My nephew who is 35 became a vegetarian 2 years ago. The final straw for him occurred when he watched a programme regarding a particular chicken restaurant and the way the chickens were treated. He is with a partner who eats meat, and here doesn't have a problem eating out with her, anywhere. We recently all went to a restaurant in Kent for his dads birthday.....not chosen for Edwards vegetarianism....but its a one star Michelin...and he had a choice of no less than 3 starters and 3 main courses...He just sent me a vegetarian info link on facebook
http://www.vegsoc.org/page.aspx?pid=600# which I thought some folks might find interesting...
Any doctor that thinks children brought up not eating meat and fish are about 50 years out of date! It really just shows an amazing ignorance of nutrition. I am sure your children are fit and healthy, vegetarians, according to some statistics live longer than their carnivorous cousins.
You are right Jocelyn. I have 4 different friends/family who cook for us who are vegetarians. One eats to live, she cooked us chicken once and bought 2 chicken breasts that she plonked in a saucepan and boiled for an hour....it tasted of nothing so much as a solid lump of blotting paper. My brother in law has been veggie for 50 years and has never cooked me anything that has much flavour, he uses lovely fresh ingredients but hasnt learnt the value of spices and herbs....his Russian wife served us with veggie bacon as a treat...uncooked! I just dont know any skilled vegetarian cooks. I really enjoy vegetarian and vegan cooking. Ive cooked an Indian vegetarian banquet when we have had veggie friends over. And vegan cooking is such a fantastic challenge. A couple of my best recipes are for vegan pies and puddings with different kind of mushrooms being the main ingredient.
We arrived here Vegetarians 16 years ago and are still Vegetarians. We would be invited out to diner and have to eat fish but now a days we manage to have a Veggie option or we head for a great Vegetarian restaurant in Toulouse.
All our children were born here, I kept my diet Veggie during all my pregnancies and all 3 boys were born big and healthy! With the first one I went to a children`s doctor for his health checks. When he came to the age to be weened the doctor was horrified that I was not going to give him meat. On the next visit he told me that he and his colleagues at the hospital were very concerned. Needless to say that was the last time I saw him! I will add here that I am a Nursery Nurse and well trained in the nutrition needed for babies and young children to grow in a healthy and normal way! So when I started to see the General doctor I explained that we were Vegetarians. It has never been a problem and he respects our choice to not eat meat or fish.
When my children started school they came home for lunch which was fine until they went on a school trip then it proved too difficult so I would go too and take our own food. Then when our youngest was born it was easier if the other 2 stayed for lunch. This proved very difficult they ended up not eating meals or missing large amounts of their meal which I paid for at the normal price. But now these 2 are at college in a private school it is a lot easier! The kitchen staff know they are Veggie and have actually kept something suitable for them from the previous day! The salads are always suitable as are the deserts.
I sometimes find it frustrating when shopping if I can not find the exact ingredients for a certain recipe but always find alternatives. There are always pulses and lentils and fresh veg and fruit. I grow our own and we have chickens.
All 3 boys are healthy and way above the norm on the graphs in the Carnet de sante! But that might be because they are not French.
apart from a greasy spoon outlet, you would get more than one option anywhere else you chose to eat here. I just think it doesnt take a huge effort to provide for other palates. If you look at the cuisines of other countries, the UK for instance where fine dining was a rareity, the eating experience has improved hugely, whereas in France, the status quo remains. I live in a small town Ben.....and part of the reason I started this thread was after my inlaws came to stay with us in France and we gave up eating out with them, because all they were ever offered was an omelette...I looked at the menus of our 14 restaurants.....a mix of Indian, Chinese, Thai, one Mongolian, 3 Italians, one greasy spoon, an English restaurant and the fish and chips of course! out of the lot, nearly all had several choices of veggie fare...the greasy spoon offers a full English Veggie breakfast including veggie bacon and sausage....though you are limited with just one choice at the fish and chips...veggie pie with chips....if vegetarians were one in twenty I can understand why they wouldnt be looked after...but one in five? thats very high....and as a carnivore, I dont always want to eat meat and I know lots of friends who like me try and have two or three meat free days a week. But then, to ensure change, the customer has to be King.....hmmmm...
Pretty well right. Science tells us how we arrived where we are but is not really meant to tell us that we ought to be what we were many millenia ago. The present and growing crisis have nothing to do with anything in the past, however many famines and plagues there might have been. We have radically changed the eco-system and ourselves and all the so-called paleo-diets and crocodile tears do not undo that.
Being a vegetarian there are only 2 food aisles that I don't go down in the French supermarket - the meat/ham one and the fish one. Every other aisle offers something for a vegetarian to eat or drink.
Its not that we're too tolerant....it's just that we are so chilled out & relaxed from eating no meat!!
The problem with quoting extracts from science is exactly the same as quoting extracts from the bible - there is an argument to justify every single action. Is it just the meat diet aspect of early man you adopt or do you live the rest of your life in a nomadic lifestyle of circa 2 million years ago? Whether we like it or not we are not living in a world that resembles the world of 2 million years ago. We have famine & greed existing only because of politics, we have animals raised & killed in horrific industrial situations only to be left on the side of our plates and thrown out as waste food - animal cruelty & population crisis is a fact of life in our world of circa 2012.
We too have travelled all over France and have yet to struggle to find veggie food. I often find if you go into a restaurant , are friendly, polite, good humoured and speak good french, the proprietor will sort something out if there is nothing exactly right on the menu.
I certainly don't find lack of flavour a problem with vegetarian food...have you ever tasted Gazpacho or Baba Ganoush? I think the flavour of a meal, whether veggie or meat based, comes down to how well it's cooked. Just because there's meat in a dish doesn't guarantee flavour.
Most of the restaurants I have seen with veggie options in France are British run and vegans beware !!!!! this is not the country for you.
Guess the over-all problem/question is if veggies have the same rights as omnis. Given their low numbers I guess it's omnivores Vs veggies equals 5 to1..... You can complain about the situation in France, but compare this to the "small-town" experience in the Anglo-Saxon countries....Bit then again, one cannot impose its personal choices upon an entire country and call it a "back-water". If you believe in the benefits of a reduced regime on your health, energy, weight etc. be my guest. I'll cook something appropriate for you, but don't bother my other guests...
I have to say Margo....Ive lived in the Dordogne for 3 years but we also have a flat in the UK where I have just moved back to....and I find the food here (UK)...much cheaper....the vegetarian/vegan and meat options, all cheaper...the wine isnt so cheap though, but the Whiskey is!
Buying on line is the answer...but have you tried buying gluten flour...which makes wonderful meat substitute? a few kilo's of that in the cupboard...and you can make steaks, rissoles, mince...substitute for all types of meat...last for ages in the cupboard...also known as Seitan....totally vegan....flavour it with whatever you want...and has a good chew to it.
We moved here around 2 and 1/2 years ago (my wife, who is not a veggie, and son ) I've been vegetarian for around 25 years and my son who is 28 was vegan in the U.K which is almost impossible here so is now just vegetarian.
We dont eat out much as it is difficult apart from Pizzas and omelettes, although we have found one or two places that have catered for us very well. One was in Montmorillon, right on the bridge, cant recall the name at moment. Laurence at Dixieland Vertueil also does some great veggie dishes.
luckily my son and wife are both great cooks so no problems with a good variety of home cooked vegetarian meals made from local produce.
Now and then we do miss 'fast food veggie' like veggie burgers and sausages, so do put in the occassional Sainsbury order!
In fairness...in the 80s we used to also plot revenge on veggie friends, they would just cook veggies for us...but as meat eaters we had to cook veggies for them....but the ubiquitous quiche was often served....
Living in a veggie household (in the 80s) we plotted revenge on all those people who gave us quiche; when carnivores came round our place we would whisper do you eat sausages?
Calves not intended for veal, usually bull dairy calves have to be shot at about three days old when they have taken the colostrum from the cow.
Rose veal comes from these same calves who are weaned early and live a normal life until slaughter from about six months.
It is a fact of life that half of the calves born in a dairy herd will be bulls, so rose veal is a better option.
By not choosing to eat rose veal, there will be more calves shot soon after birth.
will put some of my veggie recipes on SFN tomorrow..including the mushroom pate...pleasure Sandra.