Becoming a vegetarian. Well sort of, maybe

Cafe Society
1

So a friend of mine made me watch these horrible videos of what happens in a chicken factory. And then the “pink slime” stories came out about ground beef. Both grossed me out, so for the past two weeks I have not had any beef or chicken at all.

I’ve been eating lots of fish, eggs, nuts, and vegetables. For lunch I’ve been eating tuna or Amy’s brand bean burritos. It’s been an interesting experiment. I’m surprised it’s been this easy. Cutting out beef and chicken essentially rules our fast food, so I am eating healthier and cooking more.

Any tips/thoughts on how to best continue this? Similar experiences?

2

I started keeping kosher when I was in my 20s, after up to that point pretty much avoiding reading food ingredient labels. I’d say it took me about a year until it really felt natural.

The fast food thing’s pretty simple. You know there is nothing you can have at those restaurants, so you don’t go to them. I’ve been to McDonald’s a couple of times since 2000, and it was always for a soda or an ice cream sundae, never for a meal. Fast food places just aren’t generally on my radar when it comes to places to get a meal any more.

If you live in a city or a college town, you shouldn’t have too much trouble finding stuff you can have in restaurants. This is especially true if your tastes run toward Italian or Asian food, less so if they run more toward burgers.

I try to limit the number of lunches per week I eat out. I’m not organized enough to bring something for lunch every day, but if I hit three days in a 5-day week, I figure I’m doing pretty well. I find that I weigh less and my credit card bills are less when I don’t eat lunch out every day.

Mark Bittman has a good cookbook, How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. Lots of good basic info, including shopping for ingredients that might not be familiar to you.

3

I’ve been a vegetarian for over two years and still eat like a poor college student who can’t cook.

Obviously I can’t help you on the health front, but I can say that I haven’t even had to give up any of the restaurants I frequented before. There’s always fast food fries, Burger King even has a veggie burger. I love mexican and I still get great meals with plenty of cheese and beans and salsa. Almost any place has something satisfactory that is meat free.

So the point is it was a lot easier to make the transition than I thought it would be. Now I do plan on going vegan someday and I know that will be a whole lot trickier.

4

Another option to consider - depending upon your location and its availability - is eating only locally raised meat. We get all our beef, pork and chicken from nearby farms - and it’s been amazing. I don’t eat at fast food anymore (because really, it’s just gross compared to homecooked), and when I go to local restaurants, I eat vegetarian since I don’t know where they get their meat.

Depending on how urban your setting is - you may have access to local meat or you may have to look for specialized meat markets (which can be very pricey). I dunno - I guess going vegetarian is best - but if you must eat meat (and I must - just because it is sooooo good), going cruelty free and local makes me happy.

5

look at Mediterranean and south Asian (e.g. Indian) foods and recipes. Plenty of veg options there. Make friends with chickpeas and lentils.

6

This has become one of my most used cookbooks (How to Cook Everything is also excellent, and if you’re cooking vegetarian there are still options in it - sometimes with a little adapting. Probably the third most used cookbook of mine is Veganomicon. It has been excellent for getting me thinking about different ways to approach things. I’m not vegan, so when it substitutes for things like eggs or dairy, I don’t worry about hunting down those substitutes.

Otherwise, experiment - it’s much easier to get protein than you think, and it doesn’t have to be tofu (though there are some excellent ways to make tofu…but there are also failures. Like my tofu piccata I made sunday. It was GREAT when fresh, but the leftovers were…almost inedible at lunch yesterday.) Try different things - but note that vegetarian convenience foods can be just as unhealthy non-vegetarian ones!

7

Since this is essentially about cooking, I’ll move it to Cafe Society. From IMHO.

8

A good friend of mine at work is about 99% vegetarian, but she absolutely loves bacon and will still eat it now and then. I call her a baconarian.

9

There are a ton of vegetarian cookbooks out there so if you like to cook you should do fine.
Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home: Fast and Easy Rescipes for Any Day might be a good place to start.
If you’re not much of a cook, don’t despair. Taco Bell is probably the most vegetarian-friendly of the national fast food chains out there. Their Seven Layer burrito, bean burrito, and mexican rice are vegetarian without any modifications. I have also found that if you order menu items that normally come with meat as “Beans instead of meat” the majority of the time they will accomodate that request and so you can get a vegetarian gordita/taco/whatever that way if you want.
If you’re lucky enough to live in In-N-Out country, you can order a grilled cheese sandwich off their secret menu (animal style if you like). Five Guys also has a veggie sandwich/grilled cheese option as well. There is also the aforementioned BK Veggie burger.

On work days, I tend to eat a lot of Dr. McDougall’s soup such as this vegan black bean and lime. It’s fast and tastes decent.

Oh, and as far as meat substitutes go…
Check out Morningstar Farm’s BBQ riblets. Most people seem to like them: http://www.morningstarfarms.com/morningstar-farms-hickory-bbq-riblets.html
Quorn is, in my opinion, the most chicken-like of the chicken substitutes out there:
Vegetarian, Meat Free & Vegan Products | Quorn
Though I used to also eat a lot of the spicy Chik’n patty from Boca: http://www.bocaburger.com/products/chikn.aspx

I also use a lot of the “beef crumbles” that Boca Burger and Morningstar put out:
http://www.morningstarfarms.com/morningstar-farms-meal-starters-grillers-recipe-crumbles.html

10

Just saw this yesterday and got a chuckle out of it:

(Okay, elephants undoubtedly get some incidental protein from insects in their food, but still.)

I haven’t eaten meat in 35 years, and don’t miss it a bit. If you’re keeping dairy in your diet, the Greek-style yogurt that is so popular these days is really good and full of protein. I use plain nonfat Greek yogurt in place of sour cream–it’s great.

11

Semi-vegetarian here. Fast food is still possible without meat at two of my favourite places. At Taco Bell, you can order beans instead of meat and Harvey’s has a great veggie burger.

12

I call myself Vegetarian with a fish endorsement. I do eat fish occasionally.

Some people get all freaked out when I say I eat fish, and ARGUE with me, saying I can’t call myself a Vegetarian if I eat fish. Bullshit. I can call myself whatever I like!

Some people are militant about being Vegetarian, and what qualifies you to say you are. If you “slip up” and eat meat, well, you’re busted, turn in your card and walk away in shame.

HAH.

Sometimes I get a bite of meat unintentionally. I’ll order the baked potato soup, NO BACON, and yep, it arrived with bacon.

I tell people I’m Vegetarian, but not a fanatic about it. For me, it’s about HEALTH. I have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and I’m Diabetic.

I was even Vegan for a while. Boy, being Vegan does make it hard to eat out, but you’ll find all selections, all worries are immediately solved. Someone offers you a piece of cake? “Let’s see, it’s got eggs in it, maybe even butter—nope.” No thanks. Ice cream? No thanks.

Nearly every single thing that you can make as an omnivore dish can be converted to Vegetarian. Really. Just familiarize yourself with substitutes (Gardenburger, Morningstar Farms, Boca, even Quorn) and let your imagination run free.

Two things to keep in mind:

(1) Don’t punish yourself, and

(2) Don’t torment those around you who AREN’T Vegetarian.
~VOW

13

Veg for 16 years here. I’ll just add:

  • Don’t buy many vegetarian recipe books. People will give them to you as gifts. The only one I ever use is Stephanie Alexander’s Cook’s Companion - not so much a recipe book, as a book about ingredients and how to prepare them (and it’s not vegetarian either, but has plenty of good veg recipes). Something like that is far more useful than a collection of recipes.

  • Avoid recipes and restaurant dishes that substitute meat with something else. They’re never as good as meals that were made without meat in the first place.

  • Just eat well. You don’t need to worry about protein if your diet is generally healthy and varied.

  • Respect what other people choose to eat. Don’t get baited into arguments.

14

Thanks everyone for the great suggestions! I am sorry I haven’t been back. I didn’t realize the thread was moved. I just thought no one replied.

Update: I caved and ate chicken last night. It was late and I was tired and hungry and put right in front of me. But I am planning on going back on the “wagon” and if/when I eat meat it will be organic “cruelty free” meat only.