The Veg Blog

Old, but notable: herbal supplements may contain cow glands and organs. Something vegetarians might not think about.

Another example of the importance of reading labels: did you know that worchestshire sauce has anchovies? However, I found a number of “vegetarian” recipes on the web that had worchestshire sauce in them.

Robert also pointed out to me last night that Bar-B-Q Baked Lay’s have chicken fat. In fact, a number of Frito-Lay products have animal products in them that wouldn’t be immediately apparent.

I got all experimental last night in the kitchen. I decided to just take random veggies that I had in the fridge and cook ‘em up together.

I started with a little organic first cold-pressed olive oil in a frying pan and added yucca root (cassava), lettuce, kale, corn, peas, cauliflower, and a little Lightlife Gimmie Lean fake sausage. I topped it off with a dash of basil and some curry powder. After the olive oil dissipated, I added some brewed Silver Needle White Tea in the pan and let the ingredients simmer in that for a few minutes.

The end result was surprisingly good! The white tea flavor had just barely seeped into the veggies and the fake sausage gave things a nice spice. I was proud of myself. :)

Great French Chef Goes Vegetarian at Michelin Three-Star Restaurant in Paris

Sounds like the decision has garnered some backlash, especially from other nearby cooks. I applaud the move, but probably wouldn’t eat there (at $150 for dinner, it’s a tad outside of my price range).

Apparently, Regina’s Vegetarian Table has been airing for five seasons on PBS. I just came across it today and am going to make it a point to check it out when it’s on later this week.

Fox 5 did yet another special report of interest this evening about genetically modified foods. It didn’t provide any new information, but gave a relatively balanced report on the issue.

In case I haven’t said it before, I’ll say it now: I’m not a scientist and I certainly can’t say whether or not GE foods are healthy or unhealthy. However, I will say that the fact that these “foods of the future” (???) are being tested only by the people that are doing the engineering bothers me. Let’s get some third parties in there doing the testing and keep a close eye on these foods’ long term effects. And until some sort of conclusion can be reached, let’s label the foods. Considering that the government actually outlawed labeling of foods that weren’t GE, I think someone needs to shake things up at the FDA.

Two links from the broadcast: GE Food Alert and Thyme Square Cafe (an almost all-organic restaurant in Bethesda).

Vegetarian Phrases in Other Languages, just to make sure you don’t get served beef in Malaysia. Looks like we’ll have to get them phrases in Vietnamese, though. (via Dan)

I had another Uniq Fruit today for lunch. I snapped a picture so you can see what this tasty citrus fruit looks like.

Two products I’ve really been loving recently:

• Dr. Praeger’s Potato Pancakes. Being that I’m half-Polish, I grew up with Polish potato pancakces (Placki). Put a little low-fat sour cream on them and you have an awesome meal. These are quite good considering that they’re frozen. I also love Dr. Praeger’s motto: “You’ll recognize all the ingredients.”
• Veggie Patch‘s Veggie Rounds. These make great sandwiches, especially with soy cheese or soy pepperoni. They’re pretty darn good for you, too.

The aforementioned report on Fox 5 news was actually not too bad. It was a generally positive spot about vegetarianism and veganism in teens, and any negative commentary made on the subjects was countered with facts from dieticians and such.

One site they mentioned in the report was VegDC.com. The site’s run by a local teenager and is really quite a good look at vegetarian life in the DC area.

The broadcast had one especially disturbing image of cows and pigs in a slaughterhouse that really bothered me… and it was a pretty tame shot.