Help

I have not been eating any meat, just fish and eggs, but my mom is starting to notice,( she doesn't want me to be vegetarian) And I usually cook dinner, do you have any vegetarian recipes that make tofu taste like meat?

 

Tofu is never going to taste like meat. Just as long as you marinade your tofu for and hr or so before you cook it, I normally fry mine, it should go over fine. Not all ppl enjoy the texture of tofu. Just don't expect it to taste like meat.

 

Why doesn't she want you to be a vegetarian? You may have to discuss this one with her, or even put off vegetarianism until you're out of her house. Try experimenting with recipes until you can all agree on some, or have certain days of meat-free dishes.

 

You don't have to wait until your out of the house. That's silly. You just have to go about your vegetarianism the right way. Do your research, find out what protein substitutes your going to need, which vitamins you'll need to take and than talk to your mom about it. If your the one cooking dinner, that's perfect! Cook your veggies and carbs, whatever they may be, and than just add you veg. protein replacement in there on the side. Maybe have your mom cook her own protein or if you don't have a problem with handling meat, than you can go about it the same as before you were veg.

Just educate your mother on why you want to be vegetarian, share your reasons with her, maybe she will come around.

 

A lot of people don't like tofu very much, if at all. Throwing it at them is not going to help your situation if your family is not fond of it. Do a search for vegetarian recipes. There are more than you can ever read online, and lots without tofu. If you are eating eggs and fish then you don't need to worry about protein and your recipe options are much more expanded.

 

Here we go again. I'm going to have to make a longer post to explain this.

I had to. My mother included meat at every meal, not counting the DIY dinners. I suggested vegetarianism, and she warned me against new-age animal worship (Did I mention that she's a very fundamentalist Christian?) and quoted that we were given rule over the animals therefore were allowed to eat them, and she had no intention of giving up meat for my crazy ideas. I still don't understand her logic, but then I never do. My father wasn't that far into the Bible, but pointed out that we couldn't afford to provide two dinners every day just because I thought that the one was wasteful. I didn't want to make the whole family go veg, so I understand his logic.

If I had pressed the matter, I would have had to provide and cook my own food (at age 13), been under constant religious harassment by my family, punished in various ways, and knowing my mother I probably would have been physically forced to eat the meat at some point. In my community in the mid-nineties, this would have been her right and responsibility as a Christian mother, not abuse. I would have been responsible for making my already impoverished family provide for a second diet (Mom's diabetic) while putting the lot of us through a relationship nightmare. My parents would have had to fight against me, sometimes violently, while my impressionable younger sister would have been forced to watch as a precaution against her trying something similar later in life. She was traumatized enough by finally learning about sex three weeks before her wedding at age 20. Feel free to facepalm here. I and my father did.

I waited, and now that I have my own household and a supportive husband (a state away from my family ) I am a happy lacto-ovo-veg. My mother can't complain because I am an adult and I let her know that it was a simple dietary choice, though she constanly warns me against the "health hazards." Apparently nuts and the occasional egg are higher in cholesterol than three beef servings a day, and all of the starches (though I eat less of it daily than she does) are going to make me obese (she's 5'3" and 275lbs) and trigger the family diabetes. I'm anaemic because I don't eat meat, not because I have been since puberty and even my doctor's shrug it off as my normal body chemistry by now. She's nuts, but there's no need to fight over it now.

My family is no more dysfunctional now than any other, and as educationally deficient as the females of my line are they are moslty happy. I'm still the oddball, and they make little jabs at me about my diet, but since they don't have to provide for it they don't complain too much. The point of my whole essay here is that there is sometimes a choice between idealism and practicality. You may have to choose your priorities: waiting a few years before making a private choice may save your family a lot of stress if logic fails them.

By all means, Gniknus, try to convince them that you're not depriving yourself of nutrition and that you'll try to make the change have as little impact as possible on them (as it should). If they won't compromise, though, and you're underage, then they do have the final say in the decision. It will not hurt you to wait a few years if needed, and the meat industry will neither speed nor slow in that time because of you. It's not going anywhwere: as fast as vegetarianism spreads, the demand for meat rises faster at this time. All you can do is choose not to take part in it, which shouldn't really have to affect those who have not made that choice. I wish you well in your debate with your family, though. Most are more pliable than mine, and logic holds more sway with them.

 

That is an pretty extreme case..but a Vegetarianism doesn't cost anymore than a meat eaters diet. And the fact that she is cooking her own meals should make it that much easier for her. The only thing she needs to replace in her diet is the protein. So instead of cooking two steaks that night, she can cook one steak and a veggie chicken breast.. or even easier(& cheaper) a mixed bean salad! And as for 'waiting' until your out of the house or buying your own groceries...i say REBEL!!

werd.

 

Well, I suppose that there are worse rebellions to have. If you must, then go ahead, but I still consider it unwise.