I've been slowly trending towards vegetarianism for years, mostly on ecological grounds, and have tried various vegetarian alternatives to meat and cheeses out of a combination of curiosity and, well, I've been a lifelong picky eater that wouldnt eat my greens! Going for the ersatz version of what I was eating previously seemed the easy way into eating a more ecologically efficient diet.
I was delighted to find that a chain store called Iceland here in the UK has started stocking vegetarian and vegan meat alternatives and ready meals both in serious quantity and reliably, too - as in, it's not just a short term thing that will dissapear from their range in a few months time. They do these veggie-burgers (as in a burger-sized patty in breadcrumbs that contains all kinds of mixed beggies, NOT a fake meat burger) that I get on with fine, so for the first time in my life I'm eating SOME greens and general veggies practically every day!
I also get some greens from having the occasional pizza which apparently uses humous (spelling?) instead of cheese and is covered with tomato chunks and green stuff that I thiunk may be spinach. Tastes good! They also carry an excellent range of fake-beef burgers ("No Bull" burgers - theyre made in France), although the fake pulled-pork burgers from teh same range arent anything to write home about, bit lacking in flavour if y'ask me.
What with the fake cheeses available now, the only thing stopping me from going full vegetarian is milk. As in, milk I can put in a cup of tea and end up with a nice tasting cup of tea. Some of the fake milks taste OK to drink as they are to me, but in tea? YEUCH! If anyone here knows of a good substitute for cows milk to be added to tea, please let me know!
I don't lose any sleep over eating the occasional bit of meat, especially as I've never been a great meat-eater anyway*, but aside from a cheese and ham sandwich the other day, I havent eaten any meat in weeks now. Nor bacon in many months. I started finding real bacon as gross a it is tasty a couple of years ago (it's the fat and texture; I prefer the texture of the fake stuff) And that last can of corned beef on my shelf - oh my, but that stuff is yummy, but heck, I'm on tablets for blood pressure, so I really shouldnt eat anything that salty anymore. I'm erring ever closer to donating it to a food bank. It'll be a bit of a landmark when that goes, one way or another, I think. Its been there untouched for about half a year now. I'm determined that I wont be buying any more, because it's bad for me.
*if you're wondering what the heck a non-vegetarian that doesnt like greens and didn't eat much meat either (nor fruit, come to that!) ate - mostly staples and a little something extra for flavour. Somwhow I managed to avoid any serious dietary deficiencies, but how I have no idea!
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