AIBU to think that you cant really be a foodie if you're a vegetarian?

[MarmaladeTwatkins]

DH is a vegetarian and he would class himself as a "foodie". I can appreciate that he likes nice food but generally I think that being a food fanatic means that you will be able to try anything within reason.

Am I being unreasonable?!

YANBU I agree

I kind of agree, but then in the Far East you're not a foodie unless you eat gorilla, giant sea turtle and elephant so by their standards we're pretty limited and I can't see this as a bad thing!

I think you can still be foodie about non-meat things - I eat most western meats, but the main thing I go foodie-crazy about is CHEESE (nom!) If you're adventurous in other ways such as trying weird things from other cultures then you can still be a foodie in my book.

YABU

I have been veggie for 26 years, am a qualified chef, train chefs and spend nearly every waking minute thinking about good food and drink. I save and go to Michelin restaurants for special occasions and eat out at a variety of restaurants regularly.

I agree that you should be able to try all foods within your remit but I do not think that by not eating a specific food group makes you any less enthusiastic. What about allergies? Some top Michelin chefs have shellfish allergies and cannot eat them, are they not foodies either?

I appreciate good animals and by products (farmers daughter), I cook a selection for my husband to restaurant quality and I teach others to do so also. Pastry is my forte though and that is in part a restriction of my diet lifestyle choice, if I were not vegetarian I have no doubt that I would be a chef still but it is restrictive and there's not always someone available to taste test for you.

I am an absolute foodie and as you can tell have strong views on the subject! ;)

I think YABU. It's perfectly possible to really enjoy cooking and eating delicious food without having a pile of dead flesh on your plate. Both vegetarian and vegan food can be delicious, nourishing and visually attractive. There's a wonderful world of baking (including all sorts of breads) that you can enjoy making, as well as things like gorgeous preserves, sticky and moreish cakes, pies, frozen things like sorbets/ice cream, awesome soups, etc etc etc.

It's also true that many chefs simply can't be arsed to serve decent, imaginative veggie food - I had lunch out with friend on Tuesday and was depressed that the V option was vegetarian lasagne (yet again!!). Haggis, your services are badly needed.

It's also true that you can be veggie and live solely on beans and chips .

I know what you mean. I'm a veggie and it makes me sad that I'll never get to try Heston's taster menu not that I could afford it anyway

Great to hear Haggis's view though. Please set up a Michelin star veggie restaurant near me. Please.

YABU - even "foodies" under your definition have stuff they won't eat. Would you eat period-blood black pudding for example? Appendix souffle? Mud sandwiches? Slug delight? Try it, it might be delicious!

It's just that veggies set their: "You expect me to eat WHAT? No way!" filter a bit lower. Dead pig's arse for instance.

I agree...it just seems so limiting...

I cringe at the word foodie and it's smug connotations

Haha Marmalade, you knew you had it coming to you...!

YABU!!!!!!

i think i can safely safely say haggischucker just "handed your arse handed to you" excellent post

can you really be a foodie and not try what to some is the norm like dog?

i think you can there is fantastic, good, ok and crap veggie food like food made from flesh of cute little animal meat

I don't even mean not eating meat as such, but for example, when I cook certain pasta dishes in which I would usually add anchovies to the base of the sauce to give it some punch... I find that the flavour is missing.

And on a basic food level, if I cook a chili con carne I have to use Quirk mince which doesn't absorb the flavours as well as actual mince.

I can cook risotto and veggie curries etc very well, I've learned to! I did a paella last night and all I could think was "that needs some chorizo in it"

Haggis, which are your favourite foods? :)

I can see your point, and I'm vegetarian. Usually in "fine dining" types of restaurants I only have a very limited choice, so can't appreciate fine food in the same way as my meat-eating husband.

However I do raise an eyebrow when people say "I'll try anything!" but then say they won't eat cat/dog/monkey etc. What's the difference? You could keep a pig as a pet just as much as a dog.

Heston does a veggie taster menu too, they all do. It's a bit more of a pain for them but generally they sell at same or very similar price to meaty version but make a lot more money as raw costs are a lot lower!

Chefs moan about veggies a lot but the truth of the matter is that they can make a hell of a lot more money from us, risks are lower (food poisoning and the like) and recent trends suggest veggie meals are more popular (yay horse meat scandal!) ;)

I want something reeaallllyyyy nice for dinner now! :)

He is being more unreasonable to call himself a foodie at all.

But a vegetarian has no less claim to that title than someone who eats meat, too. There are many hundreds of food stuffs in the world, but only a small fraction of them come from animals.

OK, he's definitely not a foodie if he happily eats Quorn. Eurch.

YABVU There is some amazing vegetarian recipes out there and veggies can be passionate about food. You don't need to eat dead flesh to be a foodie.

Like I said, its not really about the dead flesh but other things that are used in cooking such as fats, anchovies, rennet etc.

Yanbu. I was vegetarian for 7 years. Food is much better with the extra flexibility of dead animal stuff...

YABU . The vast, vast majority of the foods on the world aren't meat or fish it's just that in the UK at least people are weirdly obsessed with meat or fish in everything. Entire cuisines exist with little meat or fish. I've been veggie for 22 years and don't think of meat or fish as food, they are dead animals, I wouldn't eat them, you bury them! Within plant based food I will try anything so would consider myself interested in food. Veggie food means more experimenting with tastes as you are not relying on just meat for flavour.
Hugh F-W wrote a great veggie cookbook and seems to respect veggies. I would love to have him cook for me.

OP the reason you miss the taste of anchovies or chorizo is that you like the taste of those things. If I ate something with those tastes I wouldn't think cot, what have I been missing, I'd think yuk what's that foul taste and smell?

So true "You bury them" - just how I feel. It's on the same grossness scale as imagining eating a dead (natural causes, natch) person - obviously a lot further down it...

I agree with sameoldiggi. If I tasted meat in a dish I would think gross, chewy, rotting flesh and spit it out again all over the table. As indeed I did when a restaurant once gave me a beef curry rather than a veggie one. It was foul.

Maybe, sameold. But DH once inadvertently ate a spoonful of a ragu I'd made for DS and I and he was amazed by the taste. Yes dear, that'll be the umami paste.