When Berto came to us with his idea to only eat meat that someone we are eating with has hunted or harvested, I thought this could be a great new way for me to learn to hunt. As we sat around the floor of our mutual friend’s boathouse, we were flinging ideas and awesome potential scenarios at each other in a fury of excitement. We listed all the great things about doing this: the connection to our food, the exercise, seeing the wildlife in California and great tasting wild meats. Somehow, but not surprisingly, I completely negated to ponder on the hardships that were coming.
Believe me, I am pondering them now. It has been over a week of doing this and I have to say…I think I am the weak link in this experiment. I love meat, I love fat, I love the parts of animals most people kick to the side and throw away or don’t even see at all. I use to eat meat with EVERY meal and it formed most of the meal so when we go into vegetarian dinners, I am excruciatingly aware there is no meat.
So now that I have had time to let the reality settle in, here are some cons that are really testing my resolve for this:
- No restaurant cooked meats
o I really love a good steak or sushi made by a chef…no more for the whole year.
- Limited realistic options of game
o Elk, Bighorn Sheep, Bear – hell yea! Except a tag for an Elk is over $400 and it is pretty much the same for the other two species.
o Wild pig saves it all since I love pork more than anything and we can hunt all year round, but as I research I have found that only 2% of hunted pigs are found on public land…everyone else pays a property owner or a hunting guide or has a good connection with some orchard owners…that will be hard to solve and it isn’t clear how to me yet.
o Norcal fish are not my favorite tasting. There aren’t many pelagic species up here so we will be eating rockfish A LOT. Hopefully we can snag some halibuts and the iconic salmons when the short season is open. The cabezons and lingcod taste pretty good, but no yellowtails, no WSB, no tunas. We will need to forage for other invertebrates like Abalone, Scallops, Mussels, and Oysters or go down to SoCal for a fishing trip in order to be able to supplement seafood for red meats and not go crazy from the same thing over and over again.
o Crab Quarantine – for some reason this year crabs decided to go toxic and so they are off the menu for the foreseeable future here in Norcal…I just bought a pot too. $$$
o Maybe we will save because I don’t see a point in paying a restaurant if I ain’t getting some bomb meat served up and also meat forms nearly half of our grocery bill. More than likely all that is saved from this will go back into gear, permits, licenses, processing, and gas. And then some if we are honest with ourselves.
- I hate salad. Truly I do. I hope this experience helps me pick up a good habit.
On the plus side, after many meals without meat and finally digging in to some elk sausage courtesy of Berto, I found it was a renewing experience of meat that I have been taking for granted. The savory flavor was beyond satisfying to the realm of orgasmic so I really look forward to that feeling again.
Morgan and Laurel basically said they don’t eat meat that much or miss it even and Berto already jump started with a fridge full of elk cuts he hunted over the holiday. So it seems like the lonely road of hating my meatless life is for me to bear on my own. Hopefully when we bag some game and cook that fresh wild meat, I will get a second wind and be able to finish the rest of the race…only 51 weeks to go. Shit.