Hey guys, I just wanted to let you know that I found some vegan stuffing at Aldi's. Its in a green box and it's Herbs de Provence flavored. I checked it over and over again and it contains NO animals,no chicken broth,no dairy like most boxed stuffing :)

A recent post made me think about something which has been really bothering me.

My husband is in the military. There is some sort of dinner being held in New Jersey (we're in New York) that he HAS to go to. It's a Christmas Banquet or something like that. Every command has one in early to mid December so I'm used to it.

Here's what sucks (other than I have to find a gown to wear): They asked my husband yesterday what we want to eat. There are 3 dishes on the menu. Steak, chicken, or salmon. I asked my husband if there was a vegetarian platter and he said there isn't. They ALWAYS have a vegetarian platter at these things and even my omni husband is upset about their not having one.

I don't know what to do. I had him order the salmon for me but I don't want to eat it. If the dish comes with a salad I will probably just eat that.

What should I do about this though? I feel it's an outrage that they don't have a veg platter! I want to complain to someone but I don't know who to complain to without getting my husband into trouble.

Advice? Not going isn't an option and neither is bringing my own food.

I deleted my folder with Vegetarian/Vegan websites and recipes. I already checked my recycling bin and it is not in there. :) I should be more careful when cleaning up my computer. If someone can help me with some websites and recipes they love. Thanks.
Also simple and easy Vegetarian recipes too. The websites were recipe websites,news websites,clothing websites. It was just a big misc of them I have been told about through the years or read about somewhere. I am googling websites now, but you never know what I might miss. Thanks everyone.

My partner just spent all day at a conference on food safety and how regulations aren't being enforced so he is now afraid of...well, just about anything that can be bought at a supermarket. I have no issues with this, I actually much prefer locally grown, organic, family farm food anyway and have been trying to get him into it since we started dating. What I'm having problems with is coming up with nutritionally balanced meals for a strict vegetarian. I have a few dietary restrictions that make even lacto-ovo a royal pain in the ass to plan for so I'm used to using dairy and eggs in most things.

We can get anything in season (greater DC area) pretty easily. I'm allergic to nuts of just about any kind, but he can eat them. Fast is good, cheap is better. He claims he hates all beans and bean products, but he's only ever tried pinto (refried) and black. I was raised on Mexican food, if it's a bean I'll probably eat it. We just found out we're both allergic to soy (which sucks, I miss chocolate soy milk). I'm a decently good cook, he's been known to burn water (no, really). Things that I can add egg or dairy to at the end for myself would be best, but I can handle planning his meals separate from my own. Is this at all possible? I've been slowly reforming his "vegetables are garnish" eating habits for a few years so I'd really like to take advantage of the situation. I'd just also like to avoid a vitamin deficiency.

So I work at City Hall in my town.. my small redneck, close-minded town. And today is their Thanksiving Luncheon that the firefighters cook out at the secondary fire department for all the city employees. I'm an Administrative Assistant so I'm not high up in the rankings of city officials. Anyway, my boss was planning on shutting down our department at noon today so all of us could go to the luncheon. I asked her a little while ago if I could take my lunch at 11AM, my usual lunch time. She was like "You're not going to the luncheon?" and I was like, "Well there's not anything I can eat and I'm not big on big functions like that." And she was like "Oh, okay.. well the city manager is going to be disappointed.. it's only once a year.. you sure you don't want to come.. it's good and it'll be fun." And I told her I needed to go home to pick something up anyway and she said okay but I know she didn't approve at all and it's like I'm this horrible person now because I'm not going to the luncheon. How would you handle this? Have any of you been in a situation like this before? Should I just go and suck it up and not eat lunch and starve all day just so I can make an appearance? From the menu, it looks like I could eat a roll and maybe some mashed potatoes but everything else either has meat or meat broth in it. I hate how my personal choices about my life interfere with things like this, and honestly, I don't give a shit about politics so I don't like to play into that political crap of showing up just for the sake of looking good for the department.

I wanted to ask you guys about leather. I know there is no right or wrong way of being a vegetarian and that every bit makes a difference, but I'd like your own opinion nevertheless.

I became a vegetarian for the sake of the animals. That was the only reason I was a vegetarian -- to help the animals. I don't have a ton of leather things at all, but I did buy a pair of leather boots and had kept a leather purse I received as a gift because I knew that no extra cows were killed for leather goods (as in, standard leather is made from cows killed for meat, but leather demand never rises to the equality of demand of meat, so no additional animals are killed only to make leather. Thus, you save animals when you stop eating meat and dairy, but you don't save any animals by refusing to wear leather.)

In other words, my vegetarianism was only to the extent that helped the animals, but didn't make a statement about animal rights as I continued to wear leather goods. However, lately, I've been feeling guilty about this. I just have that nagging thought in my brain that says "their skin is not for you to wear." I would never wear fur, afterall, so why would I wear leather?

There is a simple solution to this, and that is simply to stop wearing leather, which I am doing. But here I am with my faux-leather gloves wondering: how far do you go? What about buying non-leather goods from companies that support animal cruelty by carrying leather goods? What about faux-leather? It's not real, but does it still send a message? What do you think?

I got this idea from some responses to a previous post. How does everyone feel about PETA? Is it doing any good or does it hurt the Vegetarian cause?
I thought about going Vegetarian before I learned of PETA. PETA only just made me feel horrible when I watch the farm videos. I heard some bad stuff though which I am not sure if it is true about PETA blowing up pet stores. I heard this a while back ago. I show PETA to people I talk about Vegetarianism with. I figured it would make them sick to their stomach. I just cook something awesome and let everyone decide.

I went riding once in 5th grade and really thought it was fun, and have always wanted to do it again, but could never get my mom on board. And now that I'm 20 and planning on moving up north as soon as humanly possible, now would be the time in my life when I could actually take up horseback riding. It be something to do to get out of the city once I live in San Francisco. I guess there are plenty of stables, like this one http://www.miwokstables.com/index.html up there.

But I've wanted to do this since before I became a vegetarian and realized that animals are people too, if you will. Lol. So now, I know I don't want to do anything that would cause an animal suffering. That wouldn't be fun, obviously. So does anyone know any resources about horseback riding? Like how to find out how the horses at a given stable are treated. Does the basic equipment used cause the horses pain no matter what? Any research studies on whether or not the horses enjoy being ridden, or hate it, or are indifferent? Any info would be much appreciated. Thanks. :)

So I am trying to get my friend to look at the Vegetarian lifestyle. I have showed him PETA Videos, GoVeg.com and showed him my copies of Vegetarian Times. What can I do to show to show him about Vegetarianism. He thinks PETA is all made up and keeps saying something about in the bible it says we can eat meat. I do not feel like I am doing a very good job.

Scientists are working on ways to create actual meat in the lab without using animals. It probably goes without saying, but this has a number of benefits over the traditional method. Aside from eliminating animal cruelty and slaughter, the risk of contamination would be much more controllable, and the global warming effects and land usage of meat production would be drastically reduced.

While I think this is a great idea for the meat-eating majority, I'm interested to see if it would make a difference to any of you. While I personally am not fully vegetarian, I eat meat only about once a week. I don't see the availability of cloned meat causing me to increase that amount, even though it addresses most of the concerns that led to my adopting a mostly-vegetarian diet in the first place.

Mad Science? Growing Meat Without Animals [LiveScience]

I need to make an appetizer for a dinner party this Saturday and the theme is "Peanuts".

I need ideas...

So -- I've been a pescetarian for about 7 1/2 months now. I've been incorrectly calling myself a vegetarian for about as much time. (Oops.) I was told (or perhaps I read?) that there are different "tiers" of vegetarians -- and I guess I never thought differently until I read the user info here. I only eat fish once a week, if that, so it probably won't be difficult for me to drop, considering I don't like it that much anyway. However, I'm wondering if there are any fish substitutes out there that I may be able to check out? Not sure if there's anything like that available, but didn't figure it would hurt to ask! Looking for something I might be able to prepare for myself when I make fish for my husband and daughter. (I am the only pescetarian, aspiring vegetarian in the family).

Also -- if I were to stop eating fish, but still would eat eggs, what would I be called? I'm not trying to be a smartie-pants. I just want to make sure I use the correct term!!

Recently I've been trying to find a black faux-leather wristband, something along these lines:



My experience has been that finding good-quality leather-style footwear and accessories (like belts and dress shoes) made out of synthetic, man-made materials can be somewhat tricky where I live, so I imagine I'd have to order online. If anyone knows where I can find something similar in design to the images above that's good quality and not too expensive, I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks!

Hello!

I have been a vegetarian for about four years now. When I initially went meat-free, I tried reading up on nutrition. I found it very slow reading, and I had a lot of trouble retaining anything. Now I'm a little bit more patient, and I'd like to hear what y'all recommend reading wise. I really want something that is: thorough, relevant to veggie lifestyles, and simple to read. I'd really like to know more about what all the vitamins, nutrients, minerals, etc. do, and how my body absorbs different things. For what it's worth, I'm a visual learner, so lots of charts would be nice.

Thanks in advance y'all!

I hope this is allowed, but, I am currently a meat eater trying to transition into a vegetarian. I've been trying for maybe, half a year? And not doing too good. ._.; I've given up beef and pork pretty easily. It's just stuff like chicken and seafood is much harder. I want to give up meat for both environmental reasons, health and the animals. I'm just having a hard time keeping myself motivated! No one in my family is against it, in fact my mother fully supports this. As she loves animals and wishes she could have the willpower to give up meat, too. It's just I often end up slacking on trying to cut down on chicken and seafood.

So I was wondering if there was a possible way to help me keep motivated? >> Or any tips to getting used to cooking and going out to eat without meat products/Bi-Products? Sorry if this isn't allowed here.

Ok, so I know I've already posted a few times with these types of rants, but...

( ...when you live in a community of 4-H members and farmers, you get a lot of these... )

Hello, I could really use some help right now.
I've been a vegetarian for about three months, basically I started it because I was raised my whole life thinking it was healthier, and one day I realized I was kind of living a double standard, knowing that veg was the healthier choice but still continuing to eat meat.
So I quit, and it's really been fun finding new ways to cook things and all.

I did it mainly for health reasons.

Anyway.
Most of my family are at least polite about it, but my brother is driving me into the ground. Every time he gets annoyed with me about anything, he has to bring up how stupid it is that I'm now a vegetarian, and I really don't understand why it bothers him so bad... I thought he'd forget about it by now but no...
We were at a friend's house last night, and she asked me if I was still veg. I said yes and so she just made sure she put the chicken on the side to add to anyone's food who wanted it.
I don't think she likes what I'm doing but she doesn't argue.
Anyway... my brother went on an embarrassing tangent about me in front of her last night and I don't really know how to douse out the fire so he'll quit saying things like that.
I really don't want to give him any smart comebacks or facts... he's researched vegetarianism and he's even done it before, which is why I'm really confused as to what his problem is, and I don't really care about all the technical reason... it's food. I just don't want to eat meat.
I don't even wanna talk about it to people anymore because I'm afraid they'll label me somehow.

Sometimes he bothers me so bad I just wanna quit but the thing is, I don't think I could even if I wanted to now. The thought of eating meat makes me almost want to throw up.
People are always talking about the nasty hormones they put in meat these days, and yet they still eat it anyway and I just don't think I could do that anymore...
I'm just really sick of dealing with people's crap and I wish that we didn't have to talk about it at every meal but my brother brings it up constantly.

I'm really afraid one day he's gonna take me somewhere and there won't be a veg option and he'll try to make me eat a meat dish just for the heck of it.

I know he sounds like a psycho but we've been through a lot together and he's the only real friend I've got.
Anybody have a similar situation?

I just don't get it, I mean I never throw food away... as a matter of fact I ate some fermented green beans the other night because it was the only vegetable thing we had left...
I have found ways to order veggie food at just about anywhere when we go out to eat, and I'm not being wasteful nor do I spend more money on tofu substitutes. I make a lot of normal food that is appealing to the rest of my family, even my dad who is a firm believer in steak lol.

And most of all heck I feel better now, and meat is just gross to me. I am thinking about making a deal with my brother since he hunts, I might tell him that I'll only eat deer meat that he brings home or something like that.
Maybe then he'll be appeased....

I attempted making veg*n gummi worms and it was a total failure! Disappointed, I scoured the internet. And placed an order.

SO. I'm eating these gummi worms right now.... How, you ask? Is this possible? YES. They are made with carageenan! and by Haribo, no less!

This website called veggiestuff.com that is uk based ships to usa!! The only downside is shipping is like 10 british pounds.. but... Oh my god it is worth it! Having not eaten a gummy worm for almost a year, I am so excited!!

However, It's not vegan because they use beeswax to coat the candies.

LINKS:

http://veggiestuff.com/acatalog/vegetarian_haribo_wummis.html

http://veggiestuff.com/acatalog/vegetarian_haribo_gummy_bears.html