I need help! Can you all please answer this one question:- what is the point of Tofu? Is it a food, it is a building material or is it a scientific experiment gone wrong?
Seriously! Can anyone justify this stuff? I have a friend who used to eat tofu and seaweed in some kind of cat's pee broth for breakfast. She used to tell me it tasted good and did wonders for her body. The crazed look in her eye as she watched me eat a bacon sandwich somehow made me question her reasoning and fear for my life!! I am pleased to say that she is now back to normal, chewing bones and drinking Bovril!
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| Tofu looks harmless enough, but then so does semtex! |
I am not now, never have been and never will be a vegetarian. I cannot think of anything in the world that would persuade me to forgo meat. Fran Lebowitz summed it up well when saying "vegetables are interesting but lack a sense of purpose when unaccompanied by a good cut of meat."
One of the many things that wind me up about vegetarian food is the fact that it gets marketed as meat products, nut cutlets, soya bacon rashers, tofu burgers, vege sausages. What came first? The beef burger and pork sausage or the equally well know aubergine burger and lentil sausage!? If I went into a butcher, asked for half a pound of mince and followed that with "and kindly shape it to look like a head of broccoli, my good man" do you think I would a) be invited to join their loyalty scheme b) be told never to darken their doors again or c) end up in the next batch of pies? Hmmm, let me think!
So, vegetarians, please take note, shape your protein to look like vegetables and not the very things that you have all shunned and refuse to eat!! And stop with the whole tofu thing!!
Recently, however, I have found myself in a strange position. I was musing about my love for mushrooms, big, small, wild or tame. I love them all and would happily eat nothing but mushrooms for the rest of my life, as long as herbs, spices, seasonings and diary products were thrown in as well! As I was dreaming of the various dishes that would keep me going, the sudden realisation hit me like a freight train - if I really did eat nothing but mushrooms, I would have become a vegetarian!! Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!! I would, overnight, have become the beardy, sandal wearing, Guardian reading vegan of my nightmares!! This must not be allowed to happen!! Ever!! Quick, pass the beef!
Albert Einstein said that "nothing will benefit human health and increase the chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet." It will come as no surprise to learn that I don't agree with this sentiment, particularly if we want to keep evolving for the better. I will, however, admit that not all vegetarian food is bad. Try this one for a light lunch or supper. It is straight out of a Weight Watchers book and is actually very tasty.
450g bag of ready washed spinach
75g wholemeal bread
3 eggs
150ml skimmed milk. Semi or full fat is fine, just adjust the points
200g low fat cottage cheese
1 tablespoon of mustard
75g reduced fat cheddar
Seasoning
Sliced tomatoes
1. Pre-heat the oven to 200°C or 180 if a fan oven.
2. Cut the corner of the spinach bag and cook in a microwave until done, at least one minute, but keep checking. If you don't have a microwave, put in a colander and pour a kettle full of boiling water over. Make sure to squeeze as much water out as possible.
3. Put the bread, eggs, milk, cottage cheese and mustard in a food processor and mix well. Add the spinach and 25g of the cheddar and whizz briefly to mix together.
4. Butter or lightly grease a 1 litre low oven proof dish. Pour in the mixture. Cover with thickly sliced tomatoes and grate the rest of the cheese on the top.
5. Bake for 40-50 minutes or until nicely puffed up and golden.
This goes very nicely with a salad for a light lunch or as an accompaniment to chicken or steak! For those of you who understand pro points, a quarter of the recipe is 5 points.
I will leave you with a conversation I had with a guest at a wedding I ran some years ago. A lady called me over and pointed to the plate of beautiful lamb in front of her.
"I'm sorry but I am a vegetarian.""No problem at all" I replied "I will get an alternative for you"
"Thank you very much, do you think it would it be possible to have chicken?"
"But Madam, you are a vegetarian?"
"Oh yes, but I eat chicken!"
So, not really a vegetarian then, just bloody fussy!! How I wish I had said that out loud.Have a great weekend and Happy Mothering Sunday to all you Mothers out there. I hope you get the day off!
I was a veggie for about 12years, following a rather gruesome article on intensive farming in the Sunday Times mag that included a pile of pig carcasses the size of Mount Everest. My sister and I stopped eating meat on that Sunday. My best friend at the time was half Iranian and her fab Iranian mother would say, 'but darling, it's not meat, it's just lamb...' Brilliant! I was turned back to the darkside by a bacon sandwich. Bacon sandwiches get most of us. From there, it's an easy step to sausages and pate, and then very quickly a steak. Though I have to admit, I still can't stomach my steaks bleeding, and many a Frenchman has looked on in horror while I've chowed down on a well-done fillet!!
ReplyDeleteHi Amanda, thanks for your comments. Whilst I could never forsake meat, I do take my hat off to those who do, especially if done on moral grounds rather than taste or medical reasons.
ReplyDeleteI am currently six months into a diet and have not had a proper bacon sandwich in that time. You know the one, thick cut bacon, slabs of white bread cut fresh from a loaf still warm from the oven, proper salted butter and lashings of ketchup! I long for the day, but know if I have one, the second, third and fourth won't be far behind!
You must be a rarity in France. The words bien cuit are never heard. Personally I couldn't do well done steaks and rather have steak tartar than cooked, but finding anywhere that does it is getting harder and harder.
Have a good week.