It might seem odd for me to deconstruct an article in The New York Times (login info) that mentions vegetarian food in a positive light, but a number of things in this article really jumped out at me. Let’s take them one by one, extracted from the original article (which you should read first, of course):

When I hear the term “vegetarian lifestyle,” I reach for my skirt steak.

Jeez. Another one of “those people?” Why are ethical vegetarians (which who I assume he’s talking about here) so scary to some people?

No one, after all, says you have to be a committed, converted, proselytizing vegetarian to eat a diet less oriented to meat. Besides, many self-described vegetarians are not, strictly speaking, vegetarians. Today’s rules seem pretty flexible, sometimes to the point where there is not much difference between vegetarians and people who eat moderate amounts of meat.

These are those “rules” and half-assed labels I’ve complained about before. Again, any move to a more plant-based diet is A Good Thing, but to say that “there is not much difference between vegetarians and people who eat moderate amounts of meat” is to imply that, hey, vegetarians won’t mind if you give them soup with chicken stock.

We do not hear, either, that a vegetarian diet promotes weight loss, probably because studies have not been done. But I don’t know any overweight vegetarians, though maybe they are walking around hungry.

I’m going to avoid going on a long rant here, but I have a big problem when vegetarianism is promoted as the ultimate weight loss solution or some such. For one, overweight does not automatically mean unhealthy just as thin doesn’t always mean healthy. There are a lot of factors that come into play, like genetics. To me, it’s more constructive to be physically active and to try and eat a healthy, varied diet (leaving ethics aside for the moment) with a focus on whole grains, vegetables, and fruits. If you eat well and are active and are considered “healthy” by metrics other than weight or BMI, then don’t stress out about a number.

Secondly, I know a number of “overweight” vegetarians… and vegans for that matter. I also know a number of unhealthy vegetarians/vegans. Giving up meat isn’t a miracle cure that will automatically make you instantly healthy if you don’t exercise and continue to eat heavily processed snacks in place of meals.

Lastly, the “walking around hungry” part… what the hell is that even supposed to mean?

Still, it sometimes takes a bit more technique to produce vegetarian food that pleases the spoiled palate. For example, I generally make chickpea soup with chicken stock and sausage. But I found that I could create a soup with just as much flavor and body as my original version by slow-cooking the onions until they are brown; by exploiting the fact that, unlike other dried legumes, chickpeas produce a delicious broth as they cook; and by adding spinach, whose character is just as distinctive as that of sausage. Serve this with homemade croutons if you can, or at least with good bread.

Though it may have been implied, it’s something that needs to be explicitly stated for a mainstream publication: use a one-to-one replacement of vegetable stock for chicken stock. It’s easy to do and personally, I could never taste the difference. Even the powdered stuff or bullion cubes you buy in the store taste just fine.

If you visit a Chinese market, you should find prepressed tofu, often cut into strips. Also known as pressed bean curd or extra-firm tofu, it has a brown exterior and is usually packed in plastic, without water.

Extra-firm tofu doesn’t mean prepressed and the kind I’ve bought have never had a brown exterior unless they’ve been pre-cooked and marinated.

Even with all these minor annoyances, the overall message of the article is right on: the idea that vegetarian cooking is boring is extremely outdated. I can honestly say that since I’ve become vegetarian, I’ve never eaten so well. No cuisine of the world is off-limits (OK, well maybe Hungarian food because every recipe I’ve ever seen has lard, but otherwise…) and there are as many preparation styles as there are cooks. It’s always heartening to see the mainstream press confirm this for themselves.

This week is National Vegetarian Week, an annual event sponsored by the Vegetarian Society, an organization established in 1847. Take some time to look through their site and introduce the idea of vegetarian eating to a friend this week.

Don’t forget, today is National Carbohydrate Awareness Day! Well, at least according to the excellent food blog The Amateur Gourmet it is.

Now go out there and eat some bread covered pasta! Or pasta covered bread!

The Washington Post is running a story about how low-carb product sales are declining, which I would never have guessed with the myriad new products claiming “low carb” on their labels, even if they never had any carbs to begin with. Really, if I never hear the abbreviation “carb” again, I’ll be happy.

The one good thing that came about from the Atkins/Zone/South Beach/etc. diets is that now it’s not so hard to find whole wheat hot dog and hamburger buns for my not dogs and veggie burgers.

Now here’s an idea (one that I’ve dreamed about a number of times): a vegetarian Iron Chef competition. While it’s not officially an “Iron Chef” battle, the spirit’s there: one-on-one competition with just veggies between the chefs and victory. Sounds like the event, which took place at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, went well:

“The idea came about because people who are vegetarian typically have a hard time finding new dishes,” [event organizer Matt] Cheney said. “They often cook their own food, and take pride in their cooking. Everyone gets excited about having some really good tasting vegetarian food.”

The event was sponsored by the Campus Vegetarian Society and co-sponsored by Students Improving the Lives of Animals and the Student Dietetic Association. They plan to release a DVD of the event later in the year.

Sorry. Comments were screwy yesterday (an additional anti-spamming measure gone awry). They should be working again.

This Sunday I’ll be running my first 5k race which is, appropriately enough, a benefit for Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary. I’ve never been much of a distance runner, but this race has worked to motivate me to get out and run more frequently. I’m not going to break any speed records, but my endurance has definitely improved in the two-and-a-half months since I started training.

If you’re in the DC area and would like to attend or participate, more information is available. Be sure to say hey if you’re there… I hope to have some Veg Blog stickers to pass out at the event, if I’m not busy passing out myself after the race.

Here’s a question for any Veg Blog readers that are medical doctors or training to become medical doctors: how big of a role does nutrition play in your education?

The reason I ask is that I recently went to my doctor’s for a physical. I don’t have a regular doctor at this office and, in fact, I think I’ve seen just about everyone on the staff at one point or another. This time around, I had a nurse practitioner who did my physical. She’s rather young, I’m estimating maybe 26 or 27, and so I thought perhaps when I mentioned that I had moved to almost an entirely vegan diet, that she would have some knowledge and understanding about the issues involved with giving up meat, dairy, and eggs. Unfortunately, the first question out of her mouth was, “How do you get your protein?” At this point in time, I would hope that people coming into the medical field would bypass that question and go to something more applicable like, “Are you taking supplements for B12?” or “Are you careful about getting all your Omega-3s?” I went on my short diatribe about how protein’s not much of an issue and that I get plenty from a number of sources. She did ask if I take any supplements and I told her that generally my diet’s pretty well-rounded, but that I use nutritional yeast regularly and will take a vegetarian multi-vitamin if I feel I haven’t been eating as well as I should.

While I was a bit disappointed by the protein question, she also showed some interest when she asked why my reason was for being vegetarian/almost vegan. In addition, she didn’t shake her head in disapproval or show any sort of serious concern that I was depriving myself. Indeed, she actually checked off the “healthy diet” box on my physical form, which pleased me.

The way I understand it, nutrition has always been glossed over when it comes to medical training, and I was wondering if there’s any sort of trend in the opposite direction, stressing diet and lifestyle education so that MDs aren’t always so quick to recommend drugs.

I’ve been gone for a bit, but to make it up to you, let me pass along a link that will provide you with hours and hours of great reading: MeatNews.com: “Meat Processing News Online.” The site is brought to you by Meat Processing Magazine, which, I understand, is second only to Playboy in newsstand popularity. I know, I know, I’m too good to you. You can thank me later.

All kidding aside, it provides an interesting look at the meat industry and the types of issues they’re addressing. They don’t avoid mentioning deaths of meat packers and discuss moves to keep “animals in transit” less stressed. It never hurts to know what “the other side” is doing and saying, as it can help you form better opinions and arguments of your own.

(via Research Buzz… thanks Tara!)

During a quick stop in a local health food store, I picked up a Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookie from Boston Cookies. While vegan cookies that I’ve tasted in the past have been pretty dry, this one was significantly more moist. While I wouldn’t rate this as one of the best cookies I’ve ever had, by the time I was done, I was definitely in the mood for another. But at $1.69 a pop, I stuck with one.

I had some killer vegan cake this week, too, courtesy of Alex’s friend Shannon. I’ve got to get the recipe.

My goal for this summer is to learn to bake. I’m getting better (I’m getting good at making tofu cheesecake), but have a lot to learn. And, of course, it’s a little more complicated when you’re leaving out the dairy and eggs, but I’ve been picking up some hints and tips along the way that I hope will help.