Vegetarian Cooking Series-Part 1-Intro

Published March 4th, 2008

This post will be the first in a series dedicated to the joys of vegetarian cooking…and eating. Many of us know someone, whether it be a friend, family member, or co-worker that doesn’t eat meat. It can sometimes make people uncomfortable because they don’t know a lot about it. My goal today is to take that discomfort away!

There are many reasons why people become vegetarians, some do it for lifestyle or health-related reasons, some political. Either way, it shouldn’t matter when it comes right down to food, family, and friendship. If you think about it, everybody has things they’d rather not eat, and for some people, meat is one of those things. Thankfully, we increasingly live in a world where people embrace each other’s differences.

I’ll give you a quick lowdown on some of the terms: Lacto-ovo vegetarians eat dairy and cheese. Some are either lacto or ovo which means that they eat either dairy or egg products respectively. If you wonder why some vegetarians eat eggs, it’s because contrary to popular belief, the eggs we eat are unfertilized ie. were never a baby chicken. Vegans are a group that don’t consume any animal products. This may sound challenging to some, but with all of the great products out there, it is possible to have a great quality of life!

If you’re having company, or organizing a potluck at work, and you know someone doesn’t eat meat, don’t be afraid to ask them for suggestions. It’s much better to talk about it than to risk hurting someone’s feelings (and feeling bad yourself) because of a misunderstanding. Most vegetarians are used to adapting to the situation, and really appreciate it when you have the courtesy to just ask.

To make it simple, I’ll focus on some of the things that vegetarians include in their diet. Everything that doesn’t include dairy or egg proper, will likely apply to vegans.

Fruits

Yes, vegetarians eat the same fruits that everybody else does, but often in more of an unprocessed form, and with more variety. They get eaten as whole pieces of fruit or added to things like salads, desserts, and pancakes. This way you get the full benefits of the nutrients and fibre that you might not get from just drinking the juice or eating it in processed food.

Vegetables and Legumes

This is a huge food group. Some categories of dark green, bright orange, yellow, and red vegetables are not only high in vitamins and minerals, but protein building blocks too! Certain combinations of legumes will give you the essential amino acids that you would get from meat. Just to clarify, beans (including soybeans), peas, and lentils, fall into the category of legumes. Mushrooms, beans, or eggplant can give you that dense texture if you want to substitute them in for meat in Italian, Indian and Mexican foods.

Eggs

Aside from the obvious in breakfast, eggs can be a nutritious part of a salad, quiche, frittata, soup, or sandwich. There are so many possibilities, and even egg substitutes, sometimes you just have to think outside of the box!

Dairy

Vegetarians can enjoy milks, cheeses, yogurts, and ice cream as part of a balanced diet. Vegans can enjoy all of these similar products, but made with soy. Soy milk is generally sweeter than cow’s milk, but if you drink it in a chocolate milk form, I can’t really tell the difference. I have also tried the soy cheese slices: The flavour I tried was Swiss Cheese and found it to be pretty tasty! Avocado is obviously not a dairy product, but can be substituted in to give a creamy texture to sandwiches and dips.

Nuts and Seeds

Toasting or eating raw nuts is great for your health. They often can be very filling and good for you because of the monounsaturated fats they contain (good fats). Just throwing some sunflower or sesame seeds on a salad or on top of a stir-fry can really amp things up. We’ve all heard of peanut butter, but other nuts like almonds come in a butter form too!

Grains

Some popular grains that everybody knows about are wheat, corn, and rice. North Americans have come to eat these in increasingly processed forms over the last few years, hence the recent push to eat whole grains. Some examples of whole grains include whole wheat, barley, brown rice, buckwheat, millet, oatmeal, wild rice, quinoa, and kamut. Some of these grains are turned into flour for baking, or used as side dishes, in salads, or in soups–limitless possibilities here.

Oils

Different oils can add different flavours and depth to your cooking, consider trying grapeseed, peanut, olive, or sesame oil instead of vegetable oil next time.

Other soy products

As mentioned above, there are many, many soy products. Some vegetarians eat a lot of soy, and some do not. Some products that are often used to substitute meat are tofu and textured vegetable protein (TVP). They can come in all appearances like sausage links, or to look and taste like flavoured ground meat. Many people use veggie hot dogs and burgers at barbecues so that everyone can eat similar food.

I hope this article has given you a quick introduction to some of the basics of vegetarianism. As you see, we all eat the same basic things, just sometimes the variety and type are different. So many more foods exist out there than we know-we just need to be open to trying them! If you are entertaining a vegetarian in your home, be sure to talk to them–they will appreciate this as they really don’t want it to be a big deal or an inconvenience to you. Look for future articles on vegetarian pub or comfort foods, and veggie international dishes that you can make easily. With so much to taste and try–you may forget that meat was ever an issue!

Read the rest of this series:
Vegetarian Cooking Series-Part 2-Pub and Casual Foods
Vegetarian Cooking Series-Part 3-Appetizers and First Courses
Vegetarian Cooking Series-Part 4-Main Course Options
Vegetarian Cooking Series-Part 5-The Holiday Feast