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Making the transition:
Many people become vegetarian overnight, whilst others make the change gradually. Do what works best for you.
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'My husband and son demand meat!' Maybe you should cheat on them - with mock meats! Family favourites like shepherd's pie, spaghetti bolognese, bacon butties and bangers and mash can be made veg with 'beef style' TVP, vegetarian rashers and veggie sausages. Check out Redwood's Vegetarian Breaded Fish-Style Fingers or RealEat's fishless fish cakes, too! Beans can also stand in for meat in many dishes. There's no need to retire your best recipes - just experiment with some new ingredients. Then wait until after dinner to tell your family that hearty dish they just devoured was meat-free. |
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'I don't have the willpower to give up burgers and ice cream.' No willpower needed: Fabulous fakes will satisfy your cravings. Most large supermarkets now carry the basics, including veggie sausages and burgers, and health food shops stock even more - everything from soya-based hot dogs and savoury smoked tofu to dairy-free 'cheese' and 'ice cream'. Not everyone's going to like every product, so don't give up if the first 'faux' food you try doesn't suit your taste. And if you can't find what you're looking for, ask. Most store managers are happy to order special products if it means keeping your business. |
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'I'd be bored eating just bean sprouts!' Who wouldn't be? Most new vegetarians find that they really have more food choices - not fewer! For example, many add ethnic dishes like Thai and Indian curries, tofu stir-fries and veggie casseroles to their repertoires. And thanks to mock meats, vegetarians can still enjoy all their old favourites, too. For recipe ideas, borrow or invest in a few good veg cookbooks. |
- Begin by 'vegging up' meals you already eat, like spaghetti with tomato sauce, soups and salads, and by replacing the meat in favourite recipes, like lasagne, stir-fries and chilli, with beans or textured vegetable protein (TVP). Replace the beef in enchiladas with beans or grilled veggies. Bake stuffed peppers filled with rice pilaff or couscous (a type of quick-cooking pasta). Top baked potatoes with margarine, soya 'bacon bits', or salsa. Use crumbled tofu or grated soya cheese instead of ricotta or dairy cheese in lasagne or on pizzas. Use crumbled veggie burgers or veggie mince instead of ground beef.
- Check health food shops for instant soups and main-dish convenience items, as well as regular supermarkets. Many canned soup flavours that you're probably already used to are vegetarian, like three bean, minestrone, tomato, and vegetable. Flavoured rice mixes can be made into an entré e just by adding a can of beans. Experiment with vegetarian baked beans, refried beans and different kinds of pasta. Order pizza without the cheese but loaded with vegetable toppings, like peppers, mushrooms or even artichokes!
- Try meat impostors - veggie burgers, 'ham', 'hot dogs', and 'turkey' made out of soya and other meatless ingredients. They taste close enough to the real thing to fool any die-hard carnivore, although you might want to try several different brands before you decide which one is your favourite.
- Visit your local health food shops to find the best variety of vegetarian foods. Don't be shy - you'll find row after row of wonderful products that you never knew existed: veggie burgers, sausages, pies, pasties, imitation-meat products that can be used in your favourite recipes or on their own, and soya-based 'cheeses', 'mayonnaise', 'sour cream' and 'milk'.
- Explore the many vegetarian foods that have been popular in other countries for many years, like houmous (a tangy spread made from chickpeas), vegetable curries, falafel (a spicy mix of beans that can be made into patties and 'meatballs'), tempeh (a high-protein meat substitute), seitan (a flavourful food made from wheat that can be sliced, marinated, cubed, fried or baked) and a host of other vegetarian items. You'll even find desserts, biscuits, sweets and snacks that satisfy your sweet tooth without the fat and cholesterol found in animal products.
- Make a habit of reading labels to make sure you're buying products that are healthy and humane. Soup may contain chicken stock, biscuits may contain animal fat and other products include animal ingredients you'll want to avoid, like gelatine (from animal skin, hooves and bones). You'll soon learn which brands are 'safe', and checking labels will become second nature.
Instead of ...
Butter: Sauté in water, wine or vegetable broth, use lemon as a dressing and cook with vegetable margarines and oils.Ice Cream: Try frozen desserts like Tofutti, Swedish Glace, fruit sorbets and fruit ice lollies. You'll never want to go back to the cholesterol and fat of ice cream.
Milk: Try chocolate, vanilla and a plain soya milk, rice milk and almond milk. Excellent for cooking, on cereal, in coffee and hot chocolate - use them any way you'd use dairy milk. Available in low-fat varieties, too.
Burgers: There are a wide variety of meaty style and bean burgers. For mincemeat as an ingredient in recipes such as chilli, shepherd's pie or lasagne, use crumbled veggie burgers or soya mince.
Cheese: Check health food shops for soya cheese, like Redwood's Super Melting Mozzarella Cheezly, which is great on pizza and in sandwiches, as well as in sauces. You can also make a great creamy 'cheese' sauce using nutritional yeast flakes.
Eggs: Use commercial egg replacers (made mainly from potato starch) in baked goods. For breakfast, scramble tofu with onions, mushrooms, mustard, turmeric and soya sauce.
Jelly: Look for agar-agar or kosher 'gelatine' (made without boiling cows' hooves and pigs' skin), or try Just Wholefoods vegetarian crystals or Rowntree's ready-to-eat jellies.
Check out your supermarket!
You don't have to venture beyond the local supermarket to enjoy a vegan diet. Fruits, juices, vegetables, nuts, peanut butter, rice, pasta, beans, olives, and most jams are animal-free. Many breads, crackers, biscuits, pastries, cereals, soups, salad dressings, pasta sauces, margarines and sweets contain no animal ingredients as well. |