Giving young children Quorn instead of meat...

[MamaBear17]

Background to avoid drip feeding: I have been a veggie for 18 years, finally being 'allowed' by my mother to give up meat at the age of 12. From the day I found out where meat came from I was repulsed by it and never wanted to eat it, however, my mum thought that giving up meat would make me ill so used to do insane things like puree meat up and mix it into mashed potato without telling me. My DH is a carnivoire. He loves meat and all meat related products. We both respect each others views and it has never been an issue between us. When I got pregnant with DD we agreed that DD would eat meat, however, I would not hide my reasons for not eating meat from her and if she asked to become a veggie too, regardless of her age, she could.

DD is now 22 months and eats a balanced, varied diet. However, she has started to show an interest in eating 'mummy's meat' from my plate and seems to enjoy Quorn as much as she does meat. The other day I was cooking for just me and her so did a Quorn based meal and hubby got upset. He said that she is too young to choose yet and I completely agree, however, I can't see the harm in her eating both. I have no plans to stop cooking meat for her. On the occasion in question it was just easier to cook one meal. DH thinks that I am denying her nutrients by giving her Quorn instead of proper meat and is concerned about the Soya content because he read somewhere that Soya can make girls infertile. I understand his worries but as a healthy veggie I think he is being a bit precious. However, I am prepared to accept IABU if the majority swings that way. Thoughts and opinions please?

you (or rather your DH) do know that a vegetarian who eats dairy and eggs gets more than enough protein, it is not necessary to supplement this with quorn or any other kind of TVP. And that excess protein that isn't burnt off by excercise will turn to fat.

also, what's this about the baby being too young to make a choice? A choice has already been made, to give her meat. I don't understand why people think that a vegetarian child has had parental choice foisted upon them, but a meat-eating child hasn't. We attach our choices to our children all the time, but this really seems to be the one that upsets people.

DH is veggie. I am not. I made the decision to bring up DD as veggie, for a number of reasons - I'm not about to start cooking more than one meal, which I would have to if she turned out to be a total carnivore; cost; healthier. When she is old enough to understand the arguments on either side, she can then have meat/fish outside the home or for a sandwich or similar - but that main meals in our house are veggie.

There is no soya in decent sausages, only if you buy cheap crap ones.

Quorn is IMO, the franken nugget of the vegetarian world.

The veggies I know treat it the same way I do cheap 'chicken' nuggets.

No biggy to have sometimes but you wouldn't want to make a habit of it.

I think he is just overly anxious. He sees Quorn as a replacement for meat. I, however, do not. I eat it because I like the taste, not because I want to eat something meat tasting. He is worried that she will end up preferring Quorn and will then give up meat and that will make her ill. His concerns are based on the fact that I was anaemic as a child (due to my diet, because my mum refused to 'let' me be a veggie so I just wouldnt eat anything that contained meat and my family ate meat at every meal) and at the end of my pregnancy. However, my meat eating SIL was anaemic all of the way through her pregnancy too, so I am pretty certain that had nothing at all to do with my diet. She is our PFB, he is a worrier. He is lovely though and will accept a reasoned argument, which is why I asked on here. Thank you for all of your replies.

DP and I are both omnivores, but we still eat Quorn sometimes, because it tastes nice (the mini eggs I think are tastier than pork-based ones for instance) - just as we eat a variety of meat and fish, and it's not unusual to have a dinner (shock horror) that doesn't contain meat at all.. is that not normal?

Everyone's already said that Quorn is mushroom, not soya..

Your DP is reading into things that aren't there - you're not forcefully converting, you're just sharing - could as we do, and rather than having Mummy's meat and Daddy's meat just have meals - some of which are veggie, some aren't, and you just don't eat the meat bit of a non-veggie meal? Or does DP not want to eat veggie at all?

He does eat veggie, but only if I do a pasta based dish. He eats a lot of white meat and chicken in his evening meals. I suppose he would argue that it balances out because he has a meat free breakfast and lunch. He doesnt like DD eating from his plate (however, that is a different thread entirely...) but I encourage it. I am a 'pile it all in the middle and share' kind of eater.

white meat and fish^

I'm a vegetarian, DH eats meat. Like you, we agreed the DDs would eat meat. However, I use quorn a fair amount and certainly wouldn't bother making 2 meals. If I do something like Bolognese, we all eat quorn- DH included. My DDs are 2 and 4 and have been eating small amounts of quorn since they were weaned.

If he is concerned about the health part, then there are some terrific books about building up infants, toddlers and children as vegetarians and vegans which he and you both could read. I know you are vegetarian not vegan, but as an example I can highly recommend these two books;

www.amazon.co.uk/Feeding-Your-Vegan-Infant-Confidence/dp/0907337295

www.amazon.co.uk/Complete-Idiots-Guide-Vegan-Eating/dp/1592579787/ref=pd_sim_b_5/276-7948700-3051939

that was supposed to be 'bringing up' not building up.

Quorn shouldn't be given to children under three.

I have been vegan, i now eat fish, but no other animal product.

There are better other meat substitutes available, i used to use Asda's own.

I started to eat fish after being ill and seeing a Dietian, she was very against using Quorn regulary, so i researched it.

I don't see the need to use anything instead of meat, that is like saying a meal isn't a meal without meat. I would rather leave my Mushrooms etc chunky, if i felt i needed substance.

I would domore research about weaning a child on a non meat diet and go with that, rather than fill her up with chemical meat substitutes. As said,most vegetarians/vegans i know look at those products like cheap chicken nuggets.

I had a very positive response from my main consultant, who was Hindu and vegan. In his family (some Hindu's are not vegan) all of the children were raised on non meat diets and people recoved from illness etc, without having to use animal deprived food.

I really don't care about the ins and outs of it. But making a meal for you and then a separate meal for a toddler is bonkers, imo. If DH would be there and you'd be making two meals (or two variants thereof) then fine, but cooking for you then something different for her is just nuts.

As far as I am aware the only issue with quorn is that it can fill a wee one up but with not a lot of nutritional value.

There is no real issue with soya. The vast majority of the "information" on how soya is bad is to be found on woo blogs rather than scientific journals.

Look at all the dairy intolerant babies that have to have soy formula...

Quorn used to come with a warning that it wasn't suitable for under 2s or under 3s. Not looked recently but I think it was because of too much fibre and too little fat?

We are carnivores but occasionally eat Quorn Bolognese rather than regular. First time I did it as an experiment so see how the kids would like it and they did so we still make it sometimes now.
I think the important thing is to get your dd to enjoy food and it's probably a lot easier to do that if all 3 of you eat veggie sometimes.

Well, knowledge is power. Sounds like he needs to read about nutrition, stop attaching unreasoned significance to coincidence, then he can stop worrying!

Quorn and other meat substitutes can be dubious especially for small children.
I get that many people want to be vegetarian, some do it on health grounds, some do it because they disagree with eating animals but I really don't see the logic of a highly processed substitute full of additives like quorn. Either give her meat or don't but faux meat is just odd and I'm not convinced of it's healthiness.

By all means if she decides that she doesn't want to eat meat then let her make that decision when she's older or cook her a veg based meal without the need for substitutes but heavily processed meat substitutes aren't great food.

he clearly has no underrstanding of the nutritional needs of a young child, they need protein. this can come from milk, eggs, beans, wholegrain, nuts, seeds... etc. as long as you give her a mix of the nine amino acids she needs it should be ok.

I'm a veggie and tried Quorn a few years ago, was sick after eating it- headaches, body aches, vomiting, bloat, diarrhoea. Once i linked the sickness to the Quorn and then did some googling I discovered that some people are intolerant/allergic to it. Can't remember the stats but it would be worth looking into this before feeding it to your child.

Also from what I recall it is some type of fungi, not mushrooms or soya.

yes Quorn is fungus grown in a lab - weird shit IMO - u could try some other veggie dishes like with lentils or beans etc?

i am not a vegetarian, (sorry) but i cook a lovely lasagne with quorn green lentils and mushrooms because it tastes lovely and frequently give my ds (2yrs) macaroni cheese for his tea.

One of the little ones I nanny for used to go to a nursery which served only meat free meals (they serve meat now) and quorn was often on the menu. He couldn't eat it as it has cows milk in which he can't have.

Thanks for alerting me to this - I'd intended to wean DD onto the same foods we eat so will check out if there's any evidence that Quorn or soya is risky. The NHS website doesn't mention it being a problem.

I agree with Mrs Oakenshield's stance - I'm veggie, DH eats fish occasionally but meals at home are veggie and we're not going to start buying meat, but when DD is old enough to understand, she can eat meat outside the home. PILs are predominantly veggie, so it's only really my parents who would have it around her when she's really little.

hmm, I wonder if that's the same nursery DD goes to - did serve fish but has now (due to uninformed parental pressure, I have no doubt) started serving meat. Just red meat, oddly, from an organic farm or summat. Feel annoyed that money has been taken from other things to pay for this (and annoyed that DD is now referred to as being on a 'special diet').

I have to say I never knew that Quorn wasn't recommended for little ones, we never have it cos DH hates it and I didn't like the idea of her having meat substitute, just seemed a bit odd!

nhs says small amounts of quorn are ok from around 9 months

www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/when-can-I-give-Quorn-to-my-baby.aspx?CategoryID=62&SubCategoryID=63