Not what you might think.
I've been talking about food a lot recently, and it's made me think about what I eat...if I can reconcile what I eat with my Buddhist path. I've always held the philosophy that if I'm not having something killed specifically for ME then that's ok. Buddhist monks eat whatever is given to them, they have the thought that beggars can't be choosers (and I agree).
For a while a couple of years ago I tried to be vegan. I ate no meat, no dairy products, and no eggs. I cooked using tempeh and tofu, and pruchased a lot of those 'Garden Burger' vegetarian alternatives...the stuff that's shaped like and flavored like meat products but is actually soy.
I thought I was doing well, until I stopped in the middle of a soy burger one day and thought about how futile and silly what I was doing was. I was eating something that tasted like meat, was designed and manufactured to resemble meat - so why shouldn't I just eat the goddam meat?! I was denying myself meat...for what reason? Because I didn't agree with the way animals were slaughtered and their bodies processed? No. Because I didn't like the way their flesh tasted? No. Because I thought that this was what good Buddhists were supposed to do? Yes, that was exactly it.
I was not eating meat for the entirely wrong reasons. So I stopped denying myself. I didn't go out and have a flesh-fest, I just started eating what I was cooking for the rest of my family again. I still eat meat, but I've changed the way I look at food: I try to be aware of it. I think about where what I'm eating came from, about what kind of effort went into making what I see before me on my plate..how many people's welfare is dependent on their job in the manufacturing process of the food I'm eating...it gives me a better sense of the interconectedness of everything, of us all. It makes me more mindful of myself, other people, and my environment. In a secular world, where we usually think of ourselves first and foremost, this thought process helps me be more altruistic in other areas.
I'll leave you with a quote about Buddhism and food:
' Adolf Hitler was a vegetarian; The Dalai Lama, the embodiment of compassion, eats meat by his doctor's orders. Clearly, there's more to mind than what is put into the mouth: yet, as long as food remains a fundamental part of life, these choices are a proper focus of spiritual awareness. Every bite of macaroni contains choices about culture, history, meaning - even the 'Nutrition Facts' listed on every US noodle box have resonances for us that spread as far as aceticisim, sin, compassion, the place of science in our beliefs, and the importance of supporting one's own well-being along with that of others.
So, what should a Buddhist eat?'