How do Tofu and Tempeh compare?

Tofu and Tempeh - How do they compare? Here's an interesting article that provides some enlightenment on the subject.

What's organic and what's local?

Been confused by what "organic" means? How about "From local farms?" This article from Time Magazine sheds some light on these often misunderstood terms.

And, because a picture is worth a thousand words, here's what both "organic" and "local" look like :-)

Photo credit: Farm Fresh to You

Veg* meat products

That was interesting (not really, but read on...)

I had a vegan turkey & cheese sandwich today, because no better veggie option was available on the lunch menu. Intuitively, I have a general distaste for any veggie product that attempts to imitate meat, because it's contradictory to what being a vegetarian is about. But in this case, I decided I needed a lunch and I'd try it.

Well, it completely confirmed my intuition. The sandwich was a great meatless option for people who like turkey sandwiches. But for vegetarian like myself, not appealing, because my palate has changed, and meat is simply no longer appealing to me in any form.

Does this mean I can't eat or enjoy veggie burgers? No, not necessarily. Just so long as they aren't processed to try and imitate meat.

Wow. Intuition confirmed and lesson learned ;-)

The chips & fries dilemma

Found this warning on a bag of all natural chips that came with my lunch today:

WARNING: This product contains acrylamide, a chemical known to the State of California to cause cancer. Acrylamide is not added to this product, but is created by browning potatoes. The FDA does not recommend that people stop eating potatoes. For more information, see the FDA's website at www.fda.gov.

Wow, that was enlightening! Yet another health reason to avoid eating excessive chips & fries, huh?! Then I learned from the Wikipedia article that some chip manufacturers add an pre-cooking enzyme to prevent the acrylamide from forming. And that other foods may contain the compound, too. Fascinating! I don't think I'll cut out chocolate from my diet, though :-)

More comic relief :-)

Jimmy Kimmel's hilarious report from the street on how many gluten free eaters know what gluten is :-)

And while we're on the topic of meat...

One reason I became vegetarian is because I think it will become fairly commonplace in the future. I believe more people will consume primarily vegetarian diets because meat production takes so many resources and it's so damaging to the environment, too (no, I'm not a space case; as Earth's population increases, decreasing meat production in favor of veg* will become a given; we simply can feed more people through plants than animals). Anyway, what if everyone became a veg* consumer? What would the world be like then?

A little comic relief

This article's amusing; each person is entitled to their beliefs and opinions, but as was pointed out in some of the comments following the article, a few statements are just plain mistaken. Nevertheless, it's a good attempt at expressing l'amour de manger de la viande.

Dietary link to child autism?

Here's an interesting article about one mother's belief that dietary changes eliminated her daughter's autistic symptoms. This is a unique case and as the article states there's no scientific validation of the dietary link. Nevertheless, it's an interesting story.

Additional sources of veggie based protein

One challenge of a veg* diet is getting enough protein into the plan. Tofu is the obvious "go to" candidate, but it's not enjoyed by all folks, and it wears out pretty fast as a steady ingredient in your culinary plans. Therefore, I've been learning to diversify protein sources, and was encouraged to come across this article, which highlights additional options. If you're looking to diversify your veg* cuisine, check this article out. A good vegetarian cookbook helps out a whole lot, too :-)

Nothing like a little dark chocolate

So it turns out that the beneficial effects of dark chocolate are actually due to digestive tract bacteria, not just the chocolate itself. Here's to those bacteria, folks :-)