Every year, I challenge myself to “Fish Free January”.
There is a reason for this! Christmas is my busiest time of the year, and it starts in September for The Petal Plot, when the Christmas Puddings begin to steam! I tend to over-rely on fish as a convenient food when I’m busy….sometimes I have been known to have 🐟 3 times a day by the time New Year’s comes around.
I’ve been a ‘Fish Eating Vegetarian’ or ‘Pescetarian’ for 33 years. In that time, vegetarian foods have come a long way, with the innovative foods of Linda McCartney to Quorn & all sorts of GM Soya Protein products that are now available. I have been told that I may well be the Living Lab-Rat for GM Soya Protein !! 🤣🤣🤣 I actually agree with this hilarious title!!
But in fact… I think we are all Lab-Rats in one form or another, but that’s for another time…💉🍖🍺🍷🫑🥕🐟
I am not a believer in the “Organic” movement – you might well be shocked to hear this. Perhaps you associate the fact that I grow a garden with the idea that I must be into organics. I do not practice organic growing, nor do I buy organic products based on them being “organic”. I buy what I like, and if I like what I see, I buy it. Call me pessimistic, but I do not put faith in any modern day production methods being fully organic. If you do believe, then good for you – I respect you and won’t take that away from you. If you have been following my story here since the birth of The Petal Plot you will know that I do grow a lot of my own produce, sometimes with great success and then sometimes (like 2024) with great failure! And sometimes with the responsible assistance of chemicals. Pardon the pun here…. But I am not green ….. there are chemicals in everything we eat, drink, wear and touch. In modern western culture I believe that it’s impossible to avoid absorbing chemicals into our bodies. We need them.
I may not be willing or able to live a chemical free life, and I don’t think I want to …..I love my morning coffee too much! But I do choose to make a small effort to cleanse my system in the month of January. About 6 years ago is when I noticed how much fish I was eating, particularly over Christmas. Hence my “Fish – Free January” challenge began. January is my quiet month, where I get time to nest, rest and enjoy the dark evenings. So, it’s the perfect time for me to flip through the cookery books to find new vegetarian recipes that I can carry through the year! I always think I will learn lots of new recipes, but generally, each year, I come out with just one good recipe. But that’s still great!
Nut Roast, Butternut & Spinach Lasagne, Stuffed Peppers, Bean Burgers, Shakshuka are just some of the things that have featured in my January regime this past few years. My favourite go-to sources for recipes are Rick Stein’s Simple Suppers, Jamie Oliver Veg, Jamie Oliver 5 Ingredients and BBC Food Website and my own brain – self composed concoctions are a gamble and sometimes they are a win!! Just the other day I made a delicious Chickpea Soup I found on a google search. Having come down with a cold, and barely any food in the house, well I had chickpeas, I had coconut milk and tweaked it with some tomato, carrot & coriander & lemon – hey presto, I have a new recipe to carry through!
Family and Friends have been asking me why I do this to myself. I don’t eat meat, and I no longer smoke or drink, so why am I putting myself through more restrictions they ask? That is not how I see it at all – I see it as an opportunity to create new ideas for the betterment of my life………MINDSET MATTERS !!!
Thanks for reading,
Michele
Michele you’re a marvel to me. I never knew you had such a way with words. Your many talents amaze me. Wishing you a very happy and busy 2025
Aww thanks Sheila, I actually enjoy the bit of writing. Short Blogs are all I get time for now and again, but I know there is a novel brewing inside me – I just need another lockdown !!! Thanks for reading xx
Loved reading this Michele and good for you!!!! We have shelves of cookbooks that whenever open. You might just have inspired me to open a few of them. And I might just try to eat more fish this January as I’ve fallen away from it in the last few years.
Thanks Martha! Terra we need the WWW to have a chat!!
You know me, I love fish, I think if I was to be asked for my last meal request it would be “Fish N Chips” ……and Tommy’s was always my favourite. But after reading an article once about mercury in farmed fish……I thought it might be worth cutting it out for at least one month in the year. Get them cookbooks out & start playing!