It's easy to overlook the impact our food choices can have on the environment. Recently, I found myself contemplating the environmental footprint of my diet and decided to embark on a week-long vegetarian journey as a small step towards a more sustainable lifestyle. So let me spill the beans on where I got the Inspiration to do this challenge. The idea to go vegetarian for an entire week was sparked by a documentary I stumbled upon one Sunday afternoon. You can watch it by clicking on the word "documentary". The alarming facts about the environmental toll of meat production caught my attention. Livestock farming contributes significantly to deforestation, greenhouse gas emissions, and water pollution. The more I learned, the more I got motivated to make a change or at least give it a try and who knows maybe I'll get courage to go vegan next. With newfound motivation, I set out to plan a week's worth of delicious, eco-friendly meals with the help of my mother of course. I wanted to showcase that a vegetarian diet not only benefits the planet but can also be incredibly satisfying and flavorful. Armed with a collection of plant-based recipes, I created a menu that was delicious and easy to prepare since I wouldn't necessarily call myself a cook. Will a person with a meat-loving-culture survive in the eco-friendly universe for an entire week? The answer is in the next chapter of this meatless journey!

Menemen is essentially scrambled eggs with tomatoes. Yes, I know there are no tomatoes, but my mom likes to get creative with her cooking. Knowing I enjoy potatoes, she added them in place of tomatoes.

Here is the recipe, good luck trying it !:

Ingredients:

• 3 medium frying potatoes

• 1 medium white onion

• 2 green bell peppers

• 3 large ripe tomatoes

• 6 eggs

• salt

• nutmeg, gratings

• 4 teaspoons frying oil

Directions:

• Wash potatoes thoroughly,dry,peel and dice small.

• Dice onion and peppers into very small pieces.

• Beat eggs slightly in a pan and set aside.

• Skin tomatoes and cut into very small pieces.

• Heat oil in deep frying pan.

• Add onion and peppers, and saute until soft.

• Add potatoes and cook until crisp.

• Add tomatoes and let cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

• Stir salt into frying mixture and mix well.

• Add beaten eggs quickly into frying pan, stir briskly and cook until hardened uniformly. Place over toasted bread slices immediately.

• Grate a few shavings of nutmeg (optional).

Sure what I did wasn't very hard but it's something.

I made Turkish "manti" or a lazy version of it to be precise.. Well, it's not exactly manti, but the combo of yogurt and spicy butter sauce gave me those familiar vibes.

So I call it manti. Manti is basically tiny dumplings filled with ground lamb or beef and boiled like pasta. In my version we use plain pasta.

The process is as straightforward as it sounds—just boil your pasta and drizzle it with a delightful blend of yogurt and butter sauce. I prefer a hint of spiciness for that extra kick. And voila, that's all there is to it! Okay, perhaps I'm a bit too proud considering how effortlessly it comes together, but hey, my inner chef isn't exactly a cooking master.

The moral: make the most of what you've got!

I was going strong the last two days, powering through the challenge. However, with a hectic day, the challenge slipped my mind.

Mom took charge of our meal today, whipping up some "Çiğ Köfte," or loosely translated, "raw meatballs." I dug in, not giving it much thought until I started thinking of the name. I started panicking and immediately told my mom that I failed my challenge. Turns out, the name is a bit misleading—people ditched the actual meat in Çiğ Köfte ages ago for health reasons. Talk about an embarrassing mix-up... However I asked for the recipe and I stopped listening after the 13th step. its a very complicated dish so I would recommend eating it in restaurants rather than making it yourself. I put a link of a restaurant in Berlin that I would recommend.

I hope my absence wasn't too noticeable. I was busy yesterday so I couldn't write here I was still eating no meat of course. Today I made yet another Turkish dish and this one is called "dolma". it never goes out of style and I was planing on doing it even before the challenge so that's pretty exiting. Dolma is stuffed pepper with a filling of rice. People often mix it up with "sarma" due to their shared characteristic of being filled dishes. Filling the dolmas was the best part in my opinion, it was really fun.

I know it looks burnt but I promise its supposed to look like that.

i didn't really give you guys updates on my cravings for meat but that was because I didn't really have any.

I had no need for meat the last days and I hope I can continue like that.

Veg out!

Guess what? Today is my last day and I thought the best way to end the challenge would be with a sweet treat.

I made lotus cake and I enjoyed eating it more than doing it. it was pretty hard but so worth it in the end! This lotus biscoff cake is a layer cake made with a soft biscoff cake, biscoff buttercream, filled with biscoff cookie crumbs, and topped with biscoff cookies. Did I already mention the biscoff?

it was very hard to not add any meat in this recipe but I guess I have to make sacrifices...

I want to thank you all for taking this journey with me.

Stay safe and save the planet...

Your eco-warrior Dicle!

Going into this challenge I knew I wouldn't really have a hard time

Fortunately, my mom is supportive. I'm confident she'd back me if I decided to extend my vegetarianism beyond a week, even insisting on cooking two separate meals. Yet, I understand her workload, and I don't want to burden her further. So, I've decided to extend my cooking skills. it is also good for me and I can cook friends and family anything they want plus I'll be more eco friendly.

watching the documentaries and looking at statistics i realized the seriousness of it all considering some numbers are illicit. I always new about it but I never let it affect my actions.

I think I mastered it all pretty good because I didn't have failures or doubts and I will definitely let it become a lifestyle rather than a challenge even with the goal of veganism.

Dicle

PS: Count how many times I used the word "Turkish"...