Any others here?
Which is the better meat substitute, tofu or wheat gluten?
How are you getting enough protein/calcium/iron/B12?
Know any good recipes to share?
Let's have some tasty discussions about these, and other interesting topics.
My friend is a vegan. But I think he only does that cause he wants to look cool or intresting.
My mother likes saying she's not a vegetarian, but she won't eat almost any meat, because she heard on TV that it was so dangerous.
I think I'd go vegetarian if I had to kill the animals myself and wasn't starving, though.
Well personally i'm not vegan though i do have some friends that are. I think tofu is a better substitute since you can cook more with that in general then just gluten and flavor it pretty well. My friends usually take vitamins to keep up the nutrition that they need.
Good recipe if you like brocolli is take
1 tbp oil, 2 cloves of minced garlic Brown the garlic in the oil pour in 1/4 cup of white wine cook out and toss with your cooked/boiled greens. This is also good with your vegan pastas if you find it just use 5 tablespoons of oil and let rosemary and basil simmer on the wine while it's cooking out.
I find that black beans are the best meat substitute. Here's my recipe:
Vegan Cuban-style Black Beans
1 green pepper
1 medium yellow onion
4 cloves garlic
2 fresh jalapeno chiles (optional)
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons lime juice
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1 lb dry black beans
Optional: add some coconut milk.
I've been a veg for 10 years now, tend to go with soy protein based substitutes - they're a lot more common on the market and require little work for lazy cooks like myself.
This vegetarianism seems like a lot of work. I'm gonna stick to killing animals.
It's less work! You don't have to worry about weird meat and egg-based pathogens
MEAT ROCKS! Poultry also rocks. Not as much as meat, but...hey, fuck this! I'm at the top of the food chain, so I ROCK! Alla youze betta git in mah belly!
Hey I have a question for you other vegans.
I've been vegan for almost 3 years.
I just started working at a coffeehouse and ever since I started working there (been about a month so far), I've had the most awful indigestion. My stomach hurts all the time and I can't shit right. The symptoms are exactly the same as when I eat meat or milk by accident.
Part of my job is grilling up greasy bacon sandwiches and the like. Could it be possible that just being around floating grease particles or something would fuck up my stomach so much?
Someone else said that maybe drinking a lot of coffee would do that to someone, but I don't know if 5 cups a day is enough to do that.
>5 cups a day
It would do that if you drank less coffee before you started working there.
I feel that way when I walk near a McDonald's...or the one time I actually had to get a drink there (car broke down, needed the cup to refill the coolant tank). You'll adjust if you're there enough, but it's normal if you're not used to that sort of thing.
POTION;Item of FINAL FANTASY series.
Now,you can drink it.
http://www.suntory.co.jp/softdrink/FF/index.html
Taste?・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・
Better leave it unsaid
I was a vegan for a year once, was a nice experience, but I got drawn in by meat.
my advice, if you want to stick to vegan/vegatarianism, don't try to replace meat, go cold turkey. Most of the store-bought meat "replacements" have animal products in them anyway
On the bright side of being a vegan, you hardly ever fart.
I'm vegan and I fart a lot. But only if I hold my poop in for too long. If I make sure to poop whenever I feel the urge, then I don't fart.
You know how it is... you're busy all day and you don't have time to poop and stuff.
Vegans are retards that should be killed. Seriously, there is a reason why men is at top of the foodchain, and it's not to eat grass.
I'm with >>14, but that's copypasta of something I said a year ago.
I'm a pescetarian (vegetarian + fish). I don't think I really go out of my way to get anything special, but I'm at great health my doctor says (well, except I have chronic asthma and some allergies).
I'm a muslim, so I can only eat halal and kosher meat.
However, I grew to dislike most meat completely (unlike the rest of my family) so I really only eat kosher processed meat, hamburgers, and seafood.
If people don't want to be vegetarians, I think that it's at least healthier to limit the intake meats. Especially things like beef. To me it makes the beef taste that much better when you actually have it.
It's the same with pop (or soda). I rarely drink it, and it tastes so much better on the few occasions that I drink it. I don't understand people that drink it everyday. It looses some of the taste because you just get used to drinking it all the time.
Yeah... Soda definitely without a doubt is not something that should be consumed every single day, the same way one shouldn't be drinking booze every single day. -_-;;
Not even like one can per day... there are people that down 1 or 2 2-liters in a day.
>>20 - same with me
I pick on vegetarians a lot, but I don't think the big meat diet is the way to go.
"When we die, our bodies become the grass, and the antelope eat the grass and so, we are all connected in the great circle of life"
lol
>>1 Know any good recipes to share?
Cut tofu into strips, dip in egg, roll in breadcrumbs, and fry 'em.
The sauce is key, experiment with proportions:
-lots o' brown sugar
-lots o' soy sauce
-lots o' ginger
-some garlic
-some parsley
-some water
-some hot red crushed pepper
-try sake, molasses, shredded tangerine w/ peel... see what works!
Serve with white rice (boiled w/ at least twice as much water than rice to make it sticky) and your choice of fresh veggies... spinach, bean sprouts, and bok choi all recommended.
Put everything in a bowl and pour on liberal amounts of heated sauce. Eat with chopsticks. Enjoy!
whats up with these veggie meatballs? theres no meat i them so why name them veggie meatballs? lol
veggie balls doesn't seem to market well.
hehe, not to strage..
I just quit vegetarianism 2 weeks ago.
I couldn't afford it to be honest.
I lost 4 stone in 2 months...
Hmm, I wasn't there for the killing, but I did skin, cut open, and clean rabbits once.
I think I'd still eat meat if I had to slaugher them. I tried being a vegetarian. It didn't work.
>>31 yeah and guess why, you dont get enough good fat in your food!! we all need some tasty fat.
One meal of mine uses boca burger patties that are made of both soy protein and wheat gluten. Very good.
Toast 2 slices of ezekiel 4:9 bread, lettuce, tomato, onion, etc.. boca patty.
Another meal uses pure protein powder.
Boiled oat groats, black beans, flax seeds, non-fat milk, sliced peaches, and protein powder. Delicious.
I take breakfast along with a pack of multi-vitamins.
Boca, Garden, Morningstar farm burgers are all pretty fucking terrible. I'm a vegeterian been one for about 2 years. My diet isn't perfect usually lacking beans/protein but I drink a decent amount of milk to make up for it.
I just really dislike the taste of meat, fish, and chicken. It's not an ethical thing. My dinners usually consist of a vegetable stir fry usually green beans/asparagues/onions, bread, and dairy. I've got some tofu lying around but I'm not sure how to cook it/season it.
Sorry can't help you there if you ask me there is no substitute for meat.
I couldn't live with out a good steak or some nice grilled salmon.
>>34
Boca burgers, when prepared properly, are pretty damn tasty.
I also love to use those Morningstar meal starters (the steak and chicken fajita style ones, I put them in just about everything.) Tofu sucks, unless it's in some sort of Asian dish that specifically calls for tofu. It's typically pretty bland and boring though.
I've been a vegetarian for nearly 9 years now, and have had no health problems, don't have to take vitamin supplements or anything. I'm a little slim, but not underweight, (although I can't seem to put on weight, but I think that's just my metabolism.)
plants have consciousness as well as any animal does. don't think plants aren't intelligent beings that don't feel pain when you eat them. fools
Tempeh sounds like a pretty good meat substitute.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempeh
It's pretty amusing that most of the world's population is more or less vegetarian.
I don't know if you've ever had tempeh before, but I found it to be terrible. Some people may like it, and in fact it came highly reccommended to me as a meat substitue, but I thought it was awful. The flavor was bland, and the texture was like eating pine nuts.
>>40
I haven't had it yet. It's on my "Try" list. I've just read a lot about it, and based on what I knew, it sounded tasty.
>>36
How do you prepare frozen patties "properly"? I can't seem to find any extremely good tasting meals that I can have on a daily basis (e.g. enchilidas are good every once in ahwhile but you can't have them daily)
Hmm, I'm a pseudo-vegetarian. If I look at the stuff I eat, I see that I almost never eat meat unless someone made it for me, out of politeness. "Veggie burgers" are nasty, so I don't eat those, and meat burgers are nasty too, so...Woot for unintentinal default vegetarianism?
I can maybe understand vegetarianism.
But Veganism is a strange religion.
It 'aint natural...
Vegans and vegetarians can go fuck themselves. They think they're so cool and in-tune with nature, but they're not fooling anyone.
i 'm a vegetarian :)
haven't tried wheat-gluten... tofu is fine with me.
i get enough protein/calcium/iron/b12 from tofu and this vege-roll stuff thats porteiny... calcuim from the milk and cheese i consume plenty of... iron and b12... i don't know where i'm getting them from, since i don't eat anything in particular to make sure i'm getting them, but i am.
i have blood tests done occasionaly just to make sure im getting enough vitamins etc, and im never deficient in anything except sometimes i get slightly low in iron.
good recipes... ummm...a really simple but nice pie i make a lot lately is just mashed potatoes an sweet potatoes with peas, corn, and herbs shoved into a pie crust and toppd with cheese. fast, easy, nummy...and pie.
ㅤಠ..ಠ
ㅤ▽▽ I LIEK TEH BLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD....
"Vegetarians, and their Hezbollah-like splinter faction, the vegans, are a persistent irritant to any chef worth a damn. To me, life without veal stock, pork fat, sausage, organ meat, demiglace, or even stinky cheese is a life not worth living." - A. Bourdain
I like my steaks so rare it's against resturant regulations to serve it. Although tofu is good to, wehn it's in miso, or is in small pieces covered in enough sauce to make me forget it's there.
I'm a (sorta) vegetarian because I don't like the taste of meat, plus raising animals for slaughter is bad for the environment anyway.. But I'm no animal loving hippy.
I do eat meat if it's served to me at someone's house or if it's a special occasion, but otherwise it's not part of my diet.. I REALLY dislike the taste of pig and cow... And chicken and turkey are dry and flavourless.
Anyway back on topic.. I don't normally eat meat substitute, but I do love these soy hotdogs made by.. "Presidant's Choice" I think. (I think that brand is Canadian only?)
Soy dogs are really good! :D I've also had some good soy burgers before too..
Basically, it's good unless it's made of ground up vegetables.. I once had vegetable hamburgers and they were NASTY. Stick to soy and tofu and shit. XD
I completely disagree. A veggie burger made with shredded, fresh vegetables or a nicely spiced black bean burger tastes better than a soy patty ANY DAY.
>>58
I agree. Please post a recipe. If you've got something good, we'd like to try it.
another pescetarian here. my advice is to avoid meat "substitutes" altogether, as most veggie burgers/meal starters are pretty unhealthy and rarely taste like meat (in fact, you're lucky if they even taste edible). for protein i eat a lot of tofu, tempeh, and lentils. you can never fail with lentils. this is an awesome recipe for tempeh, even if it is a little hippie-ish. http://www.christinacooks.com/recipes/p/pansearedtempeh7.html
I used to be a vegan, but I fell back into eating meat... damn you pizza.
Lately though, I've noticed that meat tastes blander and blander (with the exception of salmon, for some reason), and I always feel bad when I eat it, so I might switch back.
I can't stand eating meat where anything close to a realistic depiction of the animal is on the packaging.
I hear you, only I went back to vegetarianism from veganism. The vegan diet just doesn't seem as restrictive as everyone makes it out to be until you start missing pizza.
I've been vegan for 18 years and was vegetarian for 14 years before that.
Rather than looking for meat substitutes, I just eat a wide variety of food to make sure I get everything I might need, eg a good mix of proteins, carbohydrate, roughage, sugars, fats, vitamins, minerals or a good mix of leaves, stalks, roots, seeds, fruit, legumes, nuts, fungus. Too much of any one thing seems to engender problems eventually. Typical in the west is too much wheat and vegans can have too much soya. I never heard of too much rice, for some reason.
Protein, Calcium and Iron are easy to get with a balanced vegan diet like that, but vegan diet can be low in B12 without supplements. I took part in a study testing whether the body really needs B12, but never heard the results. Too much B12 can inhibit absorption of vitamin C. Too little is alleged to cause nervous problems ranging from numb limbs, shooting pains, even short term memory loss and anxiety. I experienced ALL of these before I discovered that, so now I take supplements, but I think the whole question is still uncertain. Vegan spreads and breakfast cereals often have B12 added and vegans can get vegan versions of it on the National Health in the UK.
<smug>I would eat animals if I had to, but I don't have to, so I choose not to be at the 'top of the food chain'</smug>
eat meat, God said it's good.
God also says that masturbation, adultery, and many other joys of life are bad.
God is an ass.
>>65
Gotta agree with you there.
>>62
I forewent pizza for my first year or so as a vegan, then realized I could ask for it with no cheese almost anywhere. I now enjoy pizza (though I discovered recently, you have to ask whether cheese is built-in to the crust or sauce... or if it's a big pizza chain you can probably find out on a web page).
But yeah. Cheeseless pizza kicks. Near here, there is even an Italian restaurant that offers a great vegetable pizza that actually comes cheeseless on the menu. And downtown there are a couple places that will use vegan soy cheese on request if you're into that sort of thing; I prefer no cheese to soy cheese normally myself.
This is a great example of vegan ridiculously. We'll decide not to eat cheese for no particular reason, and then inexplicably decide that we want to eat something which has cheese as its second major ingredient. Then we'll remove the cheese from it, and attempt to call the resulting product the same name as what it was called before the second major ingredient was removed.
If you're going to go through so much effort, try eating something else perhaps?
>>67
Like I said, this Italian restaurant near my house offers a pizza (actually two) on their menu that has no cheese. I'm pretty sure it's not tailored for vegans, either. Cheeseless pizza is not so unheard of, it's no effort at all, and I see nothing ridiculous about it.
Oh, and I eat it because it's delicious. I sense an Apple Jacks commercial coming on here...
Not trolling just for curiosity.
In many food (like flour, tomato sauce, etc) there are insects fragments, water may have microcrustaceans.
This way it seems to be impossible to a human survive without eating animals (they are everywhere).
I know that a person more open minded wouldn't care about it but vegans are supposed to not use or consume animal products of any kind, how they deal with it?
Sorry if I offended anyone it was not my intention.
I guess we don't worry about it. I've never heard of that being raised as an issue.
>>70
I think that's a valid point to bring up.
For PETA members who don't want you to have pets because they believe it equates to slavery, there's the issue of animals used and killed in the process of making the wheat/corn/potatoes/drugs that they need to survive.
> ...PETA President Ingrid Newkirk made a statement that even if animal research produced a cure for AIDS, "we'd be against it."
> The Director of Research and Rescue of PETA at that time, Marybeth Sweetland, is an insulin-dependent diabetic, and has defended her use of the animal products (insulin) by saying she needs her life to defend the lives of animals.
To be brief, when a person holds two conflicting ideas in their head, they'll always find a way to rationalize it.
Everyone is a hypocrite.
>>72
In other words instead of think and get a conclusion they get a conclusion and think how to defend it? Sounds like religions...
While that is pretty hypocritical, we're on the food board, not the morality board. Let's talk about delicious vegan stuffs!
I just discovered something awesome. Spinach hummus sandwiches. Toast two slices of whole wheat bread, spread a little hummus on each one and put fresh spinach -- lots of spinach -- between them. Easy and delicious.
That must have been an old article if the PETA chief was using animal-source insulin. Hardly any insulin used by people nowadays is derived from animals--hasn't been typical for at least fifteen years. Insulin used by diabetics is almost all human insulin made by recombinant DNA and bacteria these days. No pigs necessary.
Oh, and I've been diabetic for more than fifteen years, so I know what I'm talking about.
To get back on topic, I enjoy tempeh. Very good steamed, stir-fried, and grilled, and according to an Indonesian friend, the proteins are dramatically more digestible than those in tofu. They've been partially broken down by the microorganism cultures they use to produce the stuff, or so I'm told; bear in mind, however, that this friend of mine is a tempeh-obsessed maniac, so his zeal may encourage him to exaggerate.
I like it steamed with broccoli, then tossed in coconut milk, chili, lime, and a hint of sugar, over brown rice. Flavorful and relatively healthy (provided you go easy on the coconut milk).
Man, I can't stand tempeh. But then, I've never prepared it as you suggest. It's so damn filling though -- one little square and I feel like I can't move :/
>>77
If you can find a restaurant or a person to make it fresh for you, it's much, much better--my tempeh-maniac friend manufactures his own, and insists that the stuff sold in American supermarkets is basically inedible. If it's much fresher than that stuff, it's not bitter at all.
...I went vegetarian on a bet, once! I lasted a couple weeks with some other friends, and then it was Thanksgiving, so y'know.
>>79
Aw. You could've had some Tofurky :) Despite being the butt of so many jokes, it's actually pretty good.
<3 Tofurkey
My mom tried some other brand of vegetarian turkey, a quorn one, and I was like "DO NOT WANT." Tofurkey is way better.
meat tastes gross
That must be why nobody eats it. @_@
Quorn is by far the greatest meat substitute. I can't even tell the difference between it and chicken besides the fact that most of the fat from chicken is absent
>>81
Is it true that Tabasco sauce makes tofurkey dissolve and disintegrate instantly on contact? (;;o_o)
I don't understand vegans. Chickens are there to be eaten!
Quorn Turkey and Stuffing Slices are THE BEST. I seriously can't tell the difference. Well, either that or I've forgotten what real turkey tastes like...
Oh, can anyone help me with something? I really want to give up entirely on fish and chicken (already cut out red meat), but I'm anaemic, and my parents and doctor are adamant that unless I get my iron levels back up to normal, I should keep eating white meat at least. Any tips on getting enough iron?
>>87, it can be done.
Spinach and other green leafy vegetables are high in iron. Dried beans are equally high, perhaps higher. Soybeans contain significant amounts of iron though not every supermarket has uncooked soybeans. Unfortunately the human body does not absorb iron from vegetable sources as efficently as from animal sources, so you will need several times more.
Breads and pastries made with enriched wheat flour also contain significant amounts of iron because iron is added to bleached flour manufactured in the US.
May I recommend Google?
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=nutrition+iron+vegan&btnG=Google+Search
>>87 You should really consult a doctor on that, or a nutritionist at least.
I'm not a vegan, but I rarely ever eat any meat. I mostly consume veggies.. However, in order for me to get my necessary meat intake, I eat cans of tuna.
So, I guess i'm not a "TRUE VEGAN"
With the right stuff it's easy to get every nutrient you need as a vegan. Dark leafy greens have lots of iron, all kinds of legumes are full of protein/carbs/iron, and then there are supplemental cooking ingredients like nutritional yeast and texturized vegetable protein.
Food choices aren't restrictive at all. Grab some vegetable broth and some vital wheat gluten then bang! you have some seitan. Combine soy/rice-milk in a bowl with flour, get it to a thick batter, dip the seitan in it then roll the seitan in cornmeal+seasonings (I use garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne pepper, salt and black pepper). Pan fry that shit up in vegetable oil. It's called "Fake Fried Chicken" cuz it looks and smells like fried chicken but tastes like chicken fried steak. Serve with mashed potatoes and heaps of vegan gravy.
If you miss those fatty greasy southern style meals you used to enjoy as a meat eater, then check out this great cookbook: http://www.microcosmpublishing.com/catalog/title/86/
It's out of stock right now but microcosm is on their shit.
I'm a vegetarian but I hate vegetables.
So I basically live on cheese and sugar - I guess it's a medical miracle I'm still
>>92
That's dumb. At least pop a good multi-vitamin (not too mention an assload of supplements like iron) and get lots of grains, nuts, and fruits in there.
>>93 Mh, Id do eat fruits, but nuts? Meh.
I had too little iron in my system several times (amkes you feel dizzy and gives you a headache, very unpleasant).
What's a good source for iron?
I'd like to recommend http://www.veganoutreach.org/ as a resource for meat-eaters to understand veganism from a practical standpoint. Maybe you can even try a vegan meal yourself. :)
>Ultimately, living with compassion means striving to maximize the good we accomplish, not following a set of rules or trying to fit a certain label. From eating less meat to being vegan, our actions are only a means to an end: decreasing suffering.
I understand what they mean.
>What we choose to eat makes a powerful statement about our ethics and our view of the world -- about our very humanity. Whenever we choose not to buy meat, eggs, and dairy products, we withdraw our support from cruelty to animals, undertake an economic boycott of factory farms, and support the production of cruelty-free foods.
This too.
But honestly, I don't see life this way. Nature has made carnivorous, herbivorous and omnivorous beings (amongst others, of course). And "mother nature" IS cruel. They're speaking about ethics and view of the world; it's okay for them to say they don't want to eat animals and enforce this by not eating animals. But the form of logic they are using is just one step from saying "you eat meat so you have no ethics and a wrong view of the world". Which is totally untrue. Also, there are many other ways of "changing the world" and "assessing your view of the world" or whatever, and there are today many more important topics to cover at short term.
>Other pamphlets around the site.
Okay, I understand your point of view. You think it's cruel killing animals, and that agribusiness is horrible. I can agree with the latter; there are times when things go too far.
But then again, it's not that way that things will change. Humanity stopping making war is an utopia already; humanity stopping eating meat and drinking milk is a joke. If I was to fight agribusiness I'd find other ways. Making documentaries, going political and trying to change things through the political way, going lawyer and finding flaws from which I'd attack industries, or brandishing a torch and burning down buildings (that's for the most fanatical out there). Stop eating meat and drinking milk? Not gonna achieve anything, and is going to frustrate me because I love meat and milk (and eggs too).
Then again, we're talking about agribusiness. Artisanal food prepared by farmers? I have not even the slightest remorse. Oh, I'm french, by the way, so as you may know I have a heavy culinary cultural background... and you won't make me feel bad for eating some foie gras - even if the method is, I recognize, a bit cruel. And no, I'm not an horrible person unable of compassion.
I've been vegetarian for seven years; I've tried being vegan on and off over the past couple of years, but that never panned out for me (I always ended up eating pizza or something else with dairy in it).
However, I am starting to give veganism a second look, as well as other diets such as fruitarianism.
LOL, I have never met a compassionate vegan. They're the most awful people to hang out with. If they really cared about lessening suffering, they could try being nicer to other people.
"Vegetarian hot dogs found to contain traces of meat and human DNA" (News Source: Science Alert) http://www.sciencealert.com/vegetarian-hot-dogs-found-containing-traces-of-meat-and-human-dna
i've been vegan for about 3 and half years now. I just take a normal adult multivitamin every morning (which everyone should do, whether or not they eat animal products). never had any malnutrition problems. healthier than ever. :)
"Here's what fruits and vegetables looked like before we domesticated them" (Article Source: Business Insider) http://www.businessinsider.com/what-foods-looked-like-before-genetic-modification-2016-1/
yes
vegans are heinously anus