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

I think the intro's quite obviously fine without plunging into the definition of 'vegetarian'. It's a fairly objective state.

Those who, for convenience, masquerade behind a veil of vegetarianism, or pescatarians for that matter, don't require an explanation of their dietary peccadillo.

If there is a concession to be made consider changing the opening line to:

“Christmas, for most meat-eaters, is a day that traditionally involves consumption of huge amounts of dead animal, so what do you do if one of your Christmas Guests is a puckahi.e., not a plastic veggie, or even a pescatarian vegetarian?

***

In most cultures it acceptable... -> In most cultures it is acceptable...

...a different species to you . -> ...a different species to you.

...is the same species as you 1 you -> ...is the same species as you1, you

...they are vegetarian are ok with eating white -> ...they are vegetarian are OK with eating white

and so on.

***
e.g., I don't like this Subheader:

Step 2: Make sure your vegetarian dishes don't have meat in

Consider changing it to something like...

Step 2: Make sure your vegetarian dishes are in fact meat-free

Unless you are going for some sort of Irvine Welsh vernacular (Happy St Andrews Day by the way).

I'm going to disagree with Tav - we don't need a list of menus in this entry - link to some existing menus for sure, but I don't think this needs it.

agreed

But, basically, what do you do with a vegetarian?

my mum is now used to creating dairy free christmas dinner.

We only have free range organic turkey at Christmas but there is usually home made nut roast and some ham too.

And i still don't want Prawn cocktail, they taste funny.

I think this is good though, looking forward to seeing it on the FP

mini

I've made a couple of changes - what do you think?

As a vegetarian I always take something that can be microwaved that way I get something I want without putting my host to any bother - they don't have to worry about getting it right and I| don't have to worry about having to accidently eat carrion

Great entry. I like the veg-eye view of the meal: it points up the fact that there is already plenty of veg on offer.

I went vegan four years ago, having read T Colin Campbell's 'The China Study', and I can report that *everything* tastes much more appetising when you're vegan (may not be true of vegetarians, whose digestion is dealing with cheese). No special food required; what makes me drool most is avocado with olive oil and soy sauce, and and potatoes in any form.

One of the questions Campbell brought up, and found no clear answer for, is 'why do we suppose protein is necessary?'

But why go to lengths to lampoon and deride partial vegetarians? As the man said, if all of us were vegetarian half the time, it would be as good (for the planet's resources) as half of us being vegetarian all the time.

The first sentence in Step 1-

>Vegetarians in don't eat meat or fish.

I'd delete the "in".

Otherwise... I love it!!

Good entry, Z.

I'm married to a "vegetarian" who will eat fish, although she doesn't like it much, so I have some experience of this. Most of the meals cooked in our house are vegetarian.

I think you've covered all the main topics I'd expect to see.

Here he is, Graham Hill, on 'weekday veg' http://blog.ted.com/2010/05/18/why_im_a_weekda/

Are we all happy with this? Any further suggestions?

As this is a Festive Share Entry, it can be fast-tracked onto the next stage, unless there are any outstanding problems.

Perhaps you might just mention vegans also; there will be more of us as time goes by.

Vegans eat plants: no meat, fish, dairy or eggs.

fungi?

Yummy

not a mushroom fan myself

I'm not going to criticize anyone who reduces the amount of meat and dairy they eat even if it is only at weekends no matter what the call themselves.
I can also understand why people who are ethical piscitorians (I used to very rarely eat fish) tell people they are vegetarian as fish is an ethical minefield to the point where one tin of tuna is reasonably OK while another is an ecological disaster and the only way of telling them apart is being able to read the code printed on the bottom of the tin.

But fish cannot be considered ethical even if in a good area if well reared meat animals are not

Free range chickens? All british pigs? (you should only avoid Danish pigs, worse pork supplier to Britain apparently)
To really push it out how about Kobi beef?

Reduction of meat in order to reduce strain on the world or religious beliefs seem to be justifiable, to go ethical is good but should be even handed

That depends whether your talking about animal welfare or sustainabilty

Those many of those British pigs are fed on soya, casava, maize, palm oil etc from tropical areas which is not sustainable in terms of land use, climate or the communities who live in the areas those feed crops are intensly produced. Many pigs anfd chickens are fed on fish meal (that is the big problem with Danish bacon) which comes from vacuuming up the base of the marine food chain.

There are fisheries that are sustainably managed with no significant bycatch or damage to the marine environment.

Of course if animal welfare is ones main concern then one should consider the impact of unsustainable meat and dairy production on wild animals - something most fluffy bunnies ignore - the production of animal feed for western markets is a major cause of deforestation and environmental degradation in the tropics and of some very destructive fisheries - so happy pigs and chickens might equate to dead Orangutans and dolphins.

Indeed

Though that wouldnt eliminate, say self raised hens