This is Sarah, my 14-year-old (meat-eating) sister. Recently, I asked Sarah to go vegetarian with me for one week. I made all her meals and tried my best to educate her on the benefits of vegetarianism. She was a good sport throughout the week and always gave my food a shot before declaring that she hated it. Most importantly, she stuck with me through it all, even when I was expecting her to tell me she was over it. In hindsight, perhaps I should have taken the time to plan out each meal in accordance with what might be in favour of a grade nine student. My strategy for tackling the week was pretty much just to feed Sarah whatever I was eating - sort of like a week-in-the-life situation. This meant a lot of vegetables, new foods, and veggie substitutes – a lot of which did not go over very well. The good news is Sarah still wants me to cook her food once in a while, so she hasn’t thrown out the vegetarian diet for good.

The following Q&A with Sarah discusses her thoughts on her week of vegetarian eating. As a high school student with better things to do, her answers were shy and minimal. Please enjoy this glimpse into my sister’s brain…

What did you think of the one week of eating vegetarian with me?

I missed my chicken. Yeah, and fish. It was interesting. I feel like we could have chosen better foods to eat… but yeah.

What was one food you loved?

I really liked the smoothies and also the spring rolls.

What was one food you hated?

Um, rice wraps, or whatever those things were (rice paper veggie wraps). Why? Because they were cold, and I don’t like cold food.

Did you learn anything from this experience?

Yes… I forget what I learned. Something about cows and chickens.

Do you think you’ll ever go vegetarian?

No.

The Takeaway

Doing a week of vegetarianism with my sister was a lot of fun. For me, it was an opportunity to introduce her to the world of food that I feel so passionate about. For her, it was an opportunity to learn and to bond. I think that we’ve both grown not only as people because of this exercise but closer as siblings. In the future, I’d like to do a week of vegetarianism again with Sarah and maybe even with my other family members as well. If you’re passionate about food, I’d recommend trying something similar with the people in your life. Whether it be a vegetarian week with your sister, a vegan week with your brother, a clean-eating week with your partner, or any other kind lifestyle shift; it’ll be a chance to welcome someone you care about into your world.