What a vegetable.
I used to eat mostly vegetarian and still occasionally have veggies meals. That “taco” does not sound good. I could deal with the lack of meat and cheese, I’d rather not have nuts and seeds though, but what the hell is with the collard leaf? I thought those were extremely tough and required cooking for hours to even get them edible. May as well wrap the whole deal in a piece of cardboard or rubber inner tube.
I was a vegan for several years and a vegetarian for 16 or so (though in the last few years, I have eaten fish now and then…full disclosure).
Even before I was, way back when in Austin, Tx. in the 80’s, we used to go to this great little place called Guerro’s where I often ordered crispy tacos filled with guacamole, lettuce and tomatoes. (they weren’t on the menu…they just made 'em for me). It was clearly understood what I wanted when I ordered “guacamole crispy tacos” (as opposed to “beef crispy tacos” or “chicken soft tacos”)
I submit that a “taco” is a form of presenting/serving a variety of fillings and not inherently involving meat or cheese.
Same way that “spagetti” can be made with everything EXCEPT the meat and STILL be universally recognized AS “spagetti”.
Still, those tacos the OP described don’t do much for me…I make mine with Natureburger (a dried mix of grains and spices you rehydrate with boiling water then fry up like hamburger and can add mexican seasoning to.) It doesn’t have a “meaty” texture or flavor, per se (something I don’t find appealing myself anyway…believe it or not, most vegans/vegetarians are not trying to simulate meat, which they find a bit repulsive) but it makes a MEAN taco OR enchilada filling. My kids eat the stuff up.
From the Wikipedia article Veganism:
No, they just breed the cows to keep them producing milk and kill the MALE offspring (often taking them away at birth to “raise” as veal). And after a cow has stopped producing well, as happens with age, she is killed and usually turned into hamburger.
But another thing is that not all vegans have as their primary motivation animal rights…while this was/is a factor for me, my MAIN motivation was always dietary/health (as in, I don’t think humans past weaning need to be consuming milk anyway and don’t think its beneficial for our health).
I know the term has been completely co-opted to mean ONLY an all-encompassing objection to the use of ANY animal products, including wool, honey, silk, etc, but I never bought into that…screw them; if I want to call myself a vegan because I don’t EAT or DRINK any animal products (which I didn’t for several years) then I WILL, even if I have silk in my closet or a wool rug on my floor. :mad:
Dogfood and the like. At least in the U.S. Beef cattle are beef cattle. Dairy cattle are not generally used to feed humans. We have learned to like the taste of beef cattle and cattle breed for milk don’t taste as good.
Well, if you want to call yourself a vegan because you don’t EAT veal, you CAN. But, then you are creating your own definition of “vegan”.
According to The Vegan Society:
According to the American Vegan Society:
I wondering: How was the word “vegan” used in everyday conversation before it was “completely co-opted to mean ONLY an all-encompassing objection to the use of ANY animal products”?
The word that has been distorted is “vegetarian”, as in “I’m a vegetarian but I eat fish”, or even “I’m a vegetarian because I don’t eat beef”.
And (because I’m obviously getting all worked up here!), it’s “spaghetti” not “spagetti”. :mad:
I’m a vegetarian because I hate plants.
And in Mexico, you’d be right. Put something – anything – in a tortilla, and it’s a taco. Except, cheese usually isn’t involved (that becomes a quesadilla). And usually vegetables aren’t involved, unless they’re tacos dorados (or flautas, which are rolled) which have lettuce or cabbage, salsa, maybe some other chopped vegetables, crema (but not sour cream like we know it), and maybe fresh/farmers’ cheese, all on top of the tacos (like a tostada).
Except things beome confused in the Mexico City area, where they call almost all tacos quesadillas for some reason, even when there’s no cheese, except for flautas, which they call tacos or taquitos, and very, very simple tacos with a single ingredient.
The only place I’ve ever encountered a Taco Bell style taco was in the city of Creel, which is in the middle of nowhere, and I half suspect they were made the Taco Bell way because of the American tourism.
I’ve got a question for supergalactic or anyone else who takes his side in this debate. Does the principle apply only to vegans or does it apply to anyone who labels food as something other than what it is? Are you all aware that half the foods in the supermarket are labeled incorrectly? Pick up a jar of strawberry or raspberry jam or jelly and read the ingredient list. It’s made of grapes or some other fruit, sweetend with high fructose corn syrup, and adjusted with various artificial flavorings and colorings. There’s narry a strawberry or raspberry to be seen, except among the more expensive brands. Or look at the ingedients in packaged crab meat and you’ll see that it’s white fish and some other junk mashed up so it looks like crab meat. Just try glancing at the ingredient lists on half of your favorite foods and you’ll see the same thing. So why should vegans catch flack for this when everybody does it?
My dairy-farmer cousin told me that his no-longer producing cows get a new career in fast food. That was probably 10, 15 years ago now.
He may have not known what he was selling them for. But most fast food companies don’t use dairy cows either. I’m sure there are some - after all, its still beef. But how you raise and feed a dairy cow is different than how you raise and feed beef cattle. And the USDA regulations are different as well.
Anyone, and no, I don’t think they are. Now, they may have very fine print, but every jar has an ingredient label, and nothing with no raspberries is allowed by the FDA to be labeled “raspberry jam”. It may be RASPBERRY flavored JAM, but it’s on the label by law. Do I think people should read labels if they care about this stuff? Absolutely.
None of this computes.
“Spaghetti” is a specific kind of pasta. It doesn’t have to have anything on it at all to remain spaghetti. It’s even spaghetti when it’s uncooked, and in the packet.
Second, and in the same vein, the defining part of a taco (especially given the wide varieties of possible ingredients listed in this thread) is surely the small wrap the ingredients come in - be it corn, flour, hard or soft - seemingly known as a “taco shell”.
That’s for spaghetti, the pasta. For countless Americans, spaghetti bolognese (well, the extra-tomato version thereof) is spaghetti, pure and simple.
I don’t know the OP or his wife but it’s not unreasonable to at least think it’s possible. I’ve made things for my wife that I know she likes that I can’t stand the thought of.
Ah, OK. I stand corrected.
However, does my rhetorical question about the defining characteristic of a taco - the little tortilla - still stand?
No, you were correct the first time. I was just pointing out how wrong so many Americans are. Well, not wrong. Imprecise.
Have you a cite? Books like Fast Food Nation and Old MacDonald’s Factory Farm say that a very substantial portion of fast food burgers are spent dairy cows, perhaps 100% of the low-end ones.
If someone I know to be homosexual says they’re getting married, I don’t expect there to be a bride and a groom. But I do expect there to be two people wearing fancy clothes walking down an aisle amongst their friends and family, exchanging vows and rings, and eating cake at a party afterwards. It’s still a marriage. Likewise, if someone I know to be vegan says they’re making tacos, I don’t expect meat or cheese, but I do expect it to be served in a tortilla-based shell. It’s still a taco.