Christine Lehman became a “Let Them Eat Meat” reader the day after she left veganism. She seems to have found the site through the entry “Have Fear of Animal Products, Will Travel,” which would be appropriate, since unhappy traveling as a vegan played a major part in her leaving it after about four months.

Her blog, called “The Curvy Catholic,” is described as “The blog of a married conservative Catholic vegan who loves the Three Stooges.” Once she gets around to revising that, I wonder if she’s going to change that to “Catholic ex-vegan” or just drop the vegan entirely.

Let Them Eat Meat: What brought you into veganism?

Christine Lehman: I read a harrowing book called Slaughterhouse by an investigative reporter named Gail A. Eisnitz.  She went undercover at several different USDA slaughterhouses and found that all those lovely-sounding humane regulations we consumers have insisted on over the years are simply not enforced - that the animals die in terror and pain, and often are very unhealthy.

I’m sure I’m not the only person who’s encountered the ugly realities of today’s factory farms and decided that the only way a caring person can respond is simply to stop eating meat altogether.  And since I’d also read that dairy animals eventually wind up being slaughtered in those same places, I decided to go “whole hog” (sorry!) into veganism.

Did you notice any health benefits, or at least changes, while a vegan?

I really WANTED there to be!  One of the main reasons I switched, besides the animal welfare aspects, is because I fell for the Skinny Bitch assertion that dropping all animal products would result in a significant weight loss.  Since I was in Weight Watchers and my weight had stalled for several months, I thought that sounded great.  Unfortunately, it didn’t work in reality.  My weight stayed pretty much the same.  To be fair to the vegans, though, I have to say I don’t think I stayed on it long enough to experience any long-term effects, either good or bad.

You announced it rather proudly on your blog when you threw your hemp hat in with the vegans. Did that announcement make it harder for you to quit veganism later?

Yeah, I do have a tendency to announce my most dramatic, personal decisions online.  About ten years ago I became an atheist for a while, and the posts I made as “atheistgal” are still floating around in cyberspace, even though I returned to Christianity a few years later.  (Let that be a lesson to you - nothing EVER disappears from the Internet, unless of course it’s something you WANT to find.)

So yes, in a way, going public about my decision to become vegan did make it harder to swallow my pride and announce that I’d given it up later.  But that was nothing compared with telling my mom she was actually right!!

How did she react when you told her that?

I wasn’t actually going to tell her until Christmas morning (sort of the ultimate “cheapskate Christmas present”!).  However, sadly, last week my wonderful Uncle Bill - her older brother - died after a long struggle with Alzheimer’s.  My mom was feeling so sad about it that one day during a phone conversation, I told her, figuring it might cheer her up a little.  And it did!  To her credit, she refrained from saying “I told you so” - even though she did tell me so!

As much as you seemed to believe in veganism at first, you got out relatively quickly. What shook your faith?

I started noticing that most of the food specifically marketed to vegans seems to be a lot more unhealthy than the food it’s supposed to replace!  Specifically, check the sodium levels on some of those meat substitutes out there.  It’s kind of scary!  Also, I got a little tired of the fact that veganism seems to be almost a religion.  Heck, strike the “almost” part!  Read some of their online message boards and see what happens to the poor heretic who confesses she’s trying her best to be vegan, but wouldn’t it be OK to occasionally have a glass of milk or some real cheese?

Two religions does seem like it could be overkill. I gather from your blog that you are Catholic. What did other Catholics think of your choice?

Actually, along with my husband I am now Eastern (Byzantine) Catholic.  Eastern Catholics are very similar to Eastern Orthodox.  The Orthodox have lonnnngg fasting periods during the year - their Lent is 50 days (rather than the West’s traditional 40), and during those fasting periods they essentially “go vegan” - no animal products of any kind.  So during fasting periods, I fit right in.  And since my husband was used to cooking vegan meals during those times, he had no problem with my decision, and even came up with some yummy meal ideas.

The only problem I could foresee was - I’d be fine during the fasting period, but what was I supposed to feast on when it was over?  I hadn’t really given up anything!

What were some other difficulties you had with veganism?

I could never really agree that it was intrinsically wrong to eat animals or use animal products.  I thought, and still think, it’s possible for animals and humans to help each other.  I think it’s called “mutualism” - we give them things they need - food, shelter, companionship, free health care, grazing land, etc. - and in return they give us milk, eggs, and their flesh to eat.

Too often we have broken our side of that bargain, particularly with the infamous and justly despised factory farming system.  We should insist that any animals who are going to die to provide us with food should be treated like ROYALTY.  They should live as happy and healthy a life as we can possibly provide for them, and be killed as kindly and painlessly as possible when that time comes.  We’re supposed to be the most intelligent species on the planet - why can’t we make that happen?

I bet a certain author named Michael Pollan might agree with you. So with the vegan police and the double religion and what to do post-Lent, this all outweighed what you thought you were getting out of veganism?

Yes, as I mentioned when I commented on your blog, my husband and I took a trip on the Amtrak Coast Starlight at the end of August.  I pre-ordered their “vegan meal” option, and was dismayed when, meal after meal, my husband was presented with a mouth-watering array of delicious-smelling choices, while I got the same thing:  a plate full of yellow rice with a big yellow piece of fake meat.

The first time it was, “Oh, doesn’t that look yummy!”  The last time it was “OHMIGOD I have got to have some REAL FOOD!!”  Once I got home I was able to go back to my regular vegan choices but it did make me aware that this might not be as easy to sustain, long-term, as I’d originally thought.

And one more difficulty: there is just something about the word “Vegan” that grates against my spleen.  I HATE saying “I’m a vegan”.  I don’t know why, but I just do.  I hate ANY way of eating that requires you to adopt a whole philosophy to go with it.

Bottom line:  I became a vegan for a while out of a very real concern for the way animals are treated in our modern farms and slaughterhouses.  And I still have that concern!  However, I think supporting small farmers who ALSO share those concerns and are trying to treat their animals right is the best way to deal with that problem.

Veganism provides a more clear-cut way of doing things. You simply cut out all animal products. However, for someone who decides that factory farming is wrong but meat itself isn’t, the situation is more ambiguous. Do you only eat foods from pasture-raised animals on small, local farms? And if you still eat factory-farmed products, how do you justify that?

Here’s what I’ve (tentatively) decided:  for any meat I buy for MYSELF (or my husband), with my own money and for my own use, I will indeed do the best I can to always buy humanely-raised meat from local farmers; if not directly, then from stores like Whole Foods that at least attempt to do the same.

However, when I’m eating something that someone ELSE has spent THEIR money on, and gone out of their way to cook for me, I’ll eat at least a little of it.  Even as a vegan, I tried not to be openly judgmental or hostile to meat-eaters.  Vegans will probably say that shows I was never really committed to veganism, and they’re probably right.  Because I really, really hate “isms” of all kinds!

Some people will say I didn’t try this long enough.  On the contrary, I think I gave it more than a fair trial.  When I read about something that sounds reasonable and plausible, I will give it a shot.  If it works, I’ll stick with it.  If it doesn’t, I’ll move on.  (That same philosophy has led me to some interesting places in my life, like radio stations and nudist colonies.  But I digress!)

Any vegan regrets?

Notice the location of the photo of me as a vegan - it’s the home of my all-time favorite writer, Betty MacDonald (“The Egg and I”).  Even though almost all my life I’d wanted to go there and see her farm on Vashon Island, now that I was a vegan, I couldn’t bring myself to eat even one lousy stinkin’ egg there, in her honor!  What a waste!

Too bad her book wasn’t called “Tofu Scramble and I.” But at least that shows that you were a committed vegan after all. Is there anything you miss about being vegan?

Well, there’s that heady feeling of moral superiority you get when you become convinced that you are saving the lives of thousands of innocent animals.  That’s certainly an esteem builder!  I don’t really miss the food itself - by which I mean the “vegan substitutes.”  Even though I’m no longer limiting myself ONLY to those types of foods, I still plan to continue incorporating more non-animal foods into my daily diet.  Nothing wrong with that, as long as you’re eating the real foods and not the “chreezy” substitutes.