Holy Crap, We’ve Gone Vegetarian.
Posted By Michelle on February 26, 2009
We’ve done the unthinkable. We’ve gone vegetarian.
Wait, let’s back up for a minute.
Typically, vegetarians are the fishbone shard in the side of every chef’s mouth. They are picky people and are very opinionated. Their “lifestyle” is a political movement and they will tell you all about if asked or if not asked. They are not afraid to tell you – in detail -what they thought of your dish that was supposed to be made with braised lamb shank and demi glace but was substituted with vegetable stock and portabellas to accommodate their lifestyle choice needs and then, they want to know why it doesn’t have depth.
In a chef’s opinion, vegetarians suck. Ask any chef you know and we guarantee they have a story.
Graphics Courtesy of This Guy
Before we get hundreds of emails, we know not all vegetarians behave in this manner. But much like that one kid who pees in the pool and ruins everyone else’s fun, the political vegetarians ruin it for the lot. But they do have a good idea.
Restructuring your mindset from focusing on meat-laden meals to vegetarian masterpieces takes a bit of skill and ingenuity. The actual cooking process is fairly simplistic, but being able to think outside of the culinary-box, is in itself an art form - hence our move to vegetarian. We felt like we had gotten into a rut and needed something to break the monotony.
Greg had been a vegetarian before, but only due to being a poor culinary student. And since the majority of us lived off of beans and rice while in college, that doesn’t count. He also went vegan for three months after an extremely high cholesterol test, (must have been that regrettable episode of mainlining duck fat) but that was more of a matter of survival. Going vegetarian by choice isn’t the easiest thing to do.
Yes, Hitler was a Vegetarian and so was Einstein (briefly).
Graphics by this blog.
First, with a busy lifestyle, restaurants don’t offer many veggie friendly choices. If you live in, say Tampa, often it’s a choice between a cold salad and a cold salad. There are of course, Vietnamese and Thai places that offer vegetarian options as a matter of course, but how many times can you order Tofu Bun?
Quick to-go food? Forget about it…again, in Tampa.
UPDATE (3/12/2009): We just got back from Asheville and it is THE place for vegetarians. Every menu we saw had veg substitutions, not to mention the number of vegan/ veg restaurants. Don’t worry meat eaters, Asheville has you covered, too.
Secondly, your body reacts to the lack of protein, which is why it is so important for vegetarians to ensure that they get complete proteins, such as beans and rice. (A bean and a starch are incomplete proteins, but when combined, the complete each other.) Third, you began to use the vegetarian card as a green light for eating any and all sweets and your butt begins to grow. Fourth, boredom usually sets in and eventually you fall off the meatless wagon.
So, while we still have the will to stay with this plan, we give you this easy and pretty darned tasty experiment:
UPDATE: We have fallen off of the meatless wagon. Hypoglycemia, nausea, fatigue, and grumpiness were too much for us to take. We are weak. But this dish is still really good, especially with chicken.
Moroccan Lentil and Grilled Portabella Salad
Serves 4
1 Cup dry lentils, rinsed and drained
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
½ cup olive oil, divided
¼ cup red wine vinegar
3 tablespoons cumin, divided
2 tablespoons chili powder, divided
½ teaspoon cinamon
4 large portabella caps
sea or kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Place the onion and garlic in a sauce pan with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil over medium heat and sautee for 2-3 minutes, until the onions start to soften a bit. Add the lentils and about 6 cups of water (doesn’t have to be exact) and season with salt. Simmer for about 20-25 minutes, until the lentils are soft, and then drain the lentils.
In a bowl, combine ¼ cup olive oil, the red wine vinegar, 2 tablespoons cumin, and 1 tablespoon chili powder. Season with salt and pepper and toss this with the lentils.
Coat the portabella caps with the remaining cumin, chili powder, cinnamon and season with salt and pepper. Heat the remaining olive oil in a saute pan and add the portabellas, sautéing until soft, about 6-8 minutes. Slice the portabellas and place on top of the lentils.
Stumble it!
Vegetarian food can still be really really tasty, even if you aren’t a full time vegetarian
I try to have a couple of meatless meals a week, although I’m cheerily carniverous.
well, i’ll keep my mouth shut about the rest of your post… but that recipe looks too darn good not to give a compliment!
Already off the wagon? Can’t say I blame you! We’re eating more vegetarian meals - 2 or 3 vegetarian days a week - but as weak carnivores that really like meat, well, there’s no way I would go for an all vegetarian diet! I do like Mark Bittman’s way of eating - vegan during the day, happy-go-lucky carnivore at night - but I really like my dairy and haven’t been able to pull it off.
Fearless: You are absolutely correct. I LOVE my veggies and sometimes, that’s all I want and sometimes I want a big piece of meat. It’s all in my mood.
Miss V: Now note, we said we know not ALL vegetarian/ vegans behave in this manner but some do and if one pees in the pool, it spoils it for the whole lot.
Cathy: We lasted a week Cathy. I like the idea of vegan during the day, carnivore at night. I could do that! I’ve been wanting to make the Raw onion “bread”…but then I also thought it would be good stuffed with gyro meat.
I was so excited when I found this through tastespotting. I usually don’t eat much meat (a symptom of choice, personal taste and a bank account typical of collegiate pursuits), but I decided to go all out vegetarian for lent. Thanks for the tasty looking recipe; can’t wait to give it a try.
A.Foster: Your workin’ for a higher power, you gotta make it.
This is a funny post. It makes an interesting point on a touchy subject with out pussy footing about! That’s what good writing can do! Have fun tonight and please post about it. GREG (LA)
This is funny… and being a couple o’ people who dabble in vegetarian eating (if not seriously) I can appreciate all your’e saying. Tasty stuff here, as usual.
Love you guys for trying! Keep at it! Maybe those truffles in Asheville will bring you back to the joys of veggie-ism.
BTW, they have a great RAW veggie burger salad at the farm.
LA Greg: You should know us by now. If it’s controversial, we’re gonna poke the bear. Or as Dr. Phil would say, we’re gonna wear dresses on Tuesday. (btw, thank you.)
Lo: Greg and I will eat a few veggie meals, depending on our mood. Sometimes, we’ll eat veggie for days.
Amy: Our FAVORITE Vegetarian Photographer! Asheville is certainly your kind of town, girl!
So how many days did you guys actually survive on veg?
Jaden: Like, a week before our bodies totally started shutting down. It was the longest week of my life.
LOL - luckily I’m a vegetarian with a sense of humor (though admittedly not a vegan). And, I live with a red-blooded carnivore, so can sympathize. Aside from being hilarious and witty, your post raises an interesting point on the culinary side - chefs and restaurants just need to think outside the box a bit to please both vegetarians and meat lovers alike. It’s not a mission impossible – see our recent post (http://www.gastrospeakboston.com/2009/03/vegetarian-is-not-four-letter-word.html) for Boston-area restaurants that offer a great range of menu options regardless of your eating preferences.
Ugh, what an obnoxious post. If you feel fatigued and malnourished after going veg for only a week, you’re doing it wrong. You’re uncreative and unresourceful. When I went vegetarian I did it overnight and never felt weak or tired from my new diet.
Also, “protein combining” (e.g. beans and rice) is a myth. You assume getting protein while veg is this big complicated challenge, but it’s actually incredibly easy. You just have to not do stupid shit like eat nothing but bread and candy.
I’ve never met a “political vegetarian”; what’s that? Someone who deprives themselves of tasty food for years just to prove a point? Sounds pretty far-fetched to me… I’ve only seen vegetarians get offended and mouth off (including myself) when people make fun of their misunderstood point of view thinking that we’re trying to raise a PETA army of pro-animal rights or something, but that’s hardly the case.
I’m willing to bet most vegetarians look at a plate of meat and think “Hmm… a seared rotting carcass of a once thinking, emotionally functioning and beautiful animal.” Anyone who is truly a vegetarian didn’t chose to be one.
If you want to eat meat, then eat meat. Please eat meat; don’t “try” to be a vegetarian. I don’t like it when non-vegetarians make vegetarians look bad by acting like it’s a simple choice…
Sometimes they write themselves……..
[...] in this search, I found something that looked very interesting on FoodGawker from The Culinary Sherpas. In this recipe, they created a Moroccan-inspired lentil dish and added spice coated and grilled [...]