So now that I am back to "fighting fit" - guts don't hurt any more, blood tests are fine, abdominal muscles are strong enough to help me calve a cow without groaning - I am back on the veggie diet for real and thought I'd test out some meat alternatives.
Apart from fake mince, I've never explored this category of protein source before. The big thing that surprised me was the price - £20 PER KILO!!!!! I assumed quorn would be cheaper than meat, but it soooo isn't! I also didn't realise that there were so many different types of meat substitutes designed to taste like a specific type of meat. And that concept confuses me greatly. Meat-free versions of sausages, burgers and kievs are understandable as they're all processed products and don't resemble the original protein in texture or shape. But why would you want a chicken breast shape? Anatomically correct or replicated meat alternatives are just weird! Having a meat substitute that you can use in the same way and cook in the same manner makes sense, but why make it taste like meat? I bought "lamb style strips" and "steak strips" and they both taste somewhat like the animal meat they mimic. If you are an ethical vegetarian then surely you don't want to be reminded of the taste of the animals you don't agree with rearing or eating. If you are meat-free because you don't like the taste of meat........
Anyhew, I gave them a bash. The lamb-style strips I made into stir fry with loads of veg, soy sauce, sweet chilli sauce, ginger and pollenta (which is my secret weapon - carbs that cook in 1 minute? yes please!). As I said, it tasted a bit like lamb, but the texture is all wrong - kinda firm but mushy. It was edible but I don't think I'd use it again by choice. The steak strips I intended to make into Thai green curry (partly because I was worried it wouldn't taste that great, like the lamb style stuff, so maybe the Thai spices would cover it). I usually make it from curry paste and cream cheese, but the paste had gone off. So I hunted around the kitchen and decided to experiment with fajita seasoning mix with cream cheese instead. Win! Really nice actually. The spices probably did slightly over-power the taste of the quorn, but generally I think it was nicer. The texture is still really odd though.
Lunches at work have been a challenge, especially Wednesdays and Thursdays when we can have free lunch at the cattle market canteen. The food is really really good there and there's lots of choice, but as it serves the local farming community, those that go to cattle auctions, unsurprisingly there isn't a hot vegetarian option. I wouldn't expect there to be as 99% of the time it just wouldn't sell. So far I've had cheese salad sandwich and chips, chips and beans (needed a junk food day!) and chips peas and carrots (yeah, got some odd looks asking for that one!). Otherwise I take a packed lunch and am often on the road around lunchtime. The cheese sandwich boringness has necessitated a bit more creativity, which has lead to some really nice salads - I bought a great salad bowl thing with space for dressing from fab http://fab.com/inspiration/box-appetit. When I am in the office, reheated pasta dishes and soup have been great on frosty days.
Due to being ill, its hard to say how the diet is making me feel or changing things physiologically. I was worried that I wouldn't have enough energy, but so far that hasn't happened. I also haven't been producing excess gas (unlike the dog....!) which is a bonus! We'll see how things go over the next month :D
Thursday 28 February 2013
Tuesday 19 February 2013
Technical Difficulties....
The experiment has technically been suspended while I recover from a particularly nasty bout of gastroenteritis. Having said that, so far in my recovery I've only eaten Shreddies and tomato soup so I haven't actually strayed.
As I can't talk about veggie foods etc at the moment, and as I am normally an omnivore and a farm vet, I thought I'd throw in my two-penneth worth on the horsemeat scandal.
1. Yes, it is the consumer's fault. If people will only buy cheap meat, particularly processed meat, and not care or check the quality or source of such meat, then shops and processors will buy from the cheapest sources. These will always be imported meat where there are few or no welfare or rearing standards or checks, fewer abattoir and processing checks and generally less regulation. It is not possible for British farmers to rear their animals to the legal standards in the UK and still make any profit at the prices people want to buy their meat, especially considering the supermarkets etc all take a cut as well. So as long as people buy this stuff, it will always be cheap and nasty and far more vulnerable to "contamination" (how is it contamination if its 100% horse? surely that's just substitution?).
2. Saying that such products are not a healthy risk is a total farce. If you don't know what's in the product, or where the ingredients came from, how can you possibly know whether or not its a healthy risk? There are very strict rules in the UK about residues of antibiotics and other products in meat, with large penalties if they are not adhered to. Its something I have to consider every time I treat an animal that either produces milk or is destined for the human food chain. If people are contaminating beef with horsemeat, its highly likely that said horses have not been checked or monitored for drug residues. Phenylbutazone, a painkiller for horses, can cause blood dyscrasias in some people. Some people are allergic to penicillin and other antibiotics. As much as I thought throwing all the contaminated products was a massive waste (many people would still have eaten them, out of curiousity if nothing else!), saying that they are safe is nonsense.
3. The whole scandal is totally taking the mick out of the "farm to fork" principles of the UK. Farmers spend hours of their time and considerable cost ensuring that their animals are fit for human consumption, that each carcass is traceable back to the farm it came from, that every movement that animal made it its lifetime is recorded (cows have their own passports for life) etc. This naturally makes UK meat more expensive, but guaranteed to be of a higher quality. The legal welfare standards in the UK are also among the highest in the world. But why should they go to all that effort, if people are willing to consume foreign food that may contain banned substances, reared in horrendous conditions, have water and other substances added to it at any stage of the process, not to mention the horrendous number of "food miles" it has travelled.
So, if you want good food that you can trust to be good for you, and contain nothing abnormal or artificial, BUY BRITISH!!! Its not has hard as you think, eating vegetarian once or twice a week (which is also very good for you....) offsets the cost of buying better quality meat for the other days really easily. Also, learn to cook, there are no excuses! Millions of easy to follow cookbooks, free online recipes, free supermarket magazines etc. You only have to try.
Well, that's enough ranting for me, I'm going back to my cup of tea and re cooperating on the sofa with the dog!
As I can't talk about veggie foods etc at the moment, and as I am normally an omnivore and a farm vet, I thought I'd throw in my two-penneth worth on the horsemeat scandal.
1. Yes, it is the consumer's fault. If people will only buy cheap meat, particularly processed meat, and not care or check the quality or source of such meat, then shops and processors will buy from the cheapest sources. These will always be imported meat where there are few or no welfare or rearing standards or checks, fewer abattoir and processing checks and generally less regulation. It is not possible for British farmers to rear their animals to the legal standards in the UK and still make any profit at the prices people want to buy their meat, especially considering the supermarkets etc all take a cut as well. So as long as people buy this stuff, it will always be cheap and nasty and far more vulnerable to "contamination" (how is it contamination if its 100% horse? surely that's just substitution?).
2. Saying that such products are not a healthy risk is a total farce. If you don't know what's in the product, or where the ingredients came from, how can you possibly know whether or not its a healthy risk? There are very strict rules in the UK about residues of antibiotics and other products in meat, with large penalties if they are not adhered to. Its something I have to consider every time I treat an animal that either produces milk or is destined for the human food chain. If people are contaminating beef with horsemeat, its highly likely that said horses have not been checked or monitored for drug residues. Phenylbutazone, a painkiller for horses, can cause blood dyscrasias in some people. Some people are allergic to penicillin and other antibiotics. As much as I thought throwing all the contaminated products was a massive waste (many people would still have eaten them, out of curiousity if nothing else!), saying that they are safe is nonsense.
3. The whole scandal is totally taking the mick out of the "farm to fork" principles of the UK. Farmers spend hours of their time and considerable cost ensuring that their animals are fit for human consumption, that each carcass is traceable back to the farm it came from, that every movement that animal made it its lifetime is recorded (cows have their own passports for life) etc. This naturally makes UK meat more expensive, but guaranteed to be of a higher quality. The legal welfare standards in the UK are also among the highest in the world. But why should they go to all that effort, if people are willing to consume foreign food that may contain banned substances, reared in horrendous conditions, have water and other substances added to it at any stage of the process, not to mention the horrendous number of "food miles" it has travelled.
So, if you want good food that you can trust to be good for you, and contain nothing abnormal or artificial, BUY BRITISH!!! Its not has hard as you think, eating vegetarian once or twice a week (which is also very good for you....) offsets the cost of buying better quality meat for the other days really easily. Also, learn to cook, there are no excuses! Millions of easy to follow cookbooks, free online recipes, free supermarket magazines etc. You only have to try.
Well, that's enough ranting for me, I'm going back to my cup of tea and re cooperating on the sofa with the dog!
Thursday 14 February 2013
And so it Begins.....
......and I've already failed :(
We had a fantastic Shrove Tuesday party at a friend's house, and I made maple syrup and bacon pancakes (Canadian style) as my last meat-based hoorah.
On Ash Wednesday, the first day of my meat-free 40 days, I went on a veterinary training course about sheep. The course was fantastic and I really enjoyed the day, but as lunch approached I realised that a vegetarian option had never been offered. There was only one choice for dinner - Shepherd's Pie, vegetables and bread and butter. Faced with a full day of lectures and a 3 hour drive home in the snow, I decided that peas, carrots and bread really wouldn't keep me going, so took the only option of eating the Shepherd's Pie.
Its a common thing as a farm vet, that everyone assumes you are an omnivore. Its a common assumption in the general public I guess, but certainly being a farm vet and a vegetarian must be very, very rare. I wonder if the organisers of the course assumed likewise and so never thought to offer a vegetarian option?
I am a bit disappointed, to have failed so early on, but this is an experiment and part of the experience is working out these difficulties. It does make me wonder how I will deal with farm lunches though, particularly on farms where I have eaten before and so they know that I've not always been a vegetarian. I think it will be hard to have than conversation, as I don't want to make things difficult or uncomfortable for my clients or for them to think less of me (although my dietary choices are no reflection on my professional ability). Certainly where there are options and all food and meals that I provide for myself will be vegetarian, but I am envisioning the occasional necessary lapse. I did ok today though, having margarita pizza and chips for lunch!
I have tried out a few really good recipes before the 40 days started. One meal I did regularly before I even had the idea, was bean casserole. Seriously quick and easy, very nutritious and high in fibre and protein and easily adaptable. I have made it spicy and herby, eaten with mash, garlic bread or on baked potatoes. (Its also good with sausages.....)
Last week I experimented on a friend! We had butternut squash with roasted veg, as found on the bbc good food website, with goats cheese and vegetarian pesto - super yum, definitely making it again. I also made butternut squash risotto with leeks and peas with my vegetarian friend (who I think will be regularly pestered!). I am looking forward to trying out more truly vegetarian recipes, with no meat substitutes.
Having said that, I am getting in some different types of quorn to start me off and for busy days, so I can simply make direct substitutions for recipes I already know. Feeling positive, lets see how it goes!
We had a fantastic Shrove Tuesday party at a friend's house, and I made maple syrup and bacon pancakes (Canadian style) as my last meat-based hoorah.
On Ash Wednesday, the first day of my meat-free 40 days, I went on a veterinary training course about sheep. The course was fantastic and I really enjoyed the day, but as lunch approached I realised that a vegetarian option had never been offered. There was only one choice for dinner - Shepherd's Pie, vegetables and bread and butter. Faced with a full day of lectures and a 3 hour drive home in the snow, I decided that peas, carrots and bread really wouldn't keep me going, so took the only option of eating the Shepherd's Pie.
Its a common thing as a farm vet, that everyone assumes you are an omnivore. Its a common assumption in the general public I guess, but certainly being a farm vet and a vegetarian must be very, very rare. I wonder if the organisers of the course assumed likewise and so never thought to offer a vegetarian option?
I am a bit disappointed, to have failed so early on, but this is an experiment and part of the experience is working out these difficulties. It does make me wonder how I will deal with farm lunches though, particularly on farms where I have eaten before and so they know that I've not always been a vegetarian. I think it will be hard to have than conversation, as I don't want to make things difficult or uncomfortable for my clients or for them to think less of me (although my dietary choices are no reflection on my professional ability). Certainly where there are options and all food and meals that I provide for myself will be vegetarian, but I am envisioning the occasional necessary lapse. I did ok today though, having margarita pizza and chips for lunch!
I have tried out a few really good recipes before the 40 days started. One meal I did regularly before I even had the idea, was bean casserole. Seriously quick and easy, very nutritious and high in fibre and protein and easily adaptable. I have made it spicy and herby, eaten with mash, garlic bread or on baked potatoes. (Its also good with sausages.....)
Last week I experimented on a friend! We had butternut squash with roasted veg, as found on the bbc good food website, with goats cheese and vegetarian pesto - super yum, definitely making it again. I also made butternut squash risotto with leeks and peas with my vegetarian friend (who I think will be regularly pestered!). I am looking forward to trying out more truly vegetarian recipes, with no meat substitutes.
Having said that, I am getting in some different types of quorn to start me off and for busy days, so I can simply make direct substitutions for recipes I already know. Feeling positive, lets see how it goes!
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