Being a vegetarian
What is like to be a vegetarian? It is not only about not eating meat because you are feeling sorry for animals, but it is more about you, your organism, your body. You feel great, your digestive system is working as it supposed to work, you do not think about taking a nap after eating and you full of energy all the day long.
In order to gain some insight I tell you my own "turning vegetarian" story. I made the switch to vegetarian 7 years ago. All of my family members are meat-eaters and were them for whole of their lives. They cannot imagine one single meal without eating something greasy and meaty. I was as like as they are. I will never forget when I was a child 10 or 11 years old I ate meat for breakfast, lunch and dinner. However it did not last long. When I turned 16 years old as a result of some circumstances, which I prefer not talk about, all the systems in my organism were disrupted and my organism refused to digest meat anymore. I had not lost my appetite and still enjoyed eating everything except meat. However I was daydreaming to eat it, I contemplated to passed days when I cut a steak into thick slices and enjoined each and every piece slowly chewing it out. It was a time of my struggle. I tried to think about animals, their feelings when they are about to be killed: fear and helplessness in cow's eyes that is about to be slaughtered. All of those efforts were made in order to forget the taste and gross myself out. After a few months my attempts gained its fruits. I was going to vomit every time I took a look at meat.
I reached my goal, however, simultaneously, some problems emerged. In my hometown in Russia I had not been going out often, I was cooking at home most of the time. In Russia my social life was not impacted much. However after I moved to Korea I felt like to I am a loser every time I said I had gone vegetarian.
If you ask me what is the best and easiest way to make friend in Korea I would say it is going out and eat together. Food seems to affect every aspect of life in Korea. You can often hear how Koreans say about what and where they eat. There are even entire films and dramas based around Korean cuisine. For Koreans food is much more than just simple fitting the belly and meat is one of the most important components of Korean cuisine. You can find meat everywhere: seaweed soup with beef, dumpling, beef ribs soup – all of the traditional and most preferable Korean food consists of meat. And being a vegetarian started to interfere my social life here in Korea. As I mentioned before, it is hard to make friend without going out and eating. However someone can say: " Try to find a restaurant where you will have some options, however it is quite a challenge to find even a salad in place which serves meat. That is why when there is a not to gathering or outing I tend to not to know what to do, I become the odd one out. If you ask me if I have any friends - Yes, I do, but most of them are vegetarians as I am.
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