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When I first came to the United States in 1994, I was 7. Having spent my childhood in Shangdong Province, in eastern China, I didn’t know you were supposed to change your clothes every day. Consequently everybody thought I smelled and very few people were brave enough be my friend, let alone sit next to me. You can imagine how thrilled I was when a nice girl from my class took pity on me and came over for dinner.

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Best-Ever Veggie Burger

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When the dinner rush means you need to put a healthy, flavorful meal on the table fast, it’s time to consider a sandwich — or burger, or wrap. These vegetarian takes on the handheld meal deliver on satisfaction and give you the added bonus of an extra helping of veggies, beans, or grains.

There’s a chickpea and sweet potato patty laced with the sweet heat of Sriracha, and a beet-based veggie burger that owes its savory essence to smoked paprika. If you’re looking for a wrap, an arugula, chickpea, and apple situation can be whipped up with ingredients you probably already have on hand. Here are 21 reasons we think you need to kick meatless Monday off with a sandwich in hand.

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The comic essayist David Sedaris perfectly captures the absurdity of ritual in his famous French-class skit. Sedaris, an American, attempts to describe in broken French how “the rabbit of Easter … he bring of the chocolate … he come in the night when one sleep on a bed.” His Polish and Italian classmates scoff at the idea of a small, long-eared mammal that sneaks into children’s homes each spring to lavish them with sweets.

“No, no,” counters Sedaris’s teacher. “Here in France the chocolate is brought by a big bell that flies in from Rome.”

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