The Vegetarian Poll 2019

Beef, Prawns, Quorn or Sawdust?

  • Total voters
    47
Bristol was declared Vegan Capital Of The World earlier in the year. Bugger knows how they qualify it, though.
 
octophone said:
Mono
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I've tried cutting down on meat massively, but then I've always loved vegetables anyway so it's not a great strain having veggie meals. I'll always relish a good salad - fuck, even a basic lettuce/tomato/cucumber set up is good for me as long as it's embellished somewhat (cheese or oils etc). I remember in primary school I was about the only kid who went for the pre-prepared, actually lovely salads at lunchtime in the canteen instead of the usual rank hot mess they tended to serve, if I had the choice - which lead to the school ringing my parents out of concern that I was ILL as I ate salad and was apparently too thin :manson: (I really wasn't).

Cutting it out altogether is another matter, especially when the other half is more prone to meat. It's quite frustrating at times but then clearly I need more willpower as we obviously don't HAVE to eat the same thing. Cutting down is surely at least some contribution if we're talking environmental reasons. Morally it's sketchier - I don't think it's fundamentally wrong to eat animals, but it's whether they suffer or not. I think I justify it in my head by thinking "surely not every farm/slaughterhouse/journey is full of pain, discomfort and stress for the animal, or every animal".
I like meat and fish enough that it's clearly a barrier to giving up, but it does make me uncomfortable. Going to KFC for example has its own feelings of shame attached.

I think the problem with meat is that it's such a casual commodity rather than something a bit "special" that should be appreciated more given it's the LIFE of an animal, without sounding too preachy (which would be absurd from a meat eater anyway but still).
 
i think eating meat is fine as long as you do it knowingly (and from there sparingly). we're at the top of the food chain and that will always have its perks, but the moment you realise how much water and resources go into the production of meat (while people are starving and so many don't even have proper access to fresh water) and multiply it by the fact that living creatures are being bred in disgusting conditions just to end up in a deep-fried bucket for you to digest while watching an episode of the kardashians...

i don't know, i guess i just can't believe people don't give a fuck about any of that. some even like to brag how much meat they eat and how they "couldn't go a meal without". i mean get a gripenzie.
 
As a meat eater but strictly no seafood (I just think it’s disgusting in every possible sense), I’ve always thought Pescatarians were such cop outs.
 
i was a pescatarian for about 7-8 years. i kinda wish i never started the (land) meat but here we are.

it is a bit of a cop out but for me it was a better choice because (most) seafood creatures have a lower iq than say a chicken and from there i would imagine have a lesser capacity for pain and emotional distress.
 
I've been vegetarian for years. I have the odd accidentally vegan day. I imagine I'll work towards full veganism but at the moment I'm happy with veggie.
 
One thing I’ll say is over that last few weeks my body has actually just been craving vegetables. The regular Friday lunches with friends at the greasy spoon cafe have been put on hold after the last few times I could no longer stomach the food.

Unfortunately I’m still too lazy to take in home made food to work, and the local vegan buffet across the road from work, while very nice is fuck off expensive. We’re also moving offices to Stratford (between Westfield and the Olympic Park) at the end of the year so the fast food available around there is going to be hard to resist.
 
Well, as an update, I’m still pretty much pescatarian. I’ve now eaten meat 4 times since February- twice on the same weekend away, once on two other different weekends away. I think I’ve realised I will eventually fall into just treating myself to meat when I’m on holiday or a really special occasion.

Lately I have craved meat a LOT, though, and I’ve found it hard to resist, but I’ve managed. There have been occasions where I’ve felt I’m really missing out, though, and that’s the main issue- FOMO.
 
Sheena said:
I think I’ve realised I will eventually fall into just treating myself to meat when I’m on holiday or a really special occasion.
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I feel like this is the ideal solution all around. It's fine to eat meat as ameraal says but if everyone worked towards this kind of structure the impact would be huge, both environmentally and presumably, in terms of animal welfare. I imagine the price would then become shocking but so be it...
 
Indie said:
I eat chicken, turkey, fish and processed pork.

I'd say roughly 2/3 meals a week have one of the above in, usually at the weekend.

Big fan of vegetarian food though and will happily order such at restaurants. I'm often entirely veggie on holidays because I just don't like bad quality meat.
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Did recently go 10 days without meat and it was quite nice. Ended with a bbq though and consumed all the sausage.

Also started eating more quorny stuff. Not going vegetarian ever I think, but happy to search out alternatives.
 
I've gone of Quorn, I'll admit...I'm getting on better with tofu and a bit of seitan (sp?) here and there.
 
I genuinely like tofu a lot now. If we're having pho or teriyaki I'll usually have the tofu option because I properly want it, rather than because I feel I ought to. Only ever tried cooking with it once at home though, and it was a disaster, so for the time being at least it's an eating out meal.

Quorn on the other hand I just cannot get on with, even though it's really easy to use. I still find you have to work so hard to get any flavour in it, and even then the texture is unpleasant in the mouth. And I'll invariably eat the meal thinking how much nicer it would have been if it was minced beef or lamb, or chicken pieces or whatever.
 
Sheena said:
Well, as an update, I’m still pretty much pescatarian. I’ve now eaten meat 4 times since February- twice on the same weekend away, once on two other different weekends away. I think I’ve realised I will eventually fall into just treating myself to meat when I’m on holiday or a really special occasion.
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That's pretty much where I am at, although I've eaten out a few times recently and gone for veg options. I had some beetroot pakora yesterday, nom.
 
I am closer and closer to becoming vegan now, at least at home. I've cut out a lot of dairy products and the only thing which has been a stickler for me - cheese - even isn't as much of an issue now. My favourite food in the entire world is Macaroni Cheese, and I've eaten out to vegan places recently and had some excellent vegan mac and cheese, and also vegan pizza with vegan cheese.

My reasons for vegetarianism are solely based on animal cruelty, so really I should be pushing the vegan angle more, while consuming dairy means you're not actually consuming an animal, the whole dairy industry isn't exactly great for the animals - what they do with the calves born form dairy cows, what they do with male chickens who can't produce eggs.

I think the jump from vegetarianism to veganism seems huge, but I found going vegetarian extremely easy, I did not miss meat in the slightest, and I disagree with the fact it is difficult - 10 years ago was a lot harder than it is nowadays. The thing with going vegan is that it extremely limits your choices when eating out, most places now cater for vegetarians but vegan food can be more difficult to get when in a normal restaurant. Also, a lot of food still contains dairy - many Quorn products, pasta, noodles, crisps etc. Most foods now will have a green V or say suitable for vegetarians but for vegan you have to really take much more care.

Anyway I think I'll end up going vegan slowly but surely, and I feel good about that.
 
Macaroni Cheese was long one of my go-to foods, I absolutely love it but I gave it up a lot more easily than I'd expected. However, I'm still getting the odd pang for cheese and cheesy things but I never get a meat pang, not at all.
 
Going vegetarian is surely only 'hard' now if you're not willing to try hard enough. Or at least that's certainly the truth for me.
 
Having grown up, and gone back to rural areas where farms are very prominent I have always eaten meat knowing the consequences. One of my closest friends has a farm back home, and I grew up rearing lambs, and feeding them bottles knowing that they wouldn’t be around long. I don’t eat lamb, as I don’t like the taste and I think that probably comes from the fact that I used to hold the baby lambs in my arms and cry when said lambs got taken away when they were a bit older. I enjoy certain meats and adore fish, but am making a conscious effort to try and only cook and eat it 2-3 times As said above, vegetarian is pretty easy to cater for where vegan is definitely not for me.
 
lolly said:
I genuinely like tofu a lot now. If we're having pho or teriyaki I'll usually have the tofu option because I properly want it, rather than because I feel I ought to. Only ever tried cooking with it once at home though, and it was a disaster, so for the time being at least it's an eating out meal.

Quorn on the other hand I just cannot get on with, even though it's really easy to use. I still find you have to work so hard to get any flavour in it, and even then the texture is unpleasant in the mouth. And I'll invariably eat the meal thinking how much nicer it would have been if it was minced beef or lamb, or chicken pieces or whatever.
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Quorn I find is best when you leave things overnight to take the taste on.

But yes, it's not a patch on proper mince for me.
 
Kalabaliken said:
The thing with going vegan is that it extremely limits your choices when eating out, most places now cater for vegetarians but vegan food can be more difficult to get when in a normal restaurant.
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Actually, this is really interesting as I've been finding the opposite is true- suddenly there are LOADS of vegan options and it's meant that people think that that'll be good enough for the vegetarians too. I was somewhere the other day and asked for the vegan burger but with real cheese (not vile vegan cheese) and real mayo and they just couldn't cope with the idea. :D

An awful lot of meals now are vegan so "it'll do for the vegetarians too" rather than actually thinking about doing something different...
 
octophone said:
I've gone of Quorn, I'll admit...I'm getting on better with tofu and a bit of seitan (sp?) here and there.
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I LOVE tofu.

Quorn is hit and miss. Every once in a while I'll make a Quorn mince chilli but that's it. For my spag bol days I tend to go more lentil based...
 
Indie said:
Interesting. I've always spagbol'ed with quorn. Lentils might be a new twist.
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I ABSOLUTELY FUCKING LOVE a lentil bolognaise.

Having said that, I'm eating a very nice Quorn one as we speak- but that has sat in the fridge since Monday, which would explain it...
 
I'd love to go vegetarian from an environmental/animal welfare point of view and try to a couple of times a week though. I really don't enjoy the taste of most vegetables though (and there are quite a few I literally can't keep down on their own), so if lentils and/or cheese aren't involved, I'm generally fucked.

It doesn't help that I'm a zero imagination cook so have to make everything by rote. I should probably invest in a decent vegetarian cookbook as I rather enjoy cooking, but go completely blank when faced with a larder full of ingredients but no instructions :D
 
Thing is, if you're considering going veggie for environmental or animal welfare reasons, shouldn't you really be going vegan? The dairy industry is appalling for both. Or perhaps that's just me as a meat eater justifying doing FUCK ALL, and claiming that because I don't have kids and don't drive, I'm already in credit over most.

I mean honestly, the best thing any of us can do for the planet is kill ourselves really, isn't it?
 
I eat everything, always have but my meat and fish consumption has really really gone down in the past year or so. During the three or four months on the road you don't have much of a choice sometimes but when I'm home, I'm cooking and eating vegetarian most of the time. Not because of a New Year's Resolution or anything but just because it shook out that way, I guess.
 
lolly said:
Thing is, if you're considering going veggie for environmental or animal welfare reasons, shouldn't you really be going vegan? The dairy industry is appalling for both. Or perhaps that's just me as a meat eater justifying doing FUCK ALL, and claiming that because I don't have kids and don't drive, I'm already in credit over most.

I mean honestly, the best thing any of us can do for the planet is kill ourselves really, isn't it?
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Of course it is. I certainly wouldn't give up meat because I don't like the taste or wouldn't miss it, because I do and I would.

Which leaves me in the current limbo of making salads and having a pork chop on the side :D
 
lolly said:
Or perhaps that's just me as a meat eater justifying doing FUCK ALL, and claiming that because I don't have kids and don't drive, I'm already in credit over most.
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I claim I'm in credit for those things all the time if it suits :D

Going vegan is clearly the best option from a moral standpoint but it's not like not eating or reducing meat consumption can be dismissed, at least it's doing something.
 
Anyway I decided to just bite the bullet and attempt to ditch meat - but not fish - for the forseeable. No pressure or set plans, just to see how it goes. It should be easy enough I'm hoping.

We went to go out for breakfast on Saturday and it seemed like the perfect time to trial it because normally we go to this quite fab greasy spoon cafe which does an amazing fry up. I thought this might be one of the biggest barriers, but I ordered the veggie version and it was fine - I kind of realised on a fry up I prefer the eggs/beans/hash browns etc over the sausage and bacon anyway.

Butternut Squash and sweet potatoes are going to be my saviours. I cook a lot with them anyway and a curry or risotto with them in is just as good as any meat equivalent.
 
I had a vegetarian roast out today and it was a bit shit to be honest. It was literally just the roast without the meat :D
 
Ellie said:
As a meat eater but strictly no seafood (I just think it’s disgusting in every possible sense), I’ve always thought Pescatarians were such cop outs.
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I know what you mean but unless you're being particularly self righteous about it all I don't see the problem. It depends on your reasoning and I do think it's a lot less damaging and awful than the meat industry. Obviously I'm aware fishing has its own set of issues...

I mean nothing is perfect and I'm just not ready to become full on vegan I'm afraid. Not any time soon.
 
Fish don't count just because we can't cuddle them

I had an amazing black spaghetti with king prawns and octopus last night at a restaurant in Hove. If I could get fresh seafood (and realistically someone to prepare it), I'd happily go without meat.
 
That sounds like actual heaven. I'd almost never say that about meat - the best cooked seafood trumps meat EVERY time.

Ellie is just a PESCIST
 
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