The vegetarian diet has been around for a long time. Back in days of old, meat was considered a luxury and you were lucky if you got your hands on a couple of chunks of bone-dry mutton once every couple of weeks. Financial restraint ensured that diets mostly consisted of vegetables, usually thrown together in a pan and watered down to make a long lasting broth which was so thin that you could read your newspaper through it.
Yet, if we are going back that far there wouldn't have been much in terms of mass media and, as lowly peasantry, our reading abilities would have been pretty much non-existent, but I've made the analogy now and I'm sticking with it.
The Humble Berry Picker
Over the years farming techniques have improved and international trade routes have flourished to such an extent that we have access to more food (and more types of food) than ever before. Meat has become so cheap that we can afford to eat it every day of the week and often we do. We have this conception that we are built to ingest endless quantities of meat and have an image ingrained within our popular consciousness of the caveman ripping off hunks of meat from a drumstick of cartoonish proportions.In reality, it has been shown that we largely sustained ourselves by foraging for berries, edible vegetation and the like. We hadn't honed farming techniques but still required a lot of energy from food for survival. If we had gotten all of this from animals then we would have quickly wiped out local wildlife populations leaving nothing for the following seasons, let alone for future generations. In fact, we ate meat with much less regularity than we do now, but the notion of the sensible, tactful and thrifty caveman plucking a little berry from a bush doesn't quite resonate with the notion of the mighty, club-wielding conqueror of beasts that we like to think of ourselves as emanating from.
Nowadays, with access to all the meat we could possibly want, meat lovers have taken consumption to the next level. We seem now to enjoy the many different kinds of meat every day of the week; often certain days of the week becoming known for a certain meat dish such as the Sunday roast. Even at the weekend when events play host to our appetites, we shudder at the thought of there not be a hog roast or selection of barbecued meats available to settle our stomachs.
In an era of such meat-based gluttony, it might be surprising to note the huge rise in vegetarianism and veganism. Apart from those avoiding meat on religious grounds, there have been two main groups that abstain, groups that often cross over. This is the dietary based abstainer and the ethically-consuming abstainer. I'm not going to go into ethics here, but there are some interesting ideas in terms of nutrition that the vegetarian question raises that are important to note; even for those of us who will never give up our morning fry-up or festival hog-roast. So should we be taking a high-in-nutrition and colon-cleansing leaf out of their book?
Time to Take Meat off its Pedestal
When somebody suggests that we don't require meat for a healthy, nutritionally-rich diet, people are fond of wheeling out the word 'omnivore'. They point to our sharp canines, the strong saliva in our mouths that breaks meat down and our digestive system, built to process the meat we put into it. Whilst our bodies are adept at consuming meat and thriving off it, they are also perfectly adept at thriving without it. Naysayers will cite the fact that meat contains precious protein that makes us strong and gives us the energy we need to function and to lead full, busy lives.This is all true, but these voices are guilty of overstating the importance of meat's contribution to our nutrition. We can get protein from vegetables, pulses and grains just as easily. In fact it is suggested that thanks to the over-abundance and popularity of meat, many of us are eating between two and six times the amount we should be, which is especially bad as eating too much protein can be as bad as eating too little. It has been linked to kidney problems, widespread obesity, osteoporosis and diabetes. The importance we place on meat also often means we overlook the other aspects of our diet that are important, such as crucial vegetables and a sensible intake of fat.
This brings us to another facet of the vegetarian diet, namely its variety. Because meat which is traditionally the centre-piece of the meal is not present, vegetarians often put their efforts into creating exciting, tasty food where ingredients are mixed in such a way that allows them to shine, rather than just being thrown onto a plate in an uncreative and boring manner to play second fiddle to the much worshipped, but sometimes mediocre, piece of meat. This extra attention to all fare that isn't meat invariably leads vegetarians to experience cuisine to a high standard.
Their ingredients are many and their lack of reliance on meat leads them to greater experimentation (often with foreign foods) so they end up eating a greatly varied diet that is as rich in nutritional value as it is in taste. Ask anyone who has eaten a truly delicious lentil dhal or mushroom and nut Wellington with cranberry and broccoli; they will tell you that they didn't even notice the lack of meat or that the dish didn't need it and that because they weren't stuffed full of steak, they had more room for the hugely tasty and massively nutritious meal in front of them.
So whereas you might find it impossible to say no to meat altogether, it is perhaps worth taking a look at the importance you place on meat in your diet and whether taking a leaf out of the veggie's book every now and then might lead you to a more fulfilling culinary life and a healthier diet.
About The Author:
Jasmin Blunt is a writer who believes that vegetarian meals can be more creative and healthier than meat based dishes. However, by trying these new meals, it does not mean that you have to give up your love for those Bouncing hog n Bars Hog roast hire companies.
Image Credit:
Toby Oxborrow
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