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Cutting out meat

Started by Butchers Blind, November 16, 2020, 01:53:16 PM

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SpiderChrist

Been vegan for, er, about 10 years now. Vegan by default as I'm lactose intolerant and allergic to eggs (also allergic to nuts, which is more of a bind, diet-wise). The occasional lapse (usually due to the proximity of a chicken dhansak or a crab salad sandwich) has now stopped entirely. Can't see myself ever going back to consuming meat/fish/dairy and I definitely don't miss it.

New page self-righteous vegan prick.

The Mollusk

Cutting meat out of my diet a few years back was almost entirely easy. Aside from the very occasional foray into spicy chicken wings on the way home from the pub, as soon as I quit I didn't miss eating it at all. Then around this time last year, my partner and I were watching the frequently harrowing Seven Worlds, One Planet and after the scene with the stupid idiot albatross mother failing to recognise its own child after it fell out of the nest (due to increasingly heavy winds caused by global warming) I found myself sobbing uncontrollably and right there and then decided I'd never consume an animal product ever again, albatross or not.

I can count on one hand the amount of times I've slipped in the last year, all of the instances involving cheese when I've been caught short whilst out of the house with no lunch and had to buy a supermarket sandwich (and that one time I posed for a photo under the road sign for Ham and Sandwich, does that count?) but otherwise it's been totally plain sailing, and I am very happy about that.

The "process" (if you can even call it that, it was more like the flick of a switch) was so fucking easy that I feel daft for not having done it sooner. I don't wanna come across too much like Buelligan when I say this but you can literally just stop eating animal products. The conscious effort required to change your eating habits is honestly not as difficult as it seems. There are vitamin supplements and vegan protein alternatives if your diet is holding you back. Most people back away because of constant "what if" questions and thinking that just because it's something they've been doing their entire lives, it's going to be a drastic upheaval of lifestyle choices in order to make the switch, but it isn't.

If you enjoy cooking, vegan recipes are exciting and adventurous. As a starting point, I strongly recommend this book from BOSH! as most of the recipes in here are not only easy and varied, but also as BOSH! is a very trendy brand a lot of the meals are indulgent, fun and packed with flavour. A fair whack of those recipes can also be found on their site here.

Try it for a week or a month. Even if you're not totally won over by it, maybe just restrict consumption of animal products to half of the week, or even just weekends. At the very least, you won't regret the fact that you had a bash at something different.

Buelligan

Steady on, old darling.  Steady on.  You are, of course, completely correct.

SpiderChrist

Spot on, The Mollusk, spot on.

imitationleather

Yeah I'll give it a go for a week, why not?

Thomas

Quote from: imitationleather on November 17, 2020, 10:02:22 AM
Yeah I'll give it a go for a week, why not?

You've already got a vegan username.

Butchers Blind

Think I'll start by cutting down my meat intake during the week first like trying to ween yourself off ciggies.  Does anyone have good recommendations regarding veggie recipie books?  Noted that one from Mollusk above.

Sin Agog

I just google "easy vegan _______" every time I get a yen for something, then keep all the dead cert nail every time recipes in a notepad file.

Jockice

Quote from: phes on November 17, 2020, 08:30:23 AM
I don't know how Jokice copes as a veggie who doesn't like curry

Ta Phes. It's not often I get some recognition of the plight I'm in. It's a tough life you know.

thugler

Have been vegetarian and mainly vegan (90% of the time) bar the occaisonal bit of cheese or seafood for a few years. Was largely trying it initially for cheapness and also loving the food as well as the sheer  volume you can eat of it without putting a lump of meat in every meal. The ecological/moral aspects have helped mestick with it, as well as the ubiquity of options in both restaurants and supermarkets now. As for recipes, seems obvious but i'd suggest making your own versions of your favourite meat containing dishes. Also get a pressure cooker and tons of dry beans and pulses. It's a revelation. If you particularly start to miss the taste of meat make yourself a bunch of seitan. Vital what gluten is cheap and it tastes delicious, you can add whatever flavour you want and it can end up tasting very close to beef/chicken in flavour without all the fat.

sirhenry

Reading this thread has made me realise how much easier it was to go veggie back in the 70's. Back then the prevailing food was so caricarurishly bland with every evening meal being meat and two (boiled to death) veg. But there were no easy alternatives so I had to learn to cook weird foreign food that had spices and herbs and the like in them.
It turns out that there are cultures all over the world (probably all of them) where historically the majority of people had little or no access to meat on a regular basis, so they developed cuisines that made the most of everything else. I started with Chinese as it was quick and easy then moved on to Indian when I moved to Leeds and got access to the Asian shops here. Never looked back.

I went to a campus university where there was no refectory on a Sunday and I quickly learned to cook 5 times as much on Sundays to feed all the people in the block who took the piss 6 days a week for me being a softy veggie. It turned out that I was the only one there who liked super hot curries though.

Butchers Blind - Indian Vegetarian Cookery by Jack Santa Maria is wonderful. I've given away at least 6 copies of it and every time been thanked months down the line.[nb]Obviously don't buy it from Amazon if you can help it, but the reviews all love it.https://www.amazon.co.uk/Indian-Vegetarian-Cookery-Santa-Maria/dp/1846042232[/nb]

Dex Sawash


I stopped eating meat about 5 years ago. Will occasionally get a slice of deluxe pizza from the food court at Costco(america) and flick off the sausage and pepperoni.  Their cheese pizza is way too cheesy which makes the crust not cook properly and the deluxe has tons of peppers onion and black olive (and less cheese).

When I did eat meat, I couldn't bear the thought of eating the ethnically raised happy animals who had a name that the murdering hipster farmers market meat stand people bragged about.

Elderly Sumo Prophecy

I'm afraid I've just had a bacon sarner. Don't worry, I'll have a good old spot of self flagellation later on.

SpiderChrist

The self-flagellation route is one to be avoided, in this case as in many others. As is listening to others who lecture/advise/berate you regarding your dietary choices. I would never try and convince anyone to stop consuming animal products, and I am naive to expect the same courtesy from those who do consume animal products.


Thomas

Went to Nando's for a Blairite treat a couple of months ago, and was pleasantly surprised by their vegetarian options.

Elderly Sumo Prophecy

Quote from: SpiderChrist on November 17, 2020, 12:27:53 PM
The self-flagellation route is one to be avoided, in this case as in many others. As is listening to others who lecture/advise/berate you regarding your dietary choices. I would never try and convince anyone to stop consuming animal products, and I am naive to expect the same courtesy from those who do consume animal products.

I know mate. Mum says I'll go blind if I keep doing it.

phes

I recently worked my way through Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations and Parts Unknown. I found that extremely tough going (but very worthwhile) because it is meat-centric. It made me re-question all my decisions and how I will cope or respond in other cultures where their relationship with meat is different, or stronger. Granted, Bourdain is very much a product of his time and environment. A chef, slinging for much of his time, NYC, 1980/90s, a macho dolt with just enough charm, wit and self-loathing that he never strays into Clarkson territory. But still, he excapsulates an actively derogatory attitude to vegetarianism. So the show seeks out and immerses itself in cultures where the meat eating is - regularly or irregularly - a strong part of the culture, tradition, community, employment and often a necessity. This made me conscious that when I did eat meat, I had no connection whatsoever to the people, product, process, industry, or community. Changing to a meat free diet was as easy as taking diffferent products from a shelf, and that seems something of a privilege. So I honestly don't really know the strength of my convictions if i am taken out of this bubble and faced with owning them in other contexts. There are a couple of episodes in which Bourdain is asked to slaughter an animal himself, and a notable one where as a guest of a local tribe he's invited to slaughter the pig they will eat. It really fucks him up, despite the fact that all he has to deal with is that 1 minute where he slaughters the animal. And for a brief time he actually contemplates the price being paid at the other end of the commercial supply chain. If he'd spent hours, days or weeks with an enslaved animal or an animal being prepared for slaughter then I suspect it might have had a lasting impact. As it was he went on to make another decade of meat-centric television 

JaDanketies

#77
Quote from: phes on November 17, 2020, 01:14:34 PM
So I honestly don't really know the strength of my convictions if i am taken out of this bubble and faced with owning them in other contexts.

I think it's fine to say veganism is workable and - in your and my opinion - preferable if you live in the UK within easy reach of supermarkets. People often pose the 'you and a chicken on a desert island' question, but I don't think I'm advocating a diet for the Masai Mara (Maasai, thanks Buelligan) or the Inuit. It's the ethical diet for me, but I'm not saying it's possible or preferable for literally every human on Earth.

I can even hypothesise scenarios when eating meat is the ethical choice. For instance, if I'm on the coast in another country, at a restaurant, and the choices are some mussels or oysters that were picked up from the beach, or a quinoa salad that was shipped in from Peru, then it's clear to me that the mussels are the ethical, least-harm choice.

It may be in that scenario I choose the less-ethical choice because I can't stomach the idea of eating mussels or oysters. Like a big old fuckin hypocrite.

Buelligan

And now I'm going to have to correct this edit glitch. 

El Unicornio, mang

I lived with a vegan friend in the US for 9 months once and was pretty much vegan that whole time. Unfortunately a lot of the stuff we ate was heavily processed convenience food vegan, which offered fewer health benefits, but was at least more ethical than eating meat. Some of the stuff was genuinely convincing as a meat substitute, didn't really miss meat that much at all, and felt healthier as a result. Almond milk replacing regular milk not a problem, the only issue I really had was with vegan cheese.

I've cut out meat a bit since then, rarely eat red meat, but I still consume a lot of dairy. Realistically I don't think I could ever manage to be vegan, but maybe vegetarian or pescatarian. I applaud anyone who does it.

bgmnts

Quote from: El Unicornio, mang on November 17, 2020, 04:03:58 PM
the only issue I really had was with vegan cheese.

I'd recommend Koko coconut cheese and Applewood Smoked cheese. Lovely stuff!*

Also, I find nutritional yeast really does lend a certain cheesy flavour to something.


*Not my words, the words of Shakin' Stevens.

El Unicornio, mang

Quote from: bgmnts on November 17, 2020, 04:07:02 PM
I'd recommend Koko coconut cheese and Applewood Smoked cheese. Lovely stuff!*


I'll give it a try. This was about seven years ago so I'm sure there's a lot more good stuff on the market anyway. My cravings for Gruyère are strong, if there's anything close to that I'd be happy.

Famous Mortimer

Quote from: bgmnts on November 17, 2020, 04:07:02 PM
I'd recommend Koko coconut cheese and Applewood Smoked cheese. Lovely stuff!*
KoKos coconut cheese has cow's milk in it, though (it appeared from the quote that you were answering him about vegan cheese being rubbish).

I had vegan cheese slices from the local supermarket once, and they were fine if way too expensive.

bgmnts

Sorry I mean Koko Dairy Free, it has a coconut-ish taste due to the coconut oil and coconut cream in it.

Menu

Quote from: Paul Calf on November 17, 2020, 07:50:41 AM


My wife is veggie and I've vastly reduced my consumption of meat. I don't drink cow's milk anymore, but that wasn't much of a wrench because I never really liked it. I'll only eat meat and eggs that are properly sourced from farms not run by abusers and torturers, and that not very often.

Sme of the meat alternatives are really good - sometimes not very much like meat, but hitting the same notes. I had a vegan doner kebab the other day, and when I was in Leeds recently ordered from a veggie (possibly vegan) Chinese place that was astonishingly good.

Do you, or anyone else here, use Abel and Coe. I thought I'd found my perfect shop....until I looked at the prices. Blimey!

JaDanketies

Quote from: Menu on November 17, 2020, 08:02:03 PM
Do you, or anyone else here, use Abel and Coe. I thought I'd found my perfect shop....until I looked at the prices. Blimey!

My step mum used them and she lived with us briefly. It did seem like a nice little treat for her and very low-waste. No idea how expensive it is

Menu

#86
Quote from: Dex Sawash on November 17, 2020, 11:40:16 AM
I stopped eating meat about 5 years ago. Will occasionally get a slice of deluxe pizza from the food court at Costco(america) and flick off the sausage and pepperoni.  Their cheese pizza is way too cheesy which makes the crust not cook properly and the deluxe has tons of peppers onion and black olive (and less cheese).

When I did eat meat, I couldn't bear the thought of eating the ethnically raised happy animals who had a name that the murdering hipster farmers market meat stand people bragged about.

Yes that is weird. Similar to when they put pictures of happy pigs on a packet of sausages. It's like, you are aware of what meat is in this aren't you?

Menu

Quote from: bgmnts on November 17, 2020, 04:07:02 PM
I'd recommend Koko coconut cheese and Applewood Smoked cheese. Lovely stuff!*

Also, I find nutritional yeast really does lend a certain cheesy flavour to something.


*Not my words, the words of Shakin' Stevens.

Thanks, Shaky! What are vegan pizzas like? Are they a fair approximation?

Menu

Quote from: JaDanketies on November 17, 2020, 08:04:09 PM
My step mum used them and she lived with us briefly. It did seem like a nice little treat for her and very low-waste. No idea how expensive it is

They do nearly everything, including organic cat food. Our two cats turned their noses up to it though. Even our stray cat didn't want it! Fucking ungrateful cunts. So we left it out for the fox. He loved it!! Although he eats anything.

bgmnts

Quote from: Menu on November 17, 2020, 08:21:10 PM
Thanks, Shaky! What are vegan pizzas like? Are they a fair approximation?

Papa Johns actually do a nice vegan pizza with pepperoni and sausage nowadays. I would say there is a big difference between vegan cheese pizza and a regular cheese pizza though. You do become accustomed to it, however.