Today I bought my first copy of Cook Vegetarian, and read an interview with the Hairy Bikers on their love of vegetarian food, when I came across a comment by Si (the Geordie one) about how vegetarian options in British restaurants are more of 'vegetarian excuses'.
I couldn't agree more.
I'm not a big fan of cheese, and avoid mushrooms where possible, so I'm constantly disappointed when dining out by the vegetarian options available, which seem to be either cheese or mushroom, or sometimes both. Or even worse, the 'vegetarian options' are not even vegetarian, it was only last year that I was in a pub and all their fish dishes were labelled as vegetarian and last weekend the vegetarian options at a Cafe included pasta with pesto (made with anchovies) and parmesan cheese (made with calf rennet). I ended up with a mozzarella sandwich, the other option was a cheese and egg sandwich.
It seems that the restaurant industry in the UK either doesn't care for it's vegetarian clientèle, and these offerings are mere 'token' gestures, or it assumes that all vegetarians like the same things. This just isn't true, vegetarians, like meat eaters have different tastes, so why should we put up with poor options?
The lack of knowledge of some restaurants scares me- not knowing what is vegetarian and what isn't? OK I can understand if most people do not know what pesto and parmesan contain, but these people work in the food industry, it's their responsibility to know.
Back to the article, which goes onto to say that the Bikers have found that the best vegetarian food is in Italy and India- a fact that I've found myself. When you go to Indian and Italian restaurants you can always find a great selection of vegetarian options. But why is this? What is it that Britain is getting wrong?
I think it has something to do with their attitude to vegetables and their ability to make it the star of the dish rather than the side kick. If you look at traditional British cuisine it centres around meat and two veg- even then the vegetables are boiled within an inch of their life and look unappetising. This is the main obstacle I had when I first experienced vegetarianism through knowing people who are vegetarians- I could get my head round what they ate for tea if they just had the two veg!
The inability for Britons to get over the meat and two veg concept is what makes many vegetarian dishes in restaurants so dull- you end up with 'cheese pie' or more often these days 'cheese tart' because the chief trying desperately to think of what will accompany the potatoes and peas instead of the meat. Whereas other cultures do this so much better, India has wonderful chickpea curries, Italy has refreshing pasta dishes, and many other cultures are just able to make vegetarian cuisine far more exciting.
Don't get me wrong, some places do make more of an effort and offer more choice to their vegetarian clients, but this should be the norm, not an exception to the rule.
Tuesday, 17 April 2012
Sunday, 15 April 2012
Vegetarianism and me.
Well I've finally gone and done it.
I've finally stopped dipping my toe into the proverbial vegetarian pool, took a big breath and dived in, I have now decided to officially label myself a vegetarian.
The truth is, that I've drastically cut down on meat since last December, and I haven't really missed it, and on the occasions I've eaten meat I've not enjoyed it and felt bad about doing so.
It all started around Easter last year when I gave up meat for lent, during this time I really craved meat and ended up having a meat binge at the end of the lent period. I now put this down to the lack of cooking knowledge and poor options at restaurants.
Afterwards I went back to a more normal level of meat consumption which for me is quite low anyway and consisted of mainly chicken and the occasional smoked salmon bagel at weekends. But around Christmas I watched the last thirty minutes of a programme whose name escapes me now, but basically the 'presenter' (I presume some TV chief or food critic who I'd never seen before) attempts to grow his own food for Christmas and compare it to what you get at the supermarket. As part of this he decided to rear his own turkey. At the end of the year, after all his work he hosts a Christmas meal offering both his home made produce and those from the supermarket.
When it comes to evaluating the turkey, they show his free range turkey, which was a tiny thing which they worked out to be worth around £60 (OK, that's a guess, but it was something ridiculous like that) and an offering from Bernard Matthews, which was twice the size of the free range turkey and would cost around £30. They then showed a flashback from earlier on in the episode from the presenter's visit to the Bernard Matthews farm, and shows how the turkeys were kept in what looked like large sheds, pretty much like battery hens but with more room- but it was still not good. The representative from Bernard Matthews then explains that if the turkeys weren't kept in these conditions, then the average family wouldn't be able to have turkey at Christmas.
This made me think about vegetarianism again; did I feel right about animals being kept in these conditions just so I could afford it's meat? I would class myself as an animal lover, and I can never understand how people can do such cruel things to cats or dogs, but it can be so easy to turn a blind eye to how animals are treated in the meat industry. I changed my bank last year from a popular high street bank to the Cooperative as I didn't like the thought that I didn't know what my money was being invested in, whereas with the Coop I have that reassurance that they only invest in companies who meet their ethical policies. I feel the same about meat- I can't guarantee that the chicken in my meal has been treated in an ethical way, unless I have the money to spend on free range products. And even then, that only guarantees their treatment on the farm, not how they were treated at the slaughterhouse.
In addition, I've never been a fan of meat on the bone, or any kind of meat that looks like the animal it came from. By avoiding these cuts, it meant I could shy away from what I was actually eating. But if I ever catch a clip on TV of someone hacking up a dead pig, I find it hard to watch. The more I see of images like this, the more I find it hard to disassociate the meat on my plate from the animal. And that I find hard to stomach.
Another factor in my decision is the environmental impact of the commercial meat industry. Since being at school and learning about the impact of greenhouse gases on the environment I've always been concerned about the environment. Not only do cows account for 1/3 of the methane produced by human activity but farming animals wastes resources such as land and water. In a world with an increasing population- is this sustainable?
I'm not going to to go around shouting 'meat is murder' because I don't believe it is- we are part of the food chain and we have evolved to have canine teeth because it was advantageous to our ancestors to be able to eat meat. However our increasing desire for meat has driven commercial farming methods which neglect the welfare and health of animal and ignore the environmental impact on our planet.
I've finally stopped dipping my toe into the proverbial vegetarian pool, took a big breath and dived in, I have now decided to officially label myself a vegetarian.
The truth is, that I've drastically cut down on meat since last December, and I haven't really missed it, and on the occasions I've eaten meat I've not enjoyed it and felt bad about doing so.
It all started around Easter last year when I gave up meat for lent, during this time I really craved meat and ended up having a meat binge at the end of the lent period. I now put this down to the lack of cooking knowledge and poor options at restaurants.
Afterwards I went back to a more normal level of meat consumption which for me is quite low anyway and consisted of mainly chicken and the occasional smoked salmon bagel at weekends. But around Christmas I watched the last thirty minutes of a programme whose name escapes me now, but basically the 'presenter' (I presume some TV chief or food critic who I'd never seen before) attempts to grow his own food for Christmas and compare it to what you get at the supermarket. As part of this he decided to rear his own turkey. At the end of the year, after all his work he hosts a Christmas meal offering both his home made produce and those from the supermarket.
When it comes to evaluating the turkey, they show his free range turkey, which was a tiny thing which they worked out to be worth around £60 (OK, that's a guess, but it was something ridiculous like that) and an offering from Bernard Matthews, which was twice the size of the free range turkey and would cost around £30. They then showed a flashback from earlier on in the episode from the presenter's visit to the Bernard Matthews farm, and shows how the turkeys were kept in what looked like large sheds, pretty much like battery hens but with more room- but it was still not good. The representative from Bernard Matthews then explains that if the turkeys weren't kept in these conditions, then the average family wouldn't be able to have turkey at Christmas.
This made me think about vegetarianism again; did I feel right about animals being kept in these conditions just so I could afford it's meat? I would class myself as an animal lover, and I can never understand how people can do such cruel things to cats or dogs, but it can be so easy to turn a blind eye to how animals are treated in the meat industry. I changed my bank last year from a popular high street bank to the Cooperative as I didn't like the thought that I didn't know what my money was being invested in, whereas with the Coop I have that reassurance that they only invest in companies who meet their ethical policies. I feel the same about meat- I can't guarantee that the chicken in my meal has been treated in an ethical way, unless I have the money to spend on free range products. And even then, that only guarantees their treatment on the farm, not how they were treated at the slaughterhouse.
In addition, I've never been a fan of meat on the bone, or any kind of meat that looks like the animal it came from. By avoiding these cuts, it meant I could shy away from what I was actually eating. But if I ever catch a clip on TV of someone hacking up a dead pig, I find it hard to watch. The more I see of images like this, the more I find it hard to disassociate the meat on my plate from the animal. And that I find hard to stomach.
Another factor in my decision is the environmental impact of the commercial meat industry. Since being at school and learning about the impact of greenhouse gases on the environment I've always been concerned about the environment. Not only do cows account for 1/3 of the methane produced by human activity but farming animals wastes resources such as land and water. In a world with an increasing population- is this sustainable?
I'm not going to to go around shouting 'meat is murder' because I don't believe it is- we are part of the food chain and we have evolved to have canine teeth because it was advantageous to our ancestors to be able to eat meat. However our increasing desire for meat has driven commercial farming methods which neglect the welfare and health of animal and ignore the environmental impact on our planet.
Tuesday, 10 April 2012
Nexus Art Cafe
I decided to make an impromptu visit to one of my favourite cafes today located in the Northern Quarter in Manchester.
When I first saw the Nexus, I didn't realise what it was. Out one night I walked past a peculiar building that had a set of stairs behind a glass window. On the stairs were various items, one being a kettle, the identity of the other items escapes me- I was transfixed on the kettle!
It was only when a friend invited me to her jewellery making workshop a few years back that I realised that strange building was the home of Nexus Art Cafe, and the set of stairs behind the glass window is used to exhibit various pieces of art. At the entrance to Nexus, you walk down a separate set of stairs into a basement and it is there you enter the Cafe.
Nexus is a not-for-profit creative community space and an exhibition centre for budding artists of many forms. Whenever I go in, there is always something new to look at, and even the design of the menu painted on the wall is constantly changing. It is the only place I will go if I am eating out alone, or fancy a drink, as I don't feel like a complete weirdo, and you can often find lots of other lone diners just relaxing in the little haven.
Today I found myself in the middle of town, stomach rumbling and decided to drop in for a bite to eat before embarking on the cycle journey home. I had my heart set on a F.O.S.H sandwich (Falafel, Olives, Spinach and Hummus), but then I spotted their new 'lite bites' menu, which consists of various mini dishes accompanied by rye bread and a salad, it was £2 for one dish but then £1.50 extra for each extra dishes. I settled on the spicy falafel and sweet onion hummus.
It arrived on a wooden slab; their was two rammikins- one containing falafel and the other sweet onion hummus. The falafel was disappointingly unspicy but were nice all the same. The sweet onion in the hummus was delicious, especially when spread on the brown rye bread (which there was plenty of). It was definitely chickpea heaven!
If you are in Manchester, and you fancy a bite to eat, a drink or just a sit down to read that book you've just purchased I would definitely recommend Nexus. The only downside is that it is a bit on the pricey side, but as it is a not-for-profit and the money goes towards it's charity work, I don't mind paying a little extra.
When I first saw the Nexus, I didn't realise what it was. Out one night I walked past a peculiar building that had a set of stairs behind a glass window. On the stairs were various items, one being a kettle, the identity of the other items escapes me- I was transfixed on the kettle!
It was only when a friend invited me to her jewellery making workshop a few years back that I realised that strange building was the home of Nexus Art Cafe, and the set of stairs behind the glass window is used to exhibit various pieces of art. At the entrance to Nexus, you walk down a separate set of stairs into a basement and it is there you enter the Cafe.
Nexus is a not-for-profit creative community space and an exhibition centre for budding artists of many forms. Whenever I go in, there is always something new to look at, and even the design of the menu painted on the wall is constantly changing. It is the only place I will go if I am eating out alone, or fancy a drink, as I don't feel like a complete weirdo, and you can often find lots of other lone diners just relaxing in the little haven.
Today I found myself in the middle of town, stomach rumbling and decided to drop in for a bite to eat before embarking on the cycle journey home. I had my heart set on a F.O.S.H sandwich (Falafel, Olives, Spinach and Hummus), but then I spotted their new 'lite bites' menu, which consists of various mini dishes accompanied by rye bread and a salad, it was £2 for one dish but then £1.50 extra for each extra dishes. I settled on the spicy falafel and sweet onion hummus.
It arrived on a wooden slab; their was two rammikins- one containing falafel and the other sweet onion hummus. The falafel was disappointingly unspicy but were nice all the same. The sweet onion in the hummus was delicious, especially when spread on the brown rye bread (which there was plenty of). It was definitely chickpea heaven!
If you are in Manchester, and you fancy a bite to eat, a drink or just a sit down to read that book you've just purchased I would definitely recommend Nexus. The only downside is that it is a bit on the pricey side, but as it is a not-for-profit and the money goes towards it's charity work, I don't mind paying a little extra.
Sunday, 8 April 2012
Chester Food and Drink Festival
This weekend was the Chester Food and Drink Festival, which actually finishes on Easter Monday (tomorrow). Me and The Boy's family managed to get tickets for the first day of the festival on Saturday.
As well as food and drink stalls and local independent suppliers selling various food and drink goods, there was also cooking demonstrations by celebrity chefs including Simon Rimmer, owner of Greens Restaurant and presenter of Sunday Brunch. We managed to catch his morning cooking demonstration, which was amazing; not only is he an amazing chef he is also a brilliant entertainer.
The festival itself was HUGE, with produce from some brilliant independent suppliers, including a company called The Gift of Oil, which sells infused olive oils and vinegars. I regret not buying their Lime infused olive oil or one of their matured balsamic vinegars (there is always the internet!) however The Boy's Mother did buy the pomegranate and fig infused balsamic vinegar which also tasted amazing- apparently it's very nice with ice cream!
The Cheshire Cheese Company was also there, a company I've seen before at Manchester Food Festival and Manchester Markets. They do a delicious sticky toffee flavour cheese- sounds weird but is surprisingly nice!
The only disappointing part of the festival I thought was the limited selection of vegetarian food, however I HAD been spoiled the weekend before by the Chorlton Green Festival where ALL the food was vegetarian or vegan. Plus, I had a craving for a falafel and tzatziki wrap, and I think I may have been slightly bitter that no one was selling it- maybe there is a gap in the market there??
All in all a good day, but don't expect to have a lot of choice of food options if you're a veggie. If you like pork, as Sarah Millican would say "You'll be champion"!
As well as food and drink stalls and local independent suppliers selling various food and drink goods, there was also cooking demonstrations by celebrity chefs including Simon Rimmer, owner of Greens Restaurant and presenter of Sunday Brunch. We managed to catch his morning cooking demonstration, which was amazing; not only is he an amazing chef he is also a brilliant entertainer.
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| Simon Rimmer |
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| Simon Rimmer |
The Cheshire Cheese Company was also there, a company I've seen before at Manchester Food Festival and Manchester Markets. They do a delicious sticky toffee flavour cheese- sounds weird but is surprisingly nice!
The only disappointing part of the festival I thought was the limited selection of vegetarian food, however I HAD been spoiled the weekend before by the Chorlton Green Festival where ALL the food was vegetarian or vegan. Plus, I had a craving for a falafel and tzatziki wrap, and I think I may have been slightly bitter that no one was selling it- maybe there is a gap in the market there??
All in all a good day, but don't expect to have a lot of choice of food options if you're a veggie. If you like pork, as Sarah Millican would say "You'll be champion"!
Wednesday, 4 April 2012
Spring Vegetable Pasta
A good friend who I haven't seen in a while who lives in Birmingham is back up North for a few weeks, so we took the opportunity to catch up.
Both being a bit cash conscious at the moment I decided it would be nice to cook instead of spending a fortune on tea out and after spotting that it was asparagus season, I wanted to see what the fuss was about having never tried asparagus before.
I stumbled upon this recipe for Spring vegetable tagliatelle on the BBC Good Food site and decided to give it a go. You can also find the recipe, and other recipes I have collected from around the web on my scoop-it page. As I didn't have tagliatelle I used fusilli instead with asparagus and green beans.
As for my thoughts on asparagus, it was actually quite nice!
On a random point: an old A level Biology teacher once told me that asparagus contains a chemical that gives your urine a distinct smell. Only certain people have a specific gene that enables them to smell 'asparagus wee'.
Both being a bit cash conscious at the moment I decided it would be nice to cook instead of spending a fortune on tea out and after spotting that it was asparagus season, I wanted to see what the fuss was about having never tried asparagus before.
I stumbled upon this recipe for Spring vegetable tagliatelle on the BBC Good Food site and decided to give it a go. You can also find the recipe, and other recipes I have collected from around the web on my scoop-it page. As I didn't have tagliatelle I used fusilli instead with asparagus and green beans.
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| Image by KL |
On a random point: an old A level Biology teacher once told me that asparagus contains a chemical that gives your urine a distinct smell. Only certain people have a specific gene that enables them to smell 'asparagus wee'.
A cooking misadventure?
Yesterday I visited my local ASDA, and came across some reduced price cherry tomatoes and an avocado, although I knew that I could probably get these cheaper elsewhere, I just couldn't bring myself to walk past them so ended up buying them on a whim.
Only problem is, what to do with them? Its only the second time I've tried avocado (apart from in shop bought guacamole) and my trusty vegetarian student cook book didn't help (avocados are a bit too 'sophisticated' for the average student!). Then I remembered a book bought for me as a birthday present- Nigel Slater's Real Fast Food. I love Nigel Slater's programmes and find it refreshing just how simple his recipes are- I get really annoyed by chiefs who seem to use a thousand and one different items in their recipes- it's the reason why my kitchen is full of herbs and spices that were destined to only be used once. However I don't use the book that often as it has no pictures in it, and I like to see pictures of meals; it helps me decided if I want to cook it or not! The one thing that the book is useful for is that it lists recipes by the main ingredient which is what you need if you go out buying avocados on whims, so I though I would look to see if there was anything that took my fancy.
I stumbled upon a recipe for avocado with warm bacon vinaigrette, and decide to give it a go, it also required tomatoes so I could also use the cherry tomatoes I bought as well.
I decided to make some small adjustments to the recipe, it called for white wine vinegar but I already some balsamic in so decided to use that instead and I used Quorn bacon in replacement of the recommended streaky bacon.
Thoughts.
It was OK, didn't make me sick so that is always a plus, however I didn't eat it all as I got quite bored about 3/4 of the way through. I was surprised how hard the avocado actually was, and I'm not too sure if it was a good idea to use the balsamic instead of white wine vinegar. I'm not too sure if I would make this again, if I did I would probably try it with white wine vinegar.
You're probably wondering why I decided to put this up on the blog if I wasn't entirely convinced by it. I just wanted to shared my 'lessons learnt' and also show that everyone makes a hash of things sometimes- so don't worry if you carefully planned meal turns out like dog food!
Only problem is, what to do with them? Its only the second time I've tried avocado (apart from in shop bought guacamole) and my trusty vegetarian student cook book didn't help (avocados are a bit too 'sophisticated' for the average student!). Then I remembered a book bought for me as a birthday present- Nigel Slater's Real Fast Food. I love Nigel Slater's programmes and find it refreshing just how simple his recipes are- I get really annoyed by chiefs who seem to use a thousand and one different items in their recipes- it's the reason why my kitchen is full of herbs and spices that were destined to only be used once. However I don't use the book that often as it has no pictures in it, and I like to see pictures of meals; it helps me decided if I want to cook it or not! The one thing that the book is useful for is that it lists recipes by the main ingredient which is what you need if you go out buying avocados on whims, so I though I would look to see if there was anything that took my fancy.
I stumbled upon a recipe for avocado with warm bacon vinaigrette, and decide to give it a go, it also required tomatoes so I could also use the cherry tomatoes I bought as well.
I decided to make some small adjustments to the recipe, it called for white wine vinegar but I already some balsamic in so decided to use that instead and I used Quorn bacon in replacement of the recommended streaky bacon.
Thoughts.
It was OK, didn't make me sick so that is always a plus, however I didn't eat it all as I got quite bored about 3/4 of the way through. I was surprised how hard the avocado actually was, and I'm not too sure if it was a good idea to use the balsamic instead of white wine vinegar. I'm not too sure if I would make this again, if I did I would probably try it with white wine vinegar.
You're probably wondering why I decided to put this up on the blog if I wasn't entirely convinced by it. I just wanted to shared my 'lessons learnt' and also show that everyone makes a hash of things sometimes- so don't worry if you carefully planned meal turns out like dog food!
Tuesday, 3 April 2012
Popeye is a lie!?!
Ever since I made the conscious decision to cut down on meat, I have become more aware of the nutritional content of my meals, wanting to make sure that my diet wasn't going to damage my health. Not that I believe it would do, but more to arm me with the knowledge if anyone challenged me. See my last post as an example of what I mean.
I've actually found that my diet has improved since cutting down on meat, not necessarily due to the lack of meat, but more because I'm more aware of my diet and what I need. However, when I started to read up on sources of iron in my diet I started to get confused, there was no mention of spinach. Lots of other foods such as tofu, fortified breakfast cereals and cashews were given as examples, but not spinach.
Surely, this must have been a mistake? Who can forget the popular children's character of Popeye, who gulped down tins of spinach to transform his weedy little arms into masses of muscle in order to save a damsel in distress or two? But who am I to doubt nutritionists and dietitians? So I had no choice but to walk away from the issue scratching my head in puzzlement.
That is until today, when I was reading a book I recently bought from my local Oxfam called "The truth about food" which accompanies the BBC series with the same name. I came to a chapter on "Spinach: vision for the future?" and I thought, "at last my questions may be answered!".
And I was right, spinach DOES contain iron, and during the 1930s it was paraded as a wonder food due to this. However, in 1937 scientists discovered that due to a mathematical error, the concentration of iron in spinach wasn't as much as they first thought, however for a vegetable the iron concentration is quite high. The problem comes with our bodies inability to absorb the iron in spinach due to its binding with another chemical found in spinach called oxalic acid which makes the resulting compound indigestible and so most of the iron passes through us. Therefore, although we may still be able to get some iron from eating spinach, it is not enough for what we need. However spinach is rich in other nutrients, and the chapter focused on the benefits of eating spinach on our vision.
This goes to show something I'm beginning to learn as I look more into the topic of nutrition, is that it is not always simple. But at least I'm no longer scratching my head!
If you would like to learn more about getting iron in your diet without meat, visit the vegetarian society website.
I've actually found that my diet has improved since cutting down on meat, not necessarily due to the lack of meat, but more because I'm more aware of my diet and what I need. However, when I started to read up on sources of iron in my diet I started to get confused, there was no mention of spinach. Lots of other foods such as tofu, fortified breakfast cereals and cashews were given as examples, but not spinach.
Surely, this must have been a mistake? Who can forget the popular children's character of Popeye, who gulped down tins of spinach to transform his weedy little arms into masses of muscle in order to save a damsel in distress or two? But who am I to doubt nutritionists and dietitians? So I had no choice but to walk away from the issue scratching my head in puzzlement.
That is until today, when I was reading a book I recently bought from my local Oxfam called "The truth about food" which accompanies the BBC series with the same name. I came to a chapter on "Spinach: vision for the future?" and I thought, "at last my questions may be answered!".
And I was right, spinach DOES contain iron, and during the 1930s it was paraded as a wonder food due to this. However, in 1937 scientists discovered that due to a mathematical error, the concentration of iron in spinach wasn't as much as they first thought, however for a vegetable the iron concentration is quite high. The problem comes with our bodies inability to absorb the iron in spinach due to its binding with another chemical found in spinach called oxalic acid which makes the resulting compound indigestible and so most of the iron passes through us. Therefore, although we may still be able to get some iron from eating spinach, it is not enough for what we need. However spinach is rich in other nutrients, and the chapter focused on the benefits of eating spinach on our vision.
This goes to show something I'm beginning to learn as I look more into the topic of nutrition, is that it is not always simple. But at least I'm no longer scratching my head!
If you would like to learn more about getting iron in your diet without meat, visit the vegetarian society website.
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