I was strictly vegetarian for a year, almost to the day, and it was a great experience. I learned a lot about how to cook with new foods and made and ordered fo

I was strictly vegetarian for a year, almost to the day, and it was a great experience. I learned a lot about how to cook with new foods and made and ordered foods I might not normally have. I still cook lots of vegetarian meals, although I've switched back to eating meat again. I ended up switching back because I was missing out on a huge amount of cuisine. Vegetarian and vegan food has plenty of variety, and if our culture swung that way I would have no complaints, but leaving out a big chunk of culture was just too much for me. I also found it was nearly impossible to be vegetarian while traveling in Europe (Netherlands, France, Belgium). A random restaurant in the US has a much higher chance of being accommodating of vegetarian diets than a random restaurant in Europe. In any case, I would highly recommend a strict vegetarian diet, even if you only do it for a set amount of time. When you're forced to change how you think about food, it really gives you an appreciation for how many varieties of food there are.