Vegetarian at nursery

[OrangeSprout]

Hi!

just reviewing the nursery’s menu…my kids aren’t on any diet restriction and the entire menu is vegetarian (quorn 8 times in the month and vegetables for the rest of it)…not really happy with this to be honest….it costs £1400 per month just for the baby and £900 for the three year old. I’d just expect some actual meat?

am I being unreasonable?

You said it wasn't every week, I'd assume 8 times in the month would be every week. It is a lot of quorn regardless and parents should have been consulted considering it is ultra processed and can cause gastrointestinal issues in some people.

I wrote "But I agree, it's not what I would put on the menu twice a week in vegetarian month. "

I'm agreeing with you!

Actually it's been proven that eating meat is better for a babies brain development than a vegan/veggie diet.

Actually it's natural resources. Religion. Money. Politics. That's the cause of the problems on earth. Not because of people apparently not being compassionate to animals because we eat them. I love animals but also love eating them.

Its the biological norm to eat animals.

Quorn is a good source of protein though.

Protein does not only come from meat.

"Actually it's been proven that eating meat is better for a babies brain development than a vegan/veggie diet. "

Claims like that really need to be backed up with some solid evidence.

OK, I saw that after I'd posted, not sure what you changed in the edit, I think it can change after I quote while I'm typing. Unless I just missed that, sorry!

I'd been fine with vegetarian for one month but I'd want another vegetarian option available whenever quorn or other fake meat was on the menu.

Can we really claim to love animals and also eat them (when we don't need to) though?

I mean we could say we love SOME animals. The ones we don't eat.

We can have a vague 'aww aren't sheep cute' kind of notion I suppose. But we don't love something we also pay people to suffocate (pigs in gas chambers) or electrocute (male chicks in egg insustry) or stab to death ect...

Hell if that's love. Keep it.

Like no judgement because I still eat the stuff too sometimes. But I just don't agree with perpetuating the falsehoods around why we eat meat or that we need it or that we can love animals whilst paying fir their suffering (unless - we don't actually look at what we are paying for. Which, no judgement,because most people don't know how awful these places truly are).

YANBU. Neither of my children eat meat, and they both like Quorn, but I wouldn't want them to be eating it 8 times in a month. Quorn is high in protein, but it's also quite processed.

Although I don't see a problem with some nursery meals being vegetarian, I would expect them to be providing good quality meat or fish two or three times a week. As well as being nutritious, it helps young children experience a good variety of different tastes and textures.

Yanbu

The World Health Organisation says that a vegan diet (not even just veggie) is suitable for all stages of life

Where?

https://www.bmj.com/content/365/bmj.l1700

Health wise meat free is fine in a balanced diet, more importantly I’d want my kids to have fish a couple of times a week

Having a quick scan online. Here we go.
This is a vegan site though so might be worth looking for original sources of course.

yeah, people make all sorts of crap up that XYZ said. Where are the original statements about "suitable for all stages of life"?

I can't believe WHO said "suitable for all stages of life". It's not the way WHO talks.

yeah.... looking like made up rubbish

https://medium.com/@ModernFoodscape/is-it-true-that-all-major-health-organizations-support-a-vegan-diet-2fc0f26691f6

The diagram in your post gives a 'supports for all stages of life' yes/no options for various groups.

So I'd imagine that's where the idea comes from if they are a 'yes' on that. I can't see them. But there are plenty of other organisations on there.

I just remember it originally from Ed (winters? I think) on YouTube I think. He's a vegan outreach guy.

It looks like the 'suitable for all stages of life' is a category some organisations are placed into agreeing or disagreeing with, based upon their overall publications. Rather than necessarily a direct word for word from the individual places. WHO don't seem to feature on that graph for yes or for no so maybe they've subsequently gone with yes.

I'd definitely be questioning the amount of processed quorn when they could be having beans and pulses instead as a non processed alternative.

I wonder if they had a vegetarian or allergy child start at the nursery and are trying to avoid doing several different meals.

At our nursery we cook from scratch for every lunch. The menu always has a fish dish, a couple of meat and a couple of vegetarian meals mixed through the week. We also will do variants for those with allergies or preferences even though that can take longer but it is fine so long as the registers are there for the following week. If a child books in at last minute we always have an allergy/preference meal frozen for them via batch cooking.

Quorn can give me a bad stomach, apparently it is a think you start reacting after too many exposures do I wouldn't be keen.

Even Quorn advertising starts needs to be hard in moderation for children sure to salt and fibre content thttps://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=www.quornnutrition.com/diets-for-young-children%23:~:text%3DQuorn%2520mycoprotein%2520can%2520be%2520consumed,flexitarian%252C%2520vegetarian%2520or%2520vegan%2520diets.&ved=2ahUKEwjQmOX41IaCAxVEVUEAHRgMBlkQFnoECA4QBg&usg=AOvVaw04P_rEChF_UIMIxGtngrLQ

Children do need a regular adequate source of dietary iron. Heme iron is good for most kids because it's very bio-available and enhances iron availability in plant foods. Only the iron in breastmilk beats it, really. Heme iron is in meat. Heme iron is not naturally occurring in plant-foods.

When I google "iron for vegan kids" almost all the images are of vitamin drops and iron-fortified foods. No foods without iron fortification, (unless strawberries are high iron now?). Funny that.

OP you are really coming off like you have an attitude problem.

Why don't you just call the nursery to ask about this month's veggie menu and raise your concern around Quorn.

No need to be so aggressive and rude.

Yeah come off it lol. Vegan cheese is horrible. I'm on here happily arguing the plant based route benefits but if I'm going to call out the meat eating lies I'm also gonna do the same on this little gem lol.

I mean tbf you may just have a taste for it but...

Its mostly awful, gloopy, trash xD. Some of it is ok uncooked. Some of it (I want to say it was called..Applewood?) is OK, melted on a sub with fake chicken, lettice and vegan mayo. Because those ingredients disguise the texture. But vegan cheese is and probably never will be better than real cheese. Far less cruel of course. But not something I'd use to encourage anyone to try plant based living lol.

According to a thread on here the other week- It's even putting vegetarians off eating out because now places have changed lots of their vegetables options to all encompassing vegan ones and keep using that dreadful fake cheese on everything.

Hopefully time will improve its development.

But it's probably the main reason I don't go vegan atm. Love cheese. The fake stuff...ick.

Agree with pp on quorn though. There's plenty of other alternatives. Soya products, beans, lentles ect... even the goopy cheeses xD kids might like them lol. Eggs too! If they are just veggie not vegan (which they must be as pretty sure quorn isn't vegan).

I wouldn’t be happy with them serving quorn, it’s absolute garbage