National Vegetarian Week - 19th Until 25th May 2008
By The Community Friend Team

supporter of National Vegetarian Week

This week Community Friend are celebrating National Vegetarian Week. Over the week we will be publishing some great vegetarian recipes and articles.

 

 

The line-up will be:-

Monday - Mexi baked Tortilla & Chocolate Cake  
Tuesday - Hearty Sausage Hotpot
Wednesday - Fast Fruity Crumble
Thursday - Quorn meat parcel + The Mad Man's light hearted rant on Vegetarians
Friday - Veggie Spring Casserole with dumplings  

To get an insight into what it's like being a vegetarian, Vincent Allen will become vegetarian for the week and report back in his diary over the next few days.

So what is a vegetarian and how do you become one?

A vegetarian is someone who does not eat meat, fish, poultry or any slaughterhouse by-product such as gelatine. Vegetarians live on a diet of grains, pulses, nuts, seeds, vegetables and fruit, with or without free-range eggs, milk and milk products. Vegetarians not eating anything containing dairy products or eggs are called vegans.

There are as many reasons for becoming vegetarian as there are vegetarians; it's a highly personal and individual decision to make. But in a survey conducted on behalf of The Vegetarian Society the majority of people said that they gave up meat and fish because they did not morally approve of killing animals, or because they objected to the ways in which animals are kept, treated and killed for food.

With the growing awareness of the importance of healthy food, many people are also becoming vegetarian because it matches the kind of low fat, high fibre diet recommended by dieticians and doctors. Concern about the environment is another factor as people become more aware of the effect raising animals for their meat is having on the environment. Or you may be concerned about wasting world food resources by using land to raise animals for meat instead of growing crops that can feed more people directly.

Becoming a vegetarian can be very confusing when buying food and especially drink. Look out for an insight into how slaughterhouse by-products are used in many popular brands of beverages in our members area on the 26th of may.

We would like to thank the vegetarian society for providing most of the content for this article and for some of the great recipes we will be publishing on CF this week.

You can find out more about being a vegetarian by visiting http://www.vegsoc.org

Good luck to everyone that is or are thinking of becoming a vegetarian.