Product Description
About 90 dishes are presented illustrating Sergio Mei’s great creativity using a vegetarian palate. Inspired by Mediterranean cuisine, every recipe satisfies the ever more persistent need to find alternative solutions to meat and fish entrees.

Sergio Mei manages to present all the dishes without any sacrifice to taste. It is a book that will inspire; practical and full of original recipes.

While this book is intended for the professional, home cooks seeking vege… More >>

Neither Meat nor Fish is from groovy vegetarian

(no fish were hurt in the writing of this post)

I feel very fortunate to have been able to be raised a vegetarian — but my parents were not vegetarians when I was growing up.  No, I turned my parents to vegetarianism at age 5.  I wanted to dedicate my first post to this story, which I feel is just one example of the diversity of the experiences that turned each of us on to vegetarianism.  And I encourage you to share your own story after reading mine.

My Love For Nature, Fish, And How I Helped My Parents Go Veg At The Age of 5

As a child I was a bit precocious in my environmental consciousness and love for all things nature, including its animals (it’s no wonder I would one day be fated to blog).  I gave up diapers at a ripe young age of 2, when I heard that they had to cut down trees for them.  Yes, I was a bit of a weird child, but my parents catered to my unusual whims.

One of my early loves was fish.  I memorized every single type of fish and could repeat them with alarming accuracy.  My grandmother at one point became quite unnerved when I began to recite the names of fish in a book of hers.  She quickly closed the book and said “That’s enough of that!”

My love of fish, however, brought me sadness because at an early age I could comprehend at some level that the fish in the store at the butchers counter were dead.  These weren’t like the magnificent creatures that I saw swimming in my beloved fish cards.  They were cold lifeless, and if I dare say, a bit sad looking.  So whenever I saw my favorite fish — the rainbow trout — at the fish store, I took to saying “Rainbow Trout want out!” in a mournful voice.

My parents at the time ate a pretty healthy diet, but did eat some fish and chicken.  However, they began to feel increasingly guilty taking home fish, when it obviously upset me to see them dead.  So when I was just 5 they made a big decision — they were going to go vegetarian and give up fish and chicken, raising my brother and me vegetarian.

Now

Over the years my enthusiasm for vegetarianism has waved a little bit at times, but has never faded.  And I find myself today finding great joy in exploring it.  And my parents?  They are still vegetarians, and its already helped them.  All of my grandparents had severe heart disease by their 40s, but my parents, thanks to a vegetarian diet and exercise are virtually problem free.  For families with genetic predisposition to high cholesterol and heart disease, the vegetarian diet definitely seems a great choice from my experience, and studies have backed that up.

So, How Did You Get Turned On To Vegetarianism?

My story’s pretty fun I admit, but I’d equally love to hear each of yours.  Diet is a very personal topic.  I’d love to hear how each of you got turned on to vegetarianism, and what challenges you faced!

How Did YOU Get Turned On To Vegetarianism? is from groovy vegetarian

What Does Jason Do?

Jason is currently an editor for a hot technology blog (Daily Tech) and will contribute veggie articles here about once or twice a week.

Where Is Jason From?

He happens to reside in the most spectacularly fantabulous place on Earth, the windy City  Chicago.

Check out his mini- bio below:

Jason Mick is a news editor and columnist for the leading science and technology online publication, DailyTech. He was raised vegetarian and convinced his parents to go vegetarian at age 5, thanks to his strong love for fish. He has worked in the electronics field for such companies as Siemens VDO, Lear Corporation, and Ovonics Battery Company. He graduated with a BA in computer engineering from Oakland University and is currently in a Masters/PhD program in Chemical Engineering and Physiology at Wayne State University.

In his free time he enjoys music, backpacking the scenic Michigan outdoors, writing fiction, reading about alternative energy, and spending time with his beautiful girlfriend Megan.

Welcome Jason! Happy to have you on board the Groovy Veg train.

Welcome New Writer: Jason Mick is from groovy vegetarian