h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

"What flavours would a carnivore already be familiar with? For example, what could you replace the ham on a ham and pineapple pizza with?"

As an ex-veggie, now happily eating meat again, I'd say the worst thing about veggie food is the "meat-substitutes". I still eat meat-free meals (occasionally), but good food should "taste of what it is", so you should just cook good ingrediants, well.

No quorn.
No textured vegetable protein.
No soya "mince".

One of the reasons I stopped eating meat was what went into the stuff. I don't eat a lot of 'veggie meat', but I buy veggie bacon (what vegetarian can resist that smell?), veggie ham and veggie mince. The veggie mince especially is great for making 'proper' spaghetti bolognese

Oh yeah, I replace ham on my pizza with mushroom

No, no, no, no, no!!! Meat substitutes are ridiculous! I have never eaten meat in my life and I refuse to cook with this stuff, if I want to make a spaghetti bolognese then I'll put mushrooms in - at least they taste of something

Along the same lines, here's one I've had arguments with one of my housemates about: a recipe for a "proper" vegetarian chilli - no fake mince here!
Ingredients:
* one large onion, chopped
* one red pepper, chopped
* one zucchini, sliced and quartered
* one chilli (green or red depending on how hot you like you chilli!), chopped finely
* one tin tomatoes, chopped
* handful (~250g) mushrooms, chopped
* one veg stock cube
* one tin red kidney beans, drained
* one tin pinto (or black-eye) beans, drained
* paprika, cumin, chilli powder - to taste
* salt and pepper
In a large saucepan fry the onion in a little olive oil until it starts to soften. Add spices to taste and mix thoroughly. Add the pepper, zucchini and chilli and continue to fry for a few minutes. Add the tomatoes, mushrooms, stock cube and beans to the mixture. Bring to the boil, adding a bit of water if needed. Reduce heat and add salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring regularly. Serve with plenty of rice.

(And as for veggie bacon, I know a few poeple who have gone back to eating meat after smelling a freshly made bacon butty but, having never eaten the real thing myself, the smell does absolutely nothing for me!)

I'm not saying that I always use veggie meat, but sometimes I like to use it more for the texture, if you know what I mean. In fact, your chilli recipe (what's a zucchini? Remind me!) sounds exactly the same as mine

The only thing 99.99999% of vegetarians miss is bacon - I don't know why, we just do. But the only meat substitute I eat is Real Eat's Veggie Mince and the previosly mentioned veggie bacon. I cannot stand Quorn

Now, with all due respect, by your own admission you have never eaten meat and don't know what you're 'missing', so to speak. So don't be so hasty to condemn veggie meat

Sorry, rant mode there! It just seems to me that there are more tasty ways of adding texture than using meat substitutes.

Ooops, zucchini = courgette

I am with you on this one. I too was a vegeterian and only started enjoying it when I realised that vegeterian food did not have to be the same as meat eaters food with the meat substituted with something tasteless.

Ah, but the beauty of veggie meat, as with tofu, is you can flavour it to your liking

And another thing against Quorn is - it gives me stomach-ache! Quite a few people get reactions to it, I've found. It's easy to make nice tasty veggie food - Look at all the delicious Indian food you can get!

I don't even necessarily follow a recipe, I just see what's in the cupboard, and chuck it in. Just keep plenty of beans (tins of chick peas, kidney beans, butter beans, etc are cheap, if you can't be bothered boiling them up), tins of tomatoes, tomato puree, and a selection of spices. Onions are always good too. So fry up some spices to your taste - say a few from garam masala, mustard seeds, cardomom (pods or powder), fennel seeds, coriander, chilli (powder or whole) and whatever other spices you fancy. After a minute, chuck in a pile of onions, fry till soft, add some fresh crushed garlic, then a couple of tins of tomato (juice and all) and a couple of tins of your fave beans and heat through for about 10-15 minutes. Then flavour it with sugar and salt to taste. It often tastes even better the next day!

Ground sesame seeds are delicious to add to recipes as well - the above could be done with them, and less beans.

Enjoy!

"Look at all the delicious Indian food you can get!"

Most Indians are Hindu and vegetarian, so 99% of the dishes in Indian restaurants have only had meat added for the Brits.

I'm going to jump to the defence of Quorn too. I've yet to find anything non-quorny that bulks out something like bolognese sufficiently. Things like mushroom or lentils become slightly soggy and lack the dry, solidity of Quorn. In fact, as a former meat eater, I much prefer Quorn mince to the real thing - at least you know it's come from a mushroom not from the bits of a cow that you wouldn't eat if you knew what they were (allegedly...)

As long as you give it plenty of flavoursome sauce it's fine.

Chefmoose

I use Real Eat Veggie Mince, it's far nicer

A good way to give veggie mince a nice flavour is to cook it with a stock cube. I do that when I make shepherd's pie, that sort of thing

Ah, cheers, I'll give that a try. Is it something you can get from Sainbury's etc?

Yep, most supermarkets stock it. If not, you'll get it out a health food shop no probs

Possibly another bit of a rant here, but what's the point of adding a major ingredient to a recipe that you then have to do extra work in order to make it taste of something?

My Gran (a meat eater) once served up quorn burgers when we went round to visit. Trouble is she'd overcooked them so, not only did they not taste of anything, they were tough as old boots. In the middle of the meal I (only about 10 at the time) asked "does anyone have a chainsaw?" She really wasn't impressed and they've been known as "chainsaw burgers" ever since!

"...what's the point of adding a major ingredient to a recipe that you then have to do extra work in order to make it taste of something?"

You marinade meat, don't you?

health food stores the best fake meats, stroll on over to you're local health food store (it's the one you may be wary of due to all the hippies) and see all the allternative's that are available. many of them also stock a variety of free range meats and such, for those who just LOVE that stuff. there are prepackaged chili things that yu just add some canned stuff to, and, voila!!! i know it's the lazy way around the problem, but...
and if you happen to find you're self in the Hugo Supermarket, or somewhere else that doesn't seem to be very interested in veggitarianism, start carefully reading the ingredients. you'll learn alot about what's in wahat, and how. i still wonder why they are so specific about mechanically seperated chicken? but it's in slimy jimy's, (or is that the vegan alternative!?!)

here's some of my favorite fake stuff- fake ice cream, fake beer brats, fake pepperoni, fake procutto... ok they haven't got that one yet but...

"You marinade meat, don't you?"

Not personally as I've never eaten the stuff. But I am informed by most people I've asked that it does at least have it's own flavour before you marinade it...

Do you add flavouring to the meat *before* adding it to a spag bol? Not trying to be particularly argumentative, just a serious question from a curious vegetarian!

As far as I know you do

MeganArgo, you add quorn to things more for the texture than the flavour I think. Quorn burgers for example, are made to taste vaguely like burger, but once you add a slice of cheese, some burger relish, lettuce etc you get more-or-less the full burger experience but with the advantage of no dripping grease.

Mooseburger

I have to say I don't like quorn either, but has anyone here tried Seitan? Like the meat substitutes it is filling and substantive and depending what it's simmered in it can taste like most anything.

As to the use of meat substitutes, having lived most of my life as a meat eater, having something akin to a comfort food isn't all that unresonable is it? Each to their own, I say.