Vegan
Comments
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I do begrudge it when out for a meal with friends that my vegetarian 'option' represents significantly poorer value than what they are being served. I'm a fully grown adult male ffs and that is not going to touch the sides.
Sometimes. Maybe. Possibly.
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I once had the veggie taster menu at a Michelin starred restaurant, the flavours were fantastic but I didn’t use my teeth for whole meal and given a lot of it was foraged. It must have cost a couple of quid for the ingredients.
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If you've an interest, I'd recommend following James Rebanks on social media and reading his books. He's a farmer with a particular interest in how to keep livestock in a way that improves soil condition and ecology in general on his farm.
1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition0 -
Still amazes me how uninspiring the veg options are, even in very high end restaurants (i.e Michelin starred). You would think that as a lot of top chefs wax lyrical about their love of food and produce that they would be keen to actually put some thought and care into vegetarian dishes. Particularly strange as there are many thousands of non meat ingredients at their disposal, far more than the available types/cuts of meat or edible fish species.
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I had a couple of veggie friends who would visit me in London, so I'd find a vegetarian restaurant and take them there. They were always delighted with the choice available and very happy. I had some OK Indian and Ethiopian food, but generally it was disappointing for me, and I feel like that represents the challenge that chefs have. These were places specialising in vegetarian food, but I was still underwhelmed.
If anyone happens to be in Malawi, this place does excellent vegetarian food.
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Interesting that you found actual vegetarian restaurants underwhelming. I have to admit I can remember ever having been to a veggie only restaurant once (probably about 25 years ago), but my wife is vegetarian so I often end up sharing veggie dishes with her when we eat out which are usually okay but really nothing special. I guess as I eat the veg dishes with her and often don't actually need a meat/fish dish that we should actually try a dedicated vegetarian restaurant to see for ourselves!
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Decent Indian restaurants often do a good range of non meat curries. A vegetable thali can get you 2 or 3 veg curries and rice and naan
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I think Indian food is the best vegetarian option - I was mostly vegetarian all the time I was in India.
Veg pizza can also be good, but that's not vegan.
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Vegetarian really shouldn't be hard, you can do meat free versions of pretty much anything. Vegan is obviously harder because of having to find substitutes in sauces etc.
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It's hard to make it as tasty as the meat version.
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The problem is that meat has its own flavour that is intrinsic to that meat. Its easy to cook and enhance its flavour. Veg have their own flavour but much more subtle than meat. Too many restaurants try to make vege taste like something else or make it meaty. The trick is to enhance the flavour of each veg so it works alongside the other veg. It's not that easy to do and the subtle tastes are lost.
Sometimes. Maybe. Possibly.
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It's an easily avoided problem. Just eat the meat version.
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]2 -
It honestly isn't that difficult in my experience. What substitutes for sauces were you thinking of?
Wilier Izoard XP0 -
Not necessarily just sauces but things like pastry etc. too. Anything that traditionally use eggs or dairy basically.
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I usually buy ready made pastry - I think the market leader (vegan or otherwise) is "Jus Rol" and it is vegan.
There are dozens of dairy free milks, yoghurts, creams etc - all of which can be used as substitutes as well as coconut milk. (I don't recall ever eating a non-vegan dish and thought "mmm the milk tastes nice in this"!)
Eggs are admittedly hard to replace (I eat lots of eggs) although it is possible to use chick pea water to make meringues it is a slog and in my experience not worth the effort!
When my Mrs went fully vegan (after a period of vegetarianism), my initial thoughts were that it would be a pain in the arse but, honestly, if you're cooking from scratch anyway (which I tend to do) it really isn't any different. Of course there is a difference insofar as there is a lack of dairy and meat but I have been very pleasantly surprised just how good "proper" vegan food can be. Unfortunately, vegan (and vegetarian) offers in many restaurants are a token gesture to the clientele as opposed to an effort to make something outstanding.
If we ever go to a restaurant that does both vegan and non-vegan dishes, I will usually opt for the meat option (ditto with Indian takeaways) and I often have some chicken / fish available at home but I enjoy cooking and, as stated above, wouldn't be too worried if I was told I could never eat meat again (or at least not as worried as I would have been 10 or 15 years ago)
I get that some people can't countenance the idea of not having meat as the centre piece of a meal (I worked in the meat industry for 20 years) but would suggest that if they were to approach with an open mind and try some proper vegan cookery, they would be as pleasantly surprised as I was and continue to be.
Wilier Izoard XP1 -
Vegan milks tend to contain fewer calories and also need to be fortified to provide the additional vitamins. Therefore, for kids, full fat milk is better and more convenient.
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Also good for adults
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A bit of a controversial headline for an observational study, claiming milk was responsible for lowering cancer. It’s not milk per se, just the calcium in milk.
Milk isn't a remarkably high source of calcium compared to other foods. In fact even orange juice has a higher content.
Since the thread is titled vegan, I’ll mention that tofu is a very high source.
Milk might be healthy for adults*, although those going on a health kick often go dairy free.🤔
*Concerns about prostate cancer amongst others.
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