Daughter wants to become a vegetarian.

Sambucus_Nigra

What did she eat before deciding not to eat meat?

[ps.....eating fish is not vegetarian though].

*Robin*

Hi Aliasojo,

I used to be like your daughter; became veggie in early teens, then vegan for a few years, until DS3 came along. He was very sick in infancy, it was a constant battle getting him to eat and he decided chicken was the only thing he liked. So Mum's moral stance became less important than getting any kind of food into him (I had to lace every drink he had with protein powder for years!).
DS4 upset the apple-cart; demanded we return to vegetarianism when he was about 8 years old. Then decided he didn't like most of my veggie options. I got round it by splitting things up. For example, like you I heard "I don't like salad" so often.. What he actually meant was that he didn't like the kind of salad where you get chopped lettuce, tomatoes, onions, carrots, sweetcorn etc, all thrown together with a basic dressing. But give him lettuce, raisins and chopped nuts with mayo, grated carrots in a lemon juice dressing with a bit of sugar to taste, chopped tomatoes and mint sauce, celery with apples and cashew nuts in a cream dressing, lettuce and onions in marie-rose sauce.. Well you get the picture; combining just a few ingredients was the break-through.
Plus I expected DS4 to get involved in the kitchen - in fact all my children did, and that's paid off for them. It's always easier to get kids to eat things they've cooked themselves - although my lot preferred experimenting with combinations rather than relying on recipe books. That has occasionally meant a really disgusting dish appearing on the table - mashed avocado, strawberries and grated cheese was about the worst - but the memory of it has given the family many laughs over the years!
Because I have problems eating lots of pulses we tend to rely on nuts and cheese for protein more than we should, so I have recently persuaded DS4 that keeping a balanced diet would be easier if he will accept fish a couple of times a week. He also eats eggs, so long as they're free-range organic - which I agree with - that gives loads more possibilities for 'main items'; quiches, flans and tortillas.
Thinking about it, we also had a cast iron rule; no pudding unless the first course is eaten up. So I would introduce new or possibly 'controversial' foods in front of a pudding the kids loved. They had to at least try the new food in order to get the pudding - but that was the rule from the beginning so all the children accepted it.
HTH.

Brighton_belle

What I really really recommend is getting her to drink 'green smoothies' every day. I have been drinking between a pint and a litre every day in the last 4 months and my veg count has one through the roof and they are soooo delicious.I have much better energy on them.

E.g large handful of spinach, large banana, 400ml water. Blend. Tastes yummy and is soooo good for you. You then can experiment with all types of green leaf (dont bother with lettuce, no nutritian in that) and fruit.

Check out this website for loads of advice and info and video demonstraions.
http://www.greensmoothiegirl.com/about/

They are good for the whole family too. This woman has raised 4 kids on them.

hngrymummy

Just bear in mind that a lot of children can go through a phase of being picky eaters, veggie or not, and if you've got a lot going on in your house then it might not be helping. Tastes change as people get older - I hated olives and hummous as a child, but now love both. Same with cheese.

I've been veggie since I was 7, and did go through a picky phase.

Quorn is ok, but it has no flavour and can be a funny texture. I use it to bulk things out, and make sure that the sauce it's with has lots of flavour.

A couple of easy meals that she might like and can probably make:

Find what veg she likes. Get her to cut it into chunks, then roast in some oil and herbs. Make up some couscous (boiling water and stock mixed with couscous then add a little butter, so something she can do). Mix veg and couscous together and add some crumbly cheese like wensleydale.

Toad in the hole. It's almost the same as pancake batter, so will be good practice for pancake day for her. Then either the Tesco cheese and leek sausages, or her favourite veg.

I've tried the tesco quorn burgers and southern style whatnots, but find that they're just dry and leather-like. I'm not too keen on the ready meals either to be honest.

She needs to find what she likes eating, and come to a compromise with you about it - so maybe once or twice a week either she eats the healthy meal, or she has the meat meal. The rest of the time she can be experimenting with what things she likes.

Humphrey10

Quorn is horrible, no wonder she doesn't like it. Personally, I dislike all fake meat products like sausages, mince made to taste and feel like meat, but I eat veggie sausages and burgers that are not pretending to be meat. Eg burgers that are obviously made of beans or vegetables, etc. Have you tried using beans or vegetables in curries instead of quorn? Tofu is much nicer than quorn in Chinese stuff too.

Have you tried taking her to a decent supermarket to look at the vegetarian ready meals (eg Waitrose, they tend to have a bigger selection than other supermarkets for the veggie ready meals), to see if there is anything she thinks she might like? Then if she likes it you could look at making something similar yourself.

onlyroz

I went through a veggie phase when I was about 14. My parents agreed on the condition that I cooked my own meals and that I ate plenty of eggs and pulses (for protein). I grew out of it after about a year.

whiteguineapig

i was going to suggest getting her interested in cooking as well. its good training for when she gets her own place too

(there must only be us that like quorn lol. i really like it in all its varieties and although only one of us here doesn't like meat we all will eat and enjoy quorn)

aliasojo

pebbles88 wrote: »

Can she do a list if foods she does like ?
See if u can work out a few more options from that?

It will be worth getting her sorted with a good multi
Vitamin n mineral too as she will be missing out on a lot if she is
Only eating the same foods. Hth xxx

We did do this. She sat at the pc one day and went through lists and recipes on a site that was recommended and picked things she reckoned she'd eat. Only once she's got them in front of her, she doesn't. She seems to want to try things and eat stuff in theory but the reality is always different.

Agree with the vitamin suggestion, will do that I think, thanks.

*Robin* wrote: »

Thinking about it, we also had a cast iron rule; no pudding unless the first course is eaten up. So I would introduce new or possibly 'controversial' foods in front of a pudding the kids loved. They had to at least try the new food in order to get the pudding - but that was the rule from the beginning so all the children accepted it.
HTH.

We only eat puddings once in a blue moon, we only really ever just have a main meal, so bribery is out unfortunately, lol.

Humphrey10 wrote: »

Have you tried using beans or vegetables in curries instead of quorn? Tofu is much nicer than quorn in Chinese stuff too.

Have you tried taking her to a decent supermarket to look at the vegetarian ready meals (eg Waitrose, they tend to have a bigger selection than other supermarkets for the veggie ready meals), to see if there is anything she thinks she might like? Then if she likes it you could look at making something similar yourself.

We make a vegetable curry, she'll eat small amounts of that as long as it's not too spicy or hot. We did go to the supermarket and again, she seemed quite positive about selecting various meals, but when it comes to eating them, she doesn't like the taste. Haven't tried tofu though, will put that on the next shopping list.

Appreciate the replies, thank you. Few more ideas been thrown up that we can try.

stumpycat

I went veggie when I was around 5 or 6 - believe me it wasn't a simple 'choice' as I felt repulsed by the the thought of eating dead animals. This was in the early 70s, so there wasn't the range of veggie food around then. I had 'picky' times when I would live on peanut butter sandwiches etc. What I would suggest is to find a staple she likes and then add to it - you said she likes pasta, what about with pesto? Add peas, or sweetcorn, or chopped courgette/peppers...

I'm not a fan of quorn and find the sausages & burgers inedible. Have you told your daughter that you are 'talking' to us on here? It might be an idea if you did and get her to list what she likes so we can make suggestions.

There is a lot of misinformation around, and I'm sure some of us longtime veggies can help out.

Loulou2010

my niece, when she was 7, decided she was going to be a veggie. my sister sort of laughed it off until she refused to eat the meat on her plate. she was just eating veg/pasta/potatoes/ fruit. in the end she brought quorn and it wasnt really any more hassle to cook