The Vegetarian & Vegan Thread

[misssakura]

I spent a lot of time in Normandie until recently (I am currently in New Zealand) and I plan to go back for next summer. I find though that it is impossible to eat out in Northern France (with the exception of maybe Paris) without meat being shoved down your throat. Coming to think of it, I can hardly think of any menus of restaurants I like that have vegetarian options. This is going to be a problem with my parents, as they love eating out, and I hate lettuce and tomato so it isn't really an option to have a side salad.

All I can think of is just going buffet style. Le Sigh.

 

[skot4mc]

1 week without touching meat, and going strong!

 

[Irene_A]

Have you ever tried Gazpacho?. It's very a typical Spanish recipe and it's really great for summer since you don't need to cook anything (everything raw) and you can have it very cold. You need tomatoes, onion, green/red pepper, a bit of garlic, cucumber, bread, olive oil, wine vinegar and water. It's a bit spicy but it tastes great and it's full of vitamines (and of course low fat). I'm not a big fan of tomatoes but I can't get enough of it.

 

[fab_fifties_fille]

I spent a lot of time in Normandie until recently (I am currently in New Zealand) and I plan to go back for next summer. I find though that it is impossible to eat out in Northern France (with the exception of maybe Paris) without meat being shoved down your throat. Coming to think of it, I can hardly think of any menus of restaurants I like that have vegetarian options. This is going to be a problem with my parents, as they love eating out, and I hate lettuce and tomato so it isn't really an option to have a side salad.

All I can think of is just going buffet style. Le Sigh.

I worked in Rouen in Normandy for a week...and we ate out at a restaurant every night...they did really nice vegetarian meals for me every night (as I'd specified before I went) so I never found it a problem...but when I'd have to get my lunch through the day it would be alot more difficult when the restaurant didn't already know. My friend was doing work experience in a little cafe/bistro and every day even though she was vegetarian she got offered chicken or fish (alot of the French seem to think if you're vegetarian you still eat white meat). When I was in Paris on a school trip we got pre-packed lunches by our hostel...The first day i got one cheese baguette and one chicken (these were seperate packed lunches for the vegetarians by the way) and another day I got a cross cut of salmon...with the the bone in and the skin still on, and a fin

 

[Sweets]

why do people think you can be vegetarian and still eat poultry and sea food? are those animals less important because they are smaller?

 

[*Happiness*]

Happiness aww, how cool to know that I have inspired you....
What got me to where I am today and to feel this amazing
change in me was in part the understanding the human body.
I did alot of research before I just gave up meat cold turkey.
As my father would always say to me in whatever I do, as it
be me driving my car, riding my bike, playing my Cello, or
whatever it may be, he tells me to be mindful. I guess it's his
way of saying appreciate the little and the big things in life.
Simplicity as he would tell me. Think with simplicity. It's not
that hard to know that you are only in this body for so long, so
take care of yourself, be mindful! Good luck to you Happiness!

That is so true! Your father is a VERY wise man. Karma to you and him! I will always remember that...be mindful. thanks so much. And tell your father thank you as well.

 

[*Happiness*]

1 week without touching meat, and going strong!

Congrats SS!!!! Yesterday I had a meatless day again....felt good. Today I think I'll go meatless as wel.....because Tuesday, August 1st I'm meatless for one month.

 

[misssakura]

I can see myself getting fat off cheese baguettes

Although there is a little restaurant near me in Montreuil L'Argille that does really tasty stuffed tomatoes. The thing that bothers me, is the carrots at the buffet in some restaurants are put on top of the sliced cold meats, and there are little tiny cubes of gelatin on it. I think in some places it's really unavoidable, and since it's the heart of farmer's country it isn't likely to change any time soon. I don't think in our village they would know what vegetarian was, let alone cater for it.

 

[*Happiness*]

gelatin!!! That's the worse.

 

[Aimeeeee]

gelatin!!! That's the worse.

I agree..the thought of it makes me feel sick! To make things worse, I just changed birth control pill, looked at the ingredients and it has GELATIN in it!! Glad I haven't started them yet but now I'm gonna have to go back to get some different ones

 

[*Happiness*]

I agree..the thought of it makes me feel sick! To make things worse, I just changed birth control pill, looked at the ingredients and it has GELATIN in it!! Glad I haven't started them yet but now I'm gonna have to go back to get some different ones

awww man. yeah, gelatin is derived from pigs...so yeah, you may want to look into changing them. sometimes it disturbs me to read ingredients on foods, medicines, vitamins, etc that are meatless and yet they still have animal derivatives in them. How is that possible?

 

[susa31]

Great threat!
I'm a vegetarian for 10 years now.....at age 13 I changed from one day to the other and am not missing anything
....I do get my blood checked every 8 weeks though.... just to make sure that I can change my eating habits fast enough if my body is missing something.

 

[lightuponme]

Has anyone here checked out Quorn? So close to chicken but 100 percent meat-free. I'm a fan.

Sorry but what is quorn? I don't think I know that

 

[Aimeeeee]

Sorry but what is quorn? I don't think I know that

from quorn.co.uk:

What is Quorn?

Over 90% of people have heard of the Quorn brand but many people don’t fully understand what it’s all about. Is it soya? Or maybe TVP? Actually, Quorn foods are totally unique in so many ways, and there are some very surprising facts about the range that you may be interested to know!

You may have heard a lot recently about the special ingredients such as the “good bacteria” in probiotic drinks and yoghurts, etc. Well we have our very own unique/special ingredient!

All Quorn products contain mycoprotein. Mycoprotein is a nutritious member of the fungi family, as are mushrooms and truffles. There are lots of great things about mycoprotein which very few people know, so here are just a few:

- Mycoprotein is a fungus which contains high quality protein, enabling us to offer an alternative, purely vegetarian source of protein to meat

- Mycoprotein is naturally low in fat

- Mycoprotein also contains very few calories, so we can bring you foods which deliver on taste but which don’t max out on the calorie content

- Mycoprotein also contains essential dietary fibre, which as we all know, helps to maintain a healthy digestive system

- Mycoprotein doesn’t contain any cholesterol whatsoever, so eating Quorn products as part of a balanced, low fat diet can help to maintain normal cholesterol levels, which can help keep your heart healthy

- Mycoprotein is completely meat free. The organism does occur naturally, but we simply grow it under controlled conditions so that we can bring you a large variety of high quality Quorn products.

Only Quorn products contain this special vegetarian protein ingredient, and our expert chefs have many years of experience in using mycoprotein as an ingredient and turning it into our deliciously tasty range of ready meals, grills, sausages, burgers, Deli slices, as well as the classic cooking ingredients like mince and pieces we’ve become famous for.

Quorn is simply the brand name we use to highlight those products which contain our special ingredient. Look for the Quorn logo in the chiller and freezer cabinets in all good supermarkets and make a positive choice for you and your family!

 

[Elegance.Is.Refusal.]

love quorn since i dont really like tofu. and they are getting more varied products they've just brought some bacon out which i want to try.

although i dont buy the frozen sausages anymore since i've found bits of plastic in them twice now but i've never had any problems with any other quorn products.

 

[Velony]

Sounds interesting. Where can I get it? I'd love to try it. Is it only available in the UK yet?

 

[Elegance.Is.Refusal.]

well they have sites for the UK, USA, Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland and Sweden so i assume they only sell it in these countries so far.

 

[Sillygirl]

I must add that Quorn contains egg, and therefore isn't suitable for vegans

 

[misssakura]

I thought it would be fun to keep a photo diary of food that I make and so on, although i'm going to be limited for a while because we have a high humidity problem so I can't cook anything with steam But anyway, don't know if people are interested but I uploaded a few recent meals...

This is a vegan friendly miso soup, with runner beans, buckwheat udon, marinated tofu, red bean rice balls, brocolli, cauliflower, spinach and spring onion. Preparation time: 5 minutes

A vegan friendly 'hearty' potato soup. Boil the potatoes seperately and allow to cool, then chop finely and add into half a pan of water with one finely diced onion. Allow to simmer for about 25 minutes, then keep stirring and mashing it for about 5 minutes, adding in fresh basil, mixed herbs and garlic. Add a pinch of salt and pepper, and if you're vegan, a little bit of white sauce made with soy milk, or vegetarian about 20g of medium salted butter. Serve with organic brown bread

I call this 'the artery clogger'. Its actually a home-made pizza. I make a quick dough, by adding some sugar and yeast to warm water, and letting it sit in a warm place for 10 minutes. I then sieve 1 cup (american) of self raising white (organic) flour into a bowl, then 1 cup of brown flour. Make a well in the middle and add in some olive oil, then start mixing, Make a well again and gradually add in the frothy yeast mixture, along with 2 tsp (depends on your taste) of salt. Make a nice elastic dough and let it rise for an hour, I like to use oiled up cling film. Once its done, you can either knead it and let it rise again, or just opt for a smaller slightly heavier dough (which I often do because i'm lazy). Roll it out to fit your cooking tray, and baste with some tomato puree. Then add on some rich tomato sauce (you can make your own if you just reduce some tinned tomatoes with some sugar, salt and cornflour). I like to put the chopped onions on before the cheese, if you are making it vegan, a mixture of soft tofu and hummus works really well as an alternative to cheese. Butternut squash also works well if you have the time and patience to prepare it. So add on the cheddar, and then toppings, here I used fried 'mock-pork' (with honey soy marinade), feta, red capsicum, tofu and Bbq sauce, hence why its called the artery clogger

I don't know if anybody found it interesting but I love to look at what 'real' people make at home, not looking at varnished up glossy images from a magazine and probably take hours to prepare.

 

[tott]

^ Very inspirational!