Vegetarian Cuisine

There are several different types of vegetarians and many reasons why someone may become vegetarian.

We will be exploring how and why someone becomes vegetarian, the effects this has on the world around us as well as how one receives the nutrients needed for daily functions.

There are five general classifications of vegetarians:

1. Vegetarian2. Lacto vegetarian3. Ovo vegetarian

4. Lacto/ovo vegetarian 5. Vegan.

Vegetarian is often used as a blanket term for someone who does not eat meat, fish or poultry.

A lacto vegetarian diet consists of a vegetarian diet which includes dairy products. These could be milk, cheese, butter and yogurt but excludes eggs. An ovo vegetarian diet is a vegetarian diet which includes eggs but not dairy products.

Vegan is taken as the most extreme stand on vegetarianism. This group eats only plant products and does not use products derived from animals, such as leather, honey or fur.

There is a vegetarian diet called lacto/ovo vegetarian and is a diet which includes both dairy AND eggs.

Flexitarian - mostly eat a vegetarian diet but occasionally eat meat

Pescatarian - do not eat meat or animal flesh except for fish

Macrobiotic – eat unprocessed vegan food

The main concern for vegetarians is nutrition. There have been scientific studies that prove a guided and well planned vegetarian diet can be nutritious as well as decrease the risk of certain diseases, such as heart disease.Just like a diet that includes the consumption of meat, it is important to include a wide range of food varieties when eating vegetarian.

It is recommended that the consumption of processed foods be a minimal component to your diet. During processing, many important vitamins and minerals are lost making the few we eat less nutrient rich. As long as we are replacing the conventional means of nutrients with other forms we will be able to eat vegetarian and remain healthy, strong and energetic

Eastern ReligionsHinduism often encourages a vegetarian diet although there are Hindu’s that are not vegetarian. Both teachers and scripture emphasize this diet since they consider the cow sacred. It is universally accepted across this religion to avoid beef. Jainism holds that to kill or harm any living being is wrong. They practice nonviolence which follows that they hold a vegetarian diet. Short Video

A main component of Siddhartha Gautama’s (the Buddha) teaching was to be mindful and compassionate. This was not limited to human suffering and extended to all living creatures. Because of this he taught that a purely vegetarian diet was important as Buddhism revolves around karma.

Taoism also favors vegetarianism. The reason alters slightly from the other Eastern Religions. Although they do believe in a non-violent, non-aggressive approach, simplicity is also stressed. Taoist Master Li Han-Kung prohibited ‘those who consume meat’ from his Holy Mountain. Meat production is avoided since it is too aggressive and requires an unnecessary impact on the environment.

Abrahamic Religions

Judaism is based on the Hebrew Scripture (the Torah) which described vegetarianism as the ideal. There are many examples in the Old Testament where the people of the Lord are instructed to refrain from eating animals and to consume plants.

There are some contradictions to this but overall we are told to have dominion over all God’s creatures which means we should love and look after them. Judaism does follow kosher dietary laws which mean they must follow specific practices when raising, slaughtering, cooking and eating meat.

Islam beliefs are common with Judaism’s regarding vegetarianism. Islam’s hold that produced farming is too cruel and unnecessary to consume the meat with good conscience. Two others reasons for not consuming meat according to Islam belief is the compassion of animals and only consuming healthy foods. Since meat is often laden with hormones and antibiotics.

Christianity follows the same principle of refraining from cruelty to animals. The mass produced animal meat does not correspond with the compassion and love for all God’s creatures. Mass producing animals for foods works against providing the needy and hungry with food. Since over half of the grains produced are used as feed for animals those grains could be used to eradicate hunger.

Mormonism condemns killing animals as it is unnecessary. It is only allowed when no other food is available and even then must be consumed sparingly. In general, if all religions followed their golden rule they would be compassionate to the creatures around them. This would follow that they would refrain from eating meat since it causes unnecessary death.

Environmental Reasons•Animal farming is one of the top contributors to water pollution, air pollution and global warming.

•Our grain crops are being funneled through animals for slaughter. We are basically using double the amount of food since we need to feed these animals until slaughter.

•These grain crops need to be shipped to animal farms using up fossil fuels. We are also breeding more animals that would be natural and they produce large amounts of gases.

•This also goes for water consumption. We need to ship water to animal farms. There are people in the world without water and we are supplying animals for slaughter with unlimited supplies.

•In the world there are countless acres of forest being demolished to provide land for animal farms.

In a nut shell, a true environmentalist would also become a vegetarian.

An interesting perspective supplied by environmental scientist John Robbins says that the average vegan uses about one-sixth of an acre of land to satisfy his or her food requirements for a year; the average vegetarian who consumes dairy products and eggs requires about three times as much, and the average meat-eater requires about 20 times that much land. He says that we can grow a lot more food on a given parcel of land if we’re not funneling crops through animals.

Heath Reasons

Plant products typical to a vegetarian diet, like soybeans, oats, corn, etc., are all high in fiber, protein and complex carbohydrates. The same plant products are cholesterol free and saturated fat free. The combination of these two points makes these plant foods extremely healthy.

We take these extremely healthy foods and feed them to animals. At that point they become low in fiber and carbohydrates and high in cholesterol and saturated fats. We then eat the unhealthy food providing us with less energy and nutrients. Soy proteins contain isoflavones that inhibit tumor growth, lower blood cholesterol levels, decrease the risk of blood clots and diminish bone loss.

One of the common questions regarding health and vegetarianism is ‘where do you get your protein from?’; the question that should be asked is ‘as a meat-eater where do you get your carbohydrates from?’. There are many protein dense vegetarian options. In general, studies are showing that vegetarian diets are typically high in carbohydrates, dietary fiber, n-6 fatty acids, cartonoids, folic acid, vitamin C, vitamin E and magnesium. They are low in saturated fats, long-chain n-3 fatty acids, retinol, vitamin B12 and Zinc.

Although careful planning is needed to avoid nutritional deficiencies, it is not difficult and there is no question that well-designed vegetarian diets are healthy for most people, including pregnant women and children.