I love vegetarian dishes, but I’m not a vegetarian!Oh, how I love my vegetarian friends! I love their choice in lifestyle, their meals, their recipes, and their willingness to help share their recipes to meat eaters like myself. I absolutely love seeing photos of the meals they eat posted on Facebook and helping them celebrate their tasteful victories with a solid “Like.” Most of the time, I wonder what ingredients are used in the dishes and where in the world they find them, but I usually find them at most large chain grocery stores.
In reality, we make vegetarian dishes all the time: pastas, plain cheese/vegetable topped pizzas, stir fries, potato salads, regular salads, a plethora of soups… But the mindset of these dishes being vegetarian might not be recognized. In my youth, I strangely thought that the stereotypical foods of vegetarianism were off limits to me, as if somehow, meat eaters had enough food in the world and we needed to conserve “vegetarian” foods for the vegetarians. Those specially marked items on menus were only for vegetarians, and because I wasn’t truly a vegetarian, I couldn’t order it. Crazy, right? I came from a small town with seemingly limited diet options.
After high school graduation, I remember trying a black bean burger at a restaurant for the first time. Where had black bean burgers been my whole entire life? I was in love with my new discovery and couldn’t wait to try more foods I thought were off limits to non-vegetarians. When I spent a weekend visiting Paris, I tasted one of the most beautiful foods I have ever laid my eyes on: tabbouleh (pictured to the left). Yum. Not even Parisian! This was one of the first dishes I made when I got back to the States.
Working with ingredients we aren’t quite used to is very tricky, especially with grains like couscous and bulgar. I’ve been making rice since I was a little girl, but only with a rice cooker. It’s takes a few tries to get the amount of water correct with the amount of grain because the instructions never seem to reach the full potential of grains (in my opinion).
Many vegetarians have taken the artistic liberty of creating extremely colorful dishes and exploring meals from different cultures to expand their food palette. I always knew I liked the idea of being a vegetarian, but I could never fully commit myself to it. After my incredibly memorable experience of eating tabbouleh in Paris, I knew that I had to explore different ethnic dishes and taste what else the world had to offer.
I encourage everyone to try a bean burger at a restaurant sometime, to try tabbouleh in Paris, and to find a great recipe that uses tofu. You’ll make great discoveries and you’ll find things you don’t like. If being a vegetarian is something that interests you, this is a great way to start. The truth is that most vegetarian dishes can be turned into a meatier dish with chicken, beef, pork, or fish. It’s easy to make dishes for both meat eaters and non-meat eaters.
Things to keep in mind:
Just because it’s vegetarian doesn’t mean it’s healthy. If you’re a calorie counter, keep a watchful eye on the grains like bulgar and couscous, which can really up your calories.
Just because it’s vegetarian doesn’t mean you’ll lose weight. So many other factors in dieting, exercise, and genetics affect your weight. Eliminate the truly unnecessary foods like sweets and junk food before you eliminate meat from your diet if you want to lose weight!
Sources of protein are found in food other than meat! Large amounts! Out of all of the vegetarian myths, I wish I could debunk this one the most. Think about all of the herbivore animals out there that OBVIOUSLY find protein. This myth makes NO SENSE.
Every vegetarian has a reason for not eating meat. I love that so many of my friends have made this choice and have introduced so many new recipes to me.
Below are a few helpful links to some great and tasty vegetarian dishes. Tag @bosu_ambassador in photos of your favorite dishes, and we’ll retweet the tastiest, healthy ones!
Healthy Vegetarian Recipes by Health
25 Best Vegetarian Recipes by Cooking Light
19 Popular Vegetarian Foods, Ranked From Worst To Best
25 Most Popular Vegetarian Recipes
Ina Garten's Tabbouleh Recipe
Recipes, Tips and Techniques for Cooking with Couscous
Six Easy Bulgar Recipes
53 Ways to Spice Up Boring Tofu
Sandra Lee's Black Bean Burger Recipe
