I don't really have a great deal of respect for those who espouse vegetarianism as a moral choice and proselytize in a is manner fitting for a missionary. These kind of folks are religious fanatics, pure and simple.
What you eat is what you eat, an exercise in personal tastes and free will. Everyone who routinely reads my writing knows my unbounded love for pigggies.
Now, lets get to the point of this essay. I have been reading vegetarian cookbooks a lot lately. This out of self-defense and prepping needs, not from any moral conversion. The reasoning behind this exercise is that meat has always been and will always be a luxury item. Here in the USA we just had it good enough for a while that we could forget that inconvenient truth.
Vegetarians have been honing their skills at making vegetarian fare delicious. They have labored long and hard to figure out spices and recipes that really add a lot to the dishes that they cook. I very much enjoy a whole gamut of vegetarian recipes and they will let you have quite a bit of variety in the days of rice and salt that we all may be facing soon.
I don't spend a lot of time reading the moralizing crap that is on their websites, you might want to peruse it, but I pretty much find it insufferable. Go for their recipes. Lots of ideas here. Most of them are a lot better with a bit of salt pork to make the flavor come out.
Resources
http://www.ivu.org/recipes/index
http://www.vegetariansrecipes.org/
http://www.savvyvegetarian.com/vegetarian-recipes/index.php
http://www.recipezaar.com/recipes/vegetarian
6 comments:
...my wife is a 'semi-vegetarian'...she likes steak(when its an option) and sea food...not much other meat in her diet,(occasionaly breakfast meats)...I'm the opposite,if its 'meat' im eating it...i tell her all the time,"you eat the rabbit food,i'll eat the rabbit"
LOL, Ken- exactly! :-D
Good points, Deg- I've been thinking quite a bit about lack of meat in diet lately, considering a month-long attempt at vegetarian cuisine just to see how the body tolerates it. You're right about meat being a luxury for many nations- but a lot have also forgotten how to fend for themselves. At least, I always wonder how people can be starving in some places in Africa when there's an elephant or giraffe right behind them. Of course, we know they've had their weapos confiscated by a benevolent government. Still...
Good food for thought here, not to mention tummy.
Shy
Even if you are not planning on cutting the meat a good vegetarian cookbook helps when the big garden kicks into high gear. Its one thing to eat up the produce when the garden is a hobby garden & quite another when it is serious. Even with canning a variety of recipes is a good thing.
Degringo-
You're getting pretty sure about this social collapse thing--you're not buying into ferfal or the archdruid's argument for a gradual decline, which can be arrested at a 2nd-3rd world level?
I still think a new suit, some cash, and a CCW is more useful than a bag of beans.
I'm with 'stephanie in ar'. I have questioned the future and it is not meatless. But when the veggies are in full swing what the hell are you going to do? I need some help in geting a small hog operation here. Pork is not only delicious but it is a valuable source of cooking fat. And in meat, the taste is in the fat. It can sure help a stir fry too!
Michael
DD:
No, it isn't going to be a collapse a la Mad Max. But I believe that there will be sufficient shortages and price increases that you had better learn to make due.
Meat is a luxury item. It takes a whole lotta feed, water, and fuel to deliver that tasty steak to your table. I think that as a society, this ritual carnivorism (which in a sense is just a ritual celbrating our wealth and plenty) will have to become a lot less frequent.
Hence the veggie meals. They will fit into the "archdruid's argument for a gradual decline, which can be arrested at a 2nd-3rd world level"
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