Growing up in Texas, I never gave much thought to being a vegetarian or Meatless Mondays for that matter. . Like I’ve written before, in Texas, you pretty much come out of your mother’s womb and are immediately given a slab of steak (forget the breast milk). OK, I’m obviously kidding. . but for me, I seriously grew up eating beef, pork, fish, chicken, everything. You name it. And that included eating meat very often. My father loved giving us kids new foods to try and I remember him always introducing new foods to us and telling us to at least try one bite. One bite. And then, if we didn’t like it, we could spit it out and eat something else.
While I was living in San Francisco, I met a guy. A Korean guy who was a vegetarian. You would have thought I had told my mother I was having dinner with an alien or freak of nature or something. She flipped. “Why does he not eat meat? And he’s Korean? What’s wrong with him? Do you like him? You should not date someone who’s a vegetarian. You have nothing in common with him.” This was seriously the phone conversation we had one night. I am not making this up. At all. . . But I’m going to defend my mom. . . because I love her. She’s Korean 1st generation and old fashioned. And she might even feel differently now that she and my dad are getting older and health is a bigger concern. They have changed their diets (not as much white rice, no salt, less meat etc).
We Koreans like meat. One word = Kalbi. Nuff said.
Maybe it was my mother and father praying every night. Maybe it was just my destiny. . but I married Paul. The epitome of the perfect Korean son-in-law. He has an appetite like no other and can devour Kalbi like no one’s business. I watched as we were having dinner with my parents for the first time – at a Korean restaurant in Los Angeles- and I just watched my parents smile so big as they watched Paul eat. They were in love, at that moment. And so proud.
Of course there’s more to Paul than just how much he can eat. He’s a great man, husband and father. But I’ll save this for another post.
Flash forward like 6 or 7 years. . we have two daughters, I’m trying to cook healthier and now I am instilling Meatless Mondays. Paul doesn’t know this yet. I’m just not going to tell him. And I will eventually introduce Meatless Wednesdays and Fridays. I basically want our family to eat less beef. Mainly for health reasons. People who eat less meat, generally eat fewer calories and less fat, weigh less, and have a lower risk of heart disease. I know it’s not just about the lack of meat. There’s a ton more that you have to do to stay healthy (ie: regular check-ups to the doctor, exercise, diet etc) and I think eating less meat definitely helps.
I’m not saying we’re going full-on vegetarian. That would be crazy-talk and Paul (and I) wouldn’t know what to do with ourselves. But dammit, we are going to try more meatless meals more often.
Here’s one from Aida Mollenkamp’s new cookbook, 
