Arise Eggplant Wizard....Arise

So I've decided to start a food blog. Actually many years ago I had the notion to start a punk rock vegan recipe/food/whatever zine (akin to Soy Not Oi, Please Don't Feed the Bears, etc.), but as things go, that idea came and went. One thing I can say about myself is that I'm an idea generator, however it's the implementation and follow-through on ideas that I have a problem with. Anyway, I always thought Eggplant Wizard would be a fitting moniker for such a zine. If you're not familiar with the title, you obvisously never spent enough time worshiping an NES as a child.

A recent preoccupation with my health has rekindled my interest in such a project. As of the last couple years, I've been experiencing a lot health issues and most recently my doctor told me to consider taking medication for blood pressure (though I suspect I have a killer case of whitecoat hypertension). Not being one who particularly likes taking medication, I decided it was time to get serious about eating better.

Here's a little background....I've been a vegetarian since 1994. During my senior year of highschool, my friend Zack got me to go along with him and forego meet. The irony is he was never really fond of fruits and vegetables and was one of those folks who would order a subway sandwich extra meat and cheese, no vegetables. I always found it little odd that he'd have any interest in vegetarianism and to this day I'm not really sure what his motivations were. Regardless, I thought what the hell. I was already interested in counter-culture by that time and I was always a black sheep growing up, so why not add another layer of non-conformist cred. I lasted about 3 months. I was actually pretty ambivalent about the whole experiment, though I actually felt pretty good.

Fast forward a few months later, I graduated and was working at Burger King, which I might add was the worst job I've ever had. But low and behold, I worked with a girl who happended to be a vegetarian and also introduced me to diy punk and Jawbreaker. She dubbed me a cassette with the first 7 songs off Unfun, which remained on my walkman for many months and is still one of my favorite albums of all-time, perhaps only dwarfed by 24 Hour Revenge Therapy, but it's close. I digress. So my co-worker re-introduced me to vegetarianism and frankly working with all that low quality meat only served as a further incentive to give it another try.

After a few months, I pretty much decided this was going to be a lifelong thing. I found it pretty easy being a vegetarian. I still ate pizza, burritos, mac & cheese, grilled cheese, and most of the stuff I ate prior to my change in diet. As a gift, my friend's mother (the guy who originally introduced me to vegetarianism) gave me a vegetarian cookbook and within it's pages is where I first came across the term vegan. I honestly thought the idea was a bit excessive and didn't really interest me, though it seemed rational that with availability of meat-analouges and supplements meat, eggs, and dairy probably weren't necessary. It's with that rationale that I eventually tried veganism.

Being involved in the diy punk scene during the mid-late 90's, information on veganism and animal rights was in no short supply. It seemed like there was a time when you couldn't go to a show without seeing pamplets from Vegan Action, Farm Sanctuary, or Peta widely available or have Food Not Bombs raising funds by selling vegan treats. During the mid-90's it was actually weird to meet someone involved in punk who actually ate meat. And yes I dug Earth Crisis for a while, but then again who didn't.

My transition to veganism was bumpy at first. I had a food ingrediant bible that I had to study carefully every time I went to the grocery store. Fucking mono-dyglicerides in bread was always a bummer. I always had to buy that thick ass Ezikiel bread from the health food. And don't even remind about how bad soy milk was back then. The Albertson's across the street from my apartment only carried "Soy Moo", which was thick and chalky. Edensoy was tolerable, though a far cry from today's Silk soy milk. While it was a tough transition, I finally got the hang of it and stuck with it for the most part for several years after.

I moved to Chicago in 1999 with my girlfriend (now wife), where being vegan was a walk in the park. There was no short supply of vegan friendly restaurants and health food stores. Man I miss Soul Vegetarian and the Chicago Dinner. Living in a city without the need for a car, I also chose to walk most of the time, and was probably in the best shape of my life the 3 years I lived there. I've always been a bit "husky", but I was pretty darn near my ideal weight during that time.

In 2002, me and my partner moved back to Florida. I was kinda bummed about the moved and didn't really leave the house much. Being engrossed in school I got really lazy about my diet and adopted junkfood vegetariansim. Processed high-sodium foods, frozen pizzas, sometimes drinking an entire liter of coke (especially during term paper crunch time), became staples in my diet rather than an occasional indulgence. Yes, even in my otherwise vegan existence in Chicago, I had to occassionally indulge in some deep dish pizza. Though it usually was soy cheese at Leona's.

By 2004-2005, I was having a lot of back problems due to my increased weight. I always tried to do the vegan thing again, but never had the will power. Fast forward to today, I decided it was time to get back to eating a healthier diet. As of November, I've been eating a lot healthier and have generally been eating a vegan diet. I've lost some weight and have generally been feeling better.

So as I come full circle, eating well and getting healthy again are the impetus for this blog. I'll be posting recipes, food diaries, and other food related (and probably non food-related) musings. So there you have it... the almighty Eggplant Wizard.