Remember when @papa-pepper, @mama-pepper, and the @little-peppers came to Texas and we all had dinner together? Well, this isn't that story. This is another story about me bonding with @mckenziegary on the @ftgu Lazy Sunday Broadcast. @Mckenziegary has an affinity for food and food science. We had this conversation quite some time ago and found ourselves just discussing food for well over an hour. It is not secret that since the beginning of time, food has played an essential role in human development. Some people eat to live while others live to eat; My mantra lies in the middle of those 2 phrases.

We discussed my decade of being a vegan, my life of on the farm, my foodie kids, and my balut challenge. For those of you that don't know, I spent 12 years without consuming any meat and 10 of those years, I lived sans-animal products. When I was about 5 years old, my grandpa was tying the legs of a hog on our farm and requested that I hold the rope. As I tightened my grip on the rope, I heard a loud BOOM! It was my grandfather putting a .357 magnum round into the head of the hog. It started to squeal and violently roll. Naturally, the sound of the gunfire, the grotesquery, and the squealing of the dying hog shocked me to my core and I dropped the rope. My grandfather expressed dissatisfaction with my perceived failure and regained control of the situation. That moment stuck with me from that day until I was 16 when I decided to make a conscious effort to forgo meat altogether.

I spent several years asking servers and chefs if their beans had pork or any animal byproduct in them. Countless times I would order legumes and find it peppered with bacon and other unpleasantries. That is when I decided to start cooking for myself. I immediately gravitated toward Indian food which is very vegetarian friendly. I learned better ways to cook beans. I learned over 100 different spices that I would not have otherwise been exposed to. I learned how to prepare Pareve style food which is "vegan". I was without a doubt in my very own food heaven.

After, 12 faithful years as a sans-meat kinda guy, I had an epiphany. I was always smug about having the ability to forgo meat and commit to a strict diet. All the time, I was turning my nose up, I never looked around to see the amount of food waste. When my wife and I first moved in together, I saw her eat half of a t-bone steak and throw it away. I was disgusted. What I didn't realize was that I was part of the problem the entire time because I managed restaurants that threw away tons of food a month. I realized that no matter what I did, meat would always be consumed and animals would always be utilized in some form or fashion. I felt as though I woke up from a millennial slumber. I re-initiated myself into eating meat again by slaughtering a turkey, chicken, and a duck from my family's farm. I felt disconnected from my food even as a vegan. This was a way to reconnect with my food source on an intimate level. I'll leave it there for now. The only other steemians I have ever shared this story in it's entirety with was @lindseylambz and @richardcrill.

To hear more... Check out @MckenzieGary's conversation with me on the @ftgu Lazy Sunday Broadcast