National Vegetarian Week: best products to satisfy your omnivorous urges
I've been veggie since I was seven years old, but I'm not too proud to admit that the smell of sizzling bacon still gets my juices going, and that I sometimes get mad cravings for protein. I've never caved in and gone back to the 'pleasures of the flesh', but my success is at least in part due to the abundance of meat-imitating products out there that more than make up for the lack of animal products in my diet.
So if you're considering going veggie this week but are concerned about missing out on your favourite meaty treats, here's my top five veggie product that will make the transition almost effortless.
Follow the jump for the full list
1. Linda McCartney Veggie Sausages
Before Linda's range appeared on the shelves, most veggie sausages were little more than mashed up veg squished into a rather anaemic looking sausage shape and sold mostly in dusty health food shops. I'm still occasionally partial to a well-made vegetable-based sausage, but if it's a greasy fry-up you want or some substantial sausages to go with your mash and veggie gravy, it's got to be Linda McCartney's every time. Made from soya protein and gently flavoured to be much like 'real' bangers, the sausages are the one items I always make sure I have in my freezer.
2. Frozen Soya Mince
You can get soya mince in most supermarkets now, either made by Quorn or often own brand. This is perfect for making my favourite meat-a-like meal: veggie spag bols, which is made in exactly the same way as traditional spaghetti bolognaise but with soya mince instead of beef. It's a satisfying and filling meal that's as tasty as you want to make it depending on your knack with herbs and spices. I've served it to plenty of meat eaters who've given it the thumbs up, and one of the best things about this dish is how quickly you can make it compared with the meaty sort, which has to be cooked for much longer to avoid food poisoning. Other dishes you can make with soya mince include vegetarian chilli, veggie lasagne and moussaka. Useful stuff.
3. Holland & Barrett veggie scotch eggs
This is a little bit of a quirk of mine, but you'll be surprised what foods you miss when you give up meat, and I remember loving 'scotch' picnic eggs as a kid. I was delighted to discover recently that they sell a vegetarian equivalent of Scotch eggs in branches of Holland & Barrett. The 'sausage meat' is made from textured vegetable protein flavoured with the same spices as a tradional scotch egg, and it tastes exactly as I remember it doing in the real McCoy. The eggs are free range, and make a tasty snack if you're out shopping and in need of a boost. I noticed recently that Quorn have also brought out their own veggie scotch eggs, but haven't had the chance to try one yet...
4. Geo Organis Vegetarian Worcester Sauce
Worcester Sauce is one of those products that gets many veggies up in arms because it's so hard to find the type that doesn't contain anchovies - Lea & Perrins is the top selling brand, and it's very hard to find any other sort. Frustrating, because it tastes just as good without fish, and there isn't anything else that tastes quite like it! I recently managed to source a veggie Worcester sauce that's made by Geo Organics; it costs £2.34 a bottle, and needs to be ordered online.
5. Halloumi Cheese
If you've ever come home from a night out dying for a kebab then remembered you're vegetarian, don't worry, it happens to the best of us. My absolute saviour in these situations is cypriot Halloumi cheese, which makes awesome kebabs. Even the dodgiest kebab shops I've visited will normally do you a kebab with 'squaky cheese', so next time you're on a night out and your friends want to get themselves some questionable looking meat in a pitta bread, consider yourself lucky as you opt for the much tastier, cheesy alternative.
I have just tried some of the Quorn mini scotch eggs (called "picnic eggs" for some reason), and they are quite *astonishingly* good. I do like the H&B ones, but these tiny Quorn ones are in a whole different class. Albeit tiny.
That is all.
(Wait, no it isn't - Have you tried "Free From" vegetarian worcester sauce? They stock it in a lot of supermarkets and it might be more easily available than the Geo Organis stuff).
Posted by: SF Devereux | June 5, 2008 12:22 PM