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?!

I guess YABU, because certainly there are loads of people really into food who are veggie, and you can do amazing things without meat.

But I suspect most chefs and kitchen folk would agree with you (based on my and DH's experience). Most of them might do veggie options for business reasons but would rather not have to.

YANBU.

YABU and you're over-thinking the word 'foodie' - it's not an official qualification FFS, it's just a newly-coined word to mean someone who is keenly interested in food! If your DH is, then he's a foodie!

I often go for the veggie option when out, especially if I'm somewhere that I'm not sure of the origins of the meat on sale. A lot of the time, the veggie option seems like an afterthought.

It IS an official qualification and I have studied hard for it.

I see what you mean: all vegetarians will have in common that they've put 'not eating dead animals' higher on their food priority list than 'I like the taste of that.' However, I don't think that makes them unqualified as foodies.

Vegans are the biggest foodies I know! Absolutely obsessed!

YABU but you have a point in that it is much harder to be a veggie foodie.

You have to work doubly hard to get an amazing flavour using vegetarian ingredients, and not many restaurants put thought and care into their veggie dishes. Even pure veggie restaurants don't make food as creative and tasty as I can at home.

I have become an infinitely better cook since becoming veggie 3 years ago. And before then I'd eat all kinds of meat and offal like pigs' trotters and cheeks, snails, boar, sashimi, goat etc. (not menstrual blood pudding though)

I don't eat meat or fish but I will admit to allowing some umami into my life - namely Parmesan.

It depends where you want to be a foodie, really. It can be hard appreciating a lot of European food traditions if you are vegetarian as so many of them revolve around animal products (though there is still a huge amount you can do as a vegetarian with, say, Mediterranean flavours and ingredients), but if you go to India or China or Japan there are highly complex and sophisticated vegetarian culinary traditions.

Also, it depends on how you define a 'foodie' - I would think of it as someone who was enthusiastic and knowledgeable about good food, not necessarily someone who ate anything and everything.

If you're making veggie chilli with quorn then you're doing it wrong. Ditto just leaving anchovies out of a sauce which usually has them in - you can't just leave out an ingredient, make up for it with something, perhaps something completely different but which will add to the flavour, texture, etc in a similar way.

YANBU - I am veggie & definitely not a foodie, I am glad to say. Food just is not that big s deal to me (hence I fin it v easy to stay slim).

I guess if I was really into my food I would want to scarf everything & anything - I am just too squeamish.

Hens, being vegan is virtually an eating disorder so I'm not surprised they are obsessed with food. Most people with disordered eating are. I don't think that is the same as being a foodie, or maybe it is? It's all about exerting a high level of control over what you eat, but justified in different ways.

The ultimate umami flavouring (MSG) was originally derived from seaweed, so YABU, be more creative with where you get your umami flavourings from!

I'm fed up with only ever having 1 or 2 options on a menu, sucks when all you want is something nice. Particularly hard now I'm pregnant again as there are some cheeses I have to avoid too! :(

Veganism isn't disordered eating. Vegans can have an eating disorder, just like veggies and meat eaters can but it's a perfectly normal diet. Yes, buying pre made food is hard but vegan alternatives to cheese, milk, ice cream, cake, sweets, custard etc are easy to buy or make so you can make virtually anything. The only thing I've not been able to veganise is meringue. I know many Vegans, including DH and they all eat very well.

YABU.

For the record, I am not a vegetarian. However, I think that suggesting the most exciting foodstuffs in the world are all meat-based shows an astounding lack of imagination.

I thought a foodie was someone who cared about good ingredients and good tastes? My problem with veggie guests (and I admit I find catering to them difficult) is that they so clearly DO think even more than us about all the fine points of what they're eating... and we think of ourselves as foodies.
Vegans, though -- forget it.

YABU. I've been vegetarian all my life and love food. I cook meat and fish, I just don't like the taste! I am apparently a very good cook, I couldn't possibly comment but I am fascinated by recipes , both vege and not.

I have eaten in some of the best Michelin starred restaurants in the world as well as our local pubs and bistros, and have had some amazing meals. My twitter account is pretty much all food related.

I have a complicated relationship with food, I'm a recovering anorexic, but I have moved on so far, I am proud to be a foodie!

Yeah but I feel intimidated by vegetarians, let alone vegans. A vegetarian seems to me a SUPER-foodie. Get beyond that and I give up. Yet as I say I think lots of our friends think of us as foodies in the sense that we are quite picky about sourcing ingredients. I don't think you have to eat snails to be a foodie but if you insist on cooking snails at home, you are definitely a foodie (perhaps a bit pretentious aussi, non? )

YABU unless the definition of 'foodie' (isn't that a made-up word for someone with an interest in food?) is the same as that for 'food critic' - I am a huge fan of food and love trying new things but as a vegetarian I don't feel I'd make a good food critic as from a moral stance there's many things I wouldn't want to try...that doesn't mean I'm not interested in the cooking process or flavour and want to try similar things at home, it is totally possible to be a food fanatic without eating meat

I don't think that meat needs to be included in every dish, I eat meat about once a fortnight!

I suppose what I am saying is that I think that vegetarianism might limit your choices and that is fine if that's what you choose, but you can't go a I'm to have a refined palate if you cut out any food group?

For example, in Puglia this year, DH subsisted on margherita pizza because everything else contained rennet, fish etc . You can't call yourself a food fanatic if you can't eat anything in the gastronomic centre of Italy....

In terms of sourcing ingredients, moral boycotts of certain companies, organic etc I think that's separate to your type of diet (Vegan, veggie etc). Some veggies are organic or boycott and some don't. No need to be intimidated by other people's food choices though. I'm a very non foodie type of veggie. I buy the cheapest stuff and don't bother with organic whilst my Mum is a veggie who boycotts and has organic everything. It's personal choice not a dietary thing. I do feel bad around Vegans though. Because I know they are right but I still have the odd bit of dairy. I mean they mince or gas male chicks at birth just for being male and not being able to lay eggs and kill or sell for veal male dairy calves as they can't make milk. It is horrendous.

Marmalade- meat isn't a food group as such though. It's protein and you can have veggie protein instead. Your DH still had a pizza just not with meat on it. I suppose it depends if you think being a foodie means you have to like or at least try everything. I don't think you do but some people might think you do.

Of course you can call yourself a food fanatic if you avoid rennet and fish. Eating out can be tough, depending on where you are, but to be honest I think of 'foodies' as being people who cook.

Veggies have decided that it's unethical to eat animals even though it might taste better, and unethical even if they're forced to stick to margherita pizza in Puglia. That doesn't mean he wouldn't like a delicious vegetarian meal prepared with incredible, fresh ingredients. Just that wherever you two chose to eat, they didn't offer that. I've spent a lot of time in Italy as a veggie, and eaten very well indeed!

I suspect that veggie foodies have a more refined palate than many meat-eating foodies, as they are eating a more subtle variety flavours.

You can find fantastic veggie restaurants all over if you want to eat well you just have to know where to look. The best meal I ever had was at a small, veggie Bistro in Paris. Completely off the beaten track but it was amazing and very foodie! You just have to know where to go. Same in Budapest. The mainstream was incredibly meaty but the vegan choice was great in the alternative quarter. Best though is New York. OMG . It's vegan food heaven!