I was full on vegan for 2 years, not for any belief system in my case, but to try it out and to lose weight.

I lost weight. The metabolic change, I'm sure, plus the lack of animals fats (I didn't even eat cheese), and I was more physically active in my youth.

When I was done, I think I lived on beef for the next 2 years. I actually craved it. And I found every pound I lost and then some.

I guess the moral for me was, I could live without meat, but I sure missed it.

My wife is from another land, and the stuff her and her family eats sometimes just amazes me, both in composition and source. I consider myself a squeamish food experimenter, but I would definitely empty her sister's fridge if no alternative.

And, if any Filipino neighbors offer, eat that balut, selamat, very much. But not now, neither on a dare nor to be neighborly- ecch.