All the talk of vegetarianism lately, as well as the constant poor health of myself and lately my family has me thinking of implementing some real changes in our diets. I would LOVE some easy, simple advice on healthy, quick, tastey meals. This comes from someone who is used to eating and serving meat dishes for at least 2 meals a day - so this will be a real change. If this topic isn't appropriate for here please feel free to email me directly. I don't plan to go vegetarian "cold turkey" (excuse the pun) but definately wish to start living more healthy - for myself and the earth and her creatures we share her with.

thanks

oh and are any vegetarian magazines good as far as recipies go??

Hello, May I congratulate you on your topic.

We must not think as being a vegetarian for health, but for moral reasons. I have been a vegy for 16 years, I cant honestly say it has changed my health for the better as I am quite ill, but my reasons are we should not act God, we should respect all of Christ's creation and not take it upon ourselves to do otherwise. We all have a soul and will all eventually go to our Heaven some good and some not so good, so let us all try harder to help each other ( and of course our animal friends) so that we can go to our paradise, we can only do this if we all pull together and respect the truth of Christ. May I take this opportunity to advertise free. Please send Email to daj1953@yahoo.co.uk for my 2001 UK tour of talks on spiritual progression. Just thought I would get that in. ( sorry )

Hey Barb!

One of the best cookbooks on the topic (and it was my introduction to veggie cooking) is still Mollie Katzen's The Moosewood Cookbook. Latest editions have full colour photos now, so you can have an idea of what the "finished product" is supposed to look like.

Another great line of cookbooks comes from that excellent chef in California who owns the Greens restaurant--Alice Waters, I think, is her name. She's written the The Greens cookbook (older, but still a to-die-for find at yardsales!! or, pay full price cause it is still selling well), and has continued to put out first quality work.

One other option: pick a favourite cuisine, a good cookbook in that cuisine (good writing and well-tested recipes which use fresh ingredients and are true to the methods to be used) and just don't make the meat dishes! If you like Italian or French cuisines, get a cookbook that breaks the cuisine into courses--that way the meat dishes will be in the minority. Bibba Caggiani writes an excellent regional Italian cuisine book; and Julia Childs (yes, believe it or not) writes great French cuisine books. You will find that you can make substitutions quite easily for some of the meat ingredients--vegetable stocks instead of beef or chicken stocks; rich oils instead of butter (if you must); soy liquids instead of creams in soups, if necessary. Most of these writers incorporate vegetarian suggestions (if they are not outright veggie books) anyway.

Enjoy!
Divina

Using aubergines and mushrooms make dishes meaty. Quorn is an excellent substitute for meat. It tastes like chicken and you can use it as such. Try tofu in stir fries and tempeh. I am not vegetarian but my daughter has been since the age of 13 and is an excellent cook. There is nothing nicer than a caramelised onion tart. Much nicer than meat!! Aubegine pate tastes like liver pate if you use fried onions with it. I could go on for ever!!!!

Hi Ricky, I never heard of Quorn. Could you describe it further? Thanks a bunch...wish I could eat onions, that tart sounds yummy...

Way to go, Barb! The following is a quote from Farm Animal Sanctuary, Watkins Glen, NY....great group...take in abused farm animals, which means they are full to the brim all the time! This is from 1990...

"In ten years the average American consumes-166 fishes, 185 chickens, 8 turkeys, 7 pigs, 1 lamb and 2 cows".

That makes 369 animals that will NOT die in the next ten years because of your decision! Multiply that by the number of members in your family and you have pretty darn impressive numbers, don't you think? Multiply that by the number of people and their families who may be prompted to at least investigate vegetarianism because you have done so.

Your convictions could well be responsible for saving thousands and thousands of animals lives. Now, how good does that make you feel?!

For all kinds of information from vegetarianism to animal issues, a great site is:
http://animalconcerns.netforchange.com/

Just remember beans and rice, rice and beans! I really don't know how on earth eating vegetarian could be considered more expensive than a meat centered diet unless one is using all the fake meat substitutes. But even they can't be more costly than real meat.

You and your wee ones can grow so much in a small patch and it's a great experience for kids. Voilence really does begin in the kitchen and by your example you will set a standard of respect and reverence for life that will be wonderful for your children. You will be teaching them that because something is smaller or weaker (animals, women, children, minorities) we don't have the right to abuse and use them. That all life is a treasure, not dinner.

All my best wishes!

Eating vegetarian is cheaper? Pardon?

Yes...if you have land and time enough to grow your own vegetables, and a freezer or cupboard space in which to store what you either can or freeze. To do this you also need the leisure time all this work requires. Or, if you live in an affluent or middle class, fair-sized urban area where you can be assured of a steady supply of fresh fruits and veggies all year long because all the grocers have to compete with each other for your business. Then it costs about the same as a meat diet would.

If you live in a "poor" neighbourhood, or an area of the country where access to fresh fruits and vegetables year round is available only to the truly privileged...then, yeah, you will be spending A LOT of money. Been there, done that--lived in a poor area of Canada for a year and believe me, vegetarianism meant forking over plenty of money for whatever veggies I could get. Tofu and/or substitutes of any kind were not available there at any price--neither were many things people take for granted, like olive oil--but if I were to cross the border into Maine with the equivalent of about 4 times what such a thing would cost me where I live now, then I could find it, after much searching. Then, I'd also have to count mileage into the cost! Items as every day as eggplant, summer squash (and most winter squash), avocadoes, or even fresh garlic were simply unavailable. If people ate veggies at all they were canned. For seasoning, most people actually bought MSG..in bulk.
But meat was always cheap and plentiful. Go figure. I recall on one evening that even lobster was less expensive than the ingredients I needed to buy to make a vegetarian pizza, with olive oil, tomatoes and garlic (the total for those ingredients came to $27 USD! I remember because it was so outrageous).


As for meat substitutes--they were never available, and I rarely buy those anyway. What for? tofu only tastes great in oriental foods--the way it was meant to be eaten. Why would anyone try to fake meat when there is so much variety to be had in meatless food? Eating nothing but beans and rice, beans and rice seems pointless--no variety, and not nearly enough nutrition to sustain you on a long term basis. People don't just eat to ingest substances, they also need to derive plenty of other benefits from their food, a main one being pleasure from its variety, flavour, and creative preparation. Food is also meant to be enjoyed with others--eating beans and rice every day sounds about as appetizing to any convivial group as a shared meal of daily gruel.

Sounds to me like you are not talking about vegetarianism when you talk about cutting things down to the bare bones here--sounds much more like asceticism. As a recovering victim of Catholic schooling, I'll just let you know what I think of that--it is far too susceptible to hypocrisy and definitely not for everyone.

The facts are what they are, so be prepared to lay out a bit more cash for the variety of food you will learn to prepare as a vegetarian--and plan on spending a premium if you are going to choose only organic produce. Vegetarian cooking should not be limited to a few dishes with tofu disguised as something else, but it should make use of whatever is fresh and in season--and it should be carefully prepared. Often that means combining many ingredients together in very different ways--and the result will be delicious...but it will not always be cheap.

And, once again, remember that vegetarianism is not for everyone. For most Europeans, there is no need to eat meat 3 times a day, so your desire to cut down is commendable in that you will introduce more variety--and therefore better nutrition--into your diet. But if you can't do without meat, don't do without it. People are animals too, so if you need it, have it.

Divina

Hi Barb, Lots of good hints here. I'm not a vegetarian now, but I was one for a year while living in a house of vegetarians. The greatest benefit I noticed was... no flu or colds! All that winter I never got a cold. Eating vegetarian is the best way to get all your vitamins.

As far as cooking goes: prepare to chop lots of onions! Almost every recipe in the Moosewood Cookbook starts with a big cup of them. That cookbook is a good place to start, although I find that the dishes are sometimes a bit bland. Laurel's Kitchen has some good, healthy ideas (too austere for some people though -- a real focus on eating low-fat and low-sugar). And yes, the Greens cookbook and others by Deborah Madison are fantastic, although maybe a little time consuming for every day. If you like Indian food, Madhur Jaffrey has a book called something like "World of the East Vegetarian Cooking" that everybody raves about. One of my personal favorites is the "Vegetarian Express Lane Cookbook" by Sarah Fritschner -- quick, delicious, mostly non-tofu meals.

More generally, there's a world of things you can do with pasta (but, beware of becoming a cheesetarian!). Beans will certainly become your friends -- it is convenient and very cheap to get them in cans. Bean spreads can make very satisfying sandwiches, adorned with roasted red peppers and all kinds of green goodies. A lot of people knock meat substitutes, but I actually like them pretty well. They are fake, yes, but to me they have plenty of chew and flavor, and let's face it, they're safer, with none of the scary diseases that meat can carry. My favorite brand is Yves, from Canada. You can also get "meatless crumbles" in different flavors including taco/burrito -- great for quick meals. The Smart Dogs are also good. The cookbooks above are a good place to start, and they will teach you a lot about improvising your own meals. Have fun!

CRA

CRA..

Deborah Madison is her name!!! That is the one. She writes what I think are the absolute best books on vegetarian cooking, and actually elevates it to a very refined and high art. Thank you for correcting that for me...
(although Alice Waters is not too bad herself, you know?)

Divina

As someone who has been there, done that, I too, wish to add a bit of caution. If you and your f amily are blood type A's, then I say, "Go for it!"

But if you are of a different blood type, then I strongly encourage you to read Peter D'Adamo's book Eat Right For Your Blood Type. Info can be obtained from www.dadamo.com

Aside from other blood types needing meat, wheat is another food to consume with caution. And those vegetarians tend to emphasize whole grain products, especially wheat. Whole wheat is very dangerous to O's!

One way to start eating more healthfully is to shop the parameter of the grocery store. The good stuff is in the parameter, the junk is down the aisles. Stores do this for a reason.

A mom friendly cookbook is "Whole Foods for the Whole Family", by La Leche League. www.lalecheleague.org It is a bit high in dairy, which would be just fine if you all were blood type B's.