Calling Vegetarians

My DD and all her family are vegetarians. For Christmas she has ordered buffet food from M&S. Try their website, the food my DD has ordered sounds delicious.

I have used a Sarah Brown recipe for cashew and mushroom roast in the past. Non-veggies liked it too.

I am happy with vegetarians not eating meat, and I don't assume that they live entirely on heaped plates of lettuce with the occasional boring lentil (a la Young Ones) There are some really good vegetarian recipes about, but they don't seem to have reached every restaurant - but then neither do all the good omnivore ones.

Omnivores, by definition, have at least as wide a range of food as carnivores, as it embraces all the meatless dishes .Omnivores don't live entirely on boring meat and two veg - even if they did, there are a variety of meats, a variety of vegetables, and a variety of accompaniments and sauces, so it would not have to be boring. Believe it or not, omnivores often eat meals with no meat in them in fact many of them only eat a very small amount of meat at all.

I am with Bags and others in pointing out that carnivores eat meat exclusively. The only humans that I know of in this category are the Inuit who live on meat and fish through the long Arctic winter when nothing vegetarian is available. Those who eat meat as well as vegetables are omnivores.

Here's a deal - those who prefer a totally vegetarian diet, for whatever reason, are welcome to get on with it in peace. I will not make any comments about rabbit food, sandals, or anything else that puts you down. In return, they can refrain from implying that eating meat in moderation is the equivalent of ripping up bloody carcases with bare teeth while uttering ear-splitting hunting cries, and that not eating meat is a sign of moral superiority. It is not.

I don't think the 'meat eaters' are talking about that. They (and I'm not sure who they are) have responded to a post about meat eating by vegetarians.

Well this has turned into an interesting discussion and all because I want to make something nice for my veggie DGD at Christmas!

Thanks for all the ideas folks, I have had some super recipes and think I might have decided what to do.

I wondered how long it would be before a thread entitled 'calling vegetarians' reverted to meat eaters talking about that instead.

It's not just the topography that makes it unsuitable either. Soil (mainly lack of it on mountainous country) and weather/climate are often wrong too.

Yes. The argument that using the land that is currently used for grazing for growing vegetation (grains, vegetables) is not sound. Hilly land is used for grazing (growing meat for human consumption) precisely because it is not suitable for human vegetative edibles, so such a change would be pointless and do nothing helpful.

There are all sorts of reasons why some people choose to be vegetarian, some because of a revulsion about eating animals, some for environmental reasons and, dare I say it, some because they are picky eaters.

Likewise, those of us who eat meat, whether frequently or rarely, and those of us who only eat meat which has been humanely killed, all have their reasons for doing so.

I don't like to be instructed on what to eat by anyone, although I'm open to information about food sources and make up my own mind.

One interesting PoV which a geographer friend pointed out is that without sheep farming, not only would great swathes of upland which is useless for anything other than sheep farming, put many farmers out of employment, if the sheep did not graze this land our countryside would quickly revert to scrub, bush and then forest.

Bags

Bags Oh how I wish we had a "like" button!

I think the distinction between carnivores, who only eat meat (or just about only) and omnivores, who eat anything edible, including meat, is important. Just saying.

As you were. I didn't mean to wade in like that but I also didn't like to let such a sneering remark pass. Too near to bullying for me.

Judging omnivores to have boring diets of the "ubiquitous meat and two veg" is not only wrong (mistaken/misguided/bloody cheek), it is also judgmental in way that is unsupported by evidence.

Not that I'd expect someone who is so judgmental about other people's choices to have any evidence.

Be a vegetarian if you want to but respect other people's choices as well. Vegetarianism is not morally superior to omnivorousness. I doubt there are any actual carnivores among gransnetters, but if there are, good luck to them. It's their choice.

I'm fairly sure I've checked the back of the Bisto pack and it doesn't have any meat extracts - but I'll need to check again. If you're right, my husband's not going to be too pleased since he's been eating it for the last 12 years or so!

Vegetarians tend to have a much wider range of food compared with meat-eaters, so it is not boring, Eloethan.
Surely there is nothing more boring than the ubiquitous meat and two veg.
I got fed up years ago, having been vegetarian for over thirty years of answering the question, " But surely you still have turkey for Christmas?"

Elo, isn't Bisto made from beef?

I have no problems cooking meat for other people - and very occasionally I eat meat myself. I did not stop eating meat because it disgusts me to handle it, cook it or eat it. I like meat, I miss eating it and I find vegetarian food, on the whole, to be rather boring.

I stopped (or 98% stopped) about 10 years ago for two main reasons: because I became increasingly uncomfortable with the idea of animals being bred to be eaten, especially with the type of intensive farming that exists now, but mostly because I believe that meat eating is a wasteful and probably ultimately unsustainable way of providing food.

Of course, the fact that I very occasionally eat meat (and continue to eat fish) and that I cook meat for other people may be deemed to be hypocritical. To some extent I suppose it is but, to be 100% committed, one would surely have to be a vegan - which is a very challenging road to go down.

My SiL who is a vegetarian cannot touch or prepare meat. How do manage when cooking meat for others ?
Her DH has to cook when he fancies meat or they have guests.

For me, being vegetarian means not buying or cooking meat. If you buy it for other people the animal still dies, whether you eat it or not.

We just have a normal roast but instead of meat we have a greater selection of vegetables, onion rings, onion sauce, bread sauce, stuffing, and gravy made from fried onions, vegetable stock and powdered Bisto. Yorkshire puddings add a bit more interest, if you have the energy.

At Christmas we cook meat for those that are not vegetarian, which I suppose some vegetarians would not agree with but I don't feel comfortable imposing my preferences or beliefs on other people.

You're okay, Galen, because Viva recipes are vegan, but I feel sorry for your daughter, Greenfinch. The first person I met with a nut allergy was some one who came into the cafe and asked if we had a phone, because if she touched nuts we would have to ring for an ambulance. However, she used to come into the cafe every week because we knew what was in everything, and did not use nut oils.

Mine has a dairy allergy which means anything with cheese or milk is a no no!

My vegetarian daughter also has a nut allergy which makes eating out doubly difficult.

Anno, my 21 year old granddaughter used to have veg lasagne everywhere she went for a meal so she could compare and find the best one. This lasted for at least three years.