The Stig's Vegetarian Cousin!

A friend of mine is vegan. He claims that the reason isn't that he loves animals.......just that he hates plants!

Vegetarian dishes can be quite good, but I've never had one that couldn't be improved with bacon.

Interesting that a friend emailed me this today:

Regular Joe vegetarians are cool. The militant, pushy, in your face types, not so much.

Can't say I'm vegetarian or have every thought about it. I do like the morningstar farms chicken patty things, though, and I like a good veggie burger every now and then.

Most vegetarians I know are very gracious and understand that most people do not share their views. I feel bad for 'em, as most of the time they do get the pile of vegetables at restaurants/family meals.

I Love veggies!!! As long as they are right next to a rare steak.

If it tastes good, I'll eat it. But don't call it a burger without beef, or sausage without pig, or in response to another thread milk unless it is squeezed from a cow.

I'm an omnivore, I eat everything except comercially produced baked goods...and baked beans But I've noticed as I grow older, I have less meat on my plate. TaiChineseIndian vegi-dishes are awsome. On special occasions we have steak, baked potatoes, huge salad, and sauted mushrooms. It wouldn't be the same with any component gone. Jay, where in Indo are you? My best friend is from there, and I have visited a couple of times.

Jay, where in Indo are you? My best friend is from there, and I have visited a couple of times.

(Mild threadjack) I go over there for work every few months, installing geophysical equipment in the field. I've been literally all over the archipelago (except Borneo and Sulawesi.) I'll be heading back in January to work in West Sumatera, Nias, and the Mentawai Islands. Beautiful area.

I'm eating a veggie sammie as I type this (Dave's Killer bread, cucumbers, spinach, lettuce, tomato, avocado, veganaisse, and a slice of Tillamook Extra Sharp Cheddar...

Anyways, my girlfriend (of nearly 6 years who autocrosses) is a Vegan, and a real one at that. She eats no animal products whatsoever (cheese, milk, casein, eggs, egg whites, meat, fish, poultry, natural flavors, etc, etc). Being in a hippie area (Seattle/Portland) it's fairly easy to shop and go out to eat at Vegan friendly places. It's actually kind of fun to find new Vegan food (there's these new chocolate bars that are soooooo freaking good!) Jokerz (Snickers), Mahalo (Mounds), Buccaneers (3 Muskateers), and Twilight (Milky Ways). They taste blind-taste-test identical and are actually healthy for you (since they're Vegan).

Anyways, there's no meat in our house ever. I have cheese and milk here. All of our meals start Vegan (I'll add cheese to mine, she gets Soy Cheese). I still eat nearly everything (no shellfish, allergic) but I eat all of my meat out which has helped my health immensely. Being vegetarian really isn't that hard, especially if you just do it for health and have a majority of your meals veggie (I get meat maybe 3-4 times a month when I eat out).

As far as the food goes, there's some really good stuff out there. The Tofurkey Kielbasa Sausages are my favorite (I don't eat "real" hot dogs, ever). The MorningStar crumble is great in pasta and tacos. Veggieburger breakfast snausage and flame-grilled burgers are excellent. Fantastic Foods Taco Meat, Chili, and Sloppy Joe are all better than the real things. I can't do Soy Milk though, that stuff is freaking NASTY! (And yes, I've milked cows, so I have no problem drinking that delicious white goodness)

I've also gained an appreciation for really high-quality fruit. We have a local fruit shop with fresh apples (HoneyCrisp are the bomb), pears (really sweet and soft), and all sorts of seasonal goodness. Being a Florida boy, I've always appreciated good citrus, now I can dig a simple piece of fruit as a snack no problem.

The Moosewood resturant put out some really good vegan cookbooks.

My currant gf keeps trying to get me to try her garden burgers. But I don't eat much meat anyway. I guess I spent too much time in Italy. Lots of seafood but not a lot of cow and pig. When you do get it it is about the size of a silver dollar.

mtn wrote: I understand it for the health and religious reasons. But it seems that most vegetarians I know* seem to try and tell me I'm a horrible person. As I point out their leather belt. *I actually think I know a lot more vegetarians, I just don't know that they are.

You're still in school were everyone is perfect. Once you leave you'll see that most people don't shove their beliefs down your throat, except that hippie tree huggin' vegan Hess

Gosh, Wally. I did hug a tree this morning. Just before I put it into the wood stove so it can be Free, releasing all it's CO2 back to nature. Fly, CO2, Fly off and be Free to make more trees, grass, and vegieburger.

Besides, no one shoves their believes down your throat. This is the 0's, doode. What you do is give money to lobbists so they pay off congressmen to pass laws so the Federal Government will force their beliefs down your throat. Get with the times.

And everyone knows everything is better with Bacos on it, right?

Dang. I probably offset 2 or 3 vegans. I loves my burgers, steaks etc. I loves my veggies too, there are very few things I like better than crunchy steamed broccoli and cauliflower. Steamed carrots, snow peas... yum.

I must disagree with the good Doctor: Bacos reek. I hate those things. Only real bacon bits for me.

I too have no problem with vegans or vegetarians unless they are militant and I have known a few of those.

I was vegetarian once for about a month. Seemed like my sex drive dissapeared. I stopped that real quick!

One great product I still like are the Morningstar Farms Pizza Burgers. Hot damn those are tasty!

You must not have been doing it right, bequietanddrive.

Seriously, though, I like Bacos, but I don't eat them anymore because they give me bad acid-tummy. Boca brand Vegan Burgers are good and a staple around here. Sam's Club carries larger Boca Burgers than you can get at Wally World, and they're cheaper on a per each too. Go figger. Wally World here carries Amy's products, which are vegetarian, and their frozen Indian food rocks. I've had worse Saag Paneer from restaurants for $25.

Dr. Hess wrote: You must not have been doing it right, bequietanddrive. Seriously, though, I like Bacos, but I don't eat them anymore because they give me bad acid-tummy. Boca brand Vegan Burgers are good and a staple around here. Sam's Club carries larger Boca Burgers than you can get at Wally World, and they're cheaper on a per each too. Go figger. Wally World here carries Amy's products, which are vegetarian, and their frozen Indian food rocks. I've had worse Saag Paneer from restaurants for $25.

Yeah, it could have been because I was eating a LOT of soy products. I don't think the artificial soy stuff is the way to go all the time. Seems to me like too much soy in men is a bad mix.

When I was in grammar school, a group of college girls asked the principal if they could survey the students for a nutrition research project. All the kids filled out forms asking about our eating habits, favorite food, etc. Later my teacher pulled me aside and told me that once the results were tabulated, that I was the ONLY kid in the school who listed a vegatable as my favorite food. All the rest had listed Ice Cream, hot dogs, hamburgers, pies, cakes, etc.

My declared favorite food as a 6th grader? Brussel Sprouts!

Wally wrote:

mtn wrote: I understand it for the health and religious reasons. But it seems that most vegetarians I know* seem to try and tell me I'm a horrible person. As I point out their leather belt. *I actually think I know a lot more vegetarians, I just don't know that they are.

You're still in school were everyone is perfect. Once you leave you'll see that most people don't shove their beliefs down your throat, except that hippie tree huggin' vegan Hess

What good timing. While I came in from a night of... um... studying, yeah, I'll use that... but while I was coming into the dorm last night, one of the vegges i was thinking of when I originally posted could be seen projectile vomiting onto the door of the bathroom.

NYG95GA wrote: My declared favorite food as a 6th grader? Brussel Sprouts!

I will not, refuse, cannot, point blank will leave the table if Brussel Sprouts are on it. They seriously will make me puke. I don't know what it is, I'll happily eat any vegetable, most I'll even enjoy. The Sprouts make me gag. Uggh.

On the other hand, I have been eating about 15-20 salads of some form a week recently. Vegetarian by forced choice is better than carnivore for me right now by virtue of the fact that my food court doesn't know what real meat is supposed to look/taste like.

This is funny because I started a "Vegetarian Challenge" with myself this week after eating like crap over Thanksgiving break.

My original challenge was lacto-ovo-vegetarian, but i made exceptions for wild game hunted by someone I knew. Since none of my friends got any deer, that worked until one of my lady friends supplied me with deer jerky her dad had got. Since I just recently met her dad, that was fine by rules.

Everything was good up until day 4, when I broke down and decided to have a piece of fish.

So now the challenge continues with lacto-ovo-pescatarian, but I need to limit carb intake...it's too easy to pound a big bowl of fettuccine Alfredo...which can't be good.

My best friend for 17 years has been vegetarian since I met him. Between him, most of my girlfriends, and my wife (when I met her, I have since corrupted her) are all vegetarian. So consequently it's been a part of my lifestyle over the years. I also tried it for a couple of months, but in the end I'm just too much of a hedonist. I agree it's a healthier way to live if done correctly. I'll gladly eat either "type" of meal.

As far as fake meat, I love the Boca bratwurst. Unfortunately, they've become increasingly hard to find. I can only find the Italian sausage anymore, which is a shame. Also Seitan (sp?) has a much better texture and taste than almost any other. I've always wondered why they don't make more fakey flesh like that.

As many vegetarians that I know that have had the tendency to argue their gastronomic ideals, I've known many more meat-eaters that feel the need to challenge the whole concept, unprovoked. It's like some people feel threatened by having a vegetarian at the table. Perhaps they came in contact with a shove-vegetarianism-down-your-throat type and are now defensive. lol dunno

Threadjack:

EastCoastMojo wrote: I will eat raw hamburger if it is good quality stuff. Yeah, I get that look a lot.

Call it 'tartare' and tell your friends you paid a damn sight for it. That should at least change the weird looks.

(If you toss the meat with a little bit of super high quality olive oil and the tiniest little squeeze of lemon - and, of course, salt and pepper - you'll take it to the next level.)

On Topic:

My girlfriend, some time ago, stopped eating industrially-produced meat. She started doing it with beef for environmental reasons - cattle feedlots, particularly, are quite destructive to huge amounts of land - she made it an all-meat policy shortly thereafter. This has been a blessing and a curse. It has made procuring meat a little more difficult and expensive, but it means it's all coming from local producers, and it's significantly higher quality stuff. I guess she's a loca-carnivore.

But she cheats with bacon. Everybody cheats with bacon. Even veggies. I've seen it.

alex wrote: But she cheats with bacon. Everybody cheats with bacon. Even veggies. I've seen it.

Ha! That's what got my wife! Her co-worker brought in a bacon and avocado sandwich and her vegetarian days were numbered.

i dunno about all this "health reasons" crap. i hate cooking, so i do a week's worth on sunday night. here's the diet i've recently, slowly, lost 10 lbs on (currently 5'9" and 168# at 43 years old):

Breakfast, every day: 3 hard boiled eggs, 3 strips bacon, 3oz mild cheddar, 1 multi-vitamin.

Lunch, almost every day: 6.5oz chunk light tuna, mayo, mustard, over baby spinach leaves or mixed veggies (green beans, peas, corn, carrots) from the CostCo freezer. dill pickle slices, with some of the pickle vinegar poured in for extra flavor.

Dinner, every day: Classico spaghetti sauce really heavy with seasoned ground turkey (usually the turkey gets about half the fat from the bacon since i cook them at the same time), dumped over about 6 oz of costco frozen veggies. like a beanless chili, infused with bacon fat. Some weeks, if the budget allows, i'll also throw a pound of sausage in with the turkey.

mid-day snacks: almonds, sometimes salted and sometimes not. in moments of weakness, budget be damned, i'll have a snickers bar.

to drink, as much water as i want, whenever i want.

no bread, no pasta, no potatoes, no fruit, no fruit juices, no milk, no soft drinks, no high-fructose corn syrup.

it helps that i have really simple tastes for food. i just don't need the variety, as long as what i'm getting is flavorful i'll eat it everyday.

In reply to AngryCorvair: Any reason for the fruit avoidance? It's great for you.

bequietanddrive wrote: In reply to AngryCorvair: Any reason for the fruit avoidance? It's great for you.

too much sugar.