Have you ever been to Cajun Country?  I’m here right now in Alexandria, Louisiana.  My in-laws are taking us out tonight to Landry’s Seafood & Steakhouse.  Looking at the menu they gave me, knowing I eat a vegetarian diet, I found these delectable offerings:

Crawfish Festival – Contains a cup of crawfish bisque, fried catfish, crawfish remoulade, crawfish etoufee, crawfish stuffed bell pepper & crawfish pie.

Or redfish courtboullion (a fish stew), cajun smothered roast duck, rabbit sauce piquant, cajun stuffed fish, fried alligator, or a hamburger po’boy. Hmmmm, pickin’s are gittin’ slim here, Folks, for the vegetarians in the crowd!

Being a veg head for 22 years, I know how to make do and it’s not challenging and I don’t feel deprived.  I get to eat awesome steakhouse baked potatoes, which I don’t usually get to have, and there’s always the salad bar.

Now, being a Southern gal relocated to Boston, though, I know all about these Southern salad bars – you’ll find a huge vat of iceberg lettuce peppered with toppings like tomatoes, cucumbers, slivered carrots, onions and Thousand Island, bleu cheese or Italian dressings.  It still counts as veggies.

I look at eating out differently than many.  While to me, eating is pleasure and something I need to do for energy to find enjoyment in every day, it’s just not the end-all be-all.

Still, it’s on these occasions I pine for New England’s vastly diverse menus.  Oh well.  It’s just food, it’s just one day, and iceberg didn’t kill me as a kid!  Oh wait, I see homemade onion rings and fried eggplant sticks, I’m in business!