Vegetarian Living

[biondetta]

I saw an interesting TED talk recently about being a Weekday Vegetarian and the idea appealed to me. I would like to eat less meat, but the reality is that I'm never going to be able to give up meat completely; I enjoy it too much. But I like the idea of cutting out as much meat as possible during the week and saving the meat for weekends. For me, it's kind of like being on a diet. I know that I can't completely give up certain foods, because otherwise I'll just become fixated on the craving. I'm not an all-or-nothing kind of person. It's just not my nature. However, in moderation and with sensible choices, it's much more doable.

Right now, I'm trying to find some good recipes that don't require lots of fake meats and such, since they're not hugely available here, without having to go to a ton of different stores all over town.

[Deleted]

The NY Times had a profile of Scott Jurek who is an ultramarathoner and vegan who needs 5000 to 8000 calories a day. Its pretty inspiring. I'm not a vegan but if he ever wrote a cookbook I would buy it.

Like kateln and biondetta I am slowly eliminating most meat* from my diet. I will still eat dairy and occasionally fish. For me it is a few different factors. Health for sure is number one, and taste is number two. I don't know if my palate has changed or if meat really has become crappier. I just find chicken especially tastes so bland to me now. The other issue for me is the cost. About 4 months ago I moved to a province that has no real farming so meat has to be flown in from Ontario and is over twice the price. I just can't justify paying $14 for two chicken breasts that taste like rubber. If I do buy meat it will be fish which is also more expensive than it should be considering I am on the ocean but at least it is fresh. It hasn't been a big burden, I like tofu and vegetables. Vegetables are expensive here too and the selection isn't that great either. I have learned to really enjoy cooked cucumbers. It drives me crazy that vegetables and fruit are so expensive and hard to find yet packaged processed crap is cheap and easily accessible. I know the reasoning behind it but it is still massively screwed up. A friend of mine in the Yukon was telling me how there a carton of milk costs $12.00. But a liter of pop is .99 cents.

*the one meat I am having the hardest time giving up is bacon. Which is also about one of the worst meats you can eat. And there is no way I would be able to find fake bacon in my city. I am trying at least to only use it as a flavoring. I won't have a bacon sandwich anymore but I will have brussels sprouts with a little diced bacon.

[thingee]

Bronze, your post reminds me how lucky I am to live in Vancouver! When I go elsewhere, it shocks me how much fresh produce costs. I have been really watching my diet to lose weight (I was one of those vegetarians with 60 extra pounds on me) and I make fruits and veg the focus of my diet (at least 8-10 servings/day.) It is dirt cheap to eat this way, as it should be. I am so grateful for all the cheap produce markets that are on every corner of my neighbourhood.

My favourite gadget these days is the Spirooli vegetable spiral slicer, which I use to make zucchini "pasta" which I toss with homemade spaghetti sauce, TVP, and a little parmesan cheese. Super-filling and and only ~300 calories for a humongous serving. I love it.

[Deleted]

Update: Veganism is going well! I don't miss foods I've eliminated. Cheese hasn't been an issue as I found a very good vegan cheese from Daiya. It is very tasty, and it melts! Thank Gaia.

At some point I'll try the vegan cheese recipes in the April 2009 issue of Vegetarian Times. They sound good.

I'm going to list a bunch of leather shoes and handbags on eBay. Luckily I found great on-sale vegan shoes from Beyond Skin, Simple, Cri de Coeur, and Birki's. (I can't give up my Birkenstocks!)

And I scored a couple cute Matt & Nat handbags from Beyond the Rack. (On sale, too.) My vegan wardrobe is taking shape. From henceforth I won't buy non-vegan goods.

In addition to purging non-vegan items from my wardrobe I'm going to downsize by selling and donating books, CDS, DVDs, jewelry, and sundry products. Any tips?

[kateln]

I want to try that Daiya cheese...hmmm...maybe after I workout this morning I'll head over to Whole Foods for some of that and have a veggie grilled cheese for lunch.

There's supposed to be a great vegan bakery in DC that I really want to try too.

I had a Chicken Nuggets last night for the first time in forever (late night, I was starving and tired) and well...yeah, won't be doing that again. They used to be an occasional guilty indulgance, and now, just not something I enjoy.

I've realized the longer I go without meat during the week, the less I want it on weekends when I decide to have some.

[Deleted]

Update: I've been vegan for a little over a month. Amazingly I don't miss non-vegan foods. I didn't even eat any of Mom's birthday cake and wasn't tempted. And I still don't miss cheese. So far, so good!

[cinnacism]

I just finished reading Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer and I am such a ball of raw emotions this weekend! I am a total foodie who loves pretty much every form of meat. Six years ago, I read "Consider the Lobster" (the essay, not the entire book that it was eventually published in) by David Foster Wallace, which got the gears turning in my head. I thought about it for all these years and had gradually been changing the way I eat meat for a variety of reasons (ethics, expense, health, and just the fact that it was boring to me to perpetuate this "one big slab of meat with some vegetables on the side as an afterthought" template that so many American meals follow). I tried to use meat cut into pieces and incorporated with grains and vegetables as often as possible, and I ate plenty of meatless meals at home. I also started buying all my grocery meat from Whole Foods, which was no small feat as I had to drive 100 miles to Austin to do so, every few months. Of course, I still ate meat at restaurants very often (and repressed my hypocrisy).

Now, after reading Eating Animals, the stuff I'd been pondering for years has converged. Three days into the book (yeah yeah...I'm swamped with a dissertation so it's been slow-going), I was uneasy and passed on the meat for several meals. When I finished the book during a business trip, I came home wrecked. I cried so hard for a while, and I noticed that most of the crying was out of a sense of mourning for the food I can't eat anymore and the idealism that I wanted to hold on to but couldn't.

Right now, I'm on an indefinite moratorium from meat while my thoughts settle. I don't think I'll ever eat factory-farmed meat again (and I do intend to ask if I'm not sure of the origins), but I'm still uncertain about whether to take on the immense task of trying to avoid dairy and eggs too. I'm also uncertain about whether to put more energy into finding those ultra-rare humane sources of meat (and eating it sparingly, for ethical and financial reasons), or to just give it all up.

I was reading reviews and I know some people found the book sanctimonious or sensational, but I didn't see it that way. To me, the statistics and exact practices matter much less than the general premises: most (whether it's 75% or 99%) factory farms suffer unspeakably, and my consumption of that meat directly supports what happens on those farms (whether I eat a little or a lot, or whether I buy the cage-free, organic eggs or the we-don't-give-a-shit eggs).

It's been a rough week but I feel hopeful and I am glad there's a thread here to discuss vegetarianism!

[Deleted]

cinnacism, kudos! I wish more people would educate themselves about factory farming and related issues. Just going vegetarian one day a week will help immeasurably. I recommend eliminating foods in phases if you wish to explore living without animal products. For example, you can eat meat three days a week instead of five and then cut down to three and so on. If you wish to stay omni you can seek out more humanely sourced meats and organic dairy products.

If you followed this thread you know I recommitted to veganism on May 25. Four months in I'm still dedicated and enthused about my decision. (I had been vegetarian since 1998 and was vegan for two years but didn't stick with it.) Reducing and eliminating foods from your diet can be daunting. Giving up meat wasn't difficult, but cheese certainly was.

Be patient with yourself, and enjoy the experience! Seriously. Think about the possibilities. You can explore new recipes and experiment with food. It can be so much fun! Try to think about all the foods you can have instead of dwelling on ones you'll no longer consume. Research alternatives. There are some seriously delicious vegan recipes; if you're omni you can offset impact by devoting say 20% of your diet to vegan dishes. Desserts are especially easy to veganize.

If you have any questions, please let me know. I can recommend tons of vegan cookbooks, sites, and other resources.

[cinnacism]

Thank you very much dichterin. I am lucky in that I used to work at Whole Foods a long time ago (and I'm half-Japanese), so I've eaten meatless alternatives and plain old tofu for years, alongside meat. I think my favorite fake-meat product is the Quorn "chicken" cutlets with goat cheese and cranberries. They are freaking delicious.

I also read the egg replacer link mentioned upthread in preparation for avoiding eggs more. And you're right that it's probably a good idea to start slowly and be forgiving of myself. I went meatless for six weeks a few years ago and it wasn't bad at all, but eggs and cheese will be hard (but not milk, as I've been using Silk for years too). Also, I want to move back to New Orleans and I LOVE New Orleans food, but it's all seafood- and pork-based. I've been mulling over ways to make veggie/vegan gumbo.

On a semi-related note, my vegetarian friend said yesterday, "Technically vegetarians can eat seafood." I was like WTF? She's normally reasonable and smart so I don't know where that nonsense came from. I don't have as much issue with someone calling themselves a vegetarian but eating seafood (I do think it's mislabeling, but people are very attached to these ideas). But talking as if there's some governing body of vegetarians who make the rules (and claiming that the rules are fuzzy on seafood) is really ridiculous. I responded as such, but she didn't really explain herself any further. "Technically"? Uh...okay.

[Shalamar]

My vegetarian daughter is now a vegan. Thank Gawd for the Internet - she's managed to find some great sources of food that she not only CAN eat, but LIKES to eat.

Tip for anyone who lives in or plans to visit Winnipeg: we have a vegetarian/vegan burger joint that is unbelievably good. It's called Boon Burger, and its vegan poutine is out of this world. I never thought non-meat based gravy could taste like that.