National Vegetarian Week

I have just heard on the radio that today is the start of National Vegetarian week.

I have been a vegetarian for about 34 years.  I stopped eating meat for animal welfare reasons and have never regreted my decision. I now know more about the environmental costs of animal husbandry and adverse health implications due to the over use of antibiotics in farming so am even more determined not to eat meat.

One of the questions I get asked most is: 'Do you eat fish?'. For me this is the most important area to be a vegetarian. My blood boils when I think of over-fishing, throwing unwanted/over-quota dead fish back into the sea, ensnaring dolphins and turtles in nets, destroying the seabed with bottom trawling.  I could go on.

Back in the early 80s it was much harder to eat out as most meals included meat except for some salads and margerita pizzas.  Nowadays in England it is much easier although pub/restaurant food seems to go in phases - the original vegetable lasagne has currently been replaced by rissotto.

We have just returned from a holiday in the beautiful north of Ibiza and were a bit frustrated by the Spanish compulsion to put small pieces of meat in with vegetables eg. peas or beans.  We went with a group of friends, one of whom became our official 'soup taster' when we discovered meat in the lentil soup! Greece and Italy, however, are wonderful for vegetarians - think aubergines, courgettes, tomatoes.

A nutritious, easy to prepare vegetarian meal can be delicious and colourful. Give it a go, not only this week, but for a few meals every week and you will soon be hooked.
See the Vegetarian Society website.