Who Loves Eating Vegetarian?
I found this photo online when I typed in “vegetarian meals”, and the pictures that popped up were either veggie bowls like this with tofu chunks, or an even more obvious visual:
Pasta, Pasta And More Pasta!
Why am I bringing this up? Because it’s #FoodieFriday, and my friend Carol, who has the terrific blog “Piglet In Portugal”, started this #FoodieFriday conversation with a straightforward statement:
“Try as I may, I just can’t get excited about vegetarian meals.”
She makes some great points, especially when discussing the types of food that are used as a protein substitute:
Beans, for example. Or Tofu. Or this:
Pasta. Always Pasta!
While it’s the perfect vegetarian dish, it does come with Carbs – and what if you don’t want them?
It’s an interesting discussion to have – here are some statistics:
The number of vegetarians varies globally, with estimates suggesting around 22% worldwide, while in the U.S., roughly 4-6% of adults identify as vegetarian, with a larger portion (around 12-46%) eating vegetarian or vegan meals occasionally or regularly, with younger people and women more likely to adopt these diets.
Soups are also a great way to eat vegetarian as well…lots of vegetables, and usually pasta or potato as bulk – again, carbs!
Having shared this “giant meatball” recipe, you know that I eat everything, but I have pulled back on red meat – easy for me because I love fish!
In 2022, when my wife challenged me to make a different dish each week from a different cookbook we owned, I actually made a vegan dish as well:
These stuffed eggplants were fun to make, except I didn’t have my wife to videotape me, but still managed to get some shots of me botching a very easy cooking technique:
You can see how my vegan dish came out by clicking here:
Sharing more about Vegans in a moment, but first, thanks to Carole for her terrific blog that raised the very valid point about how to enjoy vegetarian dishes.
Here is her original post – check it out as she is linking to a number of other stories and recipes as well!
I do make a lot of soup, and a vegetarian version is easy, thanks to Patrica Wells! Here is a great winter Pistou recipe!
Now, back to vegans:
The number of vegans varies by region, but globally it’s a small percentage, with estimates around less than 1%, though growing, while in the U.S., polls show figures from 1% to 4% of adults identifying as vegan, with some studies suggesting a larger portion adopting plant-based meals. Numbers differ due to self-reporting and definitions, but generally, veganism is more common among younger demographics and women.
I discovered there is a culinary backlash her win the US to vegan restaurants:
This great photo is part of a terrific article about the decline of vegan restaurants!
You should check out the grub street article that discusses the decline in the vegan movement…very interesting!
https://www.grubstreet.com/article/veganism-movement-decline-vegan-diet-popularity.html
A thought-provoking article, just as Carole’s original comment about vegetarian dishes gave me a lot to think about!
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Lucky for me, I eat little meat. Especially not the steaks and burgers that you seem to love. I also love seafood, plus eggs and avocados. And lots of beans! I could not go vegan. I’ll have to check out that blog!
I eat all kinds of food and my protein is usually fish, especially salmon. What made the vegan article interesting is how there is a blowback against restaurants – and Carole’s original story is great because she dives into why people eat vegetarian, but also the issues she has with the limitations in that diet…thanks for leaving the note, it’s fun to talk food!