One of my Dad's favorite sandwiches that I remember as a kid was fried bologna. The stuff makes me cringe as an adult, but I remember liking it when I was little until I started making connections with animals and meat. Growing up on a farm and petting the sweet little baby cows and then realizing that they were what I was later eating...well, it didn't sit too well with me. I stopped eating meat from our farm and would only eat meat my mom bought at the store. I know this makes no sense in terms of quality, humane practices, etc., but I was really just starting to make those connections. I didn't become a vegetarian until college, and it still took a couple of years. My roommate freshman year (who is still one of my dearest friends today--hi Courtney!) was veg and often urged me to eat that way too. She was my first introduction to eating meat free, but I still wasn't 100% wanting to give it up. I stopped eating red meat my junior year, and tried new ethnic foods for the first time around then too, opening up a whole new world of food options. I remember one day, I was in the dining hall eating with friends and I cut into a piece of chicken. I looked down and saw the striations of muscle and my brain went "ding! hello!". I was pretty grossed out and pretty much went vegetarian at that point!
ANYway...long story short--I don't miss meat and it has been a long time, but I do miss certain preparations and sauces of dishes I used to eat. I've figured out ways to recreate many of them. And every once in a while I remember something such as fried bologna. I made it (with healthy and gourmet touches, of course ;) for us the other day. I used Tofurkey "bologna", lightly pan fried in a bit of olive oil and added Vegenaise, dijon mustard, baby spinach, and I carmelized a huge Vidalia onion and put it all on toasted sprouted whole wheat bread. It was very, very good and with a side of carrots and kumquats--a perfect lunch!
