Vegetarians are Cheesy

I've been a vegetarian for more than 30 days now. My observation from the other side of the fence where the grass is truly greener is that vegetarians are cheesy. Literally. I haven't been telling people that I'm a vegetarian because I don't like the political connotations that implies but I do say that I don't eat meat. The unilateral response has been an unusual kind of cultish acceptance that leaves me waiting for the secret handshake. And then it starts...

"Oh, here's a recipe. Veggie Lasagna. You'll need 4 cups of cheese..."
"You've got to try my veggie enchilada. You'll need 6 cups of cheese..."
"I've got the perfect recipe for veggie baked potatoes. You'll need 8 cups of cheese..."
"Have you tried my cheesy cheese recipe? You'll need 10 cups of cheese."

Seriously, I don't know a vegetarian who doesn't eat bucket loads of cheese. True, in some cases that means soy cheese, but the fact of the matter is (except for pizza) I pretty much gave up cheese five years ago. It's been the only dietary change (and I've made a lot of them) that has significantly reduced my cholesterol (the reason I'm switching to a vegetarian diet).

I simply have no desire to dress up food with cheese, soy or otherwise, which kind of leaves me in the barren wasteland of cheese-less vegetarians. I think they're called vegans, which sounds a little too much like vulcan to me. I certainly don't adhere to the political veiws of vegans or vulcans.

While I haven't had any problems giving up meat in the slightest (okay, I did have one cheeseburger dream), I still think we're all carnivores at heart. As my 3-year-old son said upon seeing a deer in a book about animals... "is that a deer? I'd like to eat that."