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Do not make this a debate on meat eating. You don't need to prove people "wrong" about their eating habits. |
On April 12 2011 05:39 SeizeTheDay wrote: My question is for the people that feel for the animals... or just don't like meat because u feel its immoral ... or whatever ur belief is. Anyway back to the question. I do not have any vegetarian friends or vegan friends.. i have met a few and I have always wanted to ask this question. If I live in the mountains somewhere.. and i shoot my own deer and use EVERYTHING this deer has givin me .. I mean everything serves a purpose .. I mean what is so wrong about that? I understand there are some hunters out there that kill deer cut the antlers and leave the meat there.. but there are a lot of hunters where I come from Indiana and also West Virgina where we use EVERYTHING the deer brings us... we throw nothing away. What is so wrong about that? Now I can see some of the slaughter houses that treat there animals horrid.. like keeping them in small pens.. and so forth. But in Indiana where i used to live my uncle used to work in a family owned slaughter house.. we would kill the cow in the most humane way we can.. and as I said it was different 10 years ago they where "happier" cows if this is possible had TONS of room fed GREAT grain / food we would take care of the cows 100% it would be our first thing in the morning we did and the last thing before we went to bed. I guess it all comes down to are u against all the people that hunt / kill animals for food.. or just the major big corporations that do it in a "inhumane" way? I can see your point of views.. i am a very open minded person in that scenes .. but can u see my point of view also?
My major problem with eating meat is the source typically is from a factory-farming industry where the animals are treated horribly. I have no qualms with people who hunt for sustenance. I do think it's unethical to hunt for sport, though again, it's not as bad to me as causing suffering. Killing =/= suffering. (Though a point can be made that animals have families, so killing one can cause suffering for the animal's family.)
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On April 12 2011 05:59 Kipsate wrote: I have a question, I was under the impression that eat meat substitutes is actually worse for the environment(as these require a high amount of processing and energy thus to create). Is this true?Or am I being deluded by Anti-Vegans, I am curious about this. I am also wondering how many do not eat meat substitues as a result of this but survive on........other means? While it's true that these substitutes take more energy to make than simple, fresh food (any processed food does), by no means are substitutes like Tofurky worse than meat..
Take into consideration: -Energy put into farming animal feed stocks -Transportation of animal feed -Energy put into industrial meat producing facilities -Transportation of the meat itself
There's essentially an entire other level of processing for meat
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I've tried to cook a few times with tofu, but its a huge hassle to do right. How do you prepare them?
I used to try squishing it between two plates with a heavy object on top. Some of the water would get out, but there still was a lot left in it. It became really messy trying to have any meal with tofu in it, and if the water isn't almost all gone, the meal doesn't turn out right.
I totally suck at cooking tofu and would love tips on making it work out well.
I wish I had recipes to share, but mine are realllly basic. Like making an egg and cheese bagel, or tacos with vegetarian refried beans and vegetables and salsa.
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Here's a hot vegan tip (or tip for anyone who likes food for that matter) - make your own vegetable broth! It may sound like too much work, but it's so so worth it. With a good broth you can turn any vegetable into a delicious soup, and it will taste better than any soup you've ever had. I promise.
I make huge batches of it and store in the freezer. It's great for making quick dinners and lunches. Freeze vegetables you don't use, and when you have enough, make some broth.
Here's the recipe I use, but of these ingredients only the onion and garlic is really necessary, and the measurements are not exact in any way. Use any vegetables at hand, the principles will be the same.
Vegetable broth 6 carrots 3 onions 3 stalks celery salt & pepper some herbs (thyme, basil, parsley, whatever) 1 bay leaf 6 cloves of garlic 1 cup white wine
Crush the garlic cloves with the side of your knife, and roughly chop the vegetables. Add all ingredients except the wine to a large pot. Cover with water (I usually add a little more here). Bring everything to a boil and simmer for an hour. Remove from heat and add the wine. Let it cool for a while. If you have time you can leave it overnight. Then pour everything through a strainer and divide into smaller portions for freezing. Done!
Then, if you want to use this for a soup, you just can't go wrong. Pick a vegetable - cauliflower, asparagus, potatoes, jerusalem artichoke, beets - just about anything works. Chop into smaller bits, fry some onion, add whatever vegetable you picked, simmer until soft (add water if necessary), add some white wine and, if you want, some cream. Simmer for a few more minutes, then puree in a blender. Amazing soup - done. :D
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United States22883 Posts
Are you just trying to do a stir fry?
You need to use firm or extra firm tofu for easiest results. Softer tofus work in stews or very careful technique, but for most stuff people do I'd wager medium is too soft.
Once you take it out, hold it over the sink and press on it with both hands from each side. Obviously not enough to damage it, but if you press evenly from top/bottom, you can get a lot of the water out. Once you've done that, you can cut it any way you want. I usually just cube it. And it usually goes in once most of the other stuff is cooked, but that depends on the dish.
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I'm not biased either way, vegan or omnivore. I've heard that ingesting a lot of carbs is terrible for your pancreas with all that insulin. I've heard people that were depressed because of veganism. On the flip side though, I've read some text describing all of the benefits of veganism. It compared the diet of the eastern world to that of the west. I wouldn't mind giving it a try just to see how I feel. I wouldn't do soy though. I've read how unhealthy that stuff really is, but that's me being un-skeptical.
I'm not trying to look like I know what I'm talking about either. I don't know that much about it, I'm just saying what little I've read. While there are many wrong ways to eat, I don't think that there is a "right" way either.
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On April 12 2011 06:32 EscPlan9 wrote: I've tried to cook a few times with tofu, but its a huge hassle to do right. How do you prepare them?
I used to try squishing it between two plates with a heavy object on top. Some of the water would get out, but there still was a lot left in it. It became really messy trying to have any meal with tofu in it, and if the water isn't almost all gone, the meal doesn't turn out right.
I totally suck at cooking tofu and would love tips on making it work out well.
I wish I had recipes to share, but mine are realllly basic. Like making an egg and cheese bagel, or tacos with vegetarian refried beans and vegetables and salsa.
I've had good results with firm tofu by wrapping it in a paper towl and leaving it in the fridge with some weight on it for a few hours.
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On April 12 2011 05:59 Kipsate wrote: I have a question, I was under the impression that eat meat substitutes is actually worse for the environment(as these require a high amount of processing and energy thus to create). Is this true?Or am I being deluded by Anti-Vegans, I am curious about this. I am also wondering how many do not eat meat substitues as a result of this but survive on........other means?
It does not make logical sense that anything can be worse for the environment than meat. To produce meat, you have to feed crops to animals, which could have directly been eaten by humans, or the land could have been used for other types of crops that can be sold better to humans than fed to animals. The argument that land is sprayed with poison to make vegetables etc. grow better just means that the same happens to the land with crops for animal feed.
Eating wild boars, deer, elks etc. does not count. Those animals run around through the wilderness anyways and have nothing to do with crops.
On April 12 2011 06:02 solidbebe wrote: I see alot of discussion about how many carbs you need a day, now I've got a question: What are carbs and what food contains them?
"Carb" is short for "carbohydrate". It can come in different forms and one of them is sugar, which you can taste as sweetness while eating. There are other forms of carbs that you cannot taste as sweetness while eating (I think that form is used by plants to save space for storage). Carbs are in vegetables and most is in grains (bread, noodles) and beans. If you eat too much carbs, more than your body uses throughout the day, your body can convert it to fat and store it in your tummy. That is what is bad nowadays, I think, because you do not have occasional days of hunger like in medieval times anymore.
For how much you need per day, you can actually just listen to what your body tells you how hungry you are, and at the same time make sure to cook as much vegetable side dishes with as little fat as possible (reduce oil but stop before stuff starts to taste boring to you). Just make sure to do some introspection on how hungry you really are while taking your time to criticize the taste of your meal.
How proteins play a role in how much carbs your body uses, I have no idea. I know that cells can also burn proteins, not only carbs (and I know that after two or three days of hunger, cells can start to directly burn fat, but I'm not interested in that because that is probably unhealthy and definitely torture). I would be interested in a short explanation how protein intake modifies how much calories from carbs the body uses per day.
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On April 12 2011 05:51 DisneylandSC wrote:For all those that keep saying that you will have less energy on a vegetarian diet, http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maarten_TjallingiiHes a professional cyclist (a physically very tough sport) and he got 3th place in Paris - Roubaix last week, which is one of the hardest and most brutal one-day courses in professional cycling. It is also nicknamed 'The Hell of the North'. See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris–Roubaix
Miguel Indurain had asma and won 5 Tours de France so asma is not bad for the respiratory system! The fact that there's some extraordinary people out there doesn't prove any point.
On other point, I'm glad of having found this thread. I thought people went vegan because they didn't wanted death for the animals, and I was like, oh yeah, fuck plants! But I've realized what vegans don't like is the shit farmers put into animals food and the way they are treated (althought plants are not treated any better).
Also, I will probably steal one recipe or two, I'm too low on vegetables lately and I'm still to find something I enjoy eating.
P.D. How many years to get superpowers?
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If i'm extremely hungry and very lazy i get a heap of broccoli, garlic, salt, pepper and olive oil, i wrap that in foil and chuck it in the oven. Very easy and tastes great. Man i love broccoli.
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On April 12 2011 06:40 Dalguno wrote: I'm not biased either way, vegan or omnivore. I've heard that ingesting a lot of carbs is terrible for your pancreas with all that insulin. I've heard people that were depressed because of veganism. On the flip side though, I've read some text describing all of the benefits of veganism. It compared the diet of the eastern world to that of the west. I wouldn't mind giving it a try just to see how I feel. I wouldn't do soy though. I've read how unhealthy that stuff really is, but that's me being un-skeptical.
You could start by trying to serve a wider variety of side dishes to your meat based meal. This could naturally reduce how much meat you eat. At least this is what happened to me. Nowadays I do not eat meat most days of the week and I feel my meals actually got less boring than they were in the past.
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I could NEVER stop eating cheese and seafood
but I call myself vegetarian
Also on some occasion I do eat meat (like at friends house or when I just have no choice)
Also I know a LOT of my friend wanted to try some veggie food but they just cannot cook tofu or vegetables the proper way :-(
Zealotdriver: I do agree THESE ARE AWESOME :DDD
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Raw Vegan here (or mostly at least, all vegan anyway) and this is such a good thread so far! So little mud slinging lol :p
Was Vegetarian for a while and became a vegan about 2 years ago - is actually super easy to do, never noticed any reduction in energy levels or weightloss or anything. Didn't get much healthier though because my diet sucked, was just full of vegan junk food.
Little while after that I read that you can get rid of allergies and health problems by just cutting out junky foods from your diet and eating more raw fruits and vegetables, and I've got to say, it works really well so far
What I did was just replace grains and starchy carbs with bananas (so like 50% a days calories come from Bananas), which are pretty much just a really easy to digest starch themselves, and then make the rest up with fruit, vegetables, nuts and seeds. Celery and cucumbers are actually the greatest things ever - get rid of headaches and congestion/infections really nicely
Can't really tell you how good its been not having serious allergies anymore - can be around cats, dogs, dust and pollen now without allergies flaring up at all, so I think they're basically cured
You hear crazy stories of people reversing serious health concerns with high fruit and vegetable vegan diets a lot, but I don't really know much about that from personal experience, and certainly don't want to bring a subject I know so little about into an open discussion on the internet..
Must say I'm a little surprised by people who are having problems with energy on vegan diets...Were you eating enough calories? Meat and cheese are fairly dense calorie sources, and one of the biggest problems I've seen in people when they are transitioning over is that they just make the same meals they made with meat but put in only carrots and potatoes, which are much less dense calorie sources than meat (you have to eat a kilo of potatoes for every 300g of beef you eat). So people think they're eating the same amount as they were previously, but are in fact eating half the calories and become tired because they aren't used to counting calories
Recipes are hard lol, I just eat apples and bananas and things whole. And salads obviously:
lettuce, tomatoes, sunflower seeds, green onions, avocado and lemon juice mix
Not very interesting lol
One thing I did really like recently was almond smoothies, which you owe to yourself to try.
- You basically take half cup of almonds - blend with cup of water - add 3 bananas, blend - optionally add some strawberries or kiwi or whatever fruit in the amount you want. I prefer about 5-10 strawberries. - then drink it. My favourite food right now I think
Pretty cheap, very fast, and like 6-800 calories depending on how well I know the cup-->grams conversion -.- High protein and iron as well I guess, although I don't really worry about protein that much - Enough calories --> probably enough protein. But that's an old discussion, and everyone has their own opinions on it, which is cool
In the end everyones going to have their own opinions on diet, and it's such a contentious topic amongst people on both sides of the argument, that these days I try and stay pretty neutral. But I do have to say, the health benefits I personally have experienced from this diet have been very surprising and eye opening, especially when I think how badly depressed I used to become and how severe my allergies were.
P.S I've never liked animals that much. My whole family are crazy about animals (dogs, cats, horses etc) and they all eat meat, so I thought that was a funny little point to end on :p
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On April 12 2011 03:52 frogurt wrote:
My definitions: Vegetarian: Not eating any products that require the animal to be killed Pescetarian: Same as vegetarian but disregarding fish/crustacea Vegan: Not eating/wearing/using any animal products
My reasons are: 1. Healthier 2. More eco-friendly 3. Usually cheaper 4. Ethical reasons
I haven't read through the whole thread, but in case no-one has pointed this out yet - with regards to your definition of a vegetarian... In that case a vegetarian would not eat dairy products, as where do you think the majority of hens and cows get sent to once they stop producing eggs and milk at an economical level?
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On April 12 2011 04:29 frogurt wrote: I'm happy to see any rejection of meat.
But pescetarian that claim to be vegetarians can be irritating, it's like when someone says "i'm in silver league, but i'm good enough to be gold." Just don't claim to be something you're not.
I kind of feel the same way about vegetarians that claim they are doing it for the animals. A lot of vegetarians, as a result of giving up meat, resort to dairy to substitute their dietary needs and increase their intake of milk and cheese and eggs, resulting in far more suffering to the suffering of animals than if they were eating meat and less milk and eggs. The milk and egg industries cause more suffering to animals and a simple Google search will verify this.
So a vegetarian may claim they're doing it for health reasons. But it's hypocritical for them to claim that they are doing it for the benefit of the animals.
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On April 12 2011 07:47 Ambulation wrote:Show nested quote +On April 12 2011 04:29 frogurt wrote: I'm happy to see any rejection of meat.
But pescetarian that claim to be vegetarians can be irritating, it's like when someone says "i'm in silver league, but i'm good enough to be gold." Just don't claim to be something you're not. I kind of feel the same way about vegetarians that claim they are doing it for the animals. A lot of vegetarians, as a result of giving up meat, resort to dairy to substitute their dietary needs and increase their intake of milk and cheese and eggs, resulting in far more suffering to the suffering of animals than if they were eating meat and less milk and eggs. The milk and egg industries cause more suffering to animals and a simple Google search will verify this. So a vegetarian may claim they're doing it for health reasons. But it's hypocritical for them to claim that they are doing it for the benefit of the animals.
I kind of see your point but it think you're being too critical. Not eating meat is always better than nothing, even if you do re-direct your business to dairy.
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+ Show Spoiler +On April 12 2011 07:23 Piy wrote:Raw Vegan here (or mostly at least, all vegan anyway) and this is such a good thread so far! So little mud slinging lol :p Was Vegetarian for a while and became a vegan about 2 years ago - is actually super easy to do, never noticed any reduction in energy levels or weightloss or anything. Didn't get much healthier though because my diet sucked, was just full of vegan junk food. Little while after that I read that you can get rid of allergies and health problems by just cutting out junky foods from your diet and eating more raw fruits and vegetables, and I've got to say, it works really well so far What I did was just replace grains and starchy carbs with bananas (so like 50% a days calories come from Bananas), which are pretty much just a really easy to digest starch themselves, and then make the rest up with fruit, vegetables, nuts and seeds. Celery and cucumbers are actually the greatest things ever - get rid of headaches and congestion/infections really nicely Can't really tell you how good its been not having serious allergies anymore - can be around cats, dogs, dust and pollen now without allergies flaring up at all, so I think they're basically cured You hear crazy stories of people reversing serious health concerns with high fruit and vegetable vegan diets a lot, but I don't really know much about that from personal experience, and certainly don't want to bring a subject I know so little about into an open discussion on the internet.. Must say I'm a little surprised by people who are having problems with energy on vegan diets...Were you eating enough calories? Meat and cheese are fairly dense calorie sources, and one of the biggest problems I've seen in people when they are transitioning over is that they just make the same meals they made with meat but put in only carrots and potatoes, which are much less dense calorie sources than meat (you have to eat a kilo of potatoes for every 300g of beef you eat). So people think they're eating the same amount as they were previously, but are in fact eating half the calories and become tired because they aren't used to counting calories Recipes are hard lol, I just eat apples and bananas and things whole. And salads obviously: lettuce, tomatoes, sunflower seeds, green onions, avocado and lemon juice mix Not very interesting lol One thing I did really like recently was almond smoothies, which you owe to yourself to try. - You basically take half cup of almonds - blend with cup of water - add 3 bananas, blend - optionally add some strawberries or kiwi or whatever fruit in the amount you want. I prefer about 5-10 strawberries. - then drink it. My favourite food right now I think Pretty cheap, very fast, and like 6-800 calories depending on how well I know the cup-->grams conversion -.- High protein and iron as well I guess, although I don't really worry about protein that much - Enough calories --> probably enough protein. But that's an old discussion, and everyone has their own opinions on it, which is cool In the end everyones going to have their own opinions on diet, and it's such a contentious topic amongst people on both sides of the argument, that these days I try and stay pretty neutral. But I do have to say, the health benefits I personally have experienced from this diet have been very surprising and eye opening, especially when I think how badly depressed I used to become and how severe my allergies were. P.S I've never liked animals that much. My whole family are crazy about animals (dogs, cats, horses etc) and they all eat meat, so I thought that was a funny little point to end on :p
Wow. I'm a nooby compared to raw vegan. I would get very hungry and very tired of nuts.
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whats th difference between Raw Vegan and vegan? (you get more superpower ? )
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On April 12 2011 03:18 dusters wrote: Mmmmmm meat. Nothing like a good steak.
User was warned for this post I share this sentiment.
Asshole part of my post aside - I definitely want to keep track of this thread, because vegetarian meals are often much more creative and can be a great source of inspiration.
That curry recipe in the OP sounds pretty damn good (it uses a couple of ingredients that would definitely work great in curry that I haven't thought of using).
I have a slight suggestion (personal taste here): add a banana, sliced, to it. I know, it sounds weird, but it adds this sweetness to the curry, and it just brings out more flavour somehow. It's a trick I picked up a few years ago. Alternatively, other fruits could be used as well (such as an apple, a pear, etc), but I like using a banana. I've found it works really, really well in green curries.
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