Any Vegetarians Out There

[CyberSinner]

Okay before this turns into some kind of debate or something. There are some of folks who do not eat because those poor fuzzy animals. I am vegetarian because I am allergic to an enzyme in animal protein. For 18 years of my life I suffered from psoriasis and eczema. I have been vegetarian for 4 years and have not had an out break. I did back when I had done the vegetarian cleanse tried to go back to eating meat, but ended up breaking out again. So I just got rid of consuming all animal byproducts from my body so I wouldn't have to deal with that kind of pain.

I am not here to say eating meat is wrong either, I feel like I have to give a giant paragraph disclaimer. I have an associates in Environmental Biology, Environmental Conservation, and Natural Resources. So I am one of those rare individuals who doesn't necessarily think eating meat is wrong, but I feel like with the way disease is, with my strange reaction to meat. We should find a better way to be producers and consumers.

With that out of the way.

I wanted to know if there were any vegetarians on Escapist. And wanted to talk to people about, food struggles, recipes, etc. Sharing stuff. This is why this thread exist.

 

[Silvanus]

I was a full vegetarian for a number of years.

In recent years I've made a few exceptions: I'll eat meat if it will otherwise go to waste; I'll eat meat if my eating meat will in no way contribute to supply-and-demand (for example, if someone has bought something for them and others, and my sharing it won't mean any more is bought); and I'll freely eat animals that don't have brains (like mussels and cockles).

Of course, such times don't come up often. In an average month I'll eat no meat.

When I first became vegetarian, my diet wasn't very well planned... but I think I have it down, now. I cook more often and am probably more imaginative with food overall.

 

[Random Argument Man]

I am not a vegetarian, but I do love me some vegetarian recipes. I'd advise to check this site if you don't mind reading some swear words. http://thugkitchen.com

(It's extra hilarious if you imagine Terry Crews's voice while reading the site).

Although, I did had some trouble assembling some ingredients since I was on a budget. I do plan on recreating a lot of recipes.

 

[CyberSinner]

I find that once you turn vegetarian, you understand food better.

You also tend to cook different and are more willing to try things you normally wouldn't. Probably because the "American" diet doesn't at all take in account vegetarian diets or allergies.

The number of products that have milk in them that shouldn't. I am lactose intolerant with a mild dairy allergy, yet I find everything that should be vegetarian has been somewhat ruined because someone decided to put milk in it or cook it in butter, which has milk in it.

I learned how to make my own pizza crust, so why is pizza crust at a resteraunt have whey in it? Which is dairy?

Why is it okay to call something Dairy Free if it doesn't have lactose in it? But it still has casein in it, which is still dairy. It should say Lactose Free.

This world, sometimes, especially after discovering my food quirks, feels ill suited for people with limited diets.

 

[manic_depressive13]

You would think that vegans would be your best friends then. More people choosing this lifestyle for ethical reasons would easily be in your best interest. Don't let that stop you slipping in a patronising comment about 'poor fuzzy animals'.

 

[white_wolf]

I can relate OP I was forced off one of my most favorite foods: milk and all the tastiness that goes with it! I got a mystery condition and I was forced off milk as its one of several triggers. I loved cheese, milk, heck loads of things have milk in it even things you never thought of and then you have to find all the hidden words that also are biproducts or new ways of saying milk like whey did you know a "dairy free" coffee creamer may still contain dairy? Heck even some Ramen brands I can't touch! It sucks! Finding dairy free products and cooking is a challenge at times it also doesn't help I'm not a fan of soy the taste isn't to my liking but I'm doing it and learning and thats all its going to be at this point.

 

[CruxisCalling]

I've been vegetarian since the day I was born due to a severe food sensitivity. Not just meat, most foods will make me violently sick (I'm actually closer to vegan, but milk and eggs don't generally bother me so I'm technically somewhere between the two terms). Ironically enough, I come from a large family of very active hunters, so I totally get the idea of us being forced into "animal rights activist" stereotypes when ethics aren't actually a factor in the decision (if it is one) to be vegetarian. How many vegetarians can say they know how to skin a deer? More than you'd think.

I'm always surprised by just how easily we all get assigned that animal-lover identity, considering I've met dozens of vegetarians in my life and not a single one of them was vegetarian by choice. When I worked in a restaurant as a teenager there were 8 other girls working there who were vegetarian as well, all due to illness/allergy. It's a shame that this isn't taken into account more, but we learn to live with it, right?

I personally am very limited when it comes to food choices, even outside of meat. But I'm really happy to know that so many of you have been able to open yourselves up to trying new foods as a result of your vegetarianism! It's something I'd like to be able to do myself, but I'm glad that other people get to experience that benefit.

 

[CyberSinner]

I can relate OP I was forced off one of my most favorite foods: milk and all the tastiness that goes with it! I got a mystery condition and I was forced off milk as its one of several triggers. I loved cheese, milk, heck loads of things have milk in it even things you never thought of and then you have to find all the hidden words that also are biproducts or new ways of saying milk like whey did you know a "dairy free" coffee creamer may still contain dairy? Heck even some Ramen brands I can't touch! It sucks! Finding dairy free products and cooking is a challenge at times it also doesn't help I'm not a fan of soy the taste isn't to my liking but I'm doing it and learning and thats all its going to be at this point.

When I was doing a research project in my college courses, in my Natural Resource class. My classmates were all dairy drinkers, none of them had a nut allergy thank god, but I did a taste test.

Would you be surprised what got drunk faster? Not the cows milk, which had 2 gallons. But the Almond Milk, which I had 2 gallons of it. By the end of class, I was left with half a gallon and a full gallon of cows milk. No Almond milk, and 2 full gallons of soymilk.

Maybe you should try Almond milk, it has the richness and thickness of dairy milk and even the sweetness. For cooking I suggest, for mash potatos using Oat Milk which is actually really good and has a much more sutble flavor. And for baking I suggest Almond Milk or Coconut milk.

Trust me I have been lactose intolerant all my life and I'll be honest some soymilk is very watery tasting. Almond milk is delicious to drink or bake with, I am the type of person who doesn't like my food to have a weird nutty flavor so I went with Oat milk for my mash potatos and any regular cooking. Coconut milk I like to bake with.

Talking about baking. I have a lot of eggless, dairy free baking goods.

@Random Argument Man: Thanks for the link, a lot of those recipes look tasty. But I am just one guy with no life, and I tend to shy away from recipes that say "serves 4" because I am 1 person. And prefer not to have leftovers.

 

[Dwarfman]

I find that once you turn vegetarian, you understand food better.

You also tend to cook different and are more willing to try things you normally wouldn't. Probably because the "American" diet doesn't at all take in account vegetarian diets or allergies.

The number of products that have milk in them that shouldn't. I am lactose intolerant with a mild dairy allergy, yet I find everything that should be vegetarian has been somewhat ruined because someone decided to put milk in it or cook it in butter, which has milk in it.

I learned how to make my own pizza crust, so why is pizza crust at a resteraunt have whey in it? Which is dairy?

Why is it okay to call something Dairy Free if it doesn't have lactose in it? But it still has casein in it, which is still dairy. It should say Lactose Free.

This world, sometimes, especially after discovering my food quirks, feels ill suited for people with limited diets.

Really? I've often found it to be the opposite. The number of vegetarians out there that lack basic food knowledge astounds me. Then again the number of carnivores out there who don't quite understand that meat comes from that which once lived astounds me as well. This could be because I'm a qualified chef and have been trained to seek out and devour all life (both fauna and flora) in as many imaginary ways as possible.

Whilst I am blessed with no allergies or conditions - at least none yet - I do sympathise with you in regards to your diet and allergies. I apparently recieved a write up in a health newsletter that catered to people with celiac disease and allergies. Apparently I was one of only a few chefs out there that not only had a wide variety of G.F., L.F. and vegetarian products on the menu but I also went out of my way to accomodate them and other ailments - like allergies to seafood and nuts. So many of my brethren are just ready to write people off because they can't for whatever reason eat something on the menu and flat out refuse to abide by what our very industry is based on. Hospitality.

 

[Ubiquitous Duck]

I've been vegetarian since the day I was born due to a severe food sensitivity. Not just meat, most foods will make me violently sick (I'm actually closer to vegan, but milk and eggs don't generally bother me so I'm technically somewhere between the two terms). Ironically enough, I come from a large family of very active hunters, so I totally get the idea of us being forced into "animal rights activist" stereotypes when ethics aren't actually a factor in the decision (if it is one) to be vegetarian. How many vegetarians can say they know how to skin a deer? More than you'd think.

I'm always surprised by just how easily we all get assigned that animal-lover identity, considering I've met dozens of vegetarians in my life and not a single one of them was vegetarian by choice. When I worked in a restaurant as a teenager there were 8 other girls working there who were vegetarian as well, all due to illness/allergy. It's a shame that this isn't taken into account more, but we learn to live with it, right?

I personally am very limited when it comes to food choices, even outside of meat. But I'm really happy to know that so many of you have been able to open yourselves up to trying new foods as a result of your vegetarianism! It's something I'd like to be able to do myself, but I'm glad that other people get to experience that benefit.

My Grandma still thinks that my Dad doesn't like chocolate.

It doesn't matter how many times we tell her that he does, but he has diabetes. So he is not choosing to not eat it due to taste, but that is the assumption that I've heard often: 'If you don't eat chocolate, must be the crazies, cause it be tasty'.

People used to always assume that me and my sister didn't like chocolate, but we just chose not to eat it. I went through a stage of my life where I wanted to see how long I could cut out chocolate, cake, biscuits etc. I lasted about 3 years. I'd often hear people say, 'oh no, he won't want any. He doesn't like chocolate'. It did miss the whole point of the endeavour, but oh well.

My sister also gets a load of joy from people when they find out that she doesn't drink. Not through bad experiences or any sort of moral code that necessitates it, she's just not interested in it. People don't seem to accept that, although to be fair it's often in jest.

Most dietary habits are looked upon with a bundle of assumptions, so I wouldn't take it too personally. I think people are still shaping their ideas around food and health. I know I am.

 

[Artina89]

I am not a vegetarian, but I do eat a mainly vegetarian diet, except once or twice a week I will have a meal with fish or chicken/turkey. The main reason that I mainly follow a vegetarian diet is just that I tend to prefer vegetarian dishes to the meat ones, I am not an animal lover in particular and I don't have any food allergies that I am aware of. I also really like eating fruit over eating candy and chocolate, which a lot of people tend to find a bit abnormal. For example, if there is an apple or a bar of chocolate on offer, I will choose the apple nearly every time, just because I prefer apples to chocolate.

 

[CyberSinner]

I find that once you turn vegetarian, you understand food better.

You also tend to cook different and are more willing to try things you normally wouldn't. Probably because the "American" diet doesn't at all take in account vegetarian diets or allergies.

The number of products that have milk in them that shouldn't. I am lactose intolerant with a mild dairy allergy, yet I find everything that should be vegetarian has been somewhat ruined because someone decided to put milk in it or cook it in butter, which has milk in it.

I learned how to make my own pizza crust, so why is pizza crust at a resteraunt have whey in it? Which is dairy?

Why is it okay to call something Dairy Free if it doesn't have lactose in it? But it still has casein in it, which is still dairy. It should say Lactose Free.

This world, sometimes, especially after discovering my food quirks, feels ill suited for people with limited diets.

Really? I've often found it to be the opposite. The number of vegetarians out there that lack basic food knowledge astounds me. Then again the number of carnivores out there who don't quite understand that meat comes from that which once lived astounds me as well. This could be because I'm a qualified chef and have been trained to seek out and devour all life (both fauna and flora) in as many imaginary ways as possible.

Whilst I am blessed with no allergies or conditions - at least none yet - I do sympathise with you in regards to your diet and allergies. I apparently recieved a write up in a health newsletter that catered to people with celiac disease and allergies. Apparently I was one of only a few chefs out there that not only had a wide variety of G.F., L.F. and vegetarian products on the menu but I also went out of my way to accomodate them and other ailments - like allergies to seafood and nuts. So many of my brethren are just ready to write people off because they can't for whatever reason eat something on the menu and flat out refuse to abide by what our very industry is based on. Hospitality.

Though maybe for me, I simply know more because of my college background. For me, knowing and being educated on the food industry and big business food industry it makes me cautious.

I find it funny sometimes. That people worry about the weather or something trivial. And the one thing everyone should be worried about they aren't, which is their food. What's in my food? How was this made? Does this companies values match up with mine?

There is still, to this day, one quote that I love. And its from Food Inc. "We as consumers vote with our wallet, with what we bough" Being the type of person I am, I am the freak who researches business practices, ingredients in food, food ethics, how the food was ship.

I am that annoying asshole who has to ask about how and where it came from. Because that's what we all should be doing.

The Health of Our Food is the Health of Us and our Well Being. I know this now more than ever with my strange food allergies.

 

[The White Hunter]

No I';m rather omnivorous. I like meat and eat some kind of animal most days. I try anything at least once though and if it meets "palatable" I will try it repeatedly to acquire the taste for it.

Veggies are good, meat is good, I try to eat free range and fair trade produce and such when possible but thats the limit of my "ethics" when it comes to food.

I did try quorn recently. It did not meet "palatable". It was more like some kind of disgusting mush than a viable meat substitute.

 

[EvilRoy]

I'm by no means a vegetarian, although I do eat a number of meatless meals to aid in my weightloss.

Unfortunately I don't have the links with me, but I would suggest you check out cookbooks intended for diabetics if you're interested in single serving vegetarian meals. My experience has been that the recipes in those books tend to be extremely specific about serving size, and the majority of ingredients are usually vegetables, which makes it easy to cut out the meats and animal products.

I suggest kidney beans as a replacement for most red meats. Not for any real nutritional reasons, I just like fried kidney beans.

 

[white_wolf]

I can relate OP I was forced off one of my most favorite foods: milk and all the tastiness that goes with it! I got a mystery condition and I was forced off milk as its one of several triggers. I loved cheese, milk, heck loads of things have milk in it even things you never thought of and then you have to find all the hidden words that also are biproducts or new ways of saying milk like whey did you know a "dairy free" coffee creamer may still contain dairy? Heck even some Ramen brands I can't touch! It sucks! Finding dairy free products and cooking is a challenge at times it also doesn't help I'm not a fan of soy the taste isn't to my liking but I'm doing it and learning and thats all its going to be at this point.

When I was doing a research project in my college courses, in my Natural Resource class. My classmates were all dairy drinkers, none of them had a nut allergy thank god, but I did a taste test.

Would you be surprised what got drunk faster? Not the cows milk, which had 2 gallons. But the Almond Milk, which I had 2 gallons of it. By the end of class, I was left with half a gallon and a full gallon of cows milk. No Almond milk, and 2 full gallons of soymilk.

Maybe you should try Almond milk, it has the richness and thickness of dairy milk and even the sweetness. For cooking I suggest, for mash potatos using Oat Milk which is actually really good and has a much more sutble flavor. And for baking I suggest Almond Milk or Coconut milk.

Trust me I have been lactose intolerant all my life and I'll be honest some soymilk is very watery tasting. Almond milk is delicious to drink or bake with, I am the type of person who doesn't like my food to have a weird nutty flavor so I went with Oat milk for my mash potatos and any regular cooking. Coconut milk I like to bake with.

Talking about baking. I have a lot of eggless, dairy free baking goods.

@Random Argument Man: Thanks for the link, a lot of those recipes look tasty. But I am just one guy with no life, and I tend to shy away from recipes that say "serves 4" because I am 1 person. And prefer not to have leftovers.

Haven't tried oat flavored in my area I've never seen it but I have tried out regular almond and I really don't like it maybe if I bake with it. Right now the least food altering one I've tried and can live with is rice milk but I've got to be very picky about what I'll bake/cook with it as it can be a huge guessing game. Coconut works well enough for ice cream but since you might know alot better then me I read I could use fat canned coconut milk to substitute for heavy cream have you tired that does it really work? I have a lot of soups I gave up on because it needs that ingredient. With my area they don't have alot of vegan or dairyfree items even when they're stated right on the box to be dairy free (like creamers) I have to go over it all carefully I'm looking into ordering foods via online right now but I'm worried about the items reaching me in a good state as they keep stating on the sites I need to cold pack them because the trucks they ship in aren't refrigerated.

 

[Ambitiousmould]

I'm not a vegetarian, and have no food allergies or anything, but I do have a friend who is a vegetarian. He is pretty vague on his reasons, but when I asked him he said that he doesn't like the idea of killing animals, 'I suppose' but the main reasonn seems to be that he is a very light eater (and it shows) so meat doesn't really appeal to him.

 

[CyberSinner]

I can relate OP I was forced off one of my most favorite foods: milk and all the tastiness that goes with it! I got a mystery condition and I was forced off milk as its one of several triggers. I loved cheese, milk, heck loads of things have milk in it even things you never thought of and then you have to find all the hidden words that also are biproducts or new ways of saying milk like whey did you know a "dairy free" coffee creamer may still contain dairy? Heck even some Ramen brands I can't touch! It sucks! Finding dairy free products and cooking is a challenge at times it also doesn't help I'm not a fan of soy the taste isn't to my liking but I'm doing it and learning and thats all its going to be at this point.

When I was doing a research project in my college courses, in my Natural Resource class. My classmates were all dairy drinkers, none of them had a nut allergy thank god, but I did a taste test.

Would you be surprised what got drunk faster? Not the cows milk, which had 2 gallons. But the Almond Milk, which I had 2 gallons of it. By the end of class, I was left with half a gallon and a full gallon of cows milk. No Almond milk, and 2 full gallons of soymilk.

Maybe you should try Almond milk, it has the richness and thickness of dairy milk and even the sweetness. For cooking I suggest, for mash potatos using Oat Milk which is actually really good and has a much more sutble flavor. And for baking I suggest Almond Milk or Coconut milk.

Trust me I have been lactose intolerant all my life and I'll be honest some soymilk is very watery tasting. Almond milk is delicious to drink or bake with, I am the type of person who doesn't like my food to have a weird nutty flavor so I went with Oat milk for my mash potatos and any regular cooking. Coconut milk I like to bake with.

Talking about baking. I have a lot of eggless, dairy free baking goods.

@Random Argument Man: Thanks for the link, a lot of those recipes look tasty. But I am just one guy with no life, and I tend to shy away from recipes that say "serves 4" because I am 1 person. And prefer not to have leftovers.

Haven't tried oat flavored in my area I've never seen it but I have tried out regular almond and I really don't like it maybe if I bake with it. Right now the least food altering one I've tried and can live with is rice milk but I've got to be very picky about what I'll bake/cook with it as it can be a huge guessing game. Coconut works well enough for ice cream but since you might know alot better then me I read I could use fat canned coconut milk to substitute for heavy cream have you tired that does it really work? I have a lot of soups I gave up on because it needs that ingredient. With my area they don't have alot of vegan or dairyfree items even when they're stated right on the box to be dairy free (like creamers) I have to go over it all carefully I'm looking into ordering foods via online right now but I'm worried about the items reaching me in a good state as they keep stating on the sites I need to cold pack them because the trucks they ship in aren't refrigerated.

Coconut milk in the can works as a creamer. If you season it right, I suppose it can be used for regular old cooking. Here is basically what I use and by no ways do I have a lot of money. I am actually currently unemployed, but I refuse to have a break out or go back to my old ways. I am currently on Foodstamps, please let's not start any arguments about that because it just upsets me, and they cut the Foodstamps quite aways away. Even though I have told them I am unemployed they are currently giving me only 18 dollars. But when I can.


Baking Milk Alternatives:

-Almond Milk or Coconut Milk or even Coconut Cream in the can

Cooking Milk Alternatives:

-Oat Milk
-Soymilk

^Both Oat and Soy are mild in flavor so I use it for every other recipe. Like if I am making alfredo or something.

Drinking Milk Alternative:

-I never really was a big "milk" drinker. I was born lactose intolerant all my life, so soymilk has always never been very tasty. But if I am going to drink "milk" I go for

Almond Milk, flavored kinds, chocolate or vanilla, and I recently discovered frequen Strawberry yummm

Coconut Milk, flavored, but I just kind of only like chocolate

Soymilk, flavored, but once again chocolate hahahaa

Oh and talking about my Alfredo, you won't believe that I do not use butter or heavy cream. Some of my omnivore visitors, because to be quite frank I am a the Token Icon NEET, always compliment me on it and ask my secret. I never tell them, but I'll tell you guys.

So my Alfredo calls for:

-Soymilk or Oat Milk
-Hummus Garlic or any variant like Spinach or Avacado
-Nutrional Yeast
-Secret seasonings that I won't tell you [garlic powder, onion powder, etc.]


It always turns out delicious.

Oh also another trick. If you're using a meatless meat, if you want to get some smokey flavors into it try these techniques:

-Use a Steak Rub in groundless beef or seitan chunks for beef
-For seitan chunks for Pork use Bacon Salt
-For seitan chunks for chicken use a Vegetable Bouillon or Poultry Seasoning

 

[Ivailo Todorov]

I am actually blessed/cursed to not gain weight no matter what I eat so I eat whatever doesn't make me sick.Honestly I hate eating as it is,limiting myself to only vegetables will make it even worse.On the ethical side of things like "but the fuzzy animals that you are eating...bla,bla,bla" you do realize that the animal is dead anyway and if I don't eat it someone else will eat it or it will be thrown to the dogs/cats.Besides think about how fortune you are to be a human and actually get to choose what to eat and show sympathy towards food,abuse your position a little bit and enjoy it.

For people going vegan just to lose weight:Isn't working out top priority for y'all right now ? Why torture yourself by condemning what you like (meat).Just work out,hard,and meat will be a great help towards building muscle.

 

[shootthebandit]

I eat a lot of meat. Id say in the UK it must be very hard to avoid eating meat.

the problem with being a vegetarian and even more so a vegan is that you dont get the same amount of nutrients as us meat eaters. Yes a meat free diet is healthier but meat definitely has its benefits. Of all the vegetarians ive known they have all been very skinny. Im not saying we should all go out of our way to be fat but its important to get some sort of protein and fat into your diet

just out of interest OP can you still eat fish? Fish is probably a better source of protein than meat and its also very lean. It also contains fatty acids like omega 3

 

[CyberSinner]

I eat a lot of meat. Id say in the UK it must be very hard to avoid eating meat.

the problem with being a vegetarian and even more so a vegan is that you dont get the same amount of nutrients as us meat eaters. Yes a meat free diet is healthier but meat definitely has its benefits. Of all the vegetarians ive known they have all been very skinny. Im not saying we should all go out of our way to be fat but its important to get some sort of protein and fat into your diet

just out of interest OP can you still eat fish? Fish is probably a better source of protein than meat and its also very lean. It also contains fatty acids like omega 3

I end up breaking out if I eat fish. I mean I can eat in small small doses. Especially if I am going to some sort of special thing and my whole entire family just doesn't know what to get me. But I will eventually break out.

@Ivalio: I think I already said above, that it isn't for the fuzzy animals for me. But I do believe we need a better way to produce and consume. I also think that there is "no honor in beating the weak". All though I understand that some people see a cow as just that product, that cow cannot fight back and usually is confined, in this position and situation it is weak. There is no honor to hit it, kick it, beat it. And I am a firm believer that Our Food is Our Health. So if we pump our food with terrible stuff like anitbiotics, make them eat their brothers and sisters, etc. whatever it may be. How do you think effects us health wise?