Darya — you may know me as Chelsea’s mother. As you know we have both been plant-based for five years. I feel the same way you do about eating at home. I know even the best plant-based food in restaurants is toxic compared to what I cook at home. And yet I go out to eat about three times a week for dinner and sometimes for lunch as well. and here’s why: food is more than fuel. It has a social component that is probably very primitive.

As tribes, we probably ate together and in the modern world, food is part of almost every celebration. Especially for people who work at home, which is more and more of us, it’s increasingly important to get out of the house. That’s the social function of a restaurant.

So I have quit beating myself up about it and realize that if I go out to eat in a carefully chosen restaurant and choose the egg plant-based diet I’m probably still ahead of the game compared to most of the world. I think we obsess way too much about food on one hand end of the spectrum and not enough on the other. You, Chelsea, and I are on the obsessive end.

Keep writing and thinking!