I became a vegetarian about a year ago now. Everyone usually assumes that you become a vegetarian for two reasons: you’re against animal cruelty or for environmental reasons. For me it was different, I went to the dining hall one day and realized that I hadn’t eaten or wanted to eat meat in two weeks.

Since then, I have stood with you in variety of everyday situations that are not everyday for the people that have not made this choice. I had to memorize are variety of lists: Where I get my protein (nuts, beans, soy, quinoa) what I do and do not eat (eggs, honey, fish, dairy, chicken) what I miss about eating meat (only the occasional hungover hamburger). While all of these lists are memorized on my part to help confused or curious friends and family make sense of my diet, I have never before had to justify what I eat to other people and I have never before had to argue with my grandmother about whether or not chicken was meat, or if poultry was in a category all its own.

The first time I came home and told my family I wanted to become a vegetarian, my grandmother laughed at me for a solid five minutes, told me I was an idealistic college kid and that it wouldn’t last. Since then she has slipped meat into “meatless” sauces and soups and has cooked quinoa for me in chicken broth all while insisting that while it’s just a little bit of meat for flavoring doesn’t actually count as meat. Everyone has had a confused friend or family member try to test or push the limits of their diets.

We’ve all been to a cookout, a barbeque, a Thanksgiving, or a restaurant where our food choices are very limited. We’ve all had to bring our own snacks, make our own dishes, and have gotten really good at finding that one menu item that we can eat, besides French fries. But all this extra work when it comes to food, in my opinion, makes it more special and more worth it. What we pick means something to us, and we get to be excited when we find a food that we love that we can eat. For instance, I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone as excited as my vegan roommate was when she found out she could eat Oreos. Having a weirdly complicated order, visiting new places and stepping out of our comfort zone has changed my relationship with food in a new way, making it more exciting and making me realize how important nutrition is.