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Becoming a committed vegetarian halfway through life is a bit like having ridden a bicycle all your life, and suddenly switching to a canoe. Everything’s different, apart from the fact that you’re still moving forwards…

I’ve dabbled with vegetarianism previously, and although I could honestly say I’ve enjoyed eating meat from time to time, I can also just as easily go without, and frequently have done so. There have been times that I craved it, and there have been times I couldn’t bear it anywhere near me.

If  I’d had to label myself, it would have been as ‘passionately omnivorous with occasional meat-free episodes.’

So why make a permanent switch now?

A variety of reasons, really. For starters I am about to start writing my fourth cookbook, titled ‘Good and Natural: the Luscious Vegetarian’, and since I am going to be cooking vegetarian almost every day, I might as well make a lifestyle out of it.

Secondly, as both a professional chef and home cook, I wouldn’t want to prepare meat dishes – any kind of dishes – unless I am 100 % certain of the provenance of my ingredients. Sadly, the current state of affairs in South African meat production leaves much to be desired. Shocking revelations in the press  about unethical and downright dangerous practices in the meat industry have started appearing with alarming regularity, and if you’ve never worried about where your food comes from, you should jolly well start to by now.

I haven’t bought or served non-free range chicken and eggs for as long as I can remember, and where possible I’ve cooked only free range, naturally reared beef,  lamb and game, free from antibiotics and steroids. (Game is a very clean and ethically sound meat, anyway.)

Contrary to popular opinion, ‘grass-fed’ does not automatically denote clean and ethically prepared meat, however, since grass-fed animals, like grass-and-grain fed, are frequently herded into feedlots prior to slaughter to fatten up. (This is common practise to increase profits. Where do you think those affordable steaks in your supermarket fridges come from?) Overcrowding in these feedlot pens leads to high stress levels for the animals and, naturally, to hugely increased disease levels, which in turn requires massive amounts of medication. These chemicals remain lodged in the flesh of the slaughtered animal and are delivered directly into your human body via your kitchen.

I wouldn’t want to consume these chemicals from my bathroom cupboard, why would I want to consume them via my food?

The affordable meat in your supermarket fridges thus comes at a staggeringly high cost to your health, and I for one have made the decision that consuming the flesh of abused animals is tantamount to abusing my own body, something I simply cannot countenance.

It doesn’t stop there, either. Food purveyors and merchants steadily exploit the shady margins of legislation and governmental apathy by tampering with ingredients to increase profitability. One supermarket chain, for instance, treats its raw famously free-range chicken portions with a blend of phosphates, mechanically stresses the meat to break down the muscle fibres and then applies water. The first two steps cause the muscle fibres to absorb and retain the water, which means that you, the consumer, pay through the nose for up to 35% added water with your packet of free-range chicken breasts.

Finally, having shared close quarters with a butcher who also ran a business from the premises was enough to turn me off meat for a long time, perhaps forever. The putrefaction of blood, organs and animal flesh is a singularly unpleasant element to have near one under any circumstances, and it has subsequently become more and more difficult for me to dissociate the succulently grilled chop on my plate with the memory of the carnage in the butchery’s interior.

I’m far too hedonistic to resign myself to a life of spartan abstinence, though – my first requirement from food is that it should be GOOD, as well as do you good.

In the next year, then I’ll be exploring vegetarian cooking and living, posting frequent recipes, menus and musings as well as photos and reviews. Please join me on the journey and share your ideas and recipes with me!

I consider my year of not eating meat an experiment, not only in conscious living but also in conscious consumption.

And since every lifestyle choice has its drawbacks and benefits, in the next post I’ll examine some of the pros and cons of vegetarian living from my personal experience.