Veggie Tales

In Which
The Germanatrix Attempts to be a Better Vegetarian



I am the worst vegetarian ever.

I became a vegetarian in March, while vacationing in Morocco. I became a vegetarian because the way people treated their donkeys depressed me.

But I am also lazy. There are numerous examples that would amply illustrate the extent to which I will avoid making an effort, but really I can’t be bothered.

In any case, you see what I’m working with.

This is why, when I heard that New Leaf Grocery could deliver organic vegetables to my door, I jumped on it, in my own lazy way (meaning, I starred the email and discussed it with my roommate three weeks later). New Leaf has various options for content, price, and delivery. We went with three $15 boxes, mixed fruit and veg.

So far, I love it. Granted, I’m only two boxes in, but I had sautéed swiss chard for dinner last night. I am damn sure none of you can say the same.

Strawberries! Red onions! Sweet potatoes! Beets! The veggie box has forced me into experimental mode. Granted, the roommate didn’t so much enjoy the beet spaghetti from the other night (quote: “it looks like guts”), but though the beets looked like innards, they tasted really good.

These aren’t things I would buy myself, but having them on hand is nice, and while it’s taking us a while to eat our way through the box, we’ve made use of everything but the cilantro bouquet.

My friend Kate had a different experience with the veggie box. Apparantly there is a downside to vegetable delivery. Kate signed up to be part of a co-op through True Nature Foods, and bought a half-share for a box of mixed fruit and veg every other week.

True Nature operates under a different system by which the boxes are gauged by weight. This means that sometimes Kate would receive something very random that was heavy, but also basically useless (i.e. a coconut).

“I would rather they had left out the coconut and put something more useful in there, even if I was getting a less heavy box than I paid for.” she says.

More often than not, Kate received vegetables she couldn’t or simply didn’t know how to use. She was forced to do actual research on some of the items in order to determine how they could be used. And in the busy post-collegiate, pre-professional twenty-something life, who’s got time to be googling veggies?

“I joined because I believed in their mission,” says Kate. “But what ended up happening was that we had vegetables rotting on the windowsill; it fit better for me to just go to the store and buy what I need.”

Kate is still a fan of this sort of enterprise, though, and promises that if she becomes a stay-at-home mom, where cooking is more central to the way she lives, she’ll sign up again.

So if my beet spaghetti sets your stomach grumbling and you’re interested in signing up for veggie delivery, first look into how the operation works, and also make sure that you have the time (and energy) to spend cooking up a swiss chard, potato, and chick pea stew. Having a healthy curiosity doesn’t hurt, either.

In the meantime, I’m going to go home and make myself something involving a potato, romaine lettuce, and a lime. Try to contain your jealousy.