When in Portland

On our trip to Portland in May, in addition to seeing two friends get married (they were sisters with weddings four days apart), Dexter and I ate at two great restaraunts. During the trip, I also read In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto, which I became interested in when I read about it on Alicia M.'s blog. So, while eating at these restaurants, my definition of food was in the process of changing and I was feeling very idealistic. I've been thinking lately that both would be successful in Iowa City.

First, we ate at Hopworks Urban Brewery. It's in half of a yellow building on Powell Street, not far from the Hawthorne shopping district. (Hawthorne Street is basically a mini Iowa City, lined with coffee shops, independently owned stores, and homeless people.) The other half of the building is under construction and if you park on that side, you'll be in a tiny one way parking lot with no outlet. We were finally guided into the correct parking lot by cardboard signs with lettering in black paint that were propped up in various places outside the restaurant. The restaurant was much cleaner and more professional on the inside than on the outside. The menu was completely organic from the wheat in the pizza crusts to the hops in the beer. They had lots of vegetarian options, which was great since we were in the beginnings of our vegetarian experiment. Dexter ate a portabello burger and he is now in love with them. I had a calzone which was gigantic as well as mighty tasty, although I felt it had more artichoke hearts than necessary. Our entrees were so good that we wanted to get dessert, but were both too stuffed from the big portions. Next time I go there, I am definitely getting the apple crisp. Dexter got a sampler of the beers, all organic and brewed in the basement of the restaurant, and one was made with espresso, which we though was cool. Each booth had a little compartment in the wall with ketchup, salt, and pepper. I associate the decor with construction because it was wood/metal/yellow, but also because the other half of the building was being constructed upon. It was a little bit pricey, but you can order whole pizzas, and organic foods are more expensive at the grocery store so it makes sense that they'd be more expensive at a restaurant.

Enter

We also ate at Vita Cafe, a tiny and very progressive restaurant that served mostly vegetarian/vegan fare. It was really crowded, but I thought they had a good system of having you write your own name down on the waiting list if they didn't have a table open where you could seat yourself. We happened to go on a Wednesday night--the one night where they have a few discounted entre options and cheap beer and cocktails. I ate Thai noodles for $5 and Dexter ate "fish" (tofu) and chips. The Thai noodles could have had quite a bit more flavor, but were good. Dexter ordered some Hopworks beer (on tap) and I had a raspberry cosmo. When the girl finished making my drink, she drank the leftovers. She later knocked Dexter's beer off the table which made me wonder how many leftovers she'd been drinking. Lots of alternative lifestyle adds on the community bulletin board. However, there was a real sincerity about the green-ness of the place. Bikes crowded the sidewalk in front, everything was printed on recycled paper, they had cardboard rather than styrofoam to-go boxes. It was a little depressing though, since it seemed like being green and leading an alternative/tolerant/whatever lifestyle were the things the people there put their hope in. But, I don't make a very good postmodern.

Half-ass vegetarianism

Excuse the title of this post. I tried to think of something more savory to all ears, but this was the most accurate wording.

Over the past few months, I've been going back and forth about our decision to go vegetarian. I've never had any doubt that given a little extra time, we'll be able to easily come up with lots of vegetarian meals that we love. Dexter's as strongly convinced about our change as I am...and sometimes even more than I am. I'm not even really concerned about wanting to eat meat, although that has entered my head a few times.

Mostly, I'm concerned about offending, distancing, or inconveniencing from other people. What if our neighbors in Hawkeye Court want to share a traditional Korean/Chinese/Romanian/something meal with us that has meat in it? What if we go visit Korea when our friends return home and their sweet Korean mothers fix us a delicious but beefy meal? What about house church meals? (If we made every dish so that everyone could eat them, we would be a no dairy, no gluten, no meat house church. What a challenge!) What about people we see and eat with a lot, like my parents, who are still scrambling to feed my sister meat-free meals when she's home.

One possible compromise we're considering is being "at-home vegetarians." Basically, food we make or choose to eat at restaurants would be vegetarian. And, in settings where meat can be avoided without stepping on any toes, we'd choose extra meat-free side dishes in lieu of a meaty main dish. But, we wouldn't feel pressure to abstain when there was pressure to eat, like with new friends or in non-vegetarian friendly environments.

Part of me likes this solution because I think moderation is good. And I know that I'm compromising on so many other levels that I feel like the occasional meat-eating would fall under the category of buying milk from farms I don't know anything about, or buying products from brands like Johnson & Johnson, Colgate, or Suave (all of which test on animals). It really bothers me that I can't afford to switch to using entirely cruelty-free products, but I've been telling myself I have to draw the line somewhere.

However, the other part of me doesn't want to be a half-ass vegetarian. The vegetarian fad really irritates me. I've definitely seen people say, "I never eat meat!" while shoveling their faces with it. I don't feel like I could really call myself a vegetarian if I was okay with it sometimes, but I don't know how I'd explain my mostly meat-free lifestyle very easily if I totally avoided the terminology.

Whatever compromise we land with, at least at home we'll be lacto-ovo-style vegetarians. But, we'll try to eat cage-free/free-range eggs at home and be picky about our milk (although the milk may end up being frighteningly expensive in itself). No meat-based broths, gelatin, or sneaky bits of meat in convenience foods either. The plan is to start soon, and I've actually been cooking mostly vegetarian meals the past few weeks, but I feel like I can't commit till I've decided about where to draw the line.