Food Only a Vegetarian would eat...........
Posted by Tweety on May 20, 2008 · Member since Jan 2003 · 3135 posts
So I was having lunch with a meat-eating coworker, and brought out my "snobby joe" sandwich. It's in Veganomicon but basically is a sloppy joe made out of lentils. I loved it, she said "what the heck is that....".......and I proceeded to explain, and she didn't warm up to the idea at all, and then I said "chalk this up to one of those things only a vegetarian would eat". ;D
Sometimes there are foods I think that only I can eat, and I shouldn't share with others. My kale-brussel sprout-seitan dish over quinoa is one of those two.
What's things do you eat, that you'd only share with a fellow vegan?
Yesterday, a group of co-workers was discussing vegetables. Our esteemed academic Dean, a well educated man who you would assume is smart enough to figure out how to stay healthy :D, repeated stated that he would not eat brocoli, collard greens, kale and didn't particularly care for carrots and other "salad" veggies. I tried to explain that he's probably only ever had over cooked veggies and that lightly steaming or sauteeing them makes them a lot better. I mentioned how my DH now requests that I make the kale in peanut sauce recipe I got from here. He told me to please never bring it to the pot-luck lunches! Crazy. People who live on junk food have no idea how good real food is.
I asked my husband this question and said..."ahhh, that shit you made the other night that tasted like soap!" That would be the awesome black bean burger recipe from this site. Apparently he does not like cilantro! I suppose they wouldn't look all that appetizing to an omni.
I'm a vegetarian and I HATE cilantro with a passion, ugh, and down here in Texas cilantro is in EVERYTHING. I used to love mexican food until I moved down here, now I hate it. Everytime I even look at a mexican restaurant I get nauseated. Uuuuugggghhh cilantro, yuk! In recipies that call for it, I use parsley instead, seems to always come out okay, just keep the cilantro far far away from me, even the smell of it makes me gag!
But I agree, Nutritional Yeast anything is something I wouldn't suggest for Omnis, and soymilk. Those two things you have to develop a taste for, it doesn't taste good at first but after awhile it becomes delicious, well at least that is how it happened for me.
tofurkey slices
My kids like them hot with gravy but they are salty and bland. I would never offer them to an omni.
I asked my husband this question and said..."ahhh, that shit you made the other night that tasted like soap!" That would be the awesome black bean burger recipe from this site. Apparently he does not like cilantro! I suppose they wouldn't look all that appetizing to an omni.
I'm a vegetarian and I HATE cilantro with a passion, ugh, and down here in Texas cilantro is in EVERYTHING. I used to love mexican food until I moved down here, now I hate it. Everytime I even look at a mexican restaurant I get nauseated. Uuuuugggghhh cilantro, yuk! In recipies that call for it, I use parsley instead, seems to always come out okay, just keep the cilantro far far away from me, even the smell of it makes me gag!
But I agree, Nutritional Yeast anything is something I wouldn't suggest for Omnis, and soymilk. Those two things you have to develop a taste for, it doesn't taste good at first but after awhile it becomes delicious, well at least that is how it happened for me.
Maybe you have to be born in Texas to like cilantro. I'll munch a sprig while I'm making salad. I love it. Regular, curly leaf parsley not so much. I'd never snack on it!
My DH is still omni but he's eaten enough veggie food that he has come to appreciate it. Last night we had black bean tamales (purchased from Whole Foods) smothered in Lady Dragonfly's nutritional yeast sauce and he loved it. He'd had it before, though. I agree that nutritional yeast, tofu and tempeh should never be the first vegetarian specific foods that an omni is introduced to!
The cilantro thing is like the asparagus pee (which is why I added it in the poll). I guess the soap issue could be because of PH balance..or some sort of allergy? I like cilantro (used to hate it), BUT I can imagine how it kind of tastes like soap....
I don't like to think about 'food only a vegetarian would eat..' b/c I like to think that there aren't any. Just different people liking different things..(veg*n or not..) ???
tofurkey slices
My kids like them hot with gravy but they are salty and bland. I would never offer them to an omni.
In my (limited) experience tofurkey is actually ok with omnis. It's more of a cultural thing--the thought of giving up thanksgiving turkey is hard.
True story: I proposed my dissertation the week before thanksgiving. My DH and I always do "thanksgiving for two" because that's to stressful of a time of year to travel. Usually he does some legs or breasts of turkey (enough for one + leftovers) and I go wild on the side dishes, but the year after I proposed he drove to whole foods (in pouring rain, mind you) to track us down a Tofurkey with wild rice stuffing and mushroom gravy :)>>>
End result: I think he liked it better than I did, but then again I really dont' like stuffing or gravy in general. (I've never been a Sunday-dinner sort of person; made the transition to veg*anism much easier). I absolutely appreciated the effort, though.
(Last year my centerpiece was the holiday acorn squash recipe from this site... yum!)
Back to topic... nutritional yeast is already taken; that was my first choice. I find that tofu can be done in context; for example, it's perfectly acceptable in a lot of Asian dishes. What about tempeh, though? I love tempeh but it just looks so darn strange!
Tasting cilantro as soapy is genetic.
From wiki:
Some people instead perceive an unpleasant "soapy" taste and/or a rank smell. This is believed to be a result of an enzyme that changes the way they taste coriander leaves, a genetic trait, but has yet to be fully researched.
Cilantro. Ew.
Beans. I don't know why but most omnis have an aversion to beans in general. I don't get it. Beans and legumes are the best!
Maybe they just don't like the thought of making them into something else, like a pattie or loaf. But honestly, I could just eat plain old kidney beans out of a can....
so, there's a chance that I might have done this before. along w/ eating corn out of the can as well.
and just for the record, i LOVE cilantro. love it. :)>>> :)>>> :)>>>
Not from a veg*n standpoint, but I've found that fellow veg*ns are MUCH more receptive to whole wheat applesauce baked goods and other efforts at trying to make a decent cookie or brownie with as little guilt as possible. ::)
I've learned to make the most decadent thing I can find out of Isa's books if I am serving sweets to omni's.
Beans. I don't know why but most omnis have an aversion to beans in general. I don't get it. Beans and legumes are the best!
Maybe they just don't like the thought of making them into something else, like a pattie or loaf. But honestly, I could just eat plain old kidney beans out of a can....
I used to have an aversion to beans, but it's just because I grew up with the idea that beans was served with lard and maple syrup or molasse. People just have to know how much you can diversify the beans.
Hear! Hear! They just don't know how to make them. Growing up in Iowa, any vegetable came to the table boiled (or warmed out of a can), as is, with maybe some butter and lemon juice. No wonder we didn't like them! Chickpeas? Are you KIDDING? We only ever saw beans in chilli, or in tomatoe or BBQ sauce, usually still slightly hard.
Even when my mother went crazy for Chinese food, she was unable to make the leap from following the recipes religiously, to applying the techniques to what was available. So we only ever had stirfries that were heavy on pork steak cut into strips, with celery or cabbage--because that's what the book said. Or chicken breast with almonds or mushrooms. Never a glorious veggie stirfry!
Oh, so true! I am convinced that people who say they don't like veggies have only ever had them boiled and soggy, or out of the can and soggy. I myself didn't really like green beans until I discovered wonderful fresh green beans. And yes, the stir fry thing. Growing up I hated stir fry night, because my mom's stirfry consisted of strips of meat, a few green pepper and celery bits, and a sauce that was essentially soy sauce thickened with cornstarch. Blah. Now I make a stirfry at least once a week.
tofurkey slices
My kids like them hot with gravy but they are salty and bland. I would never offer them to an omni.
I hate those things...they taste like absolutely nothing but cardboard and wheat!
I have a weird aversion to those.....
The only non-veg who is willing to try any of my creations or store bought stuff is my brother. Everyone else acts like they're above me since they eat meat.
"Charlie wants tofu burgers."
"Well, I'M gonna have MEAT on my pizza...Italian sausage, you know a REAL pizza with REAL CHEESE."
"Oh WAH, it was made with animal fat!"
The cilantro thing is like the asparagus pee...
Hahaha, I had asparagus yesterday for the second time in my life and noticed that. I thought "did I drink coffee this morning or something?"
I like cilantro and I like feeding it to my guinea pigs even more!:D
I love cilantro!
I've had the faux shrimp too, it makes a good stir fry...it's made from yams, and I've only seen it at Asian stores.
I would never ever serve tofukey to anyone but a veg*n.
Kinda related: I tend not to tell people that I've used flax as an egg replacer unless they ask. Because every time I say that flax can be used in this way, people are like, "OMG GROSSSSS!" As if you can taste the flax seeds or something! Call me crazy, but the goo that just popped out of that chicken's vagina sounds a bit grosser to me than a bunch of ground up seeds.
I get the same response when I mention I eat oatmeal w/ flax in it. "oh, that's too healthy for me," or my personal favorite..."oh, you're one of THOSE...". Um, I'm one of those that wants to keep my cholesterol down naturally instead of popping Lipitor? I'm one of those that values my health, and is actually thinking ahead??? Then yeah, I AM one of those!
I absolutely love cilantro too! I am pretty new to eating veg, but am enjoying trying some of the different foods out there. my mom actually turns up her nose at us when we eat chickpea "chiicken" salad. I told her it's REALLY yummy, but I just get an eeeewwww! I think if she tried it, she'd like it, but be too embarrassed to admit it, LOL!
I get the same response when I mention I eat oatmeal w/ flax in it. "oh, that's too healthy for me," or my personal favorite..."oh, you're one of THOSE...". Um, I'm one of those that wants to keep my cholesterol down naturally instead of popping Lipitor? I'm one of those that values my health, and is actually thinking ahead??? Then yeah, I AM one of those!
haha..this is totally unrelated to this thread..BUT..on my first day at Victoria's Secret we had to attend a 1 hour 'supermodel 101'...class. At one point during this meeting..she told us to tear off a piece of paper and write down a closed ended question we tend to use. So, I tore off the smallest scrap I could..wrote it down...and then she tells us to toss it at her and into the trash! (we're tossing out our closed ended questions....) So, I said, "may I recycle mine instead?" I don't know these people..and she totally disregarded my actual question, but said the, "OH, you're one of those, huh?" ....I was like..heh heh...yeah...
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