My first memories of family barbecue parties.
My late father grew up on the cattle farm in Uruguay, a country where there are three times the number of cows like people. It is one of the world Senior consumers for individual beef; Uruguay eats 200 pounds of meat per year. Meanwhile, my mother from Kansas City, Mo, who is famous for her slow smoking barbecue.
So when I decided to switch to a vegetarian diet in 2007, it was easy to say that my father and I were at odds. I was not just a diet from my diet, but an important aspect of my cultural identity.
I was born in California in 1989. But when I was three years old, my family moved to Uruguay. I have an early memory in the butcher, where I put my money in the tongues of a huge cow – one in all of my hands – and asked me about any heavier hair.
The tongue was for Asadu, a cultural tradition that Gauchos (pillar of cow shepherds) began from the barbecue of meat on the barlla, which is an outdoor outdoor air barbecue. These were occasions where, amid the gossip of our friends and family, my father was encouraging me to experience bites of mysterious meat.
He said: “He was grilled for you with love.” Only after I took a bite, was it revealing what she ate: brain, intestine, bull’s testicle.
When we moved to the city of Kansas City about a year later, Asados was replaced by the cooking forms of KC. My mother’s family is great, so when we go out to eat, there are usually more than 20 of us. I have always been able to remember, we were loyal to Arthur Bryant, the barbecue place in the center of Kansas City. When I was a child, I liked eating the cut ribs in a sweet sweet KC grill sauce made of sugar molasses, acid vinegar and a hot chili powder next to my cousins.
At the age of 17, she moved to Los Angeles to the college. Even this point of my life, eating meat was nothing I asked. Although I never enjoyed chicken, turkey or lamb, I have often consumed red meat. This is the pleasure of my father, who considered this characteristic that I was a good Uruguay. But despite enjoying red meat, I had no idea how to prepare it. My father was the grill goalkeeper, and he was carrying how to choose a cut, a season and a cook.
The first time I went to the grocery store in Los Angeles, she stood in the lane corridor. The summer of 2007 was and the United States was on an economic crisis. The bodyboards were expensive, and thought about dealing with them bothered me. So I decided not to buy any. This is how I stopped eating meat. Originally, it was not a decision based on ethics, animal rights, environmental preservation, or optimal health – I have just gone with my intestine.
I soon found that my new food choice was a challenge to accept my family. Two months later, I traveled home to surprise my sister on her fourteenth birthday. When I told my father and sister that I was not eating meat, she was confused – my mother had made fried chicken for dinner. They were not open to discuss the benefits of vegetarian diet. And their lack of support made me feel misunderstood. But I also decided that their responsibility was not to meet my nutritional preferences. That night, filling power and potatoes instead.
I later learned that there are many complex factors in our exchange.
“In the Latin culture, food is essential for family and societal gatherings,” says Vanessa Palumira, a Mexican American processor based in Dallas. “When someone goes vegetarian, he can feel like a refusal of culture or family traditions, which makes it difficult for others to accept it.”
Food has become a pressure point in our relationship. This was especially difficult to move as a newly independent person, when I sought to see me. I fell slightly in those first few years in family gatherings – especially in Arthur Bryant, where she surrendered to pressure from the family and I have one barbecue side in addition to a plate of beans and fried potatoes.
I often felt that my new diet was a nuisance. I felt guilty on Thanksgiving to pass it on Türkiye, which was ready for love as a way to celebrate gratitude. Again, I resorted to the side dishes to get me. It was difficult to resist my father, who was sometimes telling me how difficult his work was to be able to buy meat slices for the family. I didn’t know what to do, but I have a small bite to please it.
But the older, the better it becomes about sticking to my plant diet. In one of the family gatherings, I tried to create a replica of plants that are friendly to plants of gem cheese. Everyone was surprised by the extent of the similarity of my plant copies with the original, and it was useful for me to be able to eat something generosity of the traditions of my family.
My family members gradually started accepting my diet. In another meeting in the early twenties, I made black avocado cakes. One of my aunts ate with one with a smile. (Although they were disgusting.) But this little gesture made me feel appreciated. Years later, one of my cousins stopped eating meat in my respect for my system. These small gestures have caused a major impact.
Balomira told me: “It is important that you have your diet because food options reflect your values, beliefs and personal options.” “When your community honors your diet, it creates a feeling of support, inclusion and acceptance.”
Two years after giving up meat, I visited Uruguay. My family there could not understand my diet. In their minds, eating meat is rooted in our way of life. Their concern came from the place of love. Are you still getting enough protein? They asked. It was hateful to have my options, but they were not wrong to eat protein. My plant options were very limited. I mostly eat fried potatoes and Entalada Mixta (salad of lettuce, tomatoes and onions). When I can find ñoquis made without an egg I was asking them with chimichurri sauce.
This diet has become unnecessary. Hunger prompted me to take a bite of Choripán here and Sandwich de Miga there. I felt confused. These favorite dishes were my child and still enjoy taste. At the same time, I was terrified. What was I doing this for?
I started searching for the principles that drive people to plants, and then I knew that I could not support a planting effect on the environment. I also wanted to live a life in line with my belief that all animals have the right to live without raising human consumption.
Over the past eighteen years of being based on the plant, my thinking has been affected by not eating any violent object with Buddhist and Hinduism and Jane in AHIMSA, a system of belief that knows an unpopular life leadership and respect for all living things. Many people, including me, believe that this means refraining from consuming animal products.
When I returned to Uruguay after a decade, Montedemento had a prosperous vegetarian scene, and I was finally able to enjoy plant issues of foods made of meat, such as Empanadas, Milana and even a Chivito The Uruguay national dish is usually made of mozzarella, slices of meat, pork, bacon and eggs.
Access to cultural heritage in a vegetarian form was sexy-delicious. This also helped to share my family in my diet. Join me in vegetable restaurants, where they enjoyed the experience of our foods without meat. The presence of a culturally related vegetarian food, such as vegetable Chorizos, has made a bastard enjoyment with my family – we can continue to continue without sacrificing my personal nutritional choices.
I now understand how important this is for my mind, physical and spirit. As Palomera says: “Food is linked to our identity, heritage, and its feeling of belonging. It can link us with our roots.”
Today, many of my family members are making an effort to search for a vegetarian -friendly restaurant when we go out to eat and for vegetable food at home when I visit so that I can cook. They have reached the love of the dishes that I make, both Uruguay and others that I learned to make them while traveling to more than 90 countries.
I no longer feel alienated from my culture. Through patience, curiosity and commitment, I found that you can honor your heritage while maintaining loyalty to your values - a delicious vegetarian chivito at one time.