I don't really care for meat but I eat it regardless.

Im glad meats not murder, I'd hate to see lions in my neighbourhood serving community service thats for sure.

FAO: Vegangelica

I saw this episode of Family Guy and it reminded me of you, so I thought I would share it.
You should be able to watch the whole thing without interruption. Just pause it after it begins playing to let it buffer for a couple minutes.

http://www.cucirca.com/2009/11/30/fa...de-8-dog-gone/

Ha ha ha! That was good. Disturbing...but good. It had a thoughtful message and was dripping with irony. Thanks, Freebase. :)

I like the part when a dog is left at home to listen to NPR all day and scratches his poor front paws down to the bone while trying to get someone to open the door so he can escape!

I also like the part when the people at the animal rights meeting organized by Brian the dog start to get a hankering for dog meat and chase after him. Sigh. It reminded me of this thread. People thinking with their taste buds. Double sigh. :(

I didn't realize Family Guy actually deals with some real issues, similar to The Simpsons with the "Lisa The Vegetarian" episode: Lisa the Vegetarian - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

That was pretty funny. On that note, I'm a pescetarian, meaning I only eat fish. I used to be a full fledged vegetarian, but I went to too many nice restaurants with my family and ordered salad to not eat fish. I don't eat chicken or red meat cause I think the way animals are farmed is often pretty messed up (but fish farming isn't better I'd imagine). At anyrate, seeing the way a cow is held before its butchered makes me sad enough to refrain from steak.

A childhood friend of mine is also a "pesco-vegetarian" like you are, This_Is_Corey.

Finding only salad at fancy restaurants *is* disheartening. Been there! I always ask if the chef can create a vegan meal. At the fancy restaurants they usually can. Even at restaurants that specialize mostly in slabs o' cows and pigs! Ideally, you call ahead to give them advance warning if you have a reservation.

I actually think the chefs get a little excited when I order something vegan, because they come up with some pretty exciting and tasty stuff, like puffed pastry filled with roasted garlic mushrooms and garnished with asparagus and almond slices. It is probably more fun for the *good* chefs to make an interesting vegan dish than to grill yet another potato and steak.

I agree with you, of course, about the cows and the sadness of them being killed. I actually first wanted to be vegetarian, though, because of watching someone bludgeon a fish to death when I was 5. I refused to eat it and went without my dinner since I was told to either eat the fish or nothing.

You're right about the problems of fish farming, which can actually exacerbate the current and growing problem of overfishing of wild fish. Aquaculture can be bad for fish and bad for people who eat them and bad for the environment...but there are more environmentally friendly aquaculture models that recycle water, etc., and don't crowd the fish so much. Fish Farming

I've never wanted to eat fish because my first pet friend was a fish, and I spent a lot of time in rivers when I was growing up getting to know the wild fish. I got to recognize some of them as individuals. One of them even let me pet him/her. Maybe the fish was just slow due to some disease, but I liked to think that she or he didn't mind a little back scratch! ;)

So... my flatmate and I have made a pact to go vege for a month over the summer, but we're still going to eat dairy products and eggs. Does anyone have any good ideas for vege meals/snacks or advice in general?

Most likely we'll gravitate towards an Indian vegetarian diet, as we already eat curry 3-4 times a week, and we can simply replace the meat with lentils, soybeans and paneer... that, and the fact that Indian vege food is fantastic! But I'm open to any ideas and frankly, I'm happy to have the excuse to buy things like olives, okra and eggplant :D

I'm not sure what to do for snacks. I'm thinking trail mix, falafel, oatmeal & yoghurt, celery/carrots & dip, mushroom pate and extra fruit with the money we'd otherwise be spending on meat.

As you know, I'm not a vegetarian, but I do have some consumer conscience to go along with my carnivorism. Something I'm quite displeased about here is that it's almost impossible to buy free range chickens in this country. We pride ourselves on the way our pigs and cattle are treated, but if I go to the store to buy a chicken, I can only get the industry 100-chickens-per-square-meter kind. Stupid!

Mediterranean Veggie food tends to be pretty good, Greek stuff especially; Chickpeas, Goats Cheese... Hummus and Bread is a pretty damn simple snack that will fill you up, and it's going to give you some of the nutrients you're missing from a lack of meat.

If you can, eat a lot more iron/protein than you normally would; if you don't counter the amount that you're losing by not eating meat, you're gonna start feeling crappy as a result. Broccoli, Spinach, Eggs :P

if you're a curry type of person, Saags are awesome :D

Mmmm...yummy, yummy Indian vegetarian food!!:love:

You could also try making Mexican-style burritos with non-refried beans. And of course there is a lot of Italian cuisine that works well in a vegetarian diet, such as pasta e fagioli (pasta with beans).

Turkish food can be vegetarian, too. When I was in Turkey, I had no problem eating ovo-lacto vegetarian foods at restaurants, and some of the deserts even contain garbanzo beans, like my favorite, "asure." Yum!

Asure - a delicious and nutritious Turkish desert!
http://s2.hubimg.com/u/3354853_f496.jpg

You mentioned trail mix as a snack, Seltzer. Any kind of nuts are good, especially if non-roasted and non-salted. My favorites (though expensive) are almonds and pecans. My main snack is whole grain cereal with nuts (and Rice Drink rather than milk since I'm vegan, of course).

I hope you both have fun exporing different foods and getting creative!

I didn't realize they don't have free range chickens in Norway, Tor. Mind you, "free range" doesn't necessarily mean chickens are outdoors here in the U.S., so you can't assume "free range" chickens in the U.S. have it much better than Norwegian chickens:

I've never had a saag! My favorite vegetarian Indian dishses are dal and channa masala.

I actually don't think you need to eat more protein on a vegetarian diet than you normally would. Most people who eat meat get way more protein than they need. A typical person only needs around 50 - 70 g per day (depending on the person's weight), which is very easy to get if you eat grains and beans and nuts. Protein in the Vegan Diet -- The Vegetarian Resource Group

A way to maximize iron absorption from foods like legumes and broccoli that are rich in non-heme iron is to also eat citrus foods at the meal, such as oranges or lemon, since vitamin C helps increase iron absorption.