Life With A Vegetarian {Bryan Tells All}

1. What was your experience with vegetarians before meeting Nicole?

I had never met a vegetarian before Nicole. I knew that there were different types of food-related lifestyle choices {vegans, vegetarians, etc.}, but I didn’t know the specific differences between them.

2. What were your thoughts/hesitations when you found out that Nicole was a vegetarian?

I originally wasn’t even going to give Nicole the time of day when I found out she was a vegetarian. It’s not because I wasn’t interested in her, it was because I just had no idea about vegetarianism and didn’t think we’d have anything in common. I’m a self-proclaimed meat-etarian. I was afraid that she was going to push her beliefs onto me and try to get me to turn vegetarian, which I wasn’t interested in doing. I was also nervous that we wouldn’t be able to come up with meals that we could both enjoy. 

3. How do you create meals that incorporate both vegetarian and meat options?

Nicole eats seafood, so that helps, but we still create delicious meals with both veggies and meats. A lot of times we create a dish with rice, pasta or stirfry that serves as a base for the rest of the meal. For example, we love making spaghetti with homemade tomato sauce. We cook everything in separate pans: the pasta, sauce, chicken for me, and seafood or veggie meatballs for Nicole. We use a ton of pans and doing dishes afterwards is a chore, but it works for us.

4. What is the biggest myth about vegetarianism? 

The biggest myth I’ve learned is that all vegetarians will make you feel guilty for eating meat. Sure, there are some that won’t even touch meat or cook it for other people, but Nicole doesn’t care about that. Just because she cooks meat for me, doesn’t mean she has to eat it. Sometimes she gets grossed out with raw chicken or ground beef, but she’s not one to push her beliefs onto other people. 

5. Do you like vegetarian food?

There are some that I like and others that I would pass on. Although it doesn’t taste quite as good as bacon, I like faux-bacon from Morning Star Farms. Nicole makes it for breakfast sometimes and uses it for BLTs. It’s really crunchy and sort of tastes like bacon bits. I also like faux-ground beef crumbles from Boca. We use it a lot when we make tacos. Once we add taco seasoning, it really is a good beef alternative. Some other vegetarian-friendly foods I enjoy are: fresh fruit juices and smoothies, black bean burgers and sushi rolls.

6. What’s the biggest challenge with being married to a vegetarian? 

There’s not many challenges in all honesty. I guess if I had to say one thing, it’s not being able to share a delicious meat meal with Nicole. Sometimes I’ll have the juiciest steak and want her to try a piece, but she obviously won’t. Plus all the dishes we have from making separate dinners, which I mentioned earlier!

7. Was it difficult getting friends and family on board with Nicole’s lifestyle? 

Not at all. Everyone is so accommodating to her food-restrictions. My parents always make sure to make food that Nicole can eat and many times will ask what specifically she’d like to have. Our friends eat healthy for the most part, so it’s never a challenge finding a restaurant or cooking a meal that we all will enjoy. 

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