My Vegetarian Diary
By Vincent Allen

supporter of National Vegetarian Week

Just for this week I have decided to become a true vegetarian.

My objective is to document in this dairy how I get on being a vegetarian for the week and what obstacles I face. We are not here to discuss the moral issues are preach to people, just to inform and entertain.

I will be following a vegetarian diet which excludes meat, fish, poultry or any slaughterhouse by-product such as gelatin and where possible only use produce labeled suitable for vegetarians.

As a regular meat eater, I often have a selection of meat with most meals with the exception of breakfast. It's often nice to pork pie and a few slices of ham with a salad and a roast pork sandwich it's just habit. My challenge this week will be to change my way of thinking and break out of my old habits.

So here is my food diary for this week.

Monday 19th May 2008.

Breakfast was easy, I have my regular cereals and slice of toast. I only eat meat at breakfast if I am on my holidays or stop off for a Sausage & Egg mcMuffin at McDonalds's, but that is very rare.

Lunch, again this did not bother me I had a banana sandwich and a yogurt. I occasionally have a pork pie, slices of ham and a few scotch eggs in my regular meat eater diet, but only if I have them left over from a salad the previous night.

I got a little peckish during the afternoon so I had a bag of Walkers Cheese and Onion crisps, they were vegetarian friendly according to the pack. It was lucky I had them in as I had to go shopping at Tesco later during the day for my weeks supplies.

Shopping, now this is interesting, I needed a few supplies which were suitable for vegetarians I found that some of the labeling can be confusing at times. I had done my research and found that lots of products such as cheese and pesto contain or are made with slaughterhouse by-products, I cover this topic more in the members area.

Tesco's own label products seem to be well labeled but some of the major brand names, not so good.

For my main meal I had pasta, normally I would have spaghetti bolognaise with lots of minced beef but on this occasion I had fusli pasta with a tomato sauce and mixed peppers, aubergine and chopped onions along with a side portion of garlic bread.

Any that concludes my vegetarian experience for Monday, let's see what is instore for Tuesday.

 

Tuesday 20th May 2008.

Second day of being a vegetarian and so far so good.

Breakfast - Cerials and toast (I had honey today, very nice it was too!)

Lunch - Scrambled eggs on toast (as you can see I like toast, you can't beat a nice cuppa tea and a slice of toast.. anyway back on with the story).

No snacks today, I did have a rather indulgent Hot Chocolate from Olivers to that put me on for most of the day.

Main Meal - This was always going to be a challenge. On tuesdays I go home to my parents and we all eat together. My mum and dad had Sausage Caserole with a beef burger, mash and baked beans. I actually had pretty much the same all be it veggie Lincolnshire sausages and a veggie burger.

So what are my thoughts on veggie sausages and burgers? They are surprisingly nice, no they are not they same as a meat product, but for a change that are quite tastey.

I would like to say Thanks to my mum and dad for supporting me on my veggie quest and especially to my mum for going out of her way to make something veggie.

Thanks Mum!

Stay tuned for day 3....

Wednesday 21st May 2008.

Day 3.

Breakfast - Cerials and toast (Think I'm hooked on honey).

Lunch - Beans on toast (Nice and simple).

Snacks - Had a couple of chocolate digestives as a snack, they were labled suitable for vegetarians..

Main Meal - Decided to have a salad with potato cakes (recipe coming soon) and a goats cheese and red pepper quiche. As the football was on (Congratulations to Man U) I decided to have a larger. After some interesting research I have found that some popular brands of Larger are not suitable for vegetarians and not labled as such (Shame on you!). Look out for my article in the members area next week for more information on this subject.

Tommorow I am off out in the evening and will not have much time to prepare anything, so lets see how the vegetarian diet suites a "food-on-the-go" lifestyle.

Thursday 22nd May 2008.

Day 4.Breakfast - Fruit (I used my new gadget, The Pampered Chef Food Chopper).

Lunch - Went for a walk into town and stopped off at the Chippie. This was my biggest challenge so far. I had to ask a series of questions, which luckily was answered to my satisfaction. I had chips, beans and cheese and my questions were:-

What type of oil are the chips cooked in?

Are the chips cooked in the same oil as the fish?

Is the cheese suitable for vegetarians?

Luckily the person behind the counter was very friendly and answered all my questions, he did seem a little put out, however.

Main Meal - I was a little naught today, I did not have a proper meal as I went to a Pampered Chef Party (Details on what Pampered Chef is coming soon). At the show I had lots of snacks vegetarian friendly snacks and food prepared from the show (Yorkshire Puddings and Hot Broccoli dip with tortilla chips).

Tomorrow is casual Friday at work, so will be visiting the pub for lunch and having a quick pint. As you can see we do all the hard work, so you don't have to.

 

Friday 23rd May - Sunday 25th May 2008.

The long bank holiday weekend and the concluding days of being a vegetarian for the week.

Friday 23rd May.

Breakfast - Cerial

Lunch - Went to the Butchers Arms pub in Woodsetts for a pizza (Cheese and Tomato).

Main Meal - Went to the Charnwood in Blyth for a meal with my parents. Eating out was always going to be a challenge, the Charnwood had around 4 main vegetarian dishes and the rest all contained meat. I went for a Brie, Mango and Pinapple salad which was very nice and the portion size was just enough. Unfortunatly the menu did not indecate what was suitable for vegetarians and the wine list did not give details on suitable wine.


Saturday 24th May.

Breakfast - Cerial

Lunch - Friut, I had a Community Friend Fruit Cocktail

Main Meal - For a main meal I had Linda McCartney's Vegetarian Lasagna with garlic bread.


Sunday 25th May.

Breakfast - Cerial

Lunch - Beans on Toast.

Main Meal - BBQ time, now this was the biggest test of all, what do you have at a BBQ when you are vegetarian. Luckily I had a Vegetarian friend so I did not feel too left out. There are a great range of bean burgers and vegetarian sausages available now and they taste great.

And not once was I tempted to have a beef burger.

Conclusion......

And that concludes my Vegetarian Week, I must say that I have not really missed meat for the week. I am not sure how I would get on being a vegetarian for a longer period of time, but I feel if I decided to go down that route of becoming a vegetarian then I would not feel too put out or miss meat a great deal.

After doing all the research I was surprised how much products contained slaughterhouse by-products such as cheese, wine, alchoholic and soft drinks etc. More on this subject in the Members Club.

I think it easier to be a vegetarian today than it was 10 - 20 years ago, but I still think work needs to be done on labling of products and especialy vegetarian awareness in restaurants, bars and cafe's etc.

So now my week is over, do I feel the need to go to Damon's for some BBQ ribs or have a greasy fry up? Well not I can honestly say I have not missed it and as a result of this week be more aware of what I am eating and vary my diet with a combination of good quality meat, fresh fish and vegetarian meals.

It's surprising how much we take meat products for granted and feel we have not eaten properly unless we have has meat in our diet. Ham and Pinapple pizza, salad with a pork pie etc. We can all live with out meat if we choose to do so and supliment our diets accordingly.

I would recommend going vegetarian for a week, it may surprise you.

Thanks for reading my diary, It's been fun writing it for you all.

Regards

Vince x