To ask how easy it was to become vegetarian?

[Greatdays2233]

I’d love to be vegetarian but would struggle with giving up chicken How easy did other folk find the transition?

Thanks bean and ginky. I've been researching but there's so much to take in. Who'd have known there's pork gelatin in jelly?!! I'm eating so much veg and yes chickpeas have featured in a curry I made.

I'm wondering if I need to take any supplements as I'm not getting the protein from meat anymore. I'm very new to all of this.

What have you replaced the meat with? There are loads of lovely ways to get protein in your diet. The vegetarian society website has good information.

Going vegetarian is easy, you just need to make a bit of effort so you get enough iron and B12 and a few other things in your diet. If you are otherwise healthy and have a reasonable diet, taking a daily multivitamin will probably do it.

However as some people have said it depends why you are doing it. I know lots of people who were veggie for a while, I have now been veggie over 20 years, from when it was pretty are to eat anything out other than vegetable lasagne, to now where most places do a decent choice of food, and most supermarkets cater well for vegetarians. Some things are still frustrating, like the fact that almost no-one (except I thin Pizza Express - go them!) labels their deserts as veggie or not even though they do for the main course so for some things you have to ask, and you occasionally still get a waiter look at you like you are an idiot. Because why would their be meat in a desert.

It also opens up a whole debate for me about how far you take ethical issues - I don't use or wear leather, which used to make shoe buying difficult (easier now), I also use soya milk on cereal. I would like to cut out dairy all together but for me personally not really an option. Then you can get a bit into food miles and is it really more ethical to drink milk from a dairy round the corner or milk substitute that has travelled hundreds or thousands of miles in plastic packaging and then your head really starts to spin.

So work out whatever you are happy to stick with according to your own beliefs. Most people will be nice about it unless you try and convert them.

Sorry about all the typos!

@Catspaws I've never met anyone who stayed veggie if they weren't repulsed by meat. I've heard of stories like yours but they always go back even if it's while they're pregnant or years later. Could be wrong for a few but I think it's right with the majority. If you don't look at is as food and see it as what it is- chunks of dead body, cow breastmilk, un fertilised eggs/chicken periods. And the industries repulse you too it's a surefire way of staying veggie and the only one I've seen work (and I know a lot of veggies and was raised by them).

Very easy. I was 8.

@ibicus I'm a vegetarian who isn't repulsed by meat. I just don't want to eat it.

A couple of years after I went veggie me and xH went to stay with friends of his. One one of the nights there was a family dinner and the friend's mum was cooking. Before dinner she popped her head in and said "Is one of you vegetarian?" I said me. She said ok and went back to the kitchen. When dinner was served she said "Stars, for you I have chicken." ! The friend was mortified. (And she had chicken for everyone, so to this day I gave no idea what her thought process was...) But I thought: this creature died and here it is, and if I throw it out it's whole wee life will have been a waste. And here is this woman who put time and effort into feeding me. So I decided to eat it while consciously being grateful for it. My choice is never to eat meat because I love animals , but that doesn't mean the very concept disgusts me. Each to their own.

Fair enough I just meant in basic terms if you believe strongly in it morally then you will stick to it and if you don't you probably won't and if you do it'll probably be quite easy. I think finding it repulsive does help never wanting to go back to it too.

That's interesting ibicus, all of my family are vegetarian but none of us have done it for moral reasons. My reasons were firstly financial and also because of BSE. I suppose now I am repulsed by the thought of eating meat when I think about it though, but more because of the taste and texture rather than anything to do with the animal.

Surely the toughest bit is losing friends ...

I've never met anyone who stayed veggie if they weren't repulsed by meat

I'm not repulsed by meat, and I've been vegetarian for almost 25 years. It's an ethical and environmental issue for me we can feed more of the world's population more sustainably without so much land and resources being given over to meat but I'm not someone who automatically weeps at the idea of fluffy lambs being slaughtered. I grew up in the country and we killed our own chickens, and regularly ate animals we 'knew'.

Easy in the UK, but can be very difficult in certain continental European countries when you want to eat out.

There are very few veggie options in France, Germany, Austria etc.

So it can make holidays more difficult and you end up having to self cater most of the time

I went vegetarian overnight. I had initially had the intention on giving up meat but still eating fish (not that I ate much fish to begin with). I had also thought I wouldn’t worry so much about things like stock cubes containing beef / chicken etc but once I gave up the meat it was just a natural thing to also avoid them. I wasn’t really a big fan of meat before I gave it up. I liked minced beef for things like cottage pie / mince and tatties / Bolognese etc but if I was eating a chicken curry I would eat the sauce and rice but leave all the chicken on the side of the plate.

I do use some soy meat alternatives but Quorn makes me break out in an itchy rash on my face and neck and it feels like my throat glands swell up a little. Quorn is made from a mold so can cause issues with people who have mold allergies or issues with penicillin.

DD (8) has recently also decided to become vegetarian and she is doing remarkably well. She checks sweet packets etc for gelatine and scans everything for the little V symbol on the packet. If she’s unsure about anything she won’t eat it. She does eat Quorn products, particularly the Quorn ‘chicken’ slices for her sandwiches.

There are very few veggie options in France, Germany, Austria etc.

Certainly not the case in Germany any more. We holidayed in the same rural village over a five year period and saw the variety of vegetarian meals increase drastically in the local restaurants, plus the increased availability of Quorn and more in the supermarkets was noticeable. I'd imagine vegetarian options in restaurants in Berlin and other large cities are plentiful.

Germans like their beer and they like their sausages. They do an excellent range of alcohol free beers and veggie sausages. Also their meat sausages are predominantly gluten free, as they tend not to add fillers.

Their cakes are pretty fab too - and most are vegetarian!

Piss easy, I never missed meat or fish at all (other than occasional hankerings after a pork pie and one horrible few weeks during my pregnancy with ds3 when I really wanted roast lamb and mint sauce). It's been over 25 years and the thought of eating meat now is laughable. I've tried a number of times to cut out dairy but that I do find really, really hard, which makes me sad as the dairy industry is awful.

I only went veggie a couple of years ago. Initially I was pescatarian. I didn't tell anyone, didn't set a deadline, just decided to try and ease into it, eating les and less meat. Strangely the only thing I've missed are pigs in blankets at Xmas!

I started making bolognaise, chilli and shepherds pies with Quorn mince and Bisto beef gravy (which is veggie!). My family didn't know and didn't notice. I started to feel a bit queasy after Quorn, so stopped using it, but it was a useful transition. Nowadays if a want a meaty kind of base I use green lentils in the Bisto. I find I use a lot more nuts, lentils and cheese in my cooking nowadays (I'd like to move away from dairy, but seem to be struggling!).

DH is also vegetarian (since I met him, his mother never forgave me )

DD has been for a year but she always used to sample our food anyway so not a huge change for her.

She finds most of the gelatine free sweets a bit meh but likes the Candy Kitten ( though you need to check the pckaging some are Vegan, some has gelatine) and the M&S Veggie Colin the Caterpillar sweets.

(And being vegetarian will lead you down the Free Range Eggs route, or maybe EggFree . Dairy Free . Cruelty Free Cosmetics/ Toiletries. Non tested laundry /cleaning/. Non leather shoes and bags.............)

The more you read up the more horrific

Not easy - I did it for 6 months whilst I was pregnant and then when DS came along I was so bloody hungry all the time from breastfeeding and too tired to cook meals from scratch and ended up eating meat again.
I will give it up again eventually but until then my motto is that eating less meat and more plants is better for me and the environment. The food shop I do is always vegetarian (DH is veggie) but if I eat out or order take away I will still sometimes have meat.

it's very easy. Almost any standard dish you cook as an omni can be made vegetarian.

Same for being vegan. Not an issue if you're committed to not going back.

Once I'd made the decision it was really easy. 10 years later and a vegan for over a year now.

Quorn is very processed and probably not that great for you but I'm not massively bothered by that and will eat it once a week. Their vegan hot and spicy burgers are delicious.

I can easily make vegan cottage pie, mince (savoury) pies and mash, curries, pastas, spag bol, lasagna, salads, dahl, pizza, casseroles, anything you would normally make is easily veganised in the majority of cases! It's just knowing how. I'd recommend joining a vegan or animal rights group locally on Facebook, people are always asking questions about food and shops to buy from and recipes etc, it's very handy :)

Been vegan now for fourteen years and veggie for ten before that.

She finds most of the gelatine free sweets a bit meh

How can anyone not like Veggie Percys?

I'm a bit about Quorn, but do rather like their cocktail sausages!

BTW , don't overdo the Quorn/ Meat Substitutes , they have quite ,erm, drastic gastric effects for some people.
I'm not keen on Quorn Mince it tastes a bit sweet to me. The best one was Real-Eat which was then made by LindaMcCartney then vanished .

Waitorse sell "Meat the Alternative" which is delicious, very savoury and bigger chunkier texture. I've just rustled up a chilli for later ( onion, chillis,passata,tomatoe puree,garlic,red kidney beans and MtA mince)

The supermarket own brand veggie frozen mince is really good, if you miss the RealEat stuff.