i tried these pies a couple of months ago, and thought they were awful. give me a proper veggie pie with a creamy sauce any day.

Slightly OT but true:

The OH had taken over the cooking for a few weeks and, of course, due to him being a vege, every meal was vegetarian. I'm ok with that because I do like vegetarian food, but:

One night I had a dream. Well, actually, it was more like an ad break paid for by my subconscious. My last dream ended, and then I dreamt I was looking at a chicken sitting on a kitchen table. It was plucked, raw and ready to go in the oven. It was perfect. Not a blemish on it. Just meaty, oh how meaty it looked. IT was spot-lit from above, as if by God's heavenly light. Nothing else happened. It was just me and the chicken in quiet harmony.

YUM, I thought.

I woke up the next morning and turned to OH and said Oi, you. You need to cook me some meat. I've started dreaming about dead chickens.

I used to know someone that didn't eat meat for health reasons and someone that just didn't like it. Neither had any moral problem with meat eating. Admittedly if you don't like the taste, you probably aren't going to like meat flavour substitutes, but if your doc has told you not to eat bacon, then some bacon flavour substitute might not seem like too bad an idea.

Oh, see what you're saying.

i'm always amazed at why veggies have to explain why they're vegetarian: health/animal rights etc etc
and why we're always asked: 'but don't you miss meat?' FFS no, it's a lifestyle choice, let it be.

The reason I'm vegetarian, which I'm willing to accept probably seems like the dumbest one of all, is because our current level of society allows me to be. If I was stuck on an island somewhere and I had to eat meat I would.

Each to their own! It's actually very hard to get just regular veggie pies here. I saw one brand in pricesmart but it was $5 per pie! None of the own-brand pies are vegetarian.

I had someone ask me the other day how we chose to raise our child i.e. vegetarian or meat eater, cos we're in a mixed marriage. I think people are just curious because it's not that common.

Is it a proven fact that being a veggie is healthier than not?

Is it just a lifestyle choice though? I couldn't be vegetarian because I get really intense cravings for meat and I love it. Whereas Oh has been vege since he was around 20 and has never ever craved meat and is indifferent to it. I can't imagine that. My body seems to need it. It seems to me that vegetarianism is just easier for some people.

You have to watch what you eat as either veggie or non. I personally have suffered from lack of various Vitimin Bs and also lack of Creatine which I only found out about 6 months ago. I always wondered why I found it harder to exercise than other people and it turns out meat contains that stuff, which is basically muscle fuel. Now I have creatine supplements before I go to the gym.

Not big issues and I certainly don't think they're worth killing an animal for to avoid.

Why amazed? Isn't it just conversation? MOH is always asked why he won't eat lamb, he doesn't like it, why doesn't he like it? He just doesn't. Tomatoes, he can't eat raw tomatoes, why? the make him ill. How do the make him ill?..........and so on. Not really a lifestyle choice more a mealstyle choice.

I suppose being veggie is more a lifestyle choice if you do the whole no animal products in anything thing.

oh dear I guess I should learn how to make my own then

yup, my sister-in-law is in the same boat. Her hubby is a meat eater and they have a 3 year old.

by health I meant people who are advised by their doctors not to eat much (red) meat. Is it healthier? Yes, IF you follow a balanced veggie diet that includes lots of raw food (many don't) vs people who stuff themselves full of red meat, processed food and veg cooked to death.

If creatine comes from animal products then how do they make the creatine supplements?? I imagine you take ones suitable for vegetarians.

Creatine is made in the lab from chemicals. It's a relatively simple compound.

So is chicken and fish not meat then?

What about the comparison between those that eat a balanced veggie diet and those that eat a balanced non veggie diet. Extremes, as I am sure you are aware, count for nothing.