The Nice People Thread, No.16: A Universe of Niceness.

zagubov

Doozergirl wrote: »

It might be coming. There's some vegan food appearing locally and this town was pretty backward until recently. I had a spectacular vegan buddha bowl this week in a local caf!. Didn't miss meat in it at all, it was delicious.

In that there London one doesn't even need to leave bed to have the cornucopia delivered. It is a true wonder.

I have some weight to lose over the next couple of weeks. I'm going to see if I can give meat a miss. No idea what I'm going to cook though. Could spend two weeks trying to recreate that buddha bowl. Or eating in that caf! every day .

For coffin-dodgers like myself there's possibly good reason to switch to more veggie food.

For younger people, they need to have readily-absorbable sources of protein and calcium. Not even remotely confident that affordable readily available/ conveniently preparable vegetarian grub is fit for the task.

Would love to have more info on this.:)

PasturesNew

In my world all meat should be medium/dark brown throughout, with the outsides being very very dark brown .... I prefer the outside of meat to the middle bits and would choose a "chunk of the end bit" rather than slices from the middle. I like the dried/charred/well cooked/dark brown/cooked meat on the outside.... you can keep that middle/soft stuff even if it's also brown. I just like the outside crispy bits.

Of course, in my world of bizarre cooking, I will use a nuker to cook many things that are "better" cooked by other methods, but I am prepared to accept missing out on a crispy exterior as I'm making that choice and cooking it myself ... and it's still all "thoroughly and utterly cooked" and no pink/redness EVER anywhere.

vivatifosi

I have been vegetarian for 35 years and its definitely a lot easier than in the past, particularly with the growth of veganism and people having meat free days.

Plus new and interesting foodstuffs are emerging. I'm a bit behind the curve but have just discovered Goji berries, which are delicious. Even after all these years though, if anything turned me, it would be bacon.

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

vivatifosi wrote: »

Even after all these years though, if anything turned me, it would be bacon.

Mrs McT was largely vegetarian until I met her.

And it was indeed bacon which converted her back to the dark side!:D

silvercar

There is a group of male facebook friends who continually wind each other up with pictures of their dinner at restaurants. The common theme is the size and rawness of the slab of meat they have ordered. One commented recently that a good vet would be able to bring that dish back to life!

Pyxis

zagubov wrote: »

For coffin-dodgers like myself there's possibly good reason to switch to more veggie food.

For younger people, they need to have readily-absorbable sources of protein and calcium. Not even remotely confident that affordable readily available/ conveniently preparable vegetarian grub is fit for the task.

Would love to have more info on this.:)

Interestingly, I am coming to the end of a dairy-free month (checking for a possible dairy intolerance), so have been scouring the shops for veggie/vegan stuff in particular.

Initially I just carried on with veggie stir-fries, but got a bit bored with not having cheese and the fact that dairy was in most things I liked, so started looking around.

Whilst eating in cafès like Wagamama is very nice indeed, buying stuff ready-prepared still, imo, leaves a lot to be desired. (Sainsbury's, Waitrose, Coop, M&S).

I have tried all the quorn/soya things I have found, and only one, so far, has been worth buying again. The rest of the sausage/burger substitutes I found either tasteless or had that nasty 'aftertaste' but worse was that the texture was either too soft and pappy or else, like the sweet potato/pumpkin burgers, tasteless and rubbery.

(It might be that ones with dairy in are nicer, but obvs I haven't tried those).

One type of 'sausage' was so awful I binned it. Binning food is an anathema.

The dairy-free desserts, when I could find some, weren't wonderful, although one, a mango thing made by Freaks, was quite nice.


Vegan gravy, though, is nice. It's got miso in it, which gives it a bit of the umami that meat gravy has.

Plus the black garlic is useful for the same reason.

I have some dairy-free soups in the fridge but have only tried one so far and it was good. The soups are also useful for adding to stir-fries to jazz them up.

SingleSue

vivatifosi wrote: »

I have been vegetarian for 35 years and its definitely a lot easier than in the past, particularly with the growth of veganism and people having meat free days.

Plus new and interesting foodstuffs are emerging. I'm a bit behind the curve but have just discovered Goji berries, which are delicious. Even after all these years though, if anything turned me, it would be bacon.

I'd be a useless vegetarian or vegan as I don't like greens, or peppers, or spices. It would be pretty much jacket potato with the occasional mushroom delight (aka, a bowl of mushrooms) or sweetcorn every day.

My dislike of most veg was one of the reasons I went for Weightwatchers instead of Slimming World despite being able to get free vouchers for Slimming World back in the day....I would never have been able to do the green days.

SingleSue

Pyxis wrote: »

Interestingly, I am coming to the end of a dairy-free month (checking for a possible dairy intolerance), so have been scouring the shops for veggie/vegan stuff in particular.

Initially I just carried on with veggie stir-fries, but got a bit bored with not having cheese and the fact that dairy was in most things I liked, so started looking around.

Whilst eating in cafès like Wagamama is very nice indeed, buying stuff ready-prepared still, imo, leaves a lot to be desired. (Sainsbury's, Waitrose, Coop, M&S).

I have tried all the quorn/soya things I have found, and only one, so far, has been worth buying again. The rest of the sausage/burger substitutes I found either tasteless or had that nasty 'aftertaste' but worse was that the texture was either too soft and pappy or else, like the sweet potato/pumpkin burgers, tasteless and rubbery.

(It might be that ones with dairy in are nicer, but obvs I haven't tried those).

One type of 'sausage' was so awful I binned it. Binning food is an anathema.

The dairy-free desserts, when I could find some, weren't wonderful, although one, a mango thing made by Freaks, was quite nice.


Vegan gravy, though, is nice. It's got miso in it, which gives it a bit of the umami that meat gravy has.

Plus the black garlic is useful for the same reason.

I have some dairy-free soups in the fridge but have only tried one so far and it was good. The soups are also useful for adding to stir-fries to jazz them up.

When Josh and Joe were young and their dairy intolerance in full force, we would have rice milk (they were also intolerant to soya, wheat and sensitive to gluten!). It has a slightly better flavour than soya milk, so maybe possibly give that a try?

Josh is ok for the most part with dairy now as long as he doesn't go too OTT, Joe's intolerance quietened down but then came back with a vengeance about 18 months ago but luckily, he is now able to tolerate soya in small quantities. It makes him sound so posh and 'with it' when he asks for a soya latte but it's the only way he can have it and then not be doubled up in agony for the next several hours.

We had to follow a coeliac based diet with them due to their intolerances and allergies and although we were never told at the time, I found out last year when getting a medical report from the doctor for Joe's DSA and uni support that he was down as a confirmed coeliac. They had both undergone tests but we had been told that both were negative for it!

Pyxis

Sue, yes I like almond milk, and when I used to have porridge every morning, I made it with that.
I haven't drunk dairy milk for years, as I found I had a slight intolerance to something in milk that wasn't in cheese, but this month has been the full exclusion diet, hence studying the ingredients list on everything.

Who'd have thought that parsnip chips have milk in/on them, where sweet potato chips don't! Why?

Luckily, (because I love cheese!), the exclusion doesn't seem to have helped, although I have yet to try the re-introduction of it.

Then it will be exclusion of wheat, although I shall wait until after my holiday in May, else the re-introduction of wheat will coincide with the holiday, and that could have disastrous results!

silvercar wrote: »

There is a group of male facebook friends who continually wind each other up with pictures of their dinner at restaurants. The common theme is the size and rawness of the slab of meat they have ordered. One commented recently that a good vet would be able to bring that dish back to life!

Maybe the intense technologically-dependent nature of modern society is resulting in people subconsciously regressing to primaeval behaviours...... not only tribal warfare, but also eating raw animals! "Look how 'ard I am! I'm eating raw flesh!" :rotfl:

SingleSue

We couldn't have almond milk....Joe has a nut and peanut allergy!

This leads me on to a funny story which combines his allergies and his autism. He fancied a Chinese takeaway last week, his normal Chinese was no longer appearing on Just eat. Now normal people would pick up the phone and ask if they were still open...not Joe, he doesn't like talking to people on the phone.

So then he finds another Chinese on Just eat but doesn't know what they are like with his allergens. Again here, any normal person would pick up the phone but .....

Much angst follows, several phone calls to me (strangely he doesn't mind talking on the phone to me....for hours and hours and hours). I suggest walking round to his normal (allergen checked) Chinese to see if they are open, it is discounted because if they were, he would then have to talk to them to give his order (he always orders and pays online and then walks round to collect so walking was not the issue). I suggest calling one or both of them, discounted because it involves talking to them.

In the end he orders from the alternative Chinese via Just Eat but makes a note asking them not to cook in peanut oil.....after a little while his order is declined.

He went to McDonalds in the end.

Should have seen the fun getting him to go to the Asthma nurse up there, I had to write a script via text for him to show the receptionist just to book the appointment!