Now Jon and I aren't vegetarian. We do eat meat from time to time. But only if it's local, and only if it's good quality. I'd say 95% of our meals do not contain any meat. Quite frankly, around Christmas time, with the roast beef, pork pie, gammon, pigs in blankets and sausage rolls (no turkey in our house!), I generally feel sick - and tired. My body really struggles with breaking down meat. It makes me feel sluggish and slow, and I feel a million times better (and much less bloated) when I eat less meat.
I get really, really annoyed when people say tofu is bland. Yes, it's bland, but so is chicken if you boil it and eat it. If it tastes bland, you're not cooking it right! Fry it in some oil and soy sauce then eat it with sweet chilli sauce, and then say it's bland. It's like chicken, except it isn't tough and doesn't get stuck in my teeth.
To back my point up, here a some pictures of recent meals of ours. I seem to have developed a habit of going "hang on, I need to take a picture of my dinner!" before we tuck in.
Favourite meal #1 Salad! On this occasion made with home grown lettuce, pepper and herbs, cashews, eggs, artichoke hearts and cous cous. Salads vary completely depending on what's available at the market/ in the garden/ on the allotment. My personal favourites for this year include violet leaves, columbine leaves, watercress and rose petals.
Favourite meal #2 affectionally referred to as 'Japanese noodle soupy thing' as I'm not really sure what it is. I cook udon noodles in water with some soy sauce, chilli and other interesting cupboard ingredients. Fresh veg is chopped up and added for the final minute of noodle cooking time, then miso is stirred in at the end. I LOVE fried tofu, so this always goes in too, along with some home made kimchi, cashews and sesame seeds.
Lunch time! Cheese and coleslaw roll with marigold petals. Jon makes the most amazing coleslaw from cabbage, carrot, apple, walnut and yoghurt, alongside some magical seasoning that I can never replicate.
Pasta and pesto, our style. This one was actually vegan, as we made the pesto ourselves from wild garlic and hazelnuts (a completely free product if you ignore the gallons of olive oil required). All mixed up with homegrown heritage mange tout, broad beans and spinach - and a bit of red cabbage too. This looked so much better than the picture gives it credit for!
Stir fry with udon noodles. A bit like the soup, only without the soupy bit. Loads of fresh veg and tasty seasoning. Granted this isn't actually vegetarian owing to the pork balls on top which we had because we had a bunch of sausages to use up after a BBQ - but while they were nice, I really didn't think they added much to the meal. I much prefer the kimchi dumplings we get from the Korean shop occasionally, but to be honest it didn't need anything added. When you have that many fresh vegetables, and the right balance of seasoning, meat just seems crude and stodgy in comparison!
So, that's my compulsive obsession with photographing my dinner sated, I thank you for indulging me. As a final point I will add one more picture - of an amazing meal Jon and I had when we visited his mum last weekend.
Yes, just look at that steak! It was delicious, don't get me wrong: it was all local and fresh. Unfortunately for me, it just didn't stay down - I was up half the night as my body tried to rid itself of whatever had offended it. My best guess is that my body just couldn't handle the richness of the food. And the salad would have been delicious even without all that meat...
I am wondering if I should become a full-time veggie and part-time vegan for my own wellbeing. Whenever I eat too much meat - or cheese - or processed food - I can feel my energy levels slump, and my waistband expand. The joy of the moment is always replaced by sluggishness, tiredness and general lardiness. Could I give it up though? I'll keep you posted...
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