My daughter has just decided to become a veggie It's really difficult in a meat eating environment to find her food options that are healthy. She's 14 and I'm really hoping this is just a stage (just from the cost and cooking point of view) but if it becomes her life choice then I have no problem with that. There isn't a huge choice of veggie options when your out and about so that makes it difficult - I mean seriously how interesting is a salad sandwich every day? She is not keen on tofu - and what am I supposed to do with it anyway?

So if anyone has any recipes they would like to share that is suitable for a teen that doesn't take all night to prepare I would really appreciate it - she's going to be sick of bean stew and bean soup and tuna sandwiches and suchlike before long.

Good news she's not a vegetarian if she's eating tuna sandwiches

Being a vegetarian is completely normal in Vancouver.

I thought they were all being deported?

It's generally not a problem in Toronto either. My son went to daycare in Toronto and they always made sure there was vegetarian food for him.

The hydrokids daycare at University and College is all vegetarian.

Bloody weirdos

Not the staff mind, they don't care what finings are used so long as there's buckets of wine.

Being a vegetarian isn't a big deal but you are limited on what is available in restaurants. There is usually one or two things to choose from but not much more. The smaller places are much better at accommodating you than the larger ones.

Had a veggie burger at Whitespot at the weekend. Asked first where it was cooked and was told on a grill used just for veggie burgers. Manager came back - no, veggie burgers are cooked with the steaks. They were very good and cooked it in a frying pan but were a bit put out as it wouldn't be chargrilled as advertised.

Gone a bit hungry at some bbqs though. People had made things especially for me as they knew I was veggie but cooked it on the same grill as the meat (OH got to enjoy those things) and salads have been made with bacon bits and pasta dishes with anchovy. They need a bit of educating.

Educating to the extent of buying a second barbecue?

My OH travels quite a bit for work and the worst place he's been so far for veggie food is Spain they seem to think fish is a vegetable. I never thought I'd see the day he'd be glad to get to France

Just out of curiosity, do the vegetarians on here still wear leather products, use capsuled medicine, wear cashmere, eat chewing gum, own silk products, use soap, use tooshpaste, use washing powder.........etc etc?

I'm not against vegetarians in the slightest. My veggie friends make me smile with regards to their double standards when they refuse to eat meat on the grounds of compassion while walking around in their leather shoes after brushing their teeth and then popping a bit of chewie (not of star wars fame) in their mouths

Granted some of the items above can be found containing no animal by-products but many don't.

Hope this doesn't start a debate on the subject mind you. Saying that, i am feeling grumpy today................

I think that's being impossibly picky, everyone has a personal standard of what they will consume and it's not reasonable to set an arbitrary standard of what's adequately vegetarian. After all, even vegans are just fruitarians who lack commitment.

No - understanding bacon is meat!!! When you say you don't eat meat it means any part of an animal or fish not just the lumps of steak.

Which boils down to, why do people choose to be vegetarian. If it's due to the compassion of animals then that's the standard they should set. If they don't want to eat a steak because of it's origin, how is that different to eating products containing Gelatin, or buying a leather chair. It just seems daft to me if you choose to be vegetarian yet eat animal by-product. You may as well enjoy a good Steak or Bacon Butty and be done with it

I love how these threads are able to freefall from a perfectly nice question to a good old grumpy debate