A College Student Explores Life As a Vegetarian

I found this while looking for vegetarian-related news today. A reporter, Abraries Farhad, who writes for the MSU State News college newspaper, is taking part in a week-long feature called “A Week in the Life: I’m a Vegetarian.” Farhad, the paper’s food and fitness reporter, offers her daily diet, challenges she’s facing while trying to find a healthy diet in a college cafeteria atmosphere, and thoughts about the changes in her eating habits. In addition, she shares helpful links for new vegetarians on things like the food pyramid, where a student at MSU can find various meal options, and recipes. 

Here’s an excerpt from Day 3 of her vegetarian week:

Today I ate food I had never tried before. I loaded my tray with edamame lo mein, brown rice, a veggie burger and rice milk, and was amazed by how good everything tasted and how full I felt after eating it all. I cheated on my best food friend, white rice, with its exotic cousin, brown rice. I even tried rice milk for the first time and loved it. Today was a day of firsts for me.

Being partially of Middle Eastern descent, I have grown up eating white rice on a daily basis. While I’ve eaten brown rice before and enjoyed it, I should add a disclaimer: Brown rice shouldn’t be considered a substitute for white rice in terms of taste. Brown rice tastes distinctly nuttier, richer and earthier compared to its pale counterpart. Brown rice is not a requirement for a vegetarian diet, but if you’d like to try it for its higher nutrient content (in comparison to white rice), some recipes can be found at www.vegweb.com.