Confessions of a Vegetable Eater on the Road

When I began keeping notes on my travels, I had no purpose but that some day they might be amusing to myself and my friends. Brief sketches, for the most part, these notes are often quick essays on a place or a sensation. Now, after all this time, I realize that I have file folders and ring binders bulging with scattered tidbits on all manner of subjects relating to the way people in the Catalan regions of France and Spain cook and eat, and, ultimately, the way they think and live.

My purpose now is to share these notes as they come to hand from time to time while I continue my quest for well-being without meat or pesticides. You might wonder how the cookery of this region could ever be all-vegetable, gluten-free (mostly), and bio while remaining Catalan or Mediterranean. I wondered this too, especially when I dropped meat and dairy products from my diet. The Catalans are great meat-eaters and love the charcuterie truck that arrives on the village square every Saturday morning. Yet when you look at their entire diet, the basics are vegetal. And it is also true that all diets are evolving, including the traditional Mediterranean.

You have to evolve with the times, or face extinction. Certainly, the times you live in can seem to be the worst or the best of times. It all depends on your outlook on life. Take me for instance. I may not always have good reasons for being hopeful, or so my cynical friends needle me, but that doesn't stop me from being an optimist. What Today offers is unique. Once in a lifetime. That in itself is a cause for focusing on what is, not what hasn't happened yet.