Are you sure you’re getting enough protein? Is there any meat in this? Being a vegetarian isn’t always easy but in the end the pay off is something delicious and healthy. In Austin, TX where I reside, I, Anna Ragland will explore the abundance of vegetarian and vegan options the city has to offer me. On this journey of veggies I hope to find treats that would even have a carnivore drooling.
The city of Austin is an eclectic mixture of retired hippies, college students and hipsters, a perfect place for unique veggie meals to flourish and I find myself right in the middle of this vegetarian haven. Places vary from food trailers serving simple foods to upscale restaurants with sometimes confusing displays, (how do I eat this?). Just as the people of Austin vary in appearance and personality so does the food. I mean just look at the Austin Restaurant Guide and you can see that the options are near endless.
Im currently a junior at St. Edward’s University in the heart of Austin and I have started this blog as a way to not only share my love of good, healthy food but to also discover all that this city has for me to eat. I have been a vegetarian for exactly one year and 5 months. It started due to the healthy peer pressure of my friends. Most of them were living the no meat lifestyle and I was curious. Turns out it wasn’t as hard as I though it would be and the choice stuck. My reasons for sticking with it are the health benefits and those cute animals.
Since becoming a vegetarian I have struggled to find food that was fast and easy to make and still healthy. My college campus doesn’t have much to offer and so I cook most of my meals on my own. Finding recipes that were easy to make and tasted good were essential to the longevity of my vegetarianism and I accredit the book “College Vegetarian Cookbook” for that and suggest to any college student struggling to find something healthy to give it a read. Through this lifestyle choice I have a new found passion for cooking especially for other people.
For that reason I will also venture into the kitchen battlefield where I will experiment with inexpensive and above all else delicious vegetarian meals. Most of my meals now are eclectic combinations of foods that really don’t belong together. For example, my dinner may consist of cereal and a quesadilla. On this path to foodie freedom it is my hope that I will learn to compile a tasty and sensible meal. Im wishing that along the way I am able to impress my friends with my cooking genius because let’s be honest, who doesn’t want to be called a good cook?
On this journey, who really knows what I’ll discover or gain, besides a happy abundance of weight? All I know for sure is that I won’t go hungry for one single day of it.