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

It's a mistake to try find a substitute for meat. People that want to eat meat will notice its absence. Meat is a good source of protein, tastes good, and satisfies the appetite. When you try to substitute something like tofu in its place, what you notice is how it's almost, but not quite, entirely unlike meat.

Instead, develop dishes that don't require meat to taste good. I recommend experimentation. Decide what you like to eat, and figure out some recipes that uses those ingredients.

For example, mushroom Stroganoff is a good meat-free dish. Keep the simple base of a cream sauce and egg noodles, but instead of beef, sauté mushrooms (portobello, preferably) in wine and add it to the sauce.

Don't forget that vegetables can be grilled. With a little olive oil and pepper, you can grill zucchini, eggplant, bell peppers, mushrooms - any hearty vegetable with a bit of bite to it. The grilling adds a smokey flavor to the vegetables that tastes great in salads, or on top of a rice/noodle dish.

I mostly eat veggies and rarely eat veggie meat (well, veggie bacon doesn't count ) and I feel that my diet is far more varied than the carnivores. You can do so much more with veggies, in my opinion!

I agree - although I have lapsed back into meat eating I have not lapsed back into meat & 2 veg at every meal. Or indeed at any meal! Indian, Thai, Mexican, Italian ect ect ect - too much good stuff to eat "British" all the time (with the honourable exception of a proper roast dinner).
And as for "convenience" food, just don't get me started...

It's hard to eat right when all you have is convenience food. It's easy to be a vegetarian (at least an ovo-lacto vegetarian) but there are no fresh vegetables in vending machines. If you're lucky, they'll have an apple in the refrigerated rotating thingie that some vending areas have. But when you've got a choice between an apple and a cinnamon bun, cost-wise and taste-wise it makes more sense to get the bun. It'll last longer in your tummy, and they overcharge for the apples anyway.

I try to keep a ziplock bag of vegetables in the fridge at work. Stuff like baby carrots, cauliflower, broccoli florets, etc - with a bit of ranch dressing to dip them into, it's not so hard to keep to a healthy diet. Most of the time I eat canned beans and sandwiches, with an occasional detour into homemade soups.

Of course, the reason people use tofu and beans in place of meat is because it's a good source of protein. I've seen everything from tofu tacos to black-bean-patty burgers. What makes these things edible, even tasty, is lots and lots of cheese. The reason people do that is because tofu and beans aren't greasy. Cheese satisfies that craving for fat.

I've experimented with different ways of eating vegetarian at fast food restaurants. If you want a burger, ask for it without the patty, but with lots of tomatoes, extra cheese, onions, maybe even a couple of jalapeño slices. Taco Bell's bean burrito is great if you ask for vegetables to be added - with black olives, lettuce, tomato, onion, and jalapeños, a bean burrito is a filling delicious meal.

Mmmmm... Taco Bell! Probably the only US fast-food chain never to have 'broken' the UK. And going on the description of those burritos, I don't think I'd ever be out of them if they DID open up here!

Paully

Believe it or not, it's actually possible to get tired of Taco Bell. I did - I had one within walking distance of my home for about five years, and for two of those years, I ate Taco Bell every day. Then I stayed away for three years. Now I can go there again, but they've changed many of the items that I liked back then.

When I was quite a bit younger, when visiting friends in the south of England, my Mum and I used to have fun going in to Wimpy restaurents and asking for chips and a bun without the burger. This always caused chaos as there was no option for this on the till so Mum usually ended up having an argument with the manager! Very silly, but it made a point.

Another agreement here. Vegetarians seeking to make converts would do better to forget about replicating meat-like-substances from veggies, and just show off the best veggie recipes they can find. Give the carvinores vegetarian dishes that are so good, they won't notice that the meat is missing.

Exactly... There's a restaurant in Austin called Momma's that's 100% vegetarian (ovo-lacto) Some friends of mine took their buddy out to eat, and he never noticed that all the food was vegetarian. It's a great restaurant - but being in Austin, there's a much higher demand for vegetarian cooking.