the knife from him and plunges it into the poor animal's neck
a sickening jet of pig blood spurts out at the camera
accompanied by a hideous squeal
jude gasps and recoils in disgust
just as i do in my cinema seat
i resolve immediately to renounce my part
in the slaughter of god's creatures to fill our overfed bellies
not long after that i am invited for dinner
by sarah and her cross-dressing partner jonathan
he with a fetish for rubber
they cook me a delicious nut roast
topped with some kind of tasty vegan cheese
it is a revelation that vegan food can be so mouthwatering
rather than a hairshirt to be endured
that week i stock up on soya milk
which after a while stops tasting like chalk water
the rest is history
about a year later i order a cup of black coffee which arrives with milk in it
the damage has been done, i think to myself
taking a sip
and all i can taste is yukky animal fat!
unfortunately for my wife
my road to damascus conversion occured shortly before we met
and she had no say in it
my diet has always been the major bone of contention between us
if you'll pardon the pun
arguments in chinese restaurants with jyw taking the side of the waiter
trying to convince me that meat is good for me
and why don't i try this or that seafood dish?
over the years we have somehow learnt to accomodate each other
though what hannah elisabeth eats is a perennial sticking point
as i'm not at home most of the time
i've had to come to terms with hannah's non-veggie diet
though it pained me deeply initially
for i want my precious daughter to have no part
in the obscenity that is the hidden death industry
the factory farm killing machine
that is not so removed from the human killing machine
for if we are prepared to cause suffering to and slaughter our fellow sentient beings
how much further do we need to go
before we are willing to do the same to our fellow man?