Ask MetaFilter posts tagged with Vegetarian

-sizzle-

mustcatchmooseandsquirrel — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 06:53:45 -0800

What [vegetarian or fishy] foods can I grill? Living on the street filter: After moving out of my apartment I'm staying with a friend until she has to move out, too. She has a big gas grill that we want to use as often as possible. We paid to replace the propane tank near the end of last summer so the tentative goal is to grill enough to use it all up!

In the past I have made naan, salmon, tofu kabobs, portobello mushrooms, and corn on the cob. What other vegetarian or fishy recipes are there that can be made on a gas grill? I definitely like cooking projects so recipes can be as complicated as necessary.

What are the best non-leather athletic shoes?

mrgrimm — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 14:28:29 -0800

What are the best non-leather athletic shoes? Athletic shoes are one of the few products for which I've been unable to find non-animal replacements. I did have some nice Adidas hemp Gazelles, but I don't think Adidas makes them anymore, and anyway, those shoes would have only been average for indoor soccer. I would certainly take them now (for a non-extravagant price).

For semi-serious football/soccer shoes (both cleats and flats), are there any good non-leather alternatives? While I'm at it, how about basketball or tennis? (Soccer cleats should double for baseball.) Ice skates?!

I do know about Chuck Taylors, of course, but if I played in any sort of game with largish men, I would want a bit more ankle protection, i.e. a serious athletic shoe. Thanks for any tips.

VegetarianFilter

bad grammar — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 17:07:48 -0800

Can I call myself a vegetarian if I only eat meat 10% of the time (approximately 10% of total calories)? I realize, AskMe and Metafilter being what they are, this question is possibly redundant and likely to summon forth the political vegans and the unrepentant, obligate carnivores.

Attending a work-related barbecue party, I was turned off by the huge amounts of grilled dead animals and had a vegeburger instead. When asked, by someone I don't know well, I said that I was a vegetarian. I did this because I didn't feel like explaining why I didn't want to eat an entire hamburger, a hot dog, and an entire half of a chicken, besides all the sides, that day.

I now feel morally put on the spot and obliged to convert the partial lie into truth by becoming a vegetarian. (I feel guilty over lying to this person. I do not fit in well at this workplace, and intend to leave in two years.)

Overall I would say that meat comprises no more than 10-15% of my total consumption. I already don't eat meat at my routine breakfasts and lunches. My breakfast is usually cereal, and for lunch I have nuts, cereal bars, fruit, or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

However, I am currently living with and cooking dinners for people who do eat meat, and who would be quite unhappy were it taken off the menu, though many of our dinners use meat Asian fashion, more as a condiment in small amounts than a large staple. Once or twice a week we have steak, but I don't eat more than the recommended 4 ounces.

I don't think I could become a total vegetarian without causing disruption in this living situation and without feeling deprived and climbing the walls. Am I effectively a vegetarian by American standards and hence I don't have to eat my words?

Casseroles hooray!

2or3whiskeysodas — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 14:42:23 -0800

Casseroles hooray! Give me your favorite recipes! (Important details within.) In my successful quest to pretty much stop eating out ever, I've been experimenting recently with last-us-all-week casseroles. I've made a couple of pretty tasty ones I found over at allrecipes.com, but everyone knows that there's little at that site that's truly amazing.

Here are those important details:

• the healthier the better, and
• I'm not a vegetarian, but she is. So veg recipes are strongly preferred, but meaty recipes are welcome as well.

As are casserole-ish dishes such as lasagnas.

Vegetables

All.star — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 19:03:33 -0800

I want to become a vegetarian, but my husband will still be eating meat. Any practical tips on how to make this work? I'm looking for any advice or tips, especially from people who are part of a couple where one person is a vegetarian and the other eats meat. How did you make it work? Is it practical to sometimes make two versions of the same meal, one with meat and one without?

Where can a group, half of whom don't eat meat, get awesome cheap food in Chicago?

Stylus Happenstance — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 10:49:07 -0800

Help me find places to eat in Chicago. I don't think I've been to a bad restaurant there, but I'm looking for new places, plus I'm looking to save money on this trip. For added difficulty, 2/3 of my entourage will be vegetarian, so a variety for them would be nice. We won't have a car, so it needs to be near the train, too. Or for extraordinarily good food, the bus.

Vegetarian Food Off the Pike

Galt — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 22:37:57 -0800

Vegetarian RestaurantFilter: Can anyone suggest a good vegetarian restaurant near the Mass Pike (probably in Worcester or Springfield)? I'm taking a friend to Boston for the week; we're heading out tomorrow. My plan is to get dinner on the way, but I think that's scared her, as she's vegetarian and it would start the trip with a bad taste in her mouth if we went to a fast-food/rest-stop place. I'd like to surprise her by stopping at a good vegetarian place (or place with good vegetarian options) that's not too out of the way (so that we can still arrive at our hosts at a reasonable time - around 8). Google maps says that Springfield and Worcester are the major cities we'll be near from 5-7. I'd prefer to not drive anywhere in Boston except to and from our hosts'.

The only one I've found so far is Quan Yin Vegetarian, which has few reviews and no menu online, so I'm appealing to the Hive Mind for recommendations. Thanks!

Help me fill my RSS reader

charmston — Fri, 30 May 2008 09:41:38 -0800

I've found myself with a little more time on my hands. I'd like to add a few useful, relevant blogs and podcasts to the ranks of my RSS reader. Any suggestions for me? I very much prefer quality to quantity. I'd much rather read 5 low-volume, high-quality blogs than sift through a single feed with 50 posts/day to find the ones of interest.
Interests include:

Some of my favorites are intelligent blogs without a true theme. Jason Kottke, I'm looking at you.
I'll be going into the Peace Corps in the next year. There are over 4000 blogs about it. Do you have any favorites?
I dig web design stuff, especially in the standards arena. Favorites: A List Apart, Freelance Switch, and Vitamin.
I also love product and packaging design blogs. Favorites: Yanko Design, The Dieline.
After the Peace Corps, I'll be going into graduate school in either justice and peace studies or some derivative of it (international development, conflict resolution, etc.) I read no related blogs. Suggestions?
Personal development blogs are among my favorites, especially Zen Habits, Urban Monk, and Lifehacker.
I love baseball and tend to be the sabermetric type. Baseball Prospectus, Roto Authority...?
Green Daily is the only environmental blog that I read. I'd like a few more.
I recently became a vegetarian. Any favorite veggie blogs?
I love politics but have trouble keeping up with Talking Points Memo and The Huffington Post.

I also welcome podcast recommendations. I currently listen to Boagworld, The Rissington Podcast, and a handful of ESPN podcasts. Any others that you think that I may like?
Thanks in advance everyone!

Where can I find some good vegetarian eating in the Ft. Lauderdale/ Weston area?

slavlin — Mon, 26 May 2008 19:46:08 -0800

Where can I find some good vegetarian eating in the Ft. Lauderdale/ Weston area? I will be staying in Weston, FL a couple of nights for business and I am looking for some decent vegetarian places to eat there. I will need a place that is open later in the evening (flying in around 7:30, so need a place open till at least 9-10 PM.) I am not a 100% strict vegetarian as I eat eggs and dairy and will occasionally eat mollusks and shellfish, but I prefer to eat that way when I can.

Is there anyone that can give me suggestions, along with addresses, if possible.

Help me prepare food for a vegetarian new mother

kamikazegopher — Sun, 25 May 2008 20:42:35 -0800

Post-partum vegetarian healthy food help. I've been tasked with providing food for my sister-in-law who recently gave birth. I would like to prepare food that can be frozen and re-heated in individual servings. I'm a bit stumped.

Help me fly the vegan skies

amtho — Sat, 24 May 2008 17:38:38 -0800

Vegan airport/airline dining - connect and lunch in Dallas (DFO) or Chicago (ORD)? Somewhere else? How long to allow for a connection to assure we can eat at the restaurant you recommend? We're traveling from Raleigh-Durham to San Francisco and it's looking kind of grim for in-flight meals; it's > 7 hours overall travel time but broken into two segments; best advice for not-having-to-pack-lunch? I can't tell if the (currently American Airlines) flights that I'm looking at offer a meal - everything involves a connection, so the individual flights may not be long enough. There's an icon of a dollar sign + knife + fork; I'm guessing that means I can purchase a snack/meal, but none of the purchasable options look even vaguely vegetarian.

The Continental flights I've seen offer no meals. Anybody know of a way to get a vegetarian/vegan meal in the air between Raleigh and San Francisco?

I'd really like to not have to carry food with me and pasta/bread/crackers will not give me the energy I want for starting our trip!

Any advice on dining in airports on the way? I'm currently looking at flights that connect through Dallas (DFW) or Chicago O'Hare (ORD), but if you know of a good food airport en route between Raleigh and San Francisco, please let me know.

I found restaurant listings for ORD - didn't look good. The Dallas airport looked like it might be slightly better, but the listing is broken up into four or five different terminals and nothing leapt out at me.

Vegetarian Meals for a Steak-and-Potatoes kind of guy?

Alabaster — Mon, 19 May 2008 16:28:57 -0800

Vegetarian meals for a meat-and-potatoes kind of guy? I'm an unabashed carnivore but--for philosophical and nutritional reasons--I'd like to eventually go vegetarian (or at least to make meat much less prominent in my diet). I'm looking for vegetarian meals and snacks that can be as filling and savory (and proteinlicious) as a steak dinner or burger...

Meat substitutes are ok (I actually like some of the Gardenburger and Boca brands), but I'm more interested in "legit" vegetarian meals that don't involve tricking myself into thinking I'm eating meat.

P.S. I hate mushrooms with a passion and I have already dismissed the "try a portabello mushroom, it's almost like steak" suggestion, so feel free to skip over that one.

The Picky Introvert's Guide to Making Friends?

Anonymous — Fri, 16 May 2008 07:02:30 -0800

I'm a male introvert with very, very few close friends. I can make casual friends no problem, but I'm rather particular about the type of people I'd want to be serious friends with. Difficulty: I'm an atheist liberal eco-friendly vegetarian tech nerd who doesn't drink, smoke, or do drugs. Meeting people casually has never been an issue; I'm plenty friendly and can "play the part" pretty well, but when it comes to strong friendships I'm pretty easily turned off. I don't like people who drink, I don't like religious or "spiritual" people, I don't like conservatives, and I don't like luddites. (Note: I'm BASICALLY Straight Edge, save caffeine and sex, but I hate the people and music that go along with the scene so I don't use the label.)

Finding a godless liberal who doesn't eat meat isn't terribly difficult, so it seems like the biggest problem is the anti-drinking/smoking/drugging part. I'm definitely an introvert - I live with my girlfriend of 3 years, work full-time for a tech company, and neither of us go to parties or bars or are terribly social. Weekends are spent together, either out doing simple activities or inside watching movies, etc. We're homebodies. I can entertain myself just fine, but I feel like I could unlock more islands, so to speak, of my life and myself by making some close friends. (I've been playing a lot of GTA, sorry about the metaphor.)

So, please, help me out here. I just feel like if I'm going to invest in a friendship, it had better be with someone who I respect. Settling for less seems like a recipe for disaster. Advice? Where/how do I find like-minded people?

(PS - If you happen to fit the qualities I mentioned, uh, we should be friends! Leave a comment and I'll msg you from my real account.)

Why does meat make vegetarians vomit?

giggleknickers — Thu, 01 May 2008 14:43:50 -0800

Why do vegetarians vomit if they eat meat? Every time I've seen a vegetarian eat meat, by accident or because they were giving up vegetarianism, they always vomited. I was just curious as to why this is. Does anyone know?

If you're going to answer, please have some knowledge about the subject and preferably have a source. I can come up with guesses myself.

Oh no! Not butternut squash risotto again.

Xurando — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 03:25:15 -0800

As a multi-decade ova-lacto-pesca-vegetarian, I am bored to tears with my diet. Help me revitalize my meal planning/diet. Meat is still not an option. For the past 15 years or so i have been using the same cookbooks and basically the same few recipes. I need something new both cookbook wise and recipe wise. The criteria I want to use is that meals should be relatively quick to make (45 minutes max. and should utilize everyday ingredients. I'm tired of going to the store for arugula or pine nuts.

Yes, but where will they live?

jadepearl — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 14:56:37 -0800

Help me match meat dishes.. What meat dish will not clash and pair well with a salmon fillet rubbed with paprika, brown sugar, thyme and black pepper? I am having a party and the one standout fish dish that I can do is salmon which the other party goers may or may not like. I am doing fish as one of the mains because some guests are pescatarians. Any suggestions are welcome.

How much does it cost to eat (basic food) in San Francisco?

stackhaus23 — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 08:54:52 -0800

How much does it cost to eat (basic food) in San Francisco? I'm talking anything from Dennys or In-N-Out to some vegetarian places like Love N Haight to take away pizzas? Ok, something I literally have no idea on is how much it costs (in US Dollars) to eat out at cafes, take aways or budget / cheap restuarants. I'm talking anything from Dennys or In-N-Out to some vegetarian places like Love N Haight.

We're (23 year olds, MF couple) coming over from the UK for a couple of weeks and have looked up the places to eat (as tourists) but have no idea how much to budget per day or per meal for food. We'll probably be thinking small breakfasts and lunch, dinner in the evening. As well as how much a coffee or milkshake would cost at the average cafe?

For example; to get a large Pizza over here would be £9.99 or $20. To get a coffee at Starbucks is around £2.50 or $5.

Thanks so much!

Delicious Vegetarian Sandwiches

exceptinsects — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 17:54:48 -0800

Ideas for delicious vegetarian sandwiches? I'm going on a picnic with a vegetarian friend, and I want to make some sandwiches that are more exciting than just cheese or PB&J.
I don't mind spending some time preparing them.

*Vegan not necessary but not excluded either.

High-protein diet makes me less prone to depression. Why?

deeper red — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 08:01:39 -0800

I've started a high protein diet and my mood has stabilised a lot. I feel more balanced. What's likely going on? Read on for important info. I'm a vegetarian and, up until four months ago, ate a carbohydrate-heavy and mostly low-fat diet. I was almost vegan -- no eggs, very little cheese. Mostly grain-based food (bread, cereal, pasta) and beans/pulses.

Now I eat a high-protein diet, eating cheese, Quorn, soya (in various forms), eggs, and so on. I limit myself to around 40-60g of carb a day, which allows for vegetables with meals, and a slice of wholemeal bread for lunch.

I've always wrestled with mild depression in the form of mood swings but, since starting the diet, I've been a lot more balanced. It's almost been a miracle cure. I gave up caffeine a year ago for this very reason and that also helped, but a high protein diet seems to have been the finishing touch.

I've been researching what might be going on. Most obvious is that this is a low-GI diet, so I'm not prone to mood swings caused by rushes of glucose in my blood.

But I also read that having too little cholesterol in your blood can made you depressed, and I wonder if eating a higher quantity of eggs and cheese means I now have more cholesterol.

I'd love to hear anybody's opinions on this, especially if this is something you've experienced too.

Wild game -etarians?

Kevin A — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 12:30:39 -0800

Is there a name for people who, for ethical or environmental reasons, will only eat meat if they have hunted it themselves? Do significant numbers of these people exist? Do they have web sites?

Salad? Shoot me.

cdadog — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 06:34:51 -0800

This salad so incredible that I considered becoming a vegetarian. Unfortunately, I can barely remember what was in it. A few years ago I attended a cookout where a vegetarian guest brought a chilled salad with a ton of ingredients, served from a trifle dish. I remember it included:

- glassine thread noodles
- strips of tofu
- there may have been broccoli tips
- black chewy thready stuff I suspect was seaweed
- baby carrot slivers
- dressing I can only describe as sour/savory (not hot, spicy or especially sweet)

You know how sometimes a bunch of stuff in a bowl is just that, how it’s not bad but the tastes or textures don’t really compliment each other? Not this. The flavors…ohhh…the way they melded was amazing. I ate an embarrassing amount of it, intending to pin down whoever brought it. Naturally, they got away, and the hostess couldn’t remember who brought what.

This has haunted me for years. I want this salad again. I neeeeed it. But I’m not that foodie intuitive, and the results of my forays into recipe experimentation are always disappointing. If anyone out there suspects he/she has made this kickass salad with the above items, would you please share?

Just because the animal was vegetarian too doesn't mean I'll eat it.

TheNewWazoo — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 20:35:32 -0800

Oh God, this is shaping up to be one of the worst travel experiences of my life. I'm at the Hyatt Regency DFW until Friday, cannot expense the $40-one-way taxi costs into the city, and am a vegetarian. I've never dealt with Dallas on anyone's terms but my own, and I have to eat this week! Does anyone have any recommendations? (I'm 100% open to DART!)

Natto, durian, what else?

hyperfascinated — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 13:33:12 -0800

What are some unusual/bizarre/gross foods that are suitable for vegetarians? Non-vegetarian examples include wriggling octopus, alligator, chocolate-covered ants and l'ortolan. Lacto/ovo foods are fine.

I've been vegetarian for over half my life, but during my meat-munching childhood I loved trying weird foods for the sake of novelty. It would be fun to have similar food adventures, but taking a break from vegetarianism is something that I'm unwilling to do at this point.

Please help me stop eating animal slices

milarepa — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 11:38:23 -0800

I want to stop eating animal slices. Except there's a catch. Please help. I really want to become a vegetarian for moral reasons, and ultimately want to be a vegan (maybe 4-5 years from now).

However, I am cartoonishly underweight and I need to gain about 20+ pounds before I even feel comfortable with the process of cutting meat out of my diet. Although my doctor says I am healthy, and that my metabolism is probably just a little more demanding than most people's, he suggested that I put on some pounds before I make the switch to a vegetarian diet. Basically, he was like eat more and lift weights. An otherwise great doctor, but just not that helpful.

The problem is, I can eat like 4-5 meals a day and not put on weight. I try to lift weights twice a week and load up on protein like crazy, but I never gain weight. I haven't gained a pound in like 10 years. Everyone says just wait, but I don't want to keep eating meat. I really want to speed up the process in a healthy way, not just wait until I get fat. For the record, I have been tested for all sorts of parasites, digestive disorders, etc. I am perfectly healthy.

At this point, my diet is pretty open--I just don't eat pork.

What can I do? What sort of meal or work out plans should I follow to put on 20-30 pounds in a healthy way?

What are the best vegetarian foods to eat if you want to gain weight? That way, while I am still eating meat to gain weight, I could begin the process of eating the vegetarian foods that will allow me to keep the weight I hope to gain.

Vegetarian needs "respectable" article about protein in all foods

AllieTessKipp — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 11:49:16 -0800

My new doctor is one of those older doctors who believe that vegetarian diets lack protein unless you eat the "right" things. I would like to find an article to give her about how there is protein in everything. The doctor asked about my "protein source" foods and I didn't have an answer for her. She is not up to date on vegetarian protein information and I suspect I must be her only vegetarian patient, or else her other vegetarian patients also are not up to date on this issue.

I need an article that would be from a respectable source so that she does not think I just "got it off the internet." Something short and simple would be best (she is, like all doctors, very busy), and I prefer something that does not lean on soy products, because I don't eat many of those.

I plan to include my diet for a typical week, along with amounts of protein in each item/amount I've eaten so she can see I don't have just one or two protein sources, but that everything I eat has protein in it and that I'm fine.