The Vegetarian Guru

I was considered to be a fussy eater when I was growing up. I didn’t like vegetables and would stubbornly refuse to eat them when I was little. My mum and my carers probably didn’t know that little kids need to try something new multiple times before they come to accept it. The way they used to make me eat my greens was through threats and put-downs. The put-downs only made me angrier and more rebellious. When I started working with children (yonks ago), I was surprised to see so many good eaters. There was a little boy named Daniel who would always come to class with carrot and celery sticks tucked inside his lunchbox amongst the sandwich and a drink. Occasionally, there was also a slice of homemade carrot/banana cake wrapped in plastic. His teachers used to make sarcastic comments because Daniel didn’t get a (store bought) treat everyday like the other children. They were so mean. If I ever have children, I would really like them to eat up their vegetables like this Daniel.

After I came to Australia, my views on vegetables started to slowly change. I love how our food was prepared at boarding school. The kitchen staff rolled out vegetables to my liking. The head chef was an import from Ireland! He was a first of his kind to be imported apparently! But when I started to live independently later, I quickly learned that vegetables do not last forever in the fridge and because I didn’t enjoy cooking back then, I was back to eating only minimal amounts of vegetables again. Looking back, I find it really quite shocking how unhealthy my diet used to be!

In 2003, I decided to buy myself a Guinea Pig for my birthday. It was partly a selfish decision because I had wanted someone other than M to love me. Our Guinea Pig sure loved us and he displayed his love the loudest when mealtimes came around daily. He would squeak and squeak at 5:00 pm or 6:00 pm when we had to move the clock forward at this time of the year. We bought small amounts of different vegetables to give to this furry little vegetarian with a big appetite. One of his vets suggested that we should not limit him to just boring carrots and lettuce leaves. In fact, too much lettuce leaves could upset his stomach.

A few weeks after Safeway opened its doors at QV, I was there for a grocery top up without M. The dude who served me casually asked me the name of the variety of cucumbers I was purchasing. Nowadays, I would tell you that they were Lebanese Cucumbers but back then, I wasn’t quite sure. After telling him that I wasn’t sure, he looked at me deliberately so I would give him some kind of eye contact and then asked in disbelief, “You don’t know what you are buying?” It was so embarrassing. Soon after that experience, I began to take an active interest in the vegetables we buy our Guinea Pig. I also began to cook regularly and since we were already buying vegetables for the Guinea Pig, we might as well buy more for us, the humans to enjoy as well. Gradually, we began to eat more and more vegetables under the influence of the furry vegetarian Guru.

Today, 17 months after the Guru had left us, the good habit formed is here to stay and we are eating more vegetables with our meals than ever. Sometimes I wonder why I didn’t like them when I was a child. Eggplants, capsicums, zucchinis, Roma tomatoes and cucumbers are just so delicious. Celery sticks are great too.