The Sucrets from when I was sick had a residual effect on my taste buds even a few weeks after my cold had passed. Any subsequent drink having a remote medicinal taste gave my mouth a slight numbing sensation. This made eating meat hard due to its grainy texture and horrid taste. So, I decided to try eating no meat for a week!

Being a vegan shouldn’t be that tough, right? A friend of mine ate nothing but soy sauce over rice for a prolonged period of time, so not eating meat should be no biggie.

I was dead wrong.

Lunch is a problem. I am surrounded by restaurants offering meat with a sideorder of meat. The only choices for an aspring vegan were Harvest Rowe, Soup Kitchen, or Mehfil Indian–salad, soup, or curry.

The salads from Harvest Rowe are awesome. They come in a container the size of a brick and just as heavy. I usually get the Chicken Ceasar Salad; I tried other salads, but they did not compare. As part of my new vegan lifestyle, I ordered the Ceasar Salad sans Chicken. The salad was superb, but the price was crazy. $7.50! For greens and dressing. Eating salad everyday would cause me to go broke in no time. Who knew being a vegan would be so damn expensive?

So, I decided to try out Soup Kitchen next. Soup shouldn’t be too bad. It must be affordable since it’s just water and spices. I love clam chowder, especially the New England-style clam chowder. Not pleased with the bloody red version. But, hold up. Clam is meat. And I very much doubt they would pick out the clams from the chowder. So, I went with the veggie soup. I just have to say soup is not very filling at all. Felt like I just drank a glass of water except I was still thirsty from the salt. The price was like $6.00 to boot. No way!

The next place I tried was Mehfil Indian for a plate of curry. During lunch time, the place has a list of four items–usually one veggie, one chicken, one other meat, and one other veggie. I usually get the chicken curry since it’s the most bang for your buck. I lucked out that day though, they had the Tofu Masala which is probably the most tastiest curry dish there. Usually, I would get a combo of the Tofu Masala and whatever chicken they had, but I am perfectly fine with just the one. The price is pretty decent too, coming in at an even $5.

I wouldn’t recommend eating curry everyday though. If eaten enough, the smell sticks to your clothes and it even seems to leak from your pores.

There just isn’t enough affordable vegan places to go–stressing affordable. I can accept paying $10 for a fat steak, but not the same price for veggies. I thought about making my own salad and bringing it to work; but, its such a hassle. I know my limits.

I decided to just not drink soda. Plain ole water for me, thank you!