The catalyst was the other week when I got chicken instead of my tofu choice…twice! And I really don’t like chicken. I must have complained a lot because my coworker at lunch had said, “Wow, I didn’t know tofu was so important to you.”

I thought, actually, it is.

Over the years, I’ve noticed that I don’t know* how to eat meat anymore. I used to love a nice, rare steak; now, I can only handle beef in small, marinated slices — Korean bul go gi comes to mind. Even a Nob Hill’s burger (gasp!) is too much for me. I prefer pork ground or in small, chopped up pieces, like in banh cuon (rice paper rolls filled with mushroom and pork) for which I woke up at 6am when I was in Vietnam. I certainly would not do that for chicken.

Now when I go back home, my top requests are fried tofu, the kind that really poofs up and doesn’t seem to exist out here, and ong choy, Chinese spinach also known as peasant food in Vietnam.

I do get excited about meat dishes, but only when it’s well marinated and in small amounts. Meat in Vietnamese cuisine is not the main dish nor ingredient. It’s just one among the many flavors offered, along with scallions, fried shallots, fresh herbs, and nuoc mam! But it’s still an important one: cha gio chay (vegetarian egg roll) isn’t quite the same.

The CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) to which we subscribe is a contributing factor. For five months of the year, we get more produce than we can finish in a week and continue to get more week after week. Add in our fruitful tomato and basil plants, and we are set with fresh tomato sauce or grilled vegetables for the whole summer; there isn’t room in the fridge to store meat. Couch Potato says we eat like rabbits, peeling fresh garbanzo beans, popping in snap peas like candy, and washing endless amounts of lettuce.

So I’m going to try to be “Vietnamese vegetarian”. It’s obviously a misleading term, since I will still eat all this and probably more that’s not coming to mind:

1. Vietnamese food (duh)
2. Dumplings
3. Ben the Butcher’s bacon — there’s no turning back once you try his kind, available at the PSU farmers’ market
4. Ben my Husband’s beef chili or homemade pepperoni pizza
5. Those delicious lamb and beef gyros at the Portland Saturday Market. Haven’t gotten sick of those yet!
6. Seafood–just to clarify–because I.LOVE.MUSSELS
7. Your yummy, exciting dishes that I can’t resist trying

During our recent trip to San Francisco, I tried out my new status, making a conscious effort to choose the vegetarian option. While it does make ordering a lot easier, those fewer options could use a little work if vegetarians want to rule the world. My avocado supreme was more like a touch of avocado and my veggie burrito needed something else besides beans and rice. Fat, salt, flavor, work with me here. And don’t suggest chicken.

*I say “don’t know” because that’s the literal translation from Vietnamese. It was always “she doesn’t know how to eat that” while so-so’s daughter did. Parents, relatives, do not worry: I know I used to eat McDonald’s while you were at Pho 75, but trust me, I will never, ever go back to not knowing how to eat pho.