Since the Chief Birdhouse-builder has gone nearly vegetarian on me, I have had to adjust my cooking style and go back to all the cookbooks I own to find new and varied menus to adjust.
Having recently purged myself of nearly 75 cookbooks, this has been interesting. However, the web is an excellent source of great vegetarian recipes, too.
What are the different classifications of vegetarian are there, though. Michael Pollan has clued me in on the high cost of buying meat, and so I have been researching the many types of vegetarian there are and what will make great substitutions for classic recipes I have usually made. This isn’t exactly rocket science, but it isn’t quite as easy as it might sound, just substituting tofu for beef, for instance.
There is something called a Flexitarian, which I hope we can assume we will be for a while at least. That is someone who eats meat occasionally.
The Lacto-ovo vegetarian will consume anything BUT red meat, fish, and poultry. However, consumption of eggs, cheese and other products produced by animals will pass the test. This is the most common type of vegetarian in the U.S. and Canada.
Lacto-vegetarians east dairy products., but no eggs. Ovo-vegetarians eat eggs but no dairy products.
Pescatarians east only fish, but no red meat or poultry.
Vegans exclude anything made from meat, fish, poultry, and all foods derived from them, including honey and gelatin. Many also will not use leather, wool or silk.
There are some who eat only raw foods, some who eat only fruit, nuts and seeds and vegetables such as tomatoes, eggplants, avocado and zucchini which are vegetables botanically classified as fruits.
To each his own, and I applaud those who can adapt to such dietary restrictions. I am still an omnivore. But, I still like a good shitake in place of steak!!
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