Calling Vegetarians

I didn't think they could be really - although some vegetarians still eat eggs because they aren't animals which have been killed.

Although I suppose they are potential chickens. Unless they're unfertilized.

Vegans couldn't eat them. I think vegetarians could.

Vegetarians do eat eggs. Even if I never ate dairy again and became a vegan I would still eat eggs. All of my children have their own hens and they have a great life, roaming around, fed lots of food scraps and seed.

The recipe I posted has a couple of things. First you need a very good mixer or food processor, also a spring tin makes it easier to get out. I am visiting DD1 at the moment and used her mixer it's ancient and the filling became one big hardish blob stuck in the beaters and the coconut milk wouldn't mix in. I also added another third to half cacao powder. I had a tiny piece this morning, just to test it of course and it is delicious.

The word invade just dripped off my fingers onto the keyboard without thinking, it wasn't of course intended to offend anyone - I was just amused that a lot of people who might not be interested in being vegetarian had nevertheless gone and looked at a thread addressed to them.

I never thought for a moment anything other than that people might post where they liked - of course???

Here's our Christmas Nut Roast recipe, as you can see, it includes eggs so it's not vegan. Looking at it, it's a bit 1990s which is when it began!

Spiced Nut Roast with Tomato Sauce
Serves 4-6
Oven temp 190C, 375F, Gas 5
Cooking time 1 hour
Ingredients:
Roast
2 tbsps oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 onions, finely chopped
1 green pepper, finely chopped
100g/4oz cashew nuts, finely chopped
100g/4oz hazelnuts, finely chopped
100g/4oz wholemeal breadcrumbs
1 tsp dried mixed herbs
1 tsp mild curry powder
400g tin chopped tomatoes, well drained
2 eggs, beaten
Salt
freshly ground black pepper
Sauce
1 tbsp oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
400g tin chopped tomatoes
1 tsp tomato puree
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp soft brown sugar
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Method
1. Make roast by heating oil in frying pan and gently frying onion, garlic and green pepper for about 10 mins until soft. Turn into large mixing bowl
2. At hazelnuts, cashew nuts, bread crumbs, mixed herbs, curry powder, tomatoes and eggs. Season and mix well.
3. Spoon mixture into a greased 2lb loaf tin. Level out and press down.
4. Bake in pre-heated oven for 1 hour until set firm.
5. Prepare the sauce by heating oil in saucepan and frying the onion and garlic for about 10 mins.
6. Add tomatoes with juice, tomato puree, sugar, basil and seasoning. Bring to boil and simmer for 15 mins.
7. Remove from heat and process in liquidiser until smooth.
8. Turn roast out of tin and serve in thick slices with the sauce.

People who eat fish are not vegetarians. This is a point of fact, not judgment. Perhaps, if they need to tell anyone, they could just say they don't eat the meat of land animals.

However, that raises another ponder. Why does anyone else need to know what one's personal food rules are unless the rules one applies to what one eat means that one's approach to food ends up pretty much like a religion? I am, of course, excluding food allergies from this discussion. That is a separate issue.

Let me explain what I mean. When I was growing up I was taught by my parents that if we ate food in someone else's house that the someone else had prepared, then it was impolite (to put it mildly) to refuse because one didn't like whatever it was. I would extend the politeness of presenting no objections to hospitality to religious rules or self-imposed ethical 'rules', such as not eating farmed meat because one objects to certain farming methods. This is, of course, a choice people are free to make. In general. But, what happened to bending rules when one is in the company of people who don't share those rules? What happened to accepting that one's hosts may not live by the same rules? Which, of course, they are perfectly entitled to do? What happened to being flexible when politeness and social ease is at stake? What happened to tolerating other people's lifestyles and life choices and accepting these to be as valid as one's own even when one disagrees with the premises such choices are based on? What makes one set of choices better than another?

Some people who stick rigidly to a vegetarian diet say they do not occupy the moral high ground, but I think that if they are never flexible when other people's comfort as well as their own is the issue, then what could be called the almost religious moral high ground is exactly where they are digging their heels in.

I'd be interested in other people's views on this. Meanwhile, I'll stick with my parents' advice and try not to cause any host discomfort or embarassment on my account.

I know I'm not taking a unique position on this because we have a Jewish friend who will eat ham if it presented in a dish and there is no alternative without drawing attention to himself. His view is that nobody needs to know he is Jewish when that really isn't relevant to a social occasion.

I describe myself as a pescetarian, but often it's easier to say 'vegetarian' as I don't have to embark on a lengthy explanation.

I chose not to eat red meat along while ago as it appeared to cause me joint pain. I then gave up fish and chicken. A few weeks ago I mistakenly ordered a soup which turned out to have animal stock in, (Baxter's version is all vegetarian) I found the half spoonful tasted totally disgusting, that was my fault.

I have no objection to people eating meat around me. I would prefer they ate welfare friendly meat products. I would hesitate to cook meat as I fear I might ruin it. I was never ever very keen on fish (it has bones in!)

I got annoyed yesterday at choir when I was having a not too serious rant about the choir meal, (as predicted in an earlier post, the vege offer being Homity pie with boiled potato onion and Mild cheese.

Someone in the row behind made the inevitable "do you eat fish remark."
Then the "what do you eat for Christmas dinner." I refrained from screaming.

I do have real concerns about the global sustainability of the rush to feed our world's growing population on meat products and the damage it does to the environment.

It might be easier for you to say vegetarian anno but it's not true is it?

If you need to explain yourself, is it not easier to just say "I don't eat meat"?

Fish is animal flesh of course but most people think of 'fish' and 'meat'.

Those who eat fish and the occasional bit of chicken annoy vegetarians by describing themselves as vegetarian.

Quite agree Bags my parents took the same view. I remember my parents gallanty eating meat on Friday (back in the day) so as not to cause embarrassment to their hosts.

I think your point about food choices sometimes assuming the position of extreme religious rules is apt. General principles often become rigid and exclusive and alienating to the very people who might otherwise be persuaded that those choices have some merit.

I've been pondering on this issue of personal choice and preference and the tendency to label people by the groups of food they eat. As you imply B, what purpose does it serve.


I don't eat meat because my body doesn't seem to want it now, yet I will happily cook my roast potatoes in goose fat which is, of course, derived from animals. When and if my body wants meat again, I'll start eating it. It's a conundrum, isn't it.
I will eat fish.
Mr. F does not eat fish. He does eat meat.
We both enjoy a whole range of vegetables, pulses and dairy foods.

One household of just two, and a whole range of food preferences.

I too was brought up to eat what was put in front of me in other people's houses, and as a result, as a child I used to dread going out visiting my parents' friends and relatives. There were certain foods that just used to make me gag, probably more to do with texture than flavour.

As a host I always ask people if there's anything they don't like. It's simply a matter of good manners and consideration - just as a guest, I'd attempt to eat something I didn't particularly like out of consideration for the host's feelings, as a host I wouldn't want a guest to struggle to eat something they didn't like.

Darling daughter is pescovegetarian, her oh hates fish but likes meat, youngest DGD is dairy intolerant, eldest DGD seems to be veggie as well. They are coming on Boxing Day.

HELP, WHAT DO I COOK?

Oh, and I have an egg allergy!

DD1 once had a boyfriend who told me he wouldn't eat something if it had had a face. I have an acquaintance, Muslim, who is very partial to a bacon butty. I know Catholics who will eat meat on a Friday and then say an extra couple of Hail Marys which apparently makes everything ok. We all do, what we need/want to do. I find some foods inedible on the grounds of texture or chewiness - meat in casseroles, anything fatty, mince and pork come to mind. I tend to stick to chicken, fish, vegetables and salads but as a guest, will eat what is served to me because it would be impolite to decline, although I did draw the line when served a sheep's head with its eyes still in situ . Like others I was taught to 'eat up' and that has stuck with me through life. My children were brought up to do likewise and they all eat just about anything. I don't think we should judge anyone on their food choices.

I'd present them with plates of fish fingers, chips, peas and beef burgers and let them help themselves!

Smoked salmon salad for you

If you decide to eat meat, fine. But why have so many meat eaters invaded a thread called 'Calling Vegetarians'? Answers on a postcard stuck on your wall

Probably because this site has very few topics to discuss, relative to the number of posters, and the amount of time they have to post.

So if you fancy posting on Gransnet, you may have avoided this thread for a day, but decided to post the next day, if it is a quiet Gransnet day.

That was to Galen

Galen
Start with Watercress Soup

Have some baking potatoes in the oven or do diced potatoes, garlic and rosemary, tossed in oil, in the oven. Both smell wonderful when cooking.

Cold fish/meat + salad with warm dressing
or
Spaghetti alla puttanesca

Baked apples stuffed with walnuts, brown sugar and golden sultanas.

soontobe people can, and should, post wherever they have something to say, or an opinion to voice! Just because the title of the thread is "Calling all Vegetarians" doesn't automatically debar non vegetarians. We'd never get anywhere if we followed that sort of dictum.

And I think that there is plenty to discuss and in which to join on on this site; we do have slow times, I have seen this over the past few years, and threads that tend to be taken over occasionally, often by very long posts, but on the whole it is OK.

My MIL used to work for very orthodox jewess, and was sent out [on the Q.T] for bacon sandwiches .

Soontobe For heavens sake! What exactly was the point of your last remark. Anyone is entitled to post on here. It is not just for vegetarians.

The OP was about made by a non vegetarian asking for advice.

Ariadne Just what I was about to post. Threads often start off on one subject and end up on something completely different - something you will find out soontobe as time passes.

There were a number of Jewish people where I used to live who would sneak go out for to a cafe for a bacon breakfast but never bring any forbidden meat into the home.