AUTHOR: Hot Plate DATE: 7:37:00 AM ----- BODY: Between picky eaters, food allergies and dietary restrictions, dining out can often become a stressful situation. This person can't digest milk, that one is off carbs and she only eats chicken. While eating with a vegetarian used to seem challenging it is now the type of eater that I am most eager to welcome. By now restaurants are used to accommodating vegetarians and with the rise of side dishes as a veritable menu item, many restaurants have become a vegetarians paradise. My favorite vegetarian out there and my frequent dining companion is my cousin. Though restricted by her chosen way of eating, she is never one to complain over a restaurant choice, or absence of veggie options and she always manages to find something to eat wherever we go. One day though she confided in me that she had tasted some turkey pastrami and loved it. Her admission, though strictly against her diet, signaled that times were changing. The cured deli meat must have piqued her interest enough to try bacon barely a few weeks later. I was shocked! Though her vegetarianism had grown out of a distaste for meat, poultry and fish, bacon is far and away the most anti-vegetarian product to consume. I have since seen her order bacon on many occasions and I am not just talking about a bite or two at brunch, but even the slab of bacon with fresh peas at 5 ninth! I recently asked her if she realized that she could no longer describe herself as a vegetarian and so the name porktarian was born. Though she has made room on her plate for pork products (and sometimes other cured meats) she has not forgotten her vegetarian roots. I am hoping one day to convince her of the merits of bacon on a burger, but until then.... Top 5 Veggie Burgers: Houston's Josephina Zen Palate Le Monde (by Columbia) Better Burger --------