Maybe I'll whip up some schmaltz.

[rootofnewt]

I frequently think about returning to vegetarianism. One reason I don't is that I have trouble consuming enough healthy calories without meat in my diet. I have a very hard time getting above 800 kcal/day because I can't have many nuts, peanuts, soy, or gluten. And I can't go overboard with refined starches or sugar.

And then there's the other reason. Burn-your-fingers roast chicken is too darn tasty. And the beef jerky I make? Damn, that's tasty.

My reasons for vegetarianism were rooted in health, not ethics. I think that makes it harder to revert, when I know that I am not healthier while veg. Yet I have more and more ethical and financial reasons for considering the switch back.

oh, well. I'll stick to sustainably raised animal flesh and buy it as locally as possible.

Comments

[mmymoon.livejournal.com]

I have a hard time listening to discussions since I kill the damn things myself. (Not all of the meat I consume, but not so much of an ethical problem with death like others seem to have.)

You know I have the same problem with getting enough calories... and I just can't eat many beans without getting stomach problems. The doe-eyed assurances that veg is easy and great kind of fall away when one would pretty much be starving to death. (I'll believe the cheapness thing for normal diet people who are vegetarian; I've had some vegan friends drop a level simply because that's an expensive diet!) I think eliminating food a highly allergic person CAN actually digest, for a non-physical reason, is just kind of ridiculous.

I get really grumbly when people try to tell me to go veg... like I don't have enough problems in my life! (Or imply I'm not actually a humanitarian/animal lover/eco-friendly person because of that.) Really, if one wanted to limit one's impact on the world radically, one could kill themselves and be done with it -- but being human, particularly a non-average-healthy human, requires a consumption of resources. Beh.

[mmymoon.livejournal.com]

(Er, not your discussions, but the general Pro-Veg nattering generally assumes 1. you have a problem with death and 2. you can eat anything.)

[glove-puppet.livejournal.com]

We have a lovely TV thing in the UK at the moment called "Kill it, cook it, eat it", which I feel ought to be compulsory for people.

[mmymoon.livejournal.com]

I've seen that! Or something similar in theme, at least, when I had BBC America. (The fellow was raising turkeys in his backyard, I think.) I definitely think a lot of argument is geared towards urban people who haven't experienced the realities of meat preparation in all its glory... I've butchered every type of local domestic animal, and fair share of wild game, so. Mwahaha!

[junni.livejournal.com]

I agree with the compulsory viewing of "Kill it, cook it, eat it." Saw an episode recently.

I think mmyoon might be thinking of Gordon Ramsay's "The F--- Word," or maybe an episode of River Cottage (Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall), but that seems less likely.

[krasota.livejournal.com]

That's the thing. Meat makes my gut feel sludgy. My teeth and bones feel better (not a logical or pinpointable thing, just a feeling), but my energy feels ooooooogy.

On the other hand, it might just be that I am so unaccustomed to food actually being *digested* that the higher density proteins are weird to my gut. Still.

[glove-puppet.livejournal.com]

Sustainable local works for me, and I'm veggie when I'm skint. Thought I do at those times consume calories from home made wine... :)

[bambamkam.livejournal.com]

i'm the same way, I would go back Veg, if I didn't have to rely completely on BEANS for protein!

and I've really gotten into delicious meat - preferably organically, raised, free range, humanely processed delicous meat.

OSTERIM is a new favorite (it's a beef/ostrich jerky - the pepper flavor is GF)

[krasota.livejournal.com]

Well, I need soy-free, too. And Sodium Nitrate-free. :/ There are a couple brands which have GF, soy-free, papaya-free, nitrate-free jerkies, but it's much cheaper to make my own. Yum.

[glove-puppet.livejournal.com]

Do you by any chance have a recipe you'd be willing to share ?

[krasota.livejournal.com]

Sure. I've done a few different ones, but I stick with . . . you won't believe this because I can't stand the guy's show . .. Emeril.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/homemade-beef-jerky-recipe/index.html

Anyhow, the bbq ones you can find online are great, I just can't do tomatoes and they all call for catsup.


I wait until Whole Foods puts the cut they call "london broil" on a really good sale. I think it's probably a top round steak or flank steak? We cut it very thin because I can't chew quarter inch jerky (that's what half inch goes down to). You need a very good knife and mostly frozen meat to do it this way.

I'm going to try adding some liquid smoke and chipotle tabasco to the next batch. I like this recipe because it's just a dry rub. We layer it in a pyrex dish, though. Sprinkle the bottom, lay in meat, sprinkle well, add next layer, sprinkle, etc. Then cover it and refrigerate it overnight. Put in the dehydrator on the highest temp for about four-five hours. I rotate and flip from time to time and add more seasoning if it doesn't look like a stroke waiting to happen. I'll just sprinkle the liquids I'm thinking about on in the first stage--pre-fridge.

[glove-puppet.livejournal.com]

Ta muchly. I will consult my US/UK butchery translation diagram. :)

[crankles.livejournal.com]

Thanks for writing this for me - you said it so well that now I don't have to write it :) When you can't digest proteins aside of meat and you've got to keep your sugars down, there's not much left. I wish I could go back to being vegetarian. I'd know so much more now, it would be cheaper, easier (in some ways), and environmentally friendly. But I'm not willing to sacrifice my health to do it.

[tired-sam-2.livejournal.com]

iam a veggie( vegetarian) but i can understand your dilema just do whats right for you and your health

i became vegetarian becuase of my love of all annimals#

but your health has to come first

thanKS FOR talkin so openly and honest :-)

(((krasota)))

[paquerette.livejournal.com]

Just want to add my "me too!" We'd be sunk without meat. I used to try to do 2 or 3 bean dinners a week and even that was tough. And it seems now I can't have coconut or I get fountain effect baby, so that would be tough for saturated fats.

[glove-puppet.livejournal.com]

Your icon is a work of genius. :)

[paquerette.livejournal.com]

thanks. I stole it from somewhere, can't remember where.

my hubby says they have similar signs at work (he welds) warning them to wear protective eye gear that look like "watch out for bacon flying at your eyes."