Vegetarian Living

[Greenbee]

I've found a great new magazine, which I think has just come out as I haven't seen it before and it states 'new launch' on the cover.

Vegetarian Living covers all things veg and vegan, as opposed to just another cooking title. There's even a young shoots section which kept my 10 year old quiet for a while - he was eager to start raiding my cupboards after reading the harvest festival bit on donations.

There is so much information as well as recipes, interviews and grow your own ideas. Has anyone else seen this title?

[Alan H]

No, sorry, don't think I've come across it!

And !

[banbbc]

Very good news. The Vegetarian Society used to have an excellent magazine which unfortunately they stopped selling in shops many years ago if I remember correctly.

From their website http://www.vegetarianliving.co.uk/ it doesn't appear they will be covering many of the animal welfare issues that need addressing. Nevertheless hope it does well.

[Nick]

I know this is the veggie section, and it may be just me, but can anyone else smell spam?

[Alan H]

I fail to see how talking about a relevant vegetarian magazine (and providing a helpful link to it) in an area of the forum dedicated to all things vegetarian can be considered spam.

[Nick]

Hi Alan, I hope I'm wrong, and the accusation was more aimed at the first poster than the second. If they turn out to be regular Th'ers, then let me apologise profusely in advance. Let me also say this has nothing to do with the fact that they are veggie; it would apply to any post which appeared to be merely pushing a commercial product (rather than being an incidental recommendation).

I'm afraid Greenbee's post just reads like advertising puff, designed to get readers to look up the new magazine. And it's reference to harvest festival is a little curious in the context of TH.

The second poster cites a reference from the Henry Salt website. Maybe TH has been referenced in their newsletter, but I couldn't find any reference to TH on their website.

As I say, I hope I'm wrong, in which case welcome to both Breenbee and banbbc I look forward to more contributions to the TH forum.

[banbbc]

Nick, look on http://www.henrysalt.co.uk/studies/essays/?a_start=20 and click on The Humane Influences of Henry Salt.

[Nick]

Well fancy that! I was wrong. I really appreciate you pointing out the link. So welcome to the forum! What do you make of the rest of TH?



(OK, that's a lot of reading, but a general impression...?)



ETA: Interesting that the author should say that he has been "profoundly unhappy - as I have been for 25 years - about belonging to a movement with the general label "humanist"."

Hmmm...

[Alan H]

banbbc!

I find I now have a whole load of veggie recipe books and a few copies of the BBC Vegetarian magazine, but have little need for them now after being a veggie for 24 years. Actually, most have been in a box in the attic for the last two years! I have enough recipes in my head that I don't need the books any more! (I never measure anything either, so never look them up for quantities!) Maybe I'm just too set in my ways.

I don't know how long you and Greenbee have been vegetarians, but what would you primarily be looking for in a regular magazine? Not sure I would find the 'grow your own' section useful - too lazy these days.

[banbbc]

Hi Alan and thank you.

I don't know if you remember the old Vegetarian Society magazine but it was far more than just a recipe magazine. It featured new products, interviews, historical information, the horrors of the meat industry and reminded readers why ethical vegetarianism is essential not only for animals but for humans as well; vegetarianism is just one step, admittedly the most important one, to a civilized society. Having a magazine like that back in the shops would be a good start.

[banbbc]

Hi Nick,

To be honest I've really only read the Humanist Vegetarian Group section and a few of the links from it so far. I thought the Nigel Sinnott essay was excellent. Obviously the HVG forum needs more activity which is one of the reasons I've joined.

Sorry which author is "profoundly unhappy" about the label "humanist"? And why do you share that view?

[Alan H]

I don't know if you remember the old Vegetarian Society magazine...

Hmmm...you've got me thinking now - it might have been the Veg Soc mag. Was that available in the shops? If it wasn't, then it must have been the BBC one. Put it down to age...

[Nick]

Hi Nick,

To be honest I've really only read the Humanist Vegetarian Group section and a few of the links from it so far. I thought the Nigel Sinnott essay was excellent. Obviously the HVG forum needs more activity which is one of the reasons I've joined.

Sorry which author is "profoundly unhappy" about the label "humanist"? And why do you share that view?

Nigel Sinnott. I googled him and read an article he wrote on the subject of being a humanist. And it's not me who shares the view, but Nigel Sinnott. I can see why you thought it was me, but the whole section is a direct quotation; the punctuation is correct.

[Nirvanam]

Lol! I am going to demonstrate my ignorance of the veg cuisine outside India now...

I have always wondered when my veggie friends here in India tell me that it is impossible for them to find a decent meal when they go abroad, specially to the west...you see although they eat veg burgers and stuff, they are not sure about the oil used to fry the burger or whatever is being fried...whether its veggie/fruit/nut oil or its some other oil (animal fat). They are not vegans...they eat butter, drink milk, love milk sweets (which Indian doesn't...lol). but there is an even more veggie than normal veggie in India who don't eat roots (and something else....I know they don't eat onions, potatoes too).

Now the main thing is, I am basically from a veg family (mom, dad never cooked non-veg at home, neither do they eat...my mom hasn't for maybe 10-15 yrs and even when I was a kid and they ate, it was like once in 2-3 yrs, so practically they are only veggies). In India we have such amazing preparations of pure veg...they'll satisfy almost all your taste buds lol but when I first encountered "veggie" food from a western perspective, I was like "now I know why you guys are not pure veggies"...lol this is a really funny incident -

My ex is an American, so when she cooked the first time at home, she said she'll make some chicken thing along with a veggie dish. Now to me a veg dish conjures up images of a typical indian veg dish...u know with gravy and all (imagine paneer tikka masala). So when she was done and we were having dinner I was waiting for the veg dish and asked her...she said the mashed potatoes were the veg dish, and I was like "Oh"...lol it was funny.

Anyway, what I am trying to understand is that most of the veggie dishes I have come across are rather raw vegetables like salads and all. How far am I from the truth...lol?

[Fia]

I'd fully agree it's really easy to eat veggie and well in India, when I was there in the 70s I thought the food absolutely magnificent, unlike many of my compatriots How can anyone not like masala dhosas

The problem here is that culturally our food has been meat first, and the rest as an afterthought. Hence the myriad of mostly rather horrible "meat substitutes". In the 70s and early 80s, yes, mostly all a veggie could get eating out was omelette and salad. This has certainly been changing over the years though, and it is now perfectly possible to eat well and veggie. Pretty much impossible in Germany and pretty hard in the US though (hence your ex-wife's mistaken idea that potatoes are vegetables - before you apoplex, as far as food values go, they are carbohydrate, and one needs vegetable to go with the protein and carbohydrate).

Most veggies in the UK, in my experience, are great cooks too. They can do far more than salad

[Nirvanam]

Thanks Fia for your post!

It reminded me, we have a new variety now in India, we have extreme-vegetarians, vegetarians, eggitarians, and non-vegetarians. The veg friends who go outside the country, typically end up becoming eggitarians. Here in India, we get eggless cakes and other eggless preparations (for ones that traditionally use any part of egg)

And masala dosa is a staple breakfast item...lotsa North Indians love it...its a south dish...in the south (and east) we are rice eaters whereas the northerners (and west) are wheat. The tikka masala and all are north indian dishes. Hey by the way I heard it in one of those Discovery Travel and Living shows that chicken tikka masala is like a "national" dish in Britain...is it?

[banbbc]

@Alan, yes the Vegetarian Society magazine was available in shops up until the time the BBC magazine became available. I try not to think how long ago that was now!!!

@Nick, ok found the article you were referring to http://www.atheistfoundation.org.au/art ... t-humanist which I hadn't seen before. He makes some interesting points.

[banbbc]

Nirvanam, I'd have to agree with with Fia that vegetarian meals are an afterthought when eating out in most UK restaurants and pubs. Luckily there are plenty of Italian, India and Chinese restaurants that usually have a wide choice of vegetarian meals.

Chicken tikka masala was popular in UK restaurants leading someone to claim it was fast becoming a national dish. I'd say McDonalds, kebabs and pizzas are the UK's national favour today.

Is an extreme-vegetarian a vegan?

[seyorni]

I find getting vegetarian fare in restaurants to be problematic even if they do list several items that sound superficially veggie.

Their breadstuffs almost certainly contain glycerides. Other foods contain hidden polysorbates. I have no guarantee that a 'vegetarian' dish wasn't prepared on the same counter, with the same utensils and cooked in the same pan a meat dish was two minutes earlier, and I doubt the cooks thoroughly wash their hands before preparing an otherwise vegetarian item.

[Nirvanam]

Nirvanam, I'd have to agree with with Fia that vegetarian meals are an afterthought when eating out in most UK restaurants and pubs. Luckily there are plenty of Italian, India and Chinese restaurants that usually have a wide choice of vegetarian meals.

Chicken tikka masala was popular in UK restaurants leading someone to claim it was fast becoming a national dish. I'd say McDonalds, kebabs and pizzas are the UK's national favour today.

Is an extreme-vegetarian a vegan?

Extreme-veg = the people who don't eat roots, onions, potatoes, etc...some Jains in India are like that.