The Real Reason Ree Drummond Stopped Being A Vegetarian

Food blogger and TV personality Ree Drummond — who's also popularly referred to as The Pioneer Woman — is a well-known face in the culinary world. According to a piece by Eat This, Not That!, Drummond is quite dedicated to the art of cooking and doesn't mind getting competitive. In fact, in 2010, she managed to win in a face-off with celebrity chef Bobby Flay as the duo worked on preparing ambitious Thanksgiving meals that included five courses.

Fun fact: The Pioneer Woman loves to work with meat while cooking. One of her all time favorite meals? Meatballs. She prefers to keep things simple by adding salt, onion, and black pepper to ground beef for a truly yummy meal. She also uses barbecue sauce for extra deliciousness. Drummond also enjoys classic dishes like spaghetti and meatballs with other indulgent meals like sushi, steak, and barbecue chicken.

But knowing this makes it hard to believe that The Pioneer Woman was once a vegetarian. Yep, Drummond excluded meat from her diet during college and a while after, sticking with rather plain meatless meals. Here's what happened.

As explained by Eat This, Not That!, The Pioneer Woman's dietary choices were meat-free when she was studying at the University of Southern California and she didn't touch meat for three years before cheating a little with a meat burger. She then followed that episode up with three more years of staying away from meat and relying on limited food options as a student: pasta, veggies, tofu, cheese, and ice cream.

To be clear, Ree Drummond's decision to avoid meat was simply something she was experimenting with, and she never disliked meat per se. She wrote in a blog post on her site, that at the time it just felt fitting for who she was. But she changed her mind and started incorporating meat into her diet again after meeting her now-husband.

Drummond loves meat these days. When asked to describe what her final meal would look like, she said she'd go with beef tenderloin, spinach, sautéed mushrooms, and red wine (via Taste of Home). She'd also never say no to a comforting bowl of mac and cheese topped with caramelized onions and bacon. Delicious!