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  • From: <eureka AT hctc.net>
  • To: bobford79 AT yahoo.com, homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] Vegetarian diet was Fennel
  • Date: Mon, 17 Nov 2008 11:33:26 -0600

Bob, I've been a vegetarian almost my entire life, from the early beginings of spitting out Gerber baby meat through discovering in an allergy test at age 20 I was allergic to all meat except turkey. I already new I was deathly allergic to seafood and shellfish growing up from some traumatic eating experiences. I have not eaten any meat in thirty years, when I gave up turkey. I do eat eggs (that's why we raise chickens) and dairy. I'm called a lacto-ovo vegetarian.

Dairy tends to congest me, so I try to limit it in quantity, but being married to a Cheesehead, that's nearly impossible <g>

There are a lot of misconceptions about vegetarianism.
1. We are rabbits: The worst is when I go to long conferences and by checking "vegetarian option" this means I will be trying to beat everyone else to the cheese cube platter and living on salads like a bunny, basically starving.

2. We can't tolerate spices: Another one is vegetarians must like bland food (not true!). I remember a particularly embarrasing American Airlines dinner flight (back when they still served food) and my "vegetarian option" was brought out in a special silver chaffing dish like I was the Queen of England, and ever eye was on me. Taking the lid off, I discovered it to be a glump of steamed brown rice and a glump of steamed barley with nothing else! (I had the feeling this was the meal you got if you checked diabetic, salt-free, Kosher, whatever). Everyone else was eating spagetti & meatballs, salad, and peanut butter cookies. I could've eaten this sans meatballs. So many people felt sorry for me they started passing me parts of their food.

3: Since we don't eat meat, we must not need protien: Wrong! We get hungry just like everyone else. Getting enough protein is very important.

I don't know what kind of vegetarian food you've tried that didn't taste good. I am considered by all my friends as one of the best cooks they know, and I've followed recipes for so many years I can wing it intuitively. My most favorite cookbooks (all from famous vegetarian restuarnts) are:

Moosewood Cookbook (early hippie, easy to make, kind of heavy on the diary but tasty stuff)
New Recipes from the Moosewood Restaurant (focuses on different ethnic cuisine recipes)
Field of Greens (One of the best, more involved, but everything delicious!)
Millenium Cookbook (vegan upscale, very involved, but delicious and worth it--I use this for special dinners where I can spend a day in preparation)

For protein, I either use complimentary combinations of grains and legumes based on Recipes for a Small Planet (boring recipes, but good nutrition ideas) or buy the following (mostly found in the frozen food section/cool dairy) which are lower in fat and cholesterol than meat:

Quorn www.quorn.com (my favorite, made from mycoprotein ie. fungus and tastes like chicken-patties, cutlets, tenders)
Morningstar Farms www.seeveggiesdifferently.com (steak strips (husband's favorite), chicken strips, sausage patties, links, fake bacon, bratworst and Italian sausages)
Boca www.bocaburger.com (most meatlike burgers)
LightLife http://www.lightlife.com/product_category.jsp?c=deli (pepperoni, turkey, balogna, ham lunchmeat)
White Wave http://www.tofutown.net/index.php?sid=Products (wheat meat, tempe, seitan, baked tofu, tofu)

The main thing to know about veggie protein is most of it is already cooked and just needs reheating, overcooking it turns into rubber, so I add it last instead of first in recipes like stews, gumbo, etc.

There is *nothing* bland in most vegetarian's diets. Hope this helps you explore. We priced it out once and the veggie protein costs the same as meat. But check out the health stats on the websites and you can see the benefits.

--Sage
Way Out in Texas




On Mon, 17 Nov 2008 08:19:34 -0800 (PST)
bob ford <bobford79 AT yahoo.com> wrote:
If you don't mind; are you complete vegetarian? do you eat fish? or cheese?. I really need to move away from red meat. Most vegetarian foods (except for fresh produce) don't taste good, in my experience ......bobford




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