30 Days of Vegetarian: Day 23 - An old favourite

Spent the day at the Werribee Open Range Zoo today - was so much fun and great to hear how the zoo was helping these animals survive. I can't remember the exact name of the horses they had there, but they mentioned at one point there was only 20 of them in the world and they have helped to prevent them fro, becoming extinct. Lunch was a boring cous cous salad that was bland bland bland! YUCK!

And my friend finger flirting

Dinner tonight was back at Madame K's Vegetarian Cafe. I actually had the same meal as last time because I found it that great. It was pretty much the same except the miso soup this time was pretty bad, almost as if they had left out the miso paste. I still finished mine but my mate couldn't deal with it. Luckily he loved his main, which was the Massaman curry; a slow cooked mushroom made lamb curry topped with cashew nuts and mashed sweet potato. Despite the poor miso, this is still my favourite establishment I have been to in the last 23 days!

A twitter friend linked me to this photo as well with the following caption..now, it hasn't come from what a reputable source, was just posted on someone's Facebook but we've all heard enough horror stories of what's really in a chicken nugget or a sausage for me to believe that this may actually be real. And that's enough to turn me off my beloved McDonald's chicken nuggets forever!

Can you guess what McDonald's food item this is????? Say hello to mechanically separated chicken. It's what all fast-food chicken items are made of. It's chicken nuggets, patties, and the meat in fajitas... In addition the processed frozen chicken in stores is made from this.. Basically the entire chicken is smashed and pressed through a sieve... bones, eyes, feet, guts and all. It comes out looking like this... There is more, because it's crawling with bacteria, it will be washed with ammonia, and soaked in it.. Then because it taste gross it is re-flavored artificially. Finally since it is weirdly coloured like 'Pepto Bismol' pink, it is dyed with artificial colour.. This is what people eat and feed to their children... Enjoy !!!

30 Days of Vegetarian: Day 19 - Tofu is healthy right?

tofu, pesto, feta, tomato and mushrooms

So today I cooked tofu for the very first time. I've had it before but never cooked it. I got a recipe for a tofu with mushroom sauce however I did tweak it a little and put in some vegetable pasta sauce and some spaghetti. Was actually really nice and filling. And again, easy to make.

I thought all was going well when a twitter friend told me:

"Ooh, hun, you might want to do some careful reading about tofu before you label it healthy… Fermented soya can be ok, but… :/ "

which has totally got me all confused because I thought tofu was like a super-food! So back to the internet I went to research and discovered the following...

From one website:

"Of course, tofu comes from a bean and doesn't contain antibiotics, added hormones and animal producst, but it's still - all together now - a processed food."

But then I found the following article, Is Soy/Tofu Good or Bad for you? and it seemed to dispel any negative comments on tofu, which I tend to agree with. Especially after having lived in Japan for two years and having seen tofu consumed quite regularly there. I guess like all things, in moderation - but I don't think I will start seeing tofu as bad for me. I think its good qualities far outweigh the bad.

30 Days of Vegetarian: Day 12 - The Brilliant Madame K

So in the last 12 days I have been doing a lot of reading and research into vegetarianism and checking out the vegetarian communities. On a whole, it has been good and interesting but there is that small group of people who believe that being a vegetarian makes them better than other people and the holier than thou attitude does not sit well with me.

The offending photo

A fan reaction

For example, there was a photo of a North Melbourne football player eating a kangaroo burger as part of a Grill'd campaign. One vegetarian decided to get rid of all her North Melbourne FC memorabilia (with "Kangaroo Killer" scrawled all over it) and throw it in the bin, then take a photo of it and vent her disgust. Yes everyone is entitled to their opinions but don't start preaching your cause, especially to those who are converted or borderline converted. It's a sure fire way to make people turn the other way.

For dinner today I went to Madame K's Vegetarian on Brunswick St in Fitzroy and it was by far the best vegetarian place I have been to. Went along with a friend who has been vegan for a number of year and we chatted about a few animal rights issues and stuff. She has also referred me to Fry's Vegetarian non-meat meat products like....popcorn chicken!!!! My one weakness has been battled and won. Although I have to try it first but she said her husband loves it so I have high hopes!

But anyway, going back to Madame K's; taking all things into consideration, including price, variety, ambience and quality of food it was amazing. I had the Vegetarian Oyster Sauce, which was stir-fried mushroom made lamb with snow peas, onions, shallots and bean served with brown rice. It was absolutely to die for and so filling. I sadly didn't have room in my 'pudding stomach' to try the Banana Roti with berry sauce and ice-cream :( But next time for sure.