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Vegetarian or Meat Free
degsyhufc
Posts: 59,251 Forum Member
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They might seem to be the same thing but by meat free I really mean no flesh.
The reason why is because I watched a show the other day where three chefs were asked to make a veggie pasta dish.
All three used parmesan which is not vegetarian (they said parmesan and not a similar vegetarian hard cheese).
So to me that is not a vegetarian dish. Maybe veggie just mean no meat (flesh).
In the past other chefs have done the same. I remember Tony Tobin having to apologise for using Worcestershire Sauce (contains anchovies) in a vegetarian dish.
Anything with animal renet such as cheese and wine rules out being a vegetarian dish.
Just wondering what peoples thoughts are between the different terms of vegetarian, veggie or meat free.
The reason why is because I watched a show the other day where three chefs were asked to make a veggie pasta dish.
All three used parmesan which is not vegetarian (they said parmesan and not a similar vegetarian hard cheese).
So to me that is not a vegetarian dish. Maybe veggie just mean no meat (flesh).
In the past other chefs have done the same. I remember Tony Tobin having to apologise for using Worcestershire Sauce (contains anchovies) in a vegetarian dish.
Anything with animal renet such as cheese and wine rules out being a vegetarian dish.
Just wondering what peoples thoughts are between the different terms of vegetarian, veggie or meat free.
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And just to add to the mix - pescatarian. Eats fish flesh and animal products but no meat flesh. Drives me mad when people say they're vegetarian/veggies but they eat fish!
Worcester sauce can be vegan if bought in health food shops. Biona makes it.
The Vegetarian Society defines a vegetarian as somone who lives on pulses, grain, nuts, seeds, vegetables and fruit and with or without dairy products. So that makes me vegetarian
I also hate it when people say - I am vegetarian but l eat fish - No you are not a b××××y vegetarian you fool.
Vegan Worchestershire sauce can now be bought in Asda of all places.
I haven't eaten meat since 1984 but I've never called myself vegetarian- other people have but I always correct them
I did a vegan month in January.
me too, apparently that makes us ovo-lacto vegetarians.
How did you get on with the vegan diet and are you veggie now ? I am mostly vegan but I have a problem giving up eggs.
I hoped they sourced a true veggie version as many contain dried shrimp and/or fish sauce.
I have vegan days. I have vegetarian days. I have meat only days. It varies.
I regard myself as a vegetarian, yet I thoroughly look forward to my once-weekly battered cod with chips. The smell of fish cooked any other way makes me feel nauseous. I don't buy chicken because I object to the way that an animal has been turned into a fast-food object. I don't go to ridiculous lengths to ensure I'm not eating anything containing a minute trace of an animal derivative; I really couldn't care less if a cheese I like contains rennet and I'm certainly not going to waste precious time making sure it doesn't.
Some vegetarians seem to think themselves superior for shunning any vegetarian product which imitates the taste of meat – why? There's nothing wrong with liking a particular taste. If there was a variety of aubergine that tasted exactly like chicken curry I'd eat it. Once upon a time it was possible to buy Bird's Eye Meat-Free sausages that tasted like the best meat sausage that ever existed. I absolutely loved them, but true-to-form, they stopped making them, probably scared that it would reduce sales of their normal ranges.
I like some of the meat substitutes but don't need them. Since abandoning meat I think I've experienced tastes that I would never have come across otherwise and have eaten a far greater variety of delicious food. I think we're lucky in Britain, because I doubt if there's anywhere else in the world where you can have such a wide range of vegetarian foods available to you. I certainly wouldn't want to have to try my luck in America – or Germany come to that.
My vegan son did not have a problem in US either.
Cod does not meet any accepted definition of "Vegetarian". You are possibly a Pescetarian
You're spreading misconceptions about what vegetarians eat which are picked up by manufacturers, restaurants and the general public which can then result in mistakes being made.
The Vegetarian Society defines a vegetarian as: "Someone who lives on a diet of grains, pulses, nuts, seeds, vegetables and fruits with, or without, the use of dairy products and eggs. A vegetarian does not eat any meat, poultry, game, fish, shellfish or by-products of slaughter."
You could sue a restaurant or retailer if it claimed that a product containing Cod was Vegetarian.
As I said, I really don't care to be labelled, but as far as I'm concerned I'm a vegetarian who eats fish and chips once a week. Try to sue me if you disagree.
It made you ill? Just wondering what you were eating? Reason I ask is that I went vegan in June of last year and I've never felt better. Were you getting all of your required nutrients etc?
America is great for veggie and vegan food. Go to a Whole Foods type supermarket and the range is incredible. Way, way, way better than the UK. You can get vegan alternatives for everything - ice cream, all types of cream, cheeses, meat alternatives, fish alternatives, coconut bacon (sounds odd, but is amazing!). Eating veggie and vegan is also quite easy in most of the major cities. Out in the sticks, probably more difficult but that's the same in most countries.
The UK is getting better for veggie/vegan alternatives. If you live near a Whole Foods Market, or a decent branch of Holland & Barrett you can do well but still not a patch on what is available in the US.
The worst place I've found to be vegetarian and eating out is probably Greece or France.
Bib - you object to turning an animal into fast food yet you have fish & chips from the chippy?
Quite. I don't know where in the U.S. barbeler shops, but fifteen years ago when I was still living in Seattle I could go to my local supermarket and buy three different kinds of tofu, seitan, tempeh, boca burgers, garden burgers, tofurkey, vegan cheese and yoghurts, soya milk, rice milk (last time I was there I ordered lattes made from hemp milk), a dried bulk food section with several different types of grains and nuts where you could grind your own peanut butter, and a huge array of locally grown produce.
People act offended and traumatised by them, but labels are useful, they are shortcuts, you do not have to give a speech every time to explain everything, you say a few words. Of course when everybody has their own definition they become meaningless. As I understand it, vegan does not eat anything of animal origin, vegetarian is the same plus dairy products. A jury is out on fish, but that's an easy thing to explain which it is for a particular person.
In answer to the fast-food chicken/fish question; I don't have too much of a conscience about eating cod from sustainable fisheries, which I see as entirely different from raising hens in tiny cages, transporting them cruelly and then subjecting to haphazard slaughtering methods. Has nobody driven behind a transporter carrying suffocating chickens and seen the numbers of dead or dying birds with broken wings sticking through the wire cages?
The numbers of fish killed by being preyed upon every minute of every day is staggering. Cod themselves spend their entire lives eating smaller fish. Eating them does create something of a dichotomy with my love of angling, as I go to enormous lengths to ensure that the fish I catch are treated with the utmost care, even spending considerable amounts of money on equipment to do so. Life is full of contradictions.
You have to be a good vegan not to get ill on the diet, I am not a good vegan or good vegetarian even, a packet of crisps or bar of chocolate isn't really a good meal substitute but I eat them sometimes.