Meatout

Thursday, March 20 is the first day of spring. It's also the traditional date if the "Great American Meatout," in which supporters take carnivorous friends to vegetarian restaurants. Not a bad idea. I don't eat meat because it reduces my impact on the ecosystem/environment and is healthy. (It's not bad for the animals, either.) But part of me thinks having a day like the Meatout is contrived--as if the meatless restaurants are filling in for Hallmark on Valentine's Day.

Then again, what's wrong with getting a free meal? If you get hit up by a well-meaning friend, insist on an Asian vegetarian joint instead of a "natural" one. Say yes to the house chicken at Happy Family III in San Gabriel or soy shrimp and baby snow pea leaves at Vegetarian Wok in Monterey Park. Say no to nut loaf in West L.A (or anywhere). Meatless monks' food has hundreds of years of refinement and flavor that stinky hippies don't have.