[Sca-cooks] meat "substitutes"- Rant

[Tara Sersen Boroson]

I don't completely disagree with you.  I often said that it was other
vegetarians that made me want to no longer be a vegetarian.  Some of
them can certainly be self-rightous, and often in a very poorly informed
way.  However, they are not all that way.  Nor do they all look for
"meat substitutes."

I didn't mean to turn this into another vege-bashing session with my
comments on meat substitution.  I'd like to note that I see two
different classes of "meat substitute."  There are those that try really
hard to be like meat (Yves Burger-burgers,) and those that take a
general idea (hot, yummy thing to slap on a bun and eat with one hand,
like Morningstar Farms.)  I like that second catagory, even today when I
eat some meat.  It was the poor quality and the perceived need for the
first that I was commenting on.

Now,


> Awright, folks, enlighten me. If you're going to be a
> vegetabletarian, why can't you just eat vegetables
> (and fruits, and grains)?


Most do.  And well.  Think Indian food.  And much Middle Eastern.  And
everything out of the Moosewood Cookbooks.


> Why do so-called vegetarians "have" to have a meat
> substitute type dish in their meal? And what is all
> this ovo-lacto-piscene etc stuff?


Depends on what you mean by a meat substitute.  If you mean something
that pretends to *be* meat, I agree with you.  Otherwise, I do see why
people look for something hearty to be the central focus of a meal, and
for new vegetarians that can be a hard transition.

As for the ovo-lacto-etc, well, folks have a right to decide to restrict
their diets however they wish.  They generally need a way of describing
their diets to other people without having to speak an entire paragraph.
  For instance, I'd rather say "I'm a pesco-vegetarian" than "I eat fish
and dairy products, but not red meat or game meat or poultry."
Traditional vegetarian diets generally included dairy, and it wasn't
until the advent of veganism more recently that it became important to
differentiate.  Many people today choose to cut out red meat or red meat
and poultry for health reasons without going all the way.  Would you
prefer that they call themselves "anti-red-meat-atarians?"


> I remember, a number of years ago, I visited friends
> who had decided to become vegetabletarians, and for
> three days, all we ate were bean-sprout type salads-
> on the 4th day, I went into town and devoured an
> entire greasy Yankee-style pseudo-fried chicken, with
> a couple of bunless burgers on the side, and I HATE
> greasy meats. OTOH, I'm not a vegetarian, merely an
> omnivore who (normally) likes lots of fresh veggies
> and such.


Sounds like they were either extremeists or extremely new to
vegetarianism and hadn't figured out how to cook well yet.  You can
hardly judge the average vegetarian diet by them.


> OK, so a strict diet of salad is not my personal
> choice, and can become very old very quickly, but if
> YOU choose not to eat meat, why not respect your own
> choice, and NOT EAT MEAT?


Your point?  That's exactly what people are doing.


> And why must vegetabletarians try to "convert" the
> rest of us, particularly by trying to tell us that "it
> tastes just like (whatever)"?


Not all vegetarians do try to convert.  I've been accused of "trying to
convert" people after they grilled me about why I asked the waitress at
a diner not to bring me bacon with my breakfast.  I didn't bring up the
subject, I merely answered their questions.  If you don't want to hear
it, don't ask.  And, as for the "tastes just like," well, if you're
going to a vegetarian household they may well be trying to accomodate
your tastes within their bounds.  I've generally only heard such
comments when people were extremely reticent about trying something new.


> Why can't the vegetabletarians just eat what they want
> to eat (or not eat) and leave the rest of us alone to
> enjoy our own dinners, with or without red meat, white
> meat, fish, shellfish, eggs, milk, cheese, hot
> peppers, nuts, fungi, saffron, eggplant, or (shudder)
> bell peppers?


And why can't omnivores leave vegetarians alone to eat what they want
without harping on them?  I never once tried to proselytize to anyone.
Yet, a million times someone asked me why I didn't order meat at a
restaurant, then proceeded to spend the rest of the meal mocking me "Oh,
look!  Big chunk of pig!  My favorite!  Oink, oink.  Want some?"  Or, my
favorite - "You know, those eggs you're eating are a chicken abortion."
  I loved that one, because I got to tell them that they were wrong.
It's chicken menstruation.

Yes, some vegetarians are annoying.  Some omnivores, especially the ones
who insist that they are "carnivores" and that they are at the "top of
the food chain" are a million times more annoying.

-Magdalena