Crackling and crispy chicken skin.
Having said that I love an aubergine curry.
One of my daughters was vegan for some years. I won’t ask her about oral sex (is there an emoji for ‘shudder’?).
She stopped because she was short of some vitamins - medics involved. She’s back to vegetarian.
Mme (hope I’ve got the correct abbreviation - I’ll have to check the other thread again) though cooks up lovely dhall, cauliflower curry, potato, chapati and rice.
I just throw in a bit of chicken tikka masala. This is France, surely one would move here for the food and the wine? But no, vegans, vegetarians and pescatarians there are in heaps - vive les vegans!
One other thing from my daughter - vegan or vegetarian, if you drink beer watch out for the fish finings to clear the yeast. Roosters (Yorkshire) is /was/ still is(?) a vegan / vegetarian beer.
edit - yes also aubergines! (Mme doesn’t like them for some reason) - and now I remember, okra too)
But the whole hog’s a lovely tradition (unless of course one happens to be a pig). Even though my brother in the Spanish Basque country is now divorced, he and the rest of his former in-laws’ diaspora retrun to the parents’ home once a year for the annual killing of the pig followed by several days making charcuterie that everyone one takes away.
Meanwhile his former wife, who originally left my brother for a yurt maker, is now living in some proto-Christian sect in the Pyrenees, where members are not allowed to use the Internet and only eat food that was mentioned in the Old Testament!
1 Like
I saw that once.
The abuela who was supervising the making of the morcilla tasted the mix a few times. Obviously before cooking.
1 Like
Eggs. Probably my favourite food. Oh and milk for my tea.
Izzy x
I shan’t offer any recommendations as the last vegetarian curry book I bought was over 40 years ago and long out of print!
Actually, I will recommend one book: Indian Vegetarian Cookery by Jack Santa Maria. I bought mine in the mid 1970’s and it’s the book to which I always turn when I need inspiration.
3 Likes
I mentioned earlier the weekly menu of the local primary school (online) regularly counts fish - as a vegetarian dish.
Jane replied “:Do you remember the massive fuss when the idea of their being one vegetarian meal A WEEK in schools was introduced?”
I can’t prove it, but I bet that’s what’s behind this. Today’s school menu here a case in point. Tuna and tomato salad = ‘plat végétarien’. Not exactly entering into the spirit of providing - just one (!) - vegetarian meal a week…!
Like many religions or cults ‘veganism’ is just too much like hard work for very little gain. I get the health benefits of eating less meat but vegan beer and wine, might as well just be teetotal.
1 Like
Our son in law is a veggie.
Piles loads of stress when visiting when planning meals.
Years ago our daughters worked when home from uni at a childrens park which was very popular. The restaurant served quick food and to appease some visitors they sold veggie burgers. The griddle was out of sight of diners and both beef and veggie burgers sizzled happily side by side.
Drifting off topic, the childrens park expanded rapidly in the 80s wuth many attractions added and I was fortunate to win a number of contracts there. A boozy barrel ride, pirates cove complete with life size galleon, a fort, food hall with indoor soft play area and best of all a cowboy city comprising an entire street straight from the scene of a wild west movie. For that one time I really was a cowboy builder.
Back on topic, l bet there were no vegan cowboys 
Do you, please explain what they are as I havent found any real benefits.
I don’t eat meat or fish, and I buy vegetable milk (spelt milk is great!), but I don’t use either V word to describe my diet, because others don’t see it purely as dietary, it becomes semi-religious, and you’re then a group to be pigeonholed, mocked and ridiculed. Just last year my daughter was told by the school nurse that her diet could put her in a wheelchair! Then if that wasn’t bad enough she bought home a leaflet from the ministry of health that said basically the same thing, highlighting the dangers of ‘fads’.
People also assume you have all these stereotypes about meat eaters. I don’t care what people eat really - each to their own.
In answer to the question, I don’t miss anything at all. It never felt like a sacrifice, and even if it did, to me it would still be one worth paying. The thing is when you change your diet, with time it changes your palate and even your gut bacteria - you adapt and appreciate other things. I should add that I eat more of a wholefood plant based diet, so very little if any oil, sugar and it’s very, very rare I will eat anything processed. Every day I feel like I’m eating like royalty; it’s absolutely delicious. My health is great, BMI perfect, blood tests have shown everything to be in balance, and I feel good, so that’s enough for me.
7 Likes
And that is the best part, whilst both sides in the debate attack each other it should a free choice with any vitriol directed towards processed foods. The 11 companies that make the rubbish for the masses have a lot to answer for. I have only heard of T2 diabetics reversing their condition with whole food plant based diets whereas I have personally witnessed Ketogenic diets doing so but its pretty self evident doing neither leads to a life of pharma and the possibilty of having limbs removed. The research is still evolving as to the health benefits of either extreme as research cost a lot of money and pharma have zero interest in doing so.
There is only a certain amount of food one can (should) eat in a day. Having two meals that include a high protein and often high fat element leaves far less room (calories) for other nutitious stuff.
Tim Spector has convinced me that eating as wide a range of plant material possible is good. And a classic meat and two veg diet rarely does that.
I am not vegetarian, but OH disliikes the taste and fattiness of meat. So our diet is more about having a wide a range of non-processed food, than absolutely rejecting animal protein. Which ends up as most meals happening to be vegetarisn or vegan.
The same for me, I eat what I fancy eating whether its a donut topped with icing or a plate of only veg. I try to balance stuff and know that not having dairy and protein will only do harm to my body especially bones as they need calcium to stop brittleness plus too much of what is not good shows with my hair and whether it shines or loses lots when in the shower etc. Regarding meat, I cannot abide any sort of fat and try not to eat pork since I read a book by a survivor of terrible burns in the Falklands War (won’t say anymore as don’t want to put others off pork), unless its a sausage or smoked ham. I didn’t fancy wearing plastic or canvas shoes either and have always like leather so being a vegan is a no no for me.
I joined in with this thread as I’m pretty much anonymous, but in person I don’t talk to people about my diet, or bring it up in conversation unless someone invites me to eat and I have to tell them I don’t eat meat.
I grow my own diverse range of vegetables, herbs and fruit, and I really appreciate the taste, I think in part because homegrown has a lot more flavour and nutrients (and I can keep out the pesticides) and because my palette/gut bacteria changed with time. I do buy some staples or purchase from local producers.
Years ago I remember what it was like eating with a lot more oil/sugar/salt. You bite into something and it was instant bliss, but overdo it and you can feel a bit bloated or uncomfortable afterwards, something I no longer experience. I don’t get that brief sleepy feeling after lunch either that I’d sometimes use to fight.
Because I enjoy my diet so much, it’s extremely rare I ever go to a restaurant, because I’m left disappointed. Several years ago I did try one, and felt very sick for hours afterwards. I was wondering if it was mild food poisoning, and looked up reviews, but everyone raved about the place. I then realised my body couldn’t hack the richness and oil used in the cooking.
Wholefood plant based certainly works for our family. It is a more effort cooking and preparing every meal, but we love it, we’re not short on variety, protein, calcium, iron or any other needed vitamins/minerals (quite to the contrary). We do supplement for B12, but that’s only because water sources are contaminated in this modern day, and we clean vegetables more to remove any traces of soil. Animals don’t produce B12 themselves, but they do get it second-hand from the sources mentioned, and so by eating meat you can get it indirectly. Apart from that, with a well balanced diet I’ve only found positives.
6 Likes
All this is making me hungry!
There are wonderful recipes in Indian, Japanese and some Chinese cuisines that I could happily live on. However, what I do need is a cook.
So few of the exotic veggie recipes fit into my ‘15 minute maximum’ prep time. And if I resort to my preferred ‘assembly only’, we will turn from pescatarians into rabbits.
I love animals, so we don’t actually eat meat but our dogs do, albeit in dry kibble form, and that at this stage of their lives is non-negotiable.
I have not and never will eat rabbit having had them as dearly loved pets all my young life and even after getting married, my parents still kept one. I don’t feel the same affinity towards poultry never having kept them nor even liking them very much but can’t resist a nice chicken breast covered in boursin and then wrapped in smoked bacon rashers and baked.
sounds yummy…
In case there is any confusion, I said we would “turn into” rabbits, not eat them!!
4 Likes
I didn’t read it as that, its clear what you wrote and I too, have often said I will turn into a rabbit if I eat any more lettuce,carrots or greens.