EnMasse

Amy Grace · Posted: Mon May 14, 2007 5:06 am Post subject:

I often used the water I soak dried mushrooms in as a base for gravy, add a bit of soy sauce and/or a few salted black beans (soaked and mashed), lots of pepper, garlic, yeast flakes and a bit of corn starch or flour. Flour is probably better, but I've often been cooking for someone with celiac's. Oh, and salt is a good thing for this recipe.

al-Qa'bong · Posted: Mon May 14, 2007 4:33 pm Post subject:

We've actually saved the starch left over from making seitan - we kept the liquid and let it dehydrate. I think I may have used this starch once, but it doesn't do such a good job; certainly not as good as corn starch. Regardless, I use flour when making gravies, and save the corn starch for stir-fried vegetables.
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"The purpose of government is to protect the weak from the powerful" Hammurabi

"We can't all be Sam the Sham; some of us have to be Pharoahs" Larry, brother of Darrel, and his other brother Daryl

ronb · Posted: Mon May 14, 2007 5:21 pm Post subject:

I was raised vegetarian - ovo - lacto I guess, although originally just lacto, no ovo. Then I was sent away to boarding school and my choices were eat meat or starve - not to mention be ostracised. I've been on and off the meat since then. Originally my folks were veggie for moral/spiritual reasons. Myself I have no strong belief either way - or more accurately I see the logic of both positions, so am comfortable either way.

My partner, on the other hand, was a vegetarian by choice from the age of 14 to just about a year ago for strictly moral reasons - she visited a hot dog plant on a school trip and that was it for her. When our daughter was born, I felt that it was important that for her formative years she not be subjected to all the crap floating around in most meat, so I rejoined the veggie camp again to avoid the confusion at the dinner table - mommy, why does daddy eat different stuff than us? - even though I hadn't cooked any meat at home for the entire time I have lived with partner - many years by now.

Anyhoo, all of this to offer my life's experience: as someone raised vegetarian in a meat-eating culture, you have NO IDEA how reflexive and all pervasive the resistance to the vegetarian diet is. I cannot count the number of harangues I have been subjected to by irate (or latent-guilt ridden) carnivores, from kindergarten to the water cooler. Form the other side of the fence, in my 42 years I have recieved precisely one stern talking to from a vegan evangelist about my dairy consumption, of all things. So as far as as vegetarianism being percieved as strident, I could care less. there is nothing in my experience more strident than a carnivore on his/her hind legs on the topic of vegetarinaism, about which they usually know precisely squat.

al-Qa'bong · Posted: Mon May 14, 2007 5:46 pm Post subject:

ronb · Posted: Mon May 14, 2007 7:57 pm Post subject:

al-Qa'bong · Posted: Thu May 24, 2007 5:07 pm Post subject:

I heard Ann-Maria Tremonti say something outrageous this mornng. After saying "eating red meat is like driving an SUV," which I wouldn't argue with, she said pasture-fed cattle produce more methane than normal feedlot cattle, as if grazing were somehow unnatural and that factory farming is how things were meant to be.

This really doesn't ahve anything to do with vegetarianism, but mentioning it isn't worth starting a new thread.
_________________
"The purpose of government is to protect the weak from the powerful" Hammurabi

"We can't all be Sam the Sham; some of us have to be Pharoahs" Larry, brother of Darrel, and his other brother Daryl

al-Qa'bong · Posted: Tue May 29, 2007 9:38 pm Post subject:

I was looking for a navy bean pasta sauce recipe when I found this site, which says that World Vegetarian Day is October 1st. I didn't know that before.

Do we get the day off?
_________________
"The purpose of government is to protect the weak from the powerful" Hammurabi

"We can't all be Sam the Sham; some of us have to be Pharoahs" Larry, brother of Darrel, and his other brother Daryl

Tehanu · Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2007 5:20 pm Post subject:

Careful with the soy, researchers caution. As with many things, overdoing its consumption can be bad for your health. And that includes keeping an eye on processed food, as soy derivatives are in just about everything.

al-Qa'bong · Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2007 12:50 am Post subject:

I had an eggplant dish at a Burmese restaurant the other day. There was some kind of meat substitute (for which we had to pay extra) in it that may have been seitan. It was a little chewy, but not as much as the seitan I make at home, nor as chewy as TVP or "Nutrela." It wasn't frozen tofu either.

Does anyone familiar with Burmese food have any suggestions as to what this might have been?
_________________
"The purpose of government is to protect the weak from the powerful" Hammurabi

"We can't all be Sam the Sham; some of us have to be Pharoahs" Larry, brother of Darrel, and his other brother Daryl

lagatta · Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2007 9:57 am Post subject:

It was probably something similar to seitan - or a soya-based product. There is a wide variety of textures of such products in Buddhist and other East Asian vegetarian cuisines.

There is a Thai vegetarian restaurant here that specialises in such foods (they have other vegetarian dishes as well), Chuchai. It is good, but rather expensive. They have also opened up a more casual restaurant next door, Chuch, that is a bring your own wine.

On Duluth (a street in the same neighbourhood) I came across an Asian vegetarian shop that stocks quite a range of those proteiny products. Not all look like any actual kind of dead beast. I bought some (swirly-type stuff, that doesn't look like any dead beast I know of) to make a special dish for some vegetarian friends, but haven't used it yet (it isn't cheap).

lagatta · Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2007 9:57 am Post subject:

It was probably something similar to seitan - or a soya-based product. There is a wide variety of textures of such products in Buddhist and other East Asian vegetarian cuisines.

There is a Thai vegetarian restaurant here that specialises in such foods (they have other vegetarian dishes as well), Chuchai. It is good, but rather expensive. They have also opened up a more casual restaurant next door, Chuch, that is a bring your own wine.

On Duluth (a street in the same neighbourhood) I came across an Asian vegetarian shop that stocks quite a range of those proteiny products. Not all look like any actual kind of dead beast. I bought some (swirly-type stuff, that doesn't look like any dead beast I know of) to make a special dish for some vegetarian friends, but haven't used it yet (it isn't cheap).

al-Qa'bong · Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2007 3:34 pm Post subject:

There are Thai vegetarian restaurants?

In looking for recipes I've come across quite a few writers who have said that there is no such thing as vegetarian Thai food - there is fish sauce or fowl in everything.

I bought some Vietnamese vegetarian fish sauce (soy-based) in an Asian store a couple of weeks ago, but haven't tried it yet
_________________
"The purpose of government is to protect the weak from the powerful" Hammurabi

"We can't all be Sam the Sham; some of us have to be Pharoahs" Larry, brother of Darrel, and his other brother Daryl

lagatta · Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2007 8:49 pm Post subject:

Well, perhaps it is inauthentic, but the restaurant definitely exists (or the restaurants Chuchai/Chuch definitely exist).

If you should ever be coming to Montréal, ChuChai (or the byow Chuch) is definitely worth a visit, as a somewhat fancy, "going out" resto. Chuch is much more casual but basically the same food. If you don't like "fake meat" (though perhaps that is an unfair expression for an old Buddhist product) they have other dishes.
http://www.montrealfood.com/restos/chuchai.html

I've been looking at websites about winter squashes. Definitely worth making some roasted autumn vegetables with olive oil, garlic, sage...

Another great veg-friendly place to eat if you come here is Le Petit Alep, a wonderful Syrian bar/café opposite Jean-Talon market, and not very expensive. It is not a vegetarian resto (and you can also just have a beer , glass of wine or coffee/tea/tisane) but it has many excellent vegetarian dishes and a wonderful vegetarian plate which many non-vegetarians also order.

(An admission, I'm not a vegetarian, though I don't eat much meat. But this is the veg-friendly space).

al-Qa'bong · Posted: Sun Dec 16, 2007 11:44 pm Post subject:

We had a potluck at work last week. 'Twas a good thing I brought something for a main dish (curried chickpeas and basmati rice), otherwise I'd have had nothing to eat but a couscous salad brought by someone else.

It was a Carnivores R Us meal: meatballs, balls of meat, beef stroganoff, pork holubshis, a couple of salads that I was excited to see...until I saw hamburger in one and shrimp in the other.

To top it off, one of my colleagues said, "I suppose you wouldn't deign to eat shrimp."
_________________
"The purpose of government is to protect the weak from the powerful" Hammurabi

"We can't all be Sam the Sham; some of us have to be Pharoahs" Larry, brother of Darrel, and his other brother Daryl

Tehanu · Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 6:53 pm Post subject:

AlterNet has a Top 10 Reasons to Go Vegetarian in honour of World Vegetarian Week. I've edited out the explanations, but here they are:

elmateo · Posted: Wed May 21, 2008 12:50 am Post subject:

That is a pretty lame list, and I am suspect of parts of it (well practically all of it). But being so close to the snoring thread, I don't know how this thread expects to be a quiet place.

al-Qa'bong · Posted: Tue Aug 30, 2011 4:51 pm Post subject:

So yesterday a colleague saw me heating my bowl of lunch
(Home-grown eggplants, zucchinis, tomatoes, onions, plus boughten chickpeas and garlic stew on orzo and rice). She just had to say, "So ya got tofu in there?"

After all the hassle my coworkers gave me on the two times we all went out to lunch together last spring, I decided to find a way to decline these staff outings in the future.
_________________
"The purpose of government is to protect the weak from the powerful" Hammurabi

"We can't all be Sam the Sham; some of us have to be Pharoahs" Larry, brother of Darrel, and his other brother Daryl

al-Qa'bong · Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2011 7:41 am Post subject:

Well coincidentally, since this is what I made for supper tonight, I'll be eating curried chickpeas and basmati for lunch at work for the next couple of days. Then there's the annual potluck at work on Wednesday.

I plan on hiding out in my office with whatever my lunch will be that day.
_________________
"The purpose of government is to protect the weak from the powerful" Hammurabi

"We can't all be Sam the Sham; some of us have to be Pharoahs" Larry, brother of Darrel, and his other brother Daryl

al-Qa'bong · Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2012 6:17 pm Post subject:

Say, where's my tax break?

Senor Magoo · He's got a big one Joined: 11 Apr 2006 Posts: 8700

al-Qa'bong · Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2012 9:40 pm Post subject:

C'mon, alcoholics and smokers are among the most responsible abusers of our health care system that you can find.
_________________
"The purpose of government is to protect the weak from the powerful" Hammurabi

"We can't all be Sam the Sham; some of us have to be Pharoahs" Larry, brother of Darrel, and his other brother Daryl

al-Qa'bong · Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2012 5:32 am Post subject:

We went for dinner with the other parents (the kids were at another table) at the tournament in Lloydminster last weekend. The place, called "Spiro's Steak and Pizza," was about what you'd expect: salad and pasta alfredo - that's it. The food was crap, but that isn't why I'm mentioning the outing.

The table conversation bugged me. The others couldn't just order their food, they had to make comments about how what they were ordering would be offensive to us. This isn't the first occasion on which this has happened; it occurs pretty well whenever we eat in public.

I think I've finally figured it out, now. This is why meatheads have such a problem with vegheads. They think vegetarianism about THEM. Our choice, in their view, is a comment about them, it's not just how we want to live.

Here's a newsflash for all you "omnivores" listening in. Your choice to eat meat is your choice. It doesn't matter to us, so please stop being so defensive around us. Go eat a steak and shut up.
_________________
"The purpose of government is to protect the weak from the powerful" Hammurabi

"We can't all be Sam the Sham; some of us have to be Pharoahs" Larry, brother of Darrel, and his other brother Daryl

fork · Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2012 8:20 pm Post subject:

Food fundamentalists

al-Qa'bong · Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2012 9:39 pm Post subject:

...and right on cue...
_________________
"The purpose of government is to protect the weak from the powerful" Hammurabi

"We can't all be Sam the Sham; some of us have to be Pharoahs" Larry, brother of Darrel, and his other brother Daryl

fork · Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2012 1:35 pm Post subject:

Like religious fundamentalists, vegetarian/vegan fundamentalists seem to have a penchant for using misogyny in service of their proselytizing (see PETA). It's easy to make the connection with religions, as most have the inferiority of women as a tenet, but a bit puzzling with the vegetarians/vegans. When you think of the coordinated effort required to make an ad, how many people had to have been involved, it's astounding that this (trigger warning) got made.

al-Qa'bong · Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2012 4:47 pm Post subject:

You seem to be confusing the diet of vegetarians with PETA's ad campaign against wearing fur.

That's OK though. It's a common ploy.

As far as fundamentalism goes; yes, those with narrow views share patterns of thinking, regardless of the particular views, which is what I've been saying in those religion threads.
_________________
"The purpose of government is to protect the weak from the powerful" Hammurabi

"We can't all be Sam the Sham; some of us have to be Pharoahs" Larry, brother of Darrel, and his other brother Daryl

Slumberjack · Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2012 5:18 pm Post subject:

I don't really care what people eat or do not eat. I just become enraged when it comes to people not having enough to eat in general because of poverty. I can understand vegan reasons for not eating meat products, including perhaps the globalized industrial scale inhuman factory incubators and slaughterhouses. These things which should be beneath are clearly not.

But I enjoy consuming meat all the same. There are just some contradictions I doubt I'll ever be able to escape....not when I browse the meat isle like some might browse a fashionable boutique.

bshmr · Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2012 5:20 pm Post subject:

FWIW, YMMV: Avoid conflicts by recognizing differences; resolve conflicts by recognizing similarities.

Overtly (obnoxiously in some cases) making a big deal out of differences is a 'good idea' poorly (FU'd) implemented. Sometimes, I rather individuals pissed their pants than stopping to openly urinate upwind in public space. NTYC, don''t have to worry about the spray or arrest or association or ... .

OTOH, I have had friendship where differences (or similarities) were an openly shared joke. This varies from 'tall people vs short people', 'catholic, protestant, buddhist', 'male, female', etc. The key here is acceptance AND reciprocity which.in the circumstances described were lacking -- too one sided, etc. To digress, the most fun was the three-sided religion one -- the 'odd man/religion out' rotated so the point was pretty obvious.

al-Qa'bong · Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2012 6:34 pm Post subject:

6079_Smith_W · Fulltime enMasse Member Joined: 15 Nov 2011 Posts: 571

There is of course an important tangent to all of this - the degree to which your food, vegetarian, vegan, non-gluten, kosher, halal or whatever - is processed or not.

But yes, I agree that boneheads seem to take delight in trying to get a rise out of those who are different than them, whether it has to do with food choices, sexism, or politics.

Sibjyn · Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2012 2:55 am Post subject:

Meatheads, boneheads, who is it that's hostile to whom again?

Sorry about your coworkers potlucks Al-Q, I dread them myself. Shame you couldn't join one of ours, vegetarian options are always part of the "who's bringing what" list. After enjoying some of what my cowokers have brought in it finally dawned on me that "hey, perhaps a diet without meat is actually doable".

6079_Smith_W · Fulltime enMasse Member Joined: 15 Nov 2011 Posts: 571

@ Sibjyn

In my case, no one group in particular. I'm just pointing out that there are some people who get their jollies trying to get a rise out of others because they deviate from some presumed norm. And yes, I think it is boneheaded behaviour.

Slumberjack · Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2012 3:54 am Post subject:

al-Qa'bong · Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2012 5:45 am Post subject:

Gee, and here I thought Macdo customers would have appreciated the heads-up.

Fine, if you dig munching greasy ammonia, who am I to warn you?
_________________
"The purpose of government is to protect the weak from the powerful" Hammurabi

"We can't all be Sam the Sham; some of us have to be Pharoahs" Larry, brother of Darrel, and his other brother Daryl

Slumberjack · Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2012 10:33 am Post subject:

Well, don'tcha think those, what is it now, 10's of billions sold might have given us at least a hint by now? It's like smoking...we know they're doing shit with the product.

Sibjyn · Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2012 3:06 pm Post subject:

If ammonia is good enough to clean your kitchen floor then why not your burger? Not seeing the problem here.

Senor Magoo · He's got a big one Joined: 11 Apr 2006 Posts: 8700

Admittedly, it sounds grave.

But if you've ever eaten a taco or a corn tortilla, or even some Doritos, you're eating corn that's been treated with slaked lime (or builder's lime) -- same stuff that goes into hair relaxers, chemical depilatories like Nair, and whitewash.
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6079_Smith_W · Fulltime enMasse Member Joined: 15 Nov 2011 Posts: 571

Olives, quinoa, and other vegetarian products are also processed with caustic chemicals. And some food is still processed with alum.

I have no intention of stopping eating them, but again, it gets to the point that it is not just a question of meat or not meat, but also processing and additives.

Raos · Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2012 8:22 pm Post subject:

Blech! If there's one thing that I just can't wrap my head people eating (never mind actually liking) it's olives. Well, olives and black liquorice. I like most things, and I can understand other people liking (most of) the things that I don't like (or not liking things that I do), but those two are just incomprehensible in my head.

al-Qa'bong · Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2012 9:40 pm Post subject:

The olives you find around here are OK, but I experienced olive heaven in Provence. The village markets all had olive vendors (there was a huge one in the downtown market in Cannes), and the variety and quality were "extra."

6079_Smith_W · Fulltime enMasse Member Joined: 15 Nov 2011 Posts: 571

Yes.

I'm not disagreeing with you al'Q, just pointing out that along with the question of what we choose to eat there is also the question of processing, which can fuck up any kind of food.

The McDonalds example... very much to do with processing, just like the question of how food oils are extracted.

And sorry, I had "vegetarian products" on my mind because I was thinking of veggie dogs and TVP.

fork · Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2012 2:49 pm Post subject:

voice of the damned · Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2012 3:02 pm Post subject:

May I be so bold as to suggest a change of venue for the more argumentative aspects of this thread?

al-Qa'bong · Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2012 3:42 pm Post subject:

al-Qa'bong · Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2012 3:48 pm Post subject:

Senor Magoo · He's got a big one Joined: 11 Apr 2006 Posts: 8700

Not to gross you out any further, but when my wife was on a fairly restrictive TCM diet I picked up a package of Yves vegetarian breakfast links.

I guess they're marketed to unwilling vegetarians (e.g. "doctor's orders") as opposed to vegetarians who have no interest in meat, because they're unbelievably close to real breakfast links.

Real breakfast links -- those pale pink little sausages about the size of your ring finger -- make a hotdog look like a garden salad. I was really surprised at how close they got to scrappy, fatty meat without using meat.
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6079_Smith_W · Fulltime enMasse Member Joined: 15 Nov 2011 Posts: 571

Sorry Magoo, you are talking to someone who likes sausages. I just like real charcuterie, not factory-produced. And the thing about sausages is that meat or no meat, they are just socks filled with sawdust unless you have a fair bit of fat in them.

A friend of mine took me around the sausage-making district in London's east end about 20 years ago. One interesting thing - that they had the only pub allowed to open after 11pm, so the workers could have lunch in the middle of the night. The other thing was the array of veggie sausages in a range of green, orange and brown colours. They looked deliciious.

And al'Q, the chef who came up with the recipe for Yves was here in town not too long ago speaking at JS Wood about the new edition of his book on vegetarian/vegan/raw food. I should have dropped you a line, since a friend of ours brought him in. The talk was pretty introductory, though I found what he had to say about oils - he uses only coconut, flax, olive and hemp - to be quite instructive.

I like the umami taste of meat. One of the things I use is brewer's yeast (as opposed to the yellow flake, which I also use). Mixed up with lentils and spices to make a burger, it provides a taste with the same body as meat - though the comparison isn't really important. It is its own thing, and it tastes better, actually.

Chester · Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2012 4:33 pm Post subject:

6079_Smith_W · Fulltime enMasse Member Joined: 15 Nov 2011 Posts: 571

Near 8th and Broadway. It is our local library.

(edit)

The other thing he mentioned is that he tends to use garlic as a baked vegetable now.

I don't, but I do like recepies with a lot of it, preferably raw.

al-Qa'bong · Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2012 4:50 pm Post subject:

I could shoot a puck from my driveway and hit J.S. Wood.