To Meat or Not to Meat?

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fayerody said:
I love shellfish! I'd crawl over broken beer bottles for a po'boy sandwich from New Orleans with shrimp and oysters in it! Shrimp is sooooooooo good prepared so many different ways. I like crab and lobster also.

I eat tons of vegetables......lots of legumes, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, salads, turnips and on and on. My cholestrol and blood pressure are in good shape......

I love pizza, homemade spinach, with a good cold coca cola......no processed foods for me.

I won't touch red beef. I rarely eat chicken and don't eat any pork. It's about animal cruelty and health. right now i'm having black beans, green chile sauce, cheese with a free range fried egg on it......i didn't make tortillas today. so it is a new mexican soup with an egg on top.

wish we had a whole smoked salmon and a bottle of good wine and a loaf of bread to share right now.........

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You sound like my kind of woman

I have an awesome prawn marinade (like big shrimp I think).

Chilli, garlic, fish sauce, coriander. One hour, throw them on the BBQ.

Great entree for a fresh white fish on the BBQ wrapped in tinfoil with lemon and rock salt and ground pepper.

Some shittake mushrooms with garlic, a salad with rocket and red onion, and some baguette or turkish bread from a bakery ...

I don't think food gets much better

I don't subscribe to the Bible's "rules" for eating, so I have no problem with shellfish, let alone a lot of other things the Bible say is wrong.

I've eaten eel, I believe. At least my dad caught eel before, and we certainly had many kinds of seafood. I've eaten oysters, clams (I think I've had both raw, as well as cooked and in stews), crabs, flounder, weakfish, bluefish, other fish, and more. I think I might have had blowfish, or at least I know my dad has caught some, but you have to be real careful with that. Also had fish eggs/roe. I don't think I've ever had them caught by my dad, but I've had shrimp and lobster, too. He did catch shark, but I can't remember if I've had that, either.

I wish my parents had raised me more to enjoy vegetables and healthier foods. I do love some vegetables, although I hate the work of cleaning and chopping them. (Mostly, it's not the chipping, but getting them up and into the pan or bowl or whatever...I'm not the neatest cook in the world.) I love broccoli, brussels sprouts, green beans, cauliflower (raw, especially), potatoes, asparagus, fresh spinach, carrots, beets, and turnips (especially raw).

I've also had haggis. Yuck.

My parents raised us on nothing but health food, so once I got out on my own, I just wanted to eat all the junkfood in sight -- because it was forbidden. All kids rebel in their own ways, I guess.

I've never heard of weakfish before. Is that a freshwater fish? I hated fish when I was a kid -- and that was a problem because, for a large part of my childhood, my dad worked on boats and brought lots of fish home. I cried over many plates of halibut. I didn't start liking the taste of fish until I was 25. Now, it's mainly haddock, tuna and crab that I eat... still not crazy about halibut or cod and I only like lobster when it's in something, like bisque or seafood crepes; I can't eat it out of the shell... and I don't like canned salmon. Ugh. It's all the little bones.

P.S. Haggis??? You're braver than I.

I'm not sure if it's freshwater or saltwater. It's the state fish of Delaware.

I only tried a tiny taste of haggis...my boyfriend's from the Scottish festival we've gone to. The taste doesn't leave the mouth quickly, either. Ick!

I remember my grandpa eating haggis... and it didn't look or smell very appealing. He liked headcheese too.

I'm eating Lay's Spicy Curry potato chips right now, btw. They're new and they're quite good -- very spicy. Just thought I'd share that.

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Maven said:
I'm not sure if it's freshwater or saltwater. It's the state fish of Delaware.

I only tried a tiny taste of haggis...my boyfriend's from the Scottish festival we've gone to. The taste doesn't leave the mouth quickly, either. Ick!

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The funny thing is, haggis at 3am from the local takeaway shop after the pubs close is awesome. It's probably mostly breadcrumbs and spices - lol.

You get it with chips (fries) in Glasgow where I used to live.

The real haggis (good quality) from the butcher's - EWWWWWW.

haha.

I've never eaten red meat my whole life. I love chicken and seafood though mmm and I eat dairy. It was just the way I was brought up as a kid.

I eat all kinds of meat. I'm a total carnavore.

My favorites are chicken, shellfish and pork. I can do almost anything to chicken. I'm really into chicken tenders right now.

Jbug

I hate dealing with raw meat, though, especially chicken and pork. I don't know how to cut the fat off properly, either; I was never taught, and I think I cut too much of the chicken itself. I might be overzealous in removing the fat, but I have so much fat in my diet, every bit I remove is a good thing. I get really irritable cutting up raw chicken and pork. My bf won't buy that chicken you just heat and eat. I've asked him so many times. Grrrr!!!!

Edited to add: JULIANA, you brat! I just had to call my bf, who's on his way home, to pick me up some cheddar potato chips or Doritos! LOL! I might try to get those curry ones when we go grocery shopping tomorrow. This is all your fault!

Haha I find it hard to deal with raw fish, even ...

I just had a really bad experience with vegetarian sausages the other day. I can't DO sausages but I saw these vege ones - ' rosemary and parmesan' - and they were honestly the most hideous gluggy concoction EVER.

In the UK there are decent meat substitutes (some quite nice - Quorn which is made from mushroom stuff and Linda McCartney which is made from soy). I thought maybe these would be interesting - but *VOMIT*.

I did however enjoy my bacon and eggs for brunch yesterday :>

Vegetarian sausage.

BEEP! *Does Not Compute!* BEEP!

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Maven said:
Vegetarian sausage.

BEEP! *Does Not Compute!* BEEP!

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WELL!

In the UK there was a lot of Mad Cow Disease issues and so they developed a lot of meat-free meat-tasting products ... they actually DO taste like meat, I was forced to eat mince once in spag bol when I was living over there and my god it tasted exactly the same as I recall real mince tasting.

The Brits do like their meat and 3 veg so I guess they had to be catered for somehow ...

There is also something about BBQs and sausages and yet the thought of what goes into real sausages makes my skin crawl ...

I think I know what you mean... we have veggie burgers here... no meat in them (soy products mostly) but made to look like a hamburger...

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_Sky said:
I think I know what you mean... we have veggie burgers here... no meat in them (soy products mostly) but made to look like a hamburger...

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Exactly.

The products in the UK are supposed to taste exactly like meat and have the same texture. Hamburger, sausage, mince. Fake chicken. Fake ham. Etc.

It makes sense when you consider not being able to eat their own beef etc for a long while.

They import a lot of lamb and beef from NZ in terms of the REAL stuff. It is viewed as a premium product heh. *shudders*

Btw my disaster sausages were made out of tofu ... I like tofu lots, but not like this!!!!!!!

We have some pretty good vegetarian meat substitutes here. There's one I really like that's made by President's Choice. It's Italian-seasoned, made from soy and is the consistency of ground beef. It's delicious in chili or pasta sauce. President's Choice also makes decent soy deli slices for sandwiches. I can't tell the difference between them and meat when they're on a nice bread with cheese and mustard.

I have tasted some HORRENDOUS meat substitutes, though.

I'm like you, Maven, I don't like handling raw meat -- especially chicken. I find it very yucky and slimy. I'm also paranoid about the bacteria and spend SO much time washing my hands and cleaning the counter and cutting board, and everything that the chicken has touched. I've started buying the cooked frozen ones because they're much easier and cause me a lot less stress. I eat a lot of fish, but I've never cooked it myself. LOL. I wouldn't know how and I wouldn't want my whole flat smelling fishy. I always get it from a restaurant. Have I mentioned before that I'm very lazy?

P.S. Hope you enjoyed the tater chips Maven. Mmmmm.

Fish is one of the easiest things to cook.

FYI, fresh fish should NOT smell. That's one indicator of it's freshness.

My favourite thing is to get a fish fillet or a salmon fillet and cook in foil in the oven with lemon juice, Maldon salt, cracked pepper. If I feel like something hot and the fish can handle it I might splash over some chilli and bell pepper olive oil. Or add fresh garlic. Mmmmm.

Ten minutes - max - with a good green salad.

I am the laziest cook in the world but microwaveable meals scare the hell out of me. There are some that taste okay but they are generally pasta-based and well that's not OK at night (for me anyway, no carbs after 5). Plus the sodium content is sky freaking high ...

I guess I can understand meat substitutes when you have meat lovers who avoid meat because of Mad Cow Disease. I've heard Garden Burgers are very good, but I've yet to try them.

I'm lazy when it comes to cooking, too. I like that you can get frozen vegetables and nuke'em, and they're ready to go. Some microwaveable meals are horrible. Those desserts by Betty Crocker are horrid. Some people say microwaving food is bad for you. I never know who to believe anymore, you know?

My bf did get some Lay's cheddar and sour cream chips, but I haven't eaten them yet, because we had dinner after he got home. He only got a 99-cent bag, though. I wanted a regular size bag. Sheesh!

That's what I hate about chicken and other things, too, Juliana, besides the slimy grossness. Cleaning up is a pain. Wash the cutting board, your hands, anything that gets touched. Vegetables are a pain in that way.

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Maven said:


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Haha I know. Eggs are good! Eggs are bad! Dairy is good! Dairy is bad! Soy is good! Soy is bad!

I figure as long as I eat in moderation and exercise enough I'll be fine *shrug*

Plus, you have the government telling you what's good and safe, and then there are those radical types who says everything's the opposite of what the government says (and I'm not saying one is better than the other here). One group says pretty much all water, including most bottled water, is "dead water," and you should be drinking "Pi water," whatever the heck that is, but you know your sources of getting it are limited and it probably costs way too much. I've seen an awful lot of strong, healthy people who are drinking everyday water.

Haha ... I always think stuff like that is so very hyped ...If you protect your system against EVERY bug you possibly can then how can you ever develop any healthy immunity?

I haven't heard the term 'dead water' ...

I lol at people who only buy bottled water - unless you are living somewhere where it tastes terribly chemically or is definitely unhealthy (e.g. London water) then I don't really see the point ... way precious ... But only IMO and I don't know what your water is like in the US. We are quite lucky here.

I'm a big meat eater although one of my favorite foods is tofu. I usually eat it spiced with rice and that is easily a meat substitute for me. Hmm... other than tofu I guess I usually have some sort of meat/fish/chicken with my meals. The occassional beans are nice also, (with the exception of refried beans )

There's a Chinese restaurant near my house that does a beautiful tofu dish. It's marinated in spicy black bean sauce and served with veggies and rice. It's soooo good. I have never been able to make tofu taste that good at home.

P.S. I LOOOOVE refried beans.

I don't think I've ever had tofu in a black bean sauce (but it sounds good). We usually make it with red peppers, soy sauce, onions, garlic, etc. (it always tastes better the next day).

P.S. I think I was scarred from refried beans when my first high school would 'try' to make it themselves.

I was a total vegan for three years. I don't know how to describe how it felt when I ate meat again - it was like my blood felt sluggish.

They finally put me on a med that required me to eat eggs & meat for cholesterol because you can have too little in your system.

I was trying to find an ulcerative colitis diet that worked so I tried different things.

Jan