The First Step is Admitting the Problem

My name is Laura. I'm 21 years old, and I have a confession to make: I love Asian food.

I don't just like it...you see, it's not as simple as all that. No, I must tell you that I love it with a passion that would make Michael Phelps' will to win look like a mere propensity for the sport of swimming.

This is not a new whim for me, not by any stretch of the imagination. No, I've been an adorer of all-foods-Asian for a long time now. However, it is true that my devotion to the cuisine of the East has of late been more intense than ever before. You see, earlier this year I made the decision to become a Vegetarian. With this decision, my meal choices became somewhat limited. Except within the Asian realm, that is.

In chapter one of the book of Genesis in the Bible, it is made quite clear that humans were not created to eat animals. Instead, nuts, grains, and fruit were the way to go. Since then, our diet has been rather corrupted, due to the lack of vegetation after the Great Flood. After studying this for a time, I came to the conclusion that it might be a good idea to reclaim the original diet and drop the cancer-causing flesh altogether.

This was not an easy transition to make--not by a long shot! Everywhere I went, waiters and waitresses would give me that incredulous, dropped-jaw look whenever I said, "hold the meat, please." Everywhere, that is, except the Asian restaurants.

At the Asian restaurants--whether Thai, Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Korean, Filipino, or Pakistani--the servers never even blink should I request tofu in the place of chicken, extra eggplant instead of beef. This is the sort of treatment that has endeared me all the more to Asian food.

I have not even begun to speak of the delicious flavors that have made a fanatic out of me...




...but that is for another blog, another day.