As someone who became vegetarian after reading a Glenn Greenwald article I found on HN about how the pork industry does awful things and gets the government to prosecute people trying to expose it, the key I've found is to look to world cuisine.
Many cultures around the world have awesome food that's easily convertible to vegetarian or is vegetarian already, where meat might be a luxury.
Central America and the Caribbean have tons of dishes with rice, beans, plantains, and flavorful sauces with flatbreads. Or a million ways to prepare corn. West Africa has peanut stew that's amazing. Across the rest of the continent jollof rice and githeri are good solid bases for a meal. Misir wot is a spicy hearty lentil stew. North Africa has a rich vegetarian tradition of soups, stews, and rice dishes. In the middle east there's falafel, hummus, mujadara, shakshuka and about a million ways to combine spices, onions, tomatoes, flatbreads, etc. South Asia obviously has a massive vegetarian cultural tradition, as does Southeast and East Asia.
When I started, I found it hard. I kept thinking "beans and rice... I guess?" Once I started going, "ok, I'm going to pick a small region of the world and see what they eat there and try it" I had WAY more success. The first time I made tteok-bokki or sushi or vareniki I suddenly realized just how much of the world is really already preparing vegetarian meals for many of their meals.
> FBI agents are devoting substantial resources to a multistate hunt for two baby piglets that the bureau believes are named Lucy and Ethel. The two piglets were removed over the summer from the Circle Four Farm in Utah by animal rights activists who had entered the Smithfield Foods-owned factory farm to film the brutal, torturous conditions in which the pigs are bred in order to be slaughtered.
> Rather than leave the two piglets at Circle Four Farm to wait for an imminent and painful death, the DxE activists decided to rescue them. They carried them out of the pens where they had been suffering and took them to an animal sanctuary to be treated and nursed back to health.
ICE is currently shooting peaceful protestors and is gearing up for war with Venezuela; a couple of pigs chasing a couple of pigs is the least of my concerns viz-a-viz tax dollars
Sorta. The animal welfare laws say that getting images out of food production facilities are terrorism. Which suggests that an authoritarian regime could/would deploy a lot more of the state power against them.
And I think "understanding your food sources is terrorism" has impacts too people should be worried about. (To be clear, they ARE less acute than ICE concerns, of course).
Thanks for your response. But I think you've misunderstood.
I'm pretty well aware of the deep well of cuisines offered by various cultures, but my issue is not finding recipes -- it's the time I and effort spend cooking.
My current job takes a lot of time and energy out of me, by the time I get home I'm pretty exhausted. I don't really get any time to cook throughout the week. (Which kinda sucks, I did enjoy cooking)
I rely a lot on quick meals from Trader Joe's or something I can just toss in the microwave. And while Trader Joe's does have some vegan/vegetarian selections like that, it's kinda limited.
I don't know Trader Joe and what they offer but here's some quick preps I found convenient:
- cereals and lentils/beans semolina. Mix with oil, spices and hot water. Cover and wait 5 minutes.
- Cans of beans, lentils, chickpeas mixed with pre-made tabbouleh or another carb. Oil/spice and eat.
- Various marinated tofu: they're delicious own they own and don't need prep: open and bite.
- Instant mashed lentils/slip peas/quinoa (flakes). Oil/spice/water and eat.
- Tempeh: microwave and dip in sauce.
- bread and houmous.
- bread and nuts.
- Vegetable that can be eaten raw: rince and eat. Dip in sauces if you like. Carrots, cauliflower, cucumber, radishes, chicory, small iceberg salads...
- Fruits. rince and eat.
The trick is to have a few different oils and spices, those add taste and nutrients. Also you can add to anything a spoon of brewer's yeast if you're into that (cheese/fermented taste) or of silken tofu for more creamyness.
I don't understand your comment. Is it an attempt at humor? Don't be a dick.
I don't object to eating animals, I object to torturing animals in the process of raising them. You can raise pork without forcing mother pigs to indefinitely share a space with a pile of their rotting children's carcasses.
Ask yourself why it warrants a terrorism charge to smuggle out photos of animal mistreatment.
I don't have the time to cook and ready-to-eat or frozen vegetarian meals just aren't a thing around here. I think if I went full veganism I'd starve.