Vegetarian Food

'Appetizing' vegetarian food.

I have been vegetarian for 20 years, although I have issues with the way some animals are farmed, it wasn’t for any animal right belief. I simply don’t like the smell, taste or texture of meat, before I gave up meat I always had to disguise the taste with tomato ketchup or cheese. For me the worst smell (apart from fish) is the smell of roasting chicken behind supermarket deli counters, or the smell of bacon being grilled on a Sunday morning.

It’s hard to be a vegetarian. 20 years ago the only vegetarian products out there were nut roast or tofu and I really don’t believe anyone who says tofu is nice, no matter how long you marinate it for, or how you cook it. Eating out was a nightmare and you always felt an inconvenience to your host whenever you visited someone for dinner. Then vegetarianism became more popular and I had more options. Whilst I won’t eat soya products designed to imitate meat, restaurants began catering for us, as vegetable lasagne and macaroni cheese appeared on menus; normal everyday food that just happened to not contain meat.

All was well with being a vegetarian; I wasn’t considered an animal rights, hippy, do-gooder, where I had to justify my diet to everyone, up until recently. Chefs suddenly became adventurous, why make a simple mozzarella and tomato sandwich when you can make one with smoked goats cheese and walnut? Carbohydrates left the menu to be replaced by salads and nasturtium flowers. But worse times for the vegetarian were to come when it became the latest cause to get renewed celebrity endorsement.

Last month we were encouraged to have a ‘Meat Free Monday’ by Paul McCartney and friends. Monday, the day when most people are likely to have leftovers from their Sunday roast, but who can argue with practicality when you have alliteration. The Meat Fee Monday (MFM) website proudly list veggie celebrities, as if Gwyneth Paltrow, Joss Stone or Peaches Geldof are going to be role models you want to emulate. But the amusing idea behind MFM campaign is not to improve your health or reduce cruelty to animals but to slow climate change.



Sir Paul says that the livestock industry produces more harmful green houses gases than the transport sector. The transport sector which must be contributed to a lot by fellow campaigner Sir Richard Branson with his airline, or the transatlantic journeys carried out by many of the celebrities on hand on launch day. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, meat is responsible for 18% of greenhouse gas emissions, more than transport’s 13%. Reading the messages on the online forums of Farmer’s Weekly, a leading UK farming magazine, the campaign has upset a few farmers whilst also tarnishing all us vegetarians with the same brush.

But today my vegetarian lifestyle has been validated with the publishing of research in the British Journal of Cancer. For more than 12 years 61,566 British men and women (32,403 meat eaters, 8562 ate fish but no meat and 20,601 vegetarians) were followed. During that time there were 3350 incidents of cancers (2204 among meat eaters, 317 among fish eaters and 829 among vegetarians). Adjusting the results for variables such as age, smoking, alcohol and physical activity, they found that some cancers may be lower in fish eaters and vegetarians than in meat eaters. They examined the relative risk (RR) of different cancer sites compared to meat eaters and found

  • Stomach cancer -RR of 0.29 in fish eaters and 0.36 in vegetarians.
  • Ovarian cancer -RR of 0.37 in fish eaters and 0.69 in vegetarians
  • Bladder cancer -RR of 0.28 in fish eaters and 0.47 in vegetarians
  • Cancers of lymphatic and haemopoietic tissues-RR of 0.85 in fish eaters and 0.55 in vegetarians.

Previous studies have found that a vegetarian diet is beneficial against colorectal cancer and breast cancer although, this study did not find the benefit to be significant.

So whilst I’d hate to become one of those people who preach the virtues of vegetarianism, I’m glad there are some proven health benefits to my diet. I’m sure there will be some carnivores, environmentalists and farmers who will disagree with my opinions, so feel free to leave your comments and opinions below.



related post

Blog Traffic Exchange Related Posts From Other Sites