Veggies in the USA
 

Any vegetarians out there? I have found that veggies are not generally catered for as well in the US as in the UK. What does anyone else think? For example, in London both McDonalds and Burger King do veggie burgers (BK does two types) but in McDonalds branches in the Boston area they don't do them. I heard they sell them in the Florida branches, but that may be to cater to Brit tourists. When hubby & I went to New York and popped in to TGI Fridays for lunch, we found absolutely nothing vegetarian on the menu except fries, so that's all we had. Even the cheese & tomato pizza had seafood dressing. Also, although I've seen tofu products in the supermarkets around Boston, I haven't seen Quorn, which is sold in every supermarket here. Is vegetarianism not as popular among Americans for some reason?

Re: Veggies in the USA
 

Nearly everyone you speak to here is on the Atkins diet...that is definitely not for vegetarians. I'm not a vegetarian so can't say I've paid much that much attention really, but I don't know as many veggies out here as I do in UK. You can buy plenty of veggie products in the supermarkets though, lasagnas, burgers, pizzas, and so on and there are "Sweet Tomatoes" restaurants- all veggie. Don't know about MCD and BK, but I expect they do - they sell Veggie chips/ crisps out here too :) That one always tickles me.

Re: Veggies in the USA
 

For most of them it would be a form of Cannibalism!

Patrick

I'd recommend giving up on being a veggie - the steaks here are great, you just have to get over American restaurants' reluctance to serve a "rare" one. I have been warned countless time that it will be cool and red in the middle. .... Yes! That's what "rare" means! :D I was also told once that it would be "mooing in the middle"! :)

Re: Veggies in the USA
 

Depends on where you go.

Even though I'm not a vegetarian, there is a very large vegan and vegetarian presence in the San Francisco Bay Area and the supermarkets reflect that by carrying all sorts of very healthy veggies (although if you want to avoid waxing and stuff like that you have to go to a specialty market). I've rarely gone into a restaurant where there aren't several vegetarian (or even vegan) options. Many restaurants in the City are entirely veggie or vegan. One of the most wondeful restaurants in the whole world (Greens, on the marina in SF) is entirely veggie/vegan. And it's yummy, though upscale price-wise. Even flesh-eaters like myself love eating there.

Hopefully you were joking. I am not likely to give up on my beliefs after 19 years of vegetarianism.

No! :p

....But unless you are moving to a major metropolis then you are likely to find little in the way of concessions to a vegetarian diet.

Seems to be plenty of veggie options here in California, but that might be because they are all scared that if they eat more than a lettuce leaf for dinner they might gain weight.

Have you looked at stores such as Whole Foods, Trader Joes, Henry rather than typical supermarkets for your veggie fixings?

Re: Veggies in the USA
 

you need to come down to Texas - they do veggie stuff in most of the burger joints, including pretty good salads in some. Kind of ironic for cattle country, huh?

My wife's Buddhist, and has veggie kicks now and then, and seems to do ok in most of the restaurants we go to. We pick up a lot of soy/beancurd products at the local chinese stores.

AdiaStar and I are both Vegan :)

I've been vegan for 2 years, before that I was vegetarian for 13 years.

I know it's going to be hard out there, but we'll survive.

Wild Oats has a pretty good range of organic foodstuffs, including vegatables of reasonable variety and quality too :)

You can get quorn here now but it seems to only be in supermarkets that are either a little different or healthfood orientated. The vegetables here are so good that you can do any kind of vegetarian dish. Even though I am not vegetarian, I love doing anything with mushrooms and we often do pasta dishes that are purely veggie.

As quorn gets more popular, I bet we will start seeing it in regular supermarkets. :)

You could always drive down to Long Island with an icebox and come and fill up here;)

The way I look at is it is not as bad as France, Belgium, Spain etc.
We actually live in the UK but go to Boston a lot. August will be my 8th trip to stay with hubby's folks. So far I've managed alright. Hubby hardly ever eats meat either, just fish. His sister recently became vegetarian so it looks like more and more people will become the veggie consumers of tomorrow.

Btw, even though I would like to lose a stone, I wouldn't do the Atkins diet. It's a medical fact that a diet rich in roughage is healthiest so I'm sure a mainly protein diet has got to be bad.

It's probably fine if you are a cat but I didn't fancy the Atkin's diet either.

The baked goods etc I can live without - it's the fruit and vegetables which I would find dificult to restrict myself on. I can only eat so much protein before I start to crave.

I am still convinced that a balanced diet with adequate exercise is the best way to go :)

As for the weight thing, I inadvertently end up educating almost every American I meet as to what a stone is ..lol

Well 6 months ago I would have agreed with you whole heartedly about Atkins- low carbs had to be dangerous. In fact I didn't know what it was at that time either- never been on a diet before. BUUT I wanted to lose a bit of fat for my daughters wedding and people in work have been losing weight on Atkins (and these are serial dieters who never seemed to alter much whatever the latest diet was). So I researched it- according to Harvard, people on Atkins diet tested far healthier than low-fat diets and it goes without saying the weight loss was better (yeah I heard about diet wars in the UK but did they do blood tests? cholestrol etc). All other recent studies showed the same. Anyway found out too the food pyramid is now being challenged, cos after decades of brainwashing about low fat diets- and heart disease etc is going up all the time.

So I gave it a go- after the first few days I felt marvellous- more energy thanI've had in years. I was losing a lb a day to begin with. Stayed on it 2 months- lost 25lb- looked good, felt marvellous - came off it at the reception (too right LOL) - been off it 5 weeks and have only put back 2 lbs. I don't eat nearly the amount of carbs now though because I don't want them- Atkins cures cravings for chocolate (and I was a chocaholic) sugar and processed foods etc.

Hubby tried it because he has age-related diabetes and wanted to trim down a bit too, after 2 months, his blood work tested almost normal- and the doc reduced his medication- another 10 points lower and he will not have diabetes at all. He doesn't do it strictly either.

I couldn't have done the diet in UK though, you can't get any Atkins stuff over there at all- here in US its soooo easy to do, because all the supermarkets and stores sell Atkins products now- and the website has a full range of goods (even bread) you can order (US only).

I agree about exercise for fitness whatever weight you are, more especially here in US where you don't walk anywhere really.