• max@feddit.nl
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    11 months ago

    Never gets old how most people never care about nutrition until someone vegetarian/vegan shows up. Then they’re protein and/or B12 deficient, and they’ll die for sure!

    • Kyyrypyy@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      As a carnivorous fattie, I do care about nutrition. And in all fairness, I’m open to suggestions for naturally vegetarian foods.

      Now, before I get a list of “vegan beef and tofu”, what I mean by naturally vegetarian, is foods that don’t include tofu (which I personally don’t just like), or need to advertise being vegan. I am looking for foods that, from the beginning of the time, have never had meat removed, or replaced. I want “accidentally vegetarian” -foods.

      My current favourite is bean-tomato soup, but it gets rather one note.

      • DumbAceDragon@sh.itjust.works
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        11 months ago

        I think I get what you’re saying, and I agree. It isn’t really as simple as “just remove/replace the meat”, because plant proteins simply just cook and handle differently than meat, and often time the meat is the core focus of a dish. Instead, the focus should be on recipes that are built around their ingredients. They can have a similar purpose to a traditional meat dish (I will take a black bean burger over a regular hamburger any day), but ultimately should be prepared different.

        Also, in my opinion, tofu is amazing when it isn’t just used as a drop-in meat replacement. It goes really great with sauces and also fries pretty well.

        • spittingimage@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          How do you fry tofu well? I’ve been following youtube videos where the cooks do a pretty good impression of having an orgasm when they taste their tofu, but mine is like deep-fried cardboard.

        • Kyyrypyy@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          This is quite the point I tried to make. Yeah, at this poi t beans are the only plant protein that I get even decent. Never heard of a black bean burger, to be honest, it won’t be the first recipe I’ll be looking with my cooking record.

          And for tofu. I know it isn’t originally meat replacement, and I’ve seen dishes that look amazing, but I still have trust issues when it comes to tofu. Maybe I need to retry some time if I encounter it in a (proper) buffet sometime. Still, I don’t trust it. I haven’t been a fan of shrooms either, and they just wasn’t my thing even now, when I recently tried to cook some. My SO liked the muahroom sauce though, so it wasn’t just about my inability to cook them.

      • notabot@lemm.ee
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        11 months ago

        If you enjoy spicy foods (not necessarily hot, but richly flavoured) have a look at Indian cuisine. If you dodge the dishes that are more westernised most things are made with vegetables, and delicious. There’s a lot of variation between regions, so there should be plenty to keep you interested.

      • usernamesAreTricky@lemmy.ml
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        11 months ago

        Ethiopian cuisine has a lot of dishes that are traditionally 100% plant-based and really good:

        For instance, stuff like Kik Alicha (a sort of split pea stew) to things that are more like a stir-fry on top of injera bread. Here’s one website talking about some of the various stuff though you can probably find more just from googling

        Outside of Ethiopian cuisine, I also really like Koshary, which is an Egyptian street food with lentils, chickpeas, elbow macaroni, rice, crispy onions, and tomato sauce. Admittedly Koshary is a bit of work to prepare compared to most other dishes, but it’s really good.

        There’s also stuff like falafel and hummus that are more widely known about in the West and plenty good too. There’s plenty more I missing because this comment is getting too long. Looking up “traditionally vegan dishes in [random country]” will give you a lot of good recipes you’d never have known about

      • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        Falafel isn’t really accidental in its veganism, it’s just vegan because it’s a really old food meant for people who can’t afford animal products

      • Applesauce@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        I’ve been making black bean burritos for my kids for years, and they actually prefer that to burritos with meat in them. We are not vegetarian or vegan, but try to incorporate 3-4 meatless meals per week. Mainly because my wife has a degenerative kidney disorder that is compounded by proteins from animals.

        Ingredients are:

        Lime Can of black beans Bell pepper Onion Sharp cheddar cheese Avocado or guac Cumin Chili powder Salt Burrito sized tortillas Hot sauce (optional) Crispy jalapenos (optional)

        Slice up the onion and pepper and toss it in a pan or skillet on medium-low. Add a little salt to help them sweat. Cook these till the onions are caramelized. At the end, add the juice from half of the lime and season with cumin and chili powder to taste. Remove from heat and set aside.

        Put another pan/skillet on heat or rinse the pan you just used and placed back on heat.

        Drain and rinse the black beans, then season with cumin, and salt to taste.

        Shred the cheddar cheese and slice the avocado if you have one.

        Assemble and toast the burrito, turning it as it browns.

        Enjoy. I hope.

        • Kyyrypyy@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          I think I’ll try that, even though blackeyed ones are not my favourite beans (I feel I never get the consistency of them right). Also, I might need to try these by myself, or figure out a way to make gluten free tortillas that don’t crumble when slightly looked at, as my SO has gluten allergy.

          Also, might need to keep cumin in mind, when making beans.

      • msage@programming.dev
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        11 months ago

        India has very delicious and even heavy foods, that are vegetarian. Though the heavy ones usually contain butter.

      • rumschlumpel@feddit.de
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        11 months ago

        Many pizzas are vegetarian (e.g. margherita). IDK whether you’re looking for cheese-based dishes, though.

  • Shiggles@sh.itjust.works
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    11 months ago

    One of my favorite facts about nature is the fact that practically nothing is vegan. Herbivores are basically constantly eating insects off of the plant matter they eat, and pretty much anything will eat eggs if they find them unguarded.

    My point is that if you want to be “closer to what nature intended”, being a vegan with cheat days is probably the closest you’ll get.

    • reev@sh.itjust.works
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      11 months ago

      Being vegan isn’t about being “closer to what nature intended”, it’s about reducing cruelty and harm as much as practicable/possible.

      • shinratdr@lemmy.ca
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        11 months ago

        Being vegan is a lot of things to a lot of people. It’s not only about animal suffering. This is true for some people but plenty of people are vegan for health reasons.

        • naevaTheRat@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          11 months ago

          No they’re on plant based diets. you don’t stop using rabbit glue for health reasons, or not buy a leather couch for health reasons.

          Veganism is not a diet, it is a philosophical and moral stance which necessarily includes making changes to one’s diet among other things.

              • shinratdr@lemmy.ca
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                11 months ago

                Yeah but the difference is there is no dictionary definition that supports that definition of feminism. It’s just an interpretation. You could say the same thing about veganism as being a philosophy that animals are superior to people. That’s a more direct metaphor and you would be just as wrong, and no dictionary would agree with you.

                Any “ism” will have multiple ways to define it, and those who coin a term don’t get to define its evolution. If you want to take the “GNU/Linux” approach and insist everyone else is using the word wrong then go for it. But in modern parlance, “vegan” is frequently if not almost always used to refer to the diet, whereas “veganism” does evoke the stricter definition you’re touting.

                • naevaTheRat@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                  11 months ago

                  Dictionaries are just someone’s attempt to record how people use words. They’re not authorities on meaning, just records of use.

                  If someone says they’re vegan you would expect them to use no animal products, including clothing, nail polish, colour pigments etc. That’s not controversial, you can find shampoo and jackets marked as vegan it is a common understanding. That is just incoherent with health motivations, and indeed many "vegan for health " people do use animal products and have cheat days and crap. They aren’t vegan, they’re just dieting.

                  People call themselves lots of crap, doesn’t make it true.

      • Shiggles@sh.itjust.works
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        11 months ago

        I absolutely hear that argument all the time though, that “our stomachs aren’t designed to eat meat so you shouldn’t”.

        Personally, I have absolutely cut back on meat, especially beef, but still eat it probably twice a week. It’s a far more realistic ask than veganism, though I perhaps should’ve specified only the most deranged of vegans act like I was describing in the first place.

    • CustodialTeapot@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      One of my favourite facts about people hating or finding “gotcha” moments to vegans/vegetarians is that most the time they don’t have a clue why people are vegan or vege and miss the whole point.

    • naevaTheRat@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      11 months ago

      … people are vegan precisely because they don’t think we should derive our notions of morality from random observations of charismatic megafauna.

      what on earth gave you the other idea? it’s always carnists that are like “see you have stubby little canines, eat meat” or “see lions eat the children of a pride when they take over so we should… wait fuck I mean lions eat gazelles alive sometimes so, wait sorry I’ll get it. Lions eat meat and are good role models as previously established so you should too”

          • CashewNut 🏴󠁢󠁥󠁧󠁿@lemmy.world
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            11 months ago

            I’m capable of holding 2 conflicting ideas in my head at the same time without a complete mental breakdown.

            1. Animals don’t deserve to suffer.
            2. I like the taste of chicken and bacon.
              • Wilzax@lemmy.world
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                11 months ago

                Hens I raise in my backyard coop and slaughter humanely when they stop laying? You’re telling me they suffer?

                • naevaTheRat@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                  11 months ago

                  Yep. To be clear I don’t think you’re a bad person deliberately abusing them but it’s likely that several things are true:

                  • they’re a breed that emphasises egg laying at the expense of their health and wellbeing. Jungle fowls, the birds chickens are bred from, lay around 12-20 eggs a year. Most chicken breeds lay about 10x that. This is hard on their body and shortens their lifespan. It is cruel to breed them in the same way it is cruel to breed pugs.

                  • As the demand for hens is much higher than roosters it is highly likely many of their brothers were killed, often moments after being born in a hatchery by a putting them on a conveyor belt that feeds them, conscious, into a blender. I wish I was making that up. Or they were stuffed into trays and suffocated in co2, not a pleasant experience either way. The blender might even be less cruel there.

                  • Because you view them as a means to an end it is unlikely you avail them to medical care of a quality you would give a child or a pet. Also it is likely they could enjoy more life when they stop laying but you do not view them as whole beings deserving of dignity and respect, so you kill them when they are no longer productive.

                  • It is unlikely they are killed humanely, a humane killing is one we would be happy to use on another human as a way to die with dignity. Maybe I’m wrong but I doubt you do anything so peaceful, consentual, and gentle.

                • Bob@feddit.nl
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                  11 months ago

                  I think it’s uncontroversial to say having your life taken away constitutes suffering, unless you’re undergoing some extreme torture by staying alive, and causing suffering like that is inhumane. Just saying that you do it humanely doesn’t really change anything tangibly.

          • Shiggles@sh.itjust.works
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            11 months ago

            As a general rule as soon as you start making up words like “carnists” and trying to insert them in regular conversation, you’re probably very deep down a rabbit hole and need to strongly consider the life choices that got you there.