Calling Vegetarians

For those wondering what I have decided to make for DGD (and others who no doubt will wish to have a taste), I think it may be two dishes, but not yet absolutely certain.

I have a recipe, kindly sent to me by suzied, for a brazil and cashew nut roast which sounds delicious. I also have one for a goats cheese filo pie which I am thinking of making as an individual small pie as DGD is a complete cheese addict. There will be vegetables, roasties etc. on the table.

Thanks again everyone - inspiration has struck thankfully!

I'm sorry, I seem to have stirred up a bit of a hornets nest here. It wasn't the meat eaters that brought up the subject of boring vegetarian food - it was me. I was just saying I find it a bit of a struggle just eating vegetables. It's easy to forsake meat if you don't enjoy eating it - it's more of a struggle if you do.

Vegetarian food can be very interesting and tasty but to make it so requires more imagination and energy than I seem to be able to muster these days (though I did make a very tasty cashew nut, red pepper, green beans, shredded cabbage, ginger, chillie and garlic stir fried noodles for lunch which was quite a success).

I think it's hard for meat eaters to switch because meat has such a strong taste and cooking meat and two veg kind of thing is simpler. Decent vegetarian food takes a bit more time and creativity but there are some good cook books out there now and also some good ready meals and products. We have eaten Linda McCartney sausages for years now and the range has extended enormously.

However ,am rather fond of meat, so it is not going to happen !

I wouldn't mind going veggie, have toyed with the idea !

Why do meat eaters always want to lecture vegetarians about their chosen way of life? What on earth does it mean to say 'vegetarians want a plateful of food like we meat eaters'? You mean full of growth promoting drugs and antibiotics? Yum?
You can keep your guilt or whatever it is. I am perfectly capable of producing plateful after plateful of delicious vegetarian food using a wide range of vegetables, grains, nuts, seeds, miso, tofu and possibly small amounts of dairy but vegetarians do not eat masses of cheese to make up for all that protein that meat eaters think they need. Eating meat, especially red meat, is known to be a cause of cancers of the bowel and stomach. Vegetarians live longer and healthier lives and as durhamjen says, you don't need to keep and kill animals to produce manure.
If most people in the developed world ate less meat there would be more food for everyone else. Feeding animals grain to produce meat is an expensive luxury and meat production leads to vast amounts of slurry and animal waste.

I am veggie and have to say I wouldn't go near a carvery.

A carvery, for vegetarians?

How many vegetarians do you know? The ones I know avoid Carveries like the plague, likewise McDonalds, Nandos, etc.

You've obviously never heard of stockfree agriculture, then Margaret, also called veganics.

I've eaten a lot less meat these past 10 years it seems somehow natural. I don't have the appetite I had when I was young - and fertile.
Still once or twice a week I cook it for lunch, and love bacon.

Vegetarians should not forget that if it weren't for animal manure there would not be so many vegetable and grain crops. You need manure so you need a lot of animals who will be eventually be slaughtered. You can grow some soft fruits and salads on water with chemicals in it and there is vegetable compost but not nearly enough.
I get the impression that most vegetarians want a platefull of food like we meat eaters have but without the meat. A Carvery is perfect for them

It would be nice to know what you decide to make for your granddaughter, gagagran, and what she thought of it.

Love your comment about sandals, elegran . Actually, I think it was not unknown for sailors becalmed and running short of food to chew on leather. They also, of course, ate as many of the ship's rats as they could catch, as one would if one were starving.

Apologies if I misinterpreted anyone's tone earlier. It just often does seem as if some vegetarians think it is immoral to eat meat. Perhaps it was just the word boring that got my goat. I don't think vegetarian food is boring but, I have to admit, if I'm completely honest, that I've often eaten a vegetarian dish and thought that it would have been much improved by some bits of bacon . For instance, I make the best pesto I've ever tasted (Minibags and MrBags agree) but I think even that is better with some chopped bacon added. Chacun à son goût.

I think it may be to do with fat content and the type of fat, animal fats being, in my view, tastier than vegetable ones.

Wow! Eloethan said she found vegetarian food boring. That is obviously an acceptable thing to say.
I said there is nothing more boring than meat and two veg.
Did not mention carnivores or omnivores or any other eaters. That is not an acceptable thing to say, obviously, reading the following comments.

Just been shopping Eloethan, and you can rest easy about the Bisto, although I would never use it as most of their products contain real meat juices. I'd be a bit worried about the factory where it is made. There are also so many other companies that are completely vegetarian that I would want to support.

Gaga, I do not know what you have decided to make, but can I suggest that you make a lot of it. In my experience non-vegetarians always want a taste of the vegetarian food. I like making a nut roast in a ring dish and filling the centre with vegetables and an almond sauce. That means plenty for others to try.

Crossed posts Elegran.

Some meat eaters do their best to try to demolish the reasons behind vegetarian's food choices as well. I don't think there's much point in creating an argument about it where none existed.

Thanks thatbags. I thought I had missed something. I'm glad to know no one on this thread used the term carnivore instead of omnivore. Just a general point.

I got the term 'moral superiority' in relation to eating meat from Elegran's post of 10.44. Again, no one on here was claiming that not eating meat gave them the moral high ground. Perhaps a little unfair to bring such things into what has been a perfectly civilised thread, as far as I can see? Both those who choose to eat meat, and those who don't, can seem a little defensive at times.

My post was general too - Some vegetarians do tend to occupy the high moral ground and lecture. Carnivore is often used as a description of non-vegetarian.

ffinn

Similar thing happened to me in my early forties, but then I went back to eating meat as part of my diet and still do. (Menopause came later).

B I was going to follow my post with a 'freedom to choose' comment but you beat me to it.

I just went off eating meat after the menopause. Still a mystery as to why.

Edible stuff, of animal or vegetable origin, is food. We are lucky to be able to choose what we eat. Until very modern times, most people even in the UK, didn't have that choice. It's possible most people globally still don't have that choice, wouldn't surprise me if that were true. Hopefully development will increase thenumber of people who have the freedom to choose what they eat instead of just having to make do with what there is, whether they like it or not.

Sorry, should have said "about eating meat"...

The word carnivore is often used of omnivores. It was a general remark because I think people tend to use carnivore wrongly, not necessarily on this thread.

Also, I don't think anyone has ever said that eating meat is a sign of moral superiority. Not sure where you got that from. But some (repeat, some) vegetarians and vegans lecture the rest of us, and make sneering remarks about human meat-eaters, as if eating meat were immoral. It isn't. And not eating meat isn't particularly moral (or immoral) either. It's just a food choice.

Can someone tell me where those who eat meat were described as 'carnivores ' on this thread? Genuine question because I can't find it before bags first mentioned carnivores in her post at 07.01 today.

Also where anyone said that not eating meat is a sign of moral superiority? Because I can't find that either. Perhaps I'm not very quick this morning, it is Sunday after all