You are here: Home / Archives for Vegetarianism

How To Cook Vegetarian Food

Being a vegetarian does not mean you have to give up your favorite foods. There are many different substitutes you can use that taste like the real thing. The first thing you want to do is make a list of your favorite foods that have meat or dairy in them and then write down the main ingredients (you will want a different list for the ingredients you are replacing). Take your list to the grocery store with you and find the section with tofu and all other vegetarian substitutions. There will also be vegetarian options in the frozen foods section.

After you have all your ingredients, cook your food the same way you would if it were not vegetarian, only with the substitutes. However, you will want to read the instructions on the package; for most vegetarian foods, you will not have to cook it as long as you would with meet.

There are more vegetarian options than you would think. Vegetarian convenience foods are a great way to start. Once you have gotten use to all the different types of vegetarian foods, you can start to experiment and make your own dishes. Try adding more rice, beans, and grains and use ingredients with protein. Also, don’t focus on the “meat” part of the meal. Focus more on vegetables, rice, pasta, and breads. Vegetarian meals can get expensive. There are many different ways to cook vegetarian meals. Many meals do not even require meat, so you won’t need a substitute.

Filed Under: Cooking Tips, Food Tagged With: , ,

Vegetarian destinations you should not miss

There some good vegetarian destination where you can get some really mouth-watering vegetarian food.
Singapore is a country with a lot of people from India. Which means, that a culture of vegetarianism will be present. And you can expect to see vegetarian restaurants and eat delicious vegetarian food. You will plenty of street food vendors selling vegetarian snacks. Food courts will have specialized vegetarian restaurants. Little India is the place where you get genuine vegetarian food. Little India is like its name, a mini-version of the country of India. You can most of, if not all, the vegetarian food made in India here. A famous south-Indian food specialtyrestaurant is Saravana Bhavan.

Like India, Thailand too is a favored destination for vegetarians. Exotic Thai food is the flavor of many people across continents. And the best thing about it is, that some of these are purely vegetarian. Thai people sure do know how to cook a great looking, and great tasting vegetarian dish.

Chiang Mai in Thailand is the place that’s famous for Thai vegetarian cuisine. Restaurants with no roof are common here. You can sit in the open-air as your relish a vegetarian dish. Open air restaurants have yellow boards to identify them.
You wouldn’t believe this, but Vancouver is a vegetarian destination. That’s because Vancouver has a lot of vegetarians. Quite interestingly, and inexplicably. Vancouver likes to consume its food naturally. Its environment is suitable for fresh food harvesting. This culture of natural food has made Vancouver realize the importance of vegetarianism.

Vancouver is a place that offers fusion food. Traditional non-veg food carriers like burgers or pizzas are stuffed with vegetarian food.

Filed Under: Processed Foods Tagged With: , ,

Vegetarian Surprise

Diane Nolan’s daughter Katie came home for Thanksgiving with five loads of dirty laundry and the news that she was now an ovolactate (egg and dairy) vegetarian. Diane told Katie to do her own laundry, and then started to change her menu plans for the holidays. As a busy working woman and mother of active children, Diane appreciates the convenience, quality, and economy of canned vegetables. And she certainly made good use of canned vegetables for this cooking challenge.

Diane decided to leave their traditional dinner menu alone and just add a vegetarian dish using canned beans. She adjusted one dish – Grandma’s scalloped corn made with canned cream corn, onion, saltines and milk – and made a small dish for Katie without the bacon topping. Diane’s husband Paul and sons Matt and Mike, devoted carnivores, could have all the bacon.

Katie added stuffed pablano peppers made with canned black beans, corn, tomato sauce, and rice topped with cheese to their special meal. The men of the family liked the peppers so much; they requested them for dinner later in the week.

The next day, Diane changed family favorite four-cheese lasagna by simply omitting the meat. Canned tomatoes, consistently in high quality, made the sauce as good as ever and no one complained about the change.

Katie made heuevos rancheros for Sunday brunch – even making her own low fat refried beans using canned pinto beans and canned diced tomatoes for the base of her homemade salsa. And when Katie made a pinto bean casserole using canned pinto beans, whole corn, diced tomatoes and tomato sauce, even her Dad admitted there might be something to this vegetarian cuisine.

Filed Under: Caloric Intake, Processed Foods Tagged With: , ,

Things You May Not Know About Being a Vegan

A vegan raspberry and pear tart.

Image via Wikipedia

People make the choice to become a vegan (pronounced VEE-gun) for any number of reasons. For some it is the natural choice with regards to living a green lifestyle. For others it is health reasons. For others it is out of reverence for living creatures.

There are varying levels of being a vegan. For some it is just a dietary decision while others extend the exclusion of animal products into clothing, cosmetics, household goods and all other products they use.

Here are a few things you might not know about being a vegan. First of all, the term “vegan” is relatively new having only begun in the mid 1940’s. The American Vegan Society, founded in 1944, is based on the Buddhist and Jainism concept of ahimsa which is the avoidance of cruelty against living creatures.  Only about 1% of Americans are vegans. Vegetarianism, on the other hand, dates back to the mid 1800’s.

Besides dietary considerations, other products not used by vegans include bone char, beeswax, lanolin, shellac, bone china, leather, wool, fur, rennet, gelatin, carmine, casein, tallow, whey, and silk. Some of these ingredients are found in things you would not expect. For example, white sugar often includes bone char.

Being a vegan is not as complicated as some people think. Like anything in life, it just takes educating oneself. There are plenty of resources available on the subject. You can learn what is excluded, how and where to shop, how to eat in restaurants, what supplements are suggested, and how to make substitutions when baking and cooking.

Many are hesitant to invite vegans to dinner for fear they will serve the wrong things, but fear not. Don’t exclude them. Instead, simply spend some time talking about it with them. They will most likely be more than happy to discuss the menu with you or even guide you to becoming a vegan yourself.

Filed Under: Caloric Intake, Processed Foods Tagged With: , ,