Dilettante & Tyro (A Series. In Conversation): Mindfulness

-Let me see those.

-I take one every morning before my breakfast. Sometimes I take one at night or in the afternoon if I'm feeling particularly B deprived or something.

-Why did you, of all people, become a vegan? Is it vegan or a vegan?

-I don't think it matters. But I think you can lose the article. It sounds more unified and communal without the “a.”

-Ok, why did you become vegan? You love meat. And cheese.

-That's just it. I love meat. I love cheese. But why should I indulge in something based solely on pleasure? You don't roam around the streets kicking homeless people.

-Right. But I also find no pleasure in such pursuits. Besides, you don't eat meat solely for the pleasure it gives you. Nutrition is another factor.

-My point exactly. It's a kind of asceticism.

-You mean you see yourself as a sort of palate-monk.

-Precisely. I deprive myself of something I enjoy, I make it harder for me to ingest B12, vitamin D and calcium, I consider before eating, all because I believe in something higher than a whimsical craving for a cheesesteak. Why should a cow be slaughtered because my stomach belts an insatiable growl?

-Not insatiable.

-What?

-Your stomach could easily be appeased by popping a chunk of ground beef into your mouth.

-By shoving beef down my gullet? You aren't following. As long as I'm alive I am going to be hungry. I might as well eat with a mindfulness of my food.

-Mindfulness?

-Yes. Mindfulness. Being aware of what you eat. How it impacts the entire universe, not just your impermanent appetite.

-And you eat with your mind how often? Every time you eat?

-Every time I unhinge my jaw to bite.

-How long have you been a vegan now?

-Since last May. So going on eight months now.

-And how long have you been taking these supplements?

-The same.

-Have you ever read the ingredients?

-Once. When I bought them. A bunch of stuff I couldn't pronounce.

-Yeah, I bet. Except for this one. You can pronounce ingredient number two.

-What is it?

-You have to promise you'll appreciate the irony.

-I think I know where this is going.

-Gelatin.