Why I eat meat first.
I didn't set out to become a carnivore. I set out to stop feeling like my lunch needed a nap afterwards. The meat-first thing crept up on me — one steak at a time — until I looked down at my plate one Tuesday and realised the potatoes had quietly stopped turning up.
For years I cooked the way we're all taught to cook: a protein in the corner, two veg, something beige to fill the gaps, and a sauce to apologise for the lot. It looked balanced. It photographed well. And by three o'clock most afternoons I was prowling the kitchen for biscuits like a woman possessed.
So I ran an experiment on myself, because that's the only person I'm qualified to run experiments on. For one month, meat went first. Not meat only — meat first. Eggs at breakfast. The steak before the salad. Butter without guilt. If I was still hungry after the animal part of the meal, the rest was allowed to audition.
Mostly, the rest didn't get the part. What surprised me wasn't the food — it was the silence. The three o'clock biscuit voice just… stopped. I ate at mealtimes and then forgot about food, which for someone who has spent her whole working life in kitchens is frankly eerie. My energy flattened out into one long, usable line instead of the daily rollercoaster. And dinner got simpler, faster and — this is the part nobody warns you about — dramatically cheaper to think about. A ribeye doesn't need a recipe. It needs salt, heat and nerve.
What my table looks like now
Eggs, always. Beef most days, lamb when it looks at me nicely, pork for crackling reasons. Bone broth on the go permanently (the machine does that while I sleep — that's its own story). Butter as a food group. Cheese because life is long. And yes — the odd bowl of something green when I fancy it, because this is my table, not a religion.
Do I preach it at demos? Never. The Thermomix doesn't care what you believe in — it'll make vegan soup for your sister and render tallow for me with the same quiet competence. But if you sit at my table, you'll be offered meat first. You can always say no.
Nobody ever says no.