Hope I can ask an honest question without poisoning the well or offending anyone.
I stumbled on a Youtube video of people making raw vegan tacos; lettuce was
the “shell”, and crushed walnuts and chili powder were the “meat”.
Does anyone think “Gee, this tastes so much better than a Cheesy Gordita Crunch from Taco Bell”, or are raw vegans (or for that matter even regular vegans or vegetarians) doing it for moral or health reasons, rather than taste preferrence?
Not sure what the percentage is, but I know vegetarians who swear they think it tastes better. I know one woman who hasn’t eaten meat in 20 plus years. She swears she has no desire to eat meat.
The PF Changs lettuce wraps are pretty popular (granted they aren’t vegetarian), but people like them (actually I admit they aren’t bad).
Some people (I think most) vegetarians are doing it for what they see as moral reasons. They think of the health benefits as a bonus. I think virtually all vegans are doing it for moral reasons, but they will claim it is for health reasons too.
However, there are plenty that grew up that way too.
I have a friend who switches diets from time time, and she always enjoys what she’s eating regardless of whether or not it tastes like (or better than) something that’s not on the diet. Her choice in diet at any given point is based on a host of reasons–manufacturer boycotts, price, availability, her weight, her fitness level, a desire to get healthier or to not get sick. It gets kind of hard to keep track of after a while, and whatever she cooks, I just smile and say it tastes great.
I’m not a vegan, but raw veggies always taste better than cooked.
When I studied raw foodist (Anthropology undergraduate) I was amazed by how many of their food recipes were made to mimic “regular” American food. Tacos, pizzas, etc.
I’m not a vegan, and no they don’t.
Ever had a raw potato?
I don’t think the “tastes” are what motivate most people to begin a vegitarian/vegan lifestyle; as has been mentioned its a health and morality-based decision. However, after a person becomes accustomed to the flavors and textures of that diet and their culinary prowess builds, their appreciation as well as their ability to cook tastier food grows simultaneously. So if you ask a vegan if they actually enjoy their food, they will say “absolutely and I wouldn’t have it any other way”.
I’m an omnivore who has no complaints about the taste of vegetarian and vegan foods; most of that stuff is pretty darned good. I could probably go veg without feeling I was missing a whole lot. Vegan would be tougher. Raw foodist - no. Sweetie and I stopped at a vegan cafe we’d been looking forward to trying - vegan’s great when you try a new place when there’s a dairy allergy to account for, because you don’t have to worry that they’re accidentally going to slip butter or cheese into a dish - but we didn’t realize that it was a fully raw food cafe. We had a couple of salads, and they were delicious, but…they were salads, and that’s all. Almost everything on the menu was a salad. Except for the smoothies. Which were all basically a salad run through a blender. I couldn’t eat that for every meal, day in and day out, for the rest of my life. I’d finally snap and run out and sink my teeth into the haunch of a passing cow.
Someone here in some thread posted a link to a vegan raw food “egg salad” that was made from cashews and other non-egg stuff. Most of the comments on the recipe page were along the lines of “OMG thank you, this tastes so much like the real thing!” Reading between the lines, I’m seeing a whole lot of raw foodies who apparently miss cooked foods a lot. Raw food appears to be what the derisive stereotype was of vegetarianism about 30 years ago - all rabbit food. Maybe as the trend continues, there will be more and better recipes and substitutions, but they’re not there yet.
My second cousin went vegetarian (plain ol’ vanilla vegetarian, not raw or vegan) because she just doesn’t like the taste of meat.
A first cousin married a girl who’d been raised vegetarian by her hippie parents. Then she got pregnant and tried a hamburger. It was all over for the vegetarianism after that!
That’s one of the steps my friend took… she was on the All-Vegetation, All-Raw, and preferably made into a smoothie. After a few months, she switched to the Paleo diet. :dubious:
I’ve been vegetarian for 8 years, vegan for 5. I’ve had some pretty good raw food, one local place has “rawvioli” (ravioli) that I think is delicious. That said, one piece of advice I usually give to new vegetarians is: don’t look for fake versions of meat/dairy that taste like the real thing… It’s not going to taste like the real thing.
Taking your username into consideration, I pictured you saying that with the waggling eyebrows and creepy, pervert voice.
And you would be exactly right.
Agreed. I’m also one of those people who prefer their green beans braised for hours so they don’t taste of chlorophyl. (Well, once in awhile, I do like fresh, lightly sauteed green beans, but for the most part, I prefer the long-cooked versions.)
I also do like vegetarian and vegan foods, but cannot imagine ever going on a raw diet.
Actually yes. I have also munched raw grains and legumes. I especially love to soak up my 185 random treat calories as dried garbanzo beans. [I like to hold them in my mouth one at a time until they start to rehydrate, so I can sort of gnaw off the skin and then let the insides sort of dissolve. it is a kinesthetic thing. I’m aspergers/autistic, deal with it.]
Good advice - I am the same way about sugar based stuff, being diabetic.
I always wondered about the people who foist carob crap off as ‘just as good as chocolate’ - wondering of course what was wrong with chocolate. They are both a vegetable matter sweetened to make them palatable. there is nothing wrong with cocoa powder with honey in hot almond milk, why force the kid to drink carob and honey in almond milk … or eat carob candy bars when you can make candy with honey instead of sugar.
Though for a few years back in the days of usenet I was on an alternative diet forum - heavily into raw foodies. They got so pissed off at me because I held that grain, even raw was not toxic. I used to munch it by the handsful when I was young, there were fields back of our cottage on the way to a woods that my friends and I tender to play in, and we would fill our pockets with stuff from the field, or snitched from our garden like raw peas, raw corn, raw green beans, raw fordhook limas, whatever was ripe that we could grab on the way past. All the raw grains and legumes I noshed on, and never had issues [and yes, raw potatoes hooked out of the pantry as well.] I do remember way back then running across a link to a guys website - he was totally vegan, and calculated exactly what he needed to eat to get all his nutrients. He would make a huge salad at the beginning of the week and eat it 3 meals a day all week. I can’t remember his name, but in the picture he is just absolute skin and bones. I wonder if he is alive still.
[it is amazing the dietary beliefs you can run across online. Remember hunza bread?]
I’ve been getting into a bit of a health kick lately and I’ve been considering switching to a vegetarian or maybe even a vegan diet lately, mainly because so many people who seem really healthy subscribe to them. Recently I discovered this guy, whose name, as you’ll see if you click the link, is Jim Morris, a 77-year-old lifelong bodybuilder who became a vegetarian at 50 and a vegan at 65. In the linked video he explains what he eats and how it takes time for people used to high sugar, junk food diets to adjust and become accustomed to the flavor of natural foods. The video is general in nature and meanders somewhat, but his comments on his own diet begin at around 5:30 and his comments on becoming accustomed to eating natural foods begins at around 12:13.
From other articles I’ve read about him, he doesn’t eat a mostly salad diet at all. Instead he chooses foods that he describes as unprocessed, unrefined, whole natural vegetables, beans, grains, fruits and nuts.
“My diet is very simple. I eat only from five food groups. Fruits, Vegetables, Nuts, Beans and Grains. I do not eat anything made FROM any of the foods in these food groups. I eat the fruits and nuts uncooked. I microwave some of the vegetables sometimes but mostly eat them uncooked. I cook the beans and grains as little as possible so as to destroy the least amount of nutrients. … Every nutrient, with the possible exception of B – 12, is in those 5 food groups. Every craving can be satisfied with something in those 5 food groups.”
He goes on to state that:
So I’m thinkin’, what the hell, I’m gettin’ up there. I have allergy trouble and my knees are startin’ to bite me pretty good. And I’d like to not be on any medication. Maybe I oughtta give this vegan stuff a try too. And maybe start lifting some weights and doing cardio along with it.
Anyway, couldn’t hoit, is what I’m thinking.
So as it is now I’m waffling between the South Beach diet, a vegetarian diet, and a full-on vegan diet. Time will tell I guess, but either way I know I’m gonna have to allow myself some time to become acclimated to the flavors of natural foods instead of the richer foods I’m used to now, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if once I do, I’ll find I like them just fine.
yes, and there good! Your name not withstanding! 
You know what bugs me? People referring to dishes like the OP’s as a “vegan taco”. You want a vegan taco? Sure, no problem! Take a corn tortilla, and fill it with refried or black beans, peppers, onions, tomatoes, maybe guacamole, some spices, all that good stuff. It’d probably be improved by cheese and sour cream, if you’re just going vegetarian, or if you can find reasonable vegan substitutes, but they aren’t necessary.
Why, when the real thing can so easily be made vegetarian or vegan, would you pass off something completely different as a “vegan taco”? Walnuts wrapped in lettuce is not a taco. It’s a hand-held salad. It might even be a pretty good hand-held salad. So call it that. Don’t call it something it’s not.
I think those examples were referring to raw food recipes, not just vegetarian or vegan. In that case anything cooked would have to be excluded, including the tortilla.