http://www.vegsoc.org/page.aspx?pid=698#.USloEqWpXSg This has been accepted as official for longer than I've been around. The Vegetarian Society, established on 30 Sept.1847.
Does Vegemite have a lot of salt in it? I'd kind of expect it, as a preservative. That stuff is supposed to have a very long shelf life. Speaking of preservatives... I just tried non-sulfur dried apricots today. **WOW**! Holy crap, this totally changes everything. I love apricots and the glowing yellow-orange dried ones look so fantastic next to the shriveled brown roach appearance of the natural ones (no added sulfur). On a lark a picked up a pack from Trader Joe's. They really do taste differently, in a very good way. I highly recommend them.
One reason I have enjoyed- and participated in- this thread is because everyone has been welcoming and friendly... even to those of us who are not strict vegetarians. PLEASE continue this open, welcoming spirit I have come to love. Although I am not a vegetarian, I really love coming here to learn about a healthier diet. I am also a foodie, of sorts, and have learned much in my time here. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- teacake, thanks so much for explaining Vegemite in a way that makes me yearn for a taste! I am hoping to find and try some.
I'm a bit taken aback that my brief post could be viewed as unfriendly - it was just short and factual. Rereading it, however, it could seem a bit aggressive. Sorry - my fault. It is, however, an issue that some people who just avoid red meat call themselves veggie when they are nothing of the sort. I'm sick of people offering me chicken or fish when I say I'm vegetarian. Its not hard to understand, but the waters are getting muddied. Meat eaters are very welcome to enjoy and discuss vegetarian food. Some cruelty free food is actually rather nice !
I am unashamed to say I'm a devote omnivore.. I love me a steak as much as the next person... However, my (now 15 year old) daugher has been a vegetarian for the past couple of years and that has opened a wide world of options when it comes to dinner time.. The move was hard at first, as the rest of us still eat meat, and so dinner time was always a hassle.. Cooking two main dishes was a pain and I vowed not to make this a "Everyone gets a full course meal while my daughter gets to heat up an "Amy's Vegetarian Burrito or a plank of Quorn "Chickn'"... These are fine in a pinch or when we have to eat on the go, but I wanted my daughter to really eat healthy... So I've become pretty adept at creating meatless dishes that everyone (sometimes even my 12 year old son) can enjoy... Mostly soups and stews, to be sure, but pasta with veggie crumbles tastes just as good as pasta with ground beef... She will still eat fish and seafood, so that makes it even easier.. And to her credit, she calls herself a "pescaterian" rather than a vegetarian... So it can be done.. And believe it or not, lentils ARE pretty good!!
We will have to agree to disagree about lentils. I'm not fond of chicpeas, beans and pulses in general. I agree about loving a steak as much as the next person - it's hard to beat ! Unfortunately, I think the last one I ate was in 1985...
I guess the point I was trying to get at is that everything is arbitrary, and we draw our lines where they best suit our lifestyles, ethics, personal morality, or goals. After all, mushrooms are more closely related to plants than to animals, plants have been shown to warn each other of danger and even behave altruistically, etc. So I figure, let people label themselves how they want to be labeled. My younger sister is a vegan (doesn't consume or use any animal product), my older sis will eat fish (also an arbitrary decision, since, biologically, there's not really a "fish" category), I'm an omnivore but I couldn't bring myself to eat a cat or dog or monkey. We can all enjoy a good fungus, though.
The other night I had a dream where it was announced in the newspapers that avocados had been discovered to be sentient.
I've never dreamed about sentient fruits, though I did once dream that a person turned into a burrito and I ate it. In my defense, the person had already been murdered by someone else, and I was only eating the burrito to hide the evidence because I was scared the cops would think I was the killer. Unfortunately, it was one of those big Mission Style burritos, and I've never been able to finish one of those in one go.
They don't call avocado the "smart fruit" for nothing. Though a world where guacamole is illegal in no place to live.
^Oh, don't be silly! Sentience isn't the meter for determining whether or not something should be eaten in our culture, hilariously out-dated religious texts are!