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There was a time, say thirty or forty years ago, when vegetarians had a difficult time telling non-vegetarians why it was so imperative to stop eating meat. The situation was exacerbated because vegetarians back then did not get the support from the food manufacturers and supermarkets that they do now either. In short, it was far more difficult to be a vegetarian than it is now.

Moreover, in those far off days, many hippies and others following an ‘alternative’ lifestyle were first generation vegetarians and so they could not look to their parents for support and advice. Those individuals are now in their forties and fifties with children and even grandkids of their own, many of whom are also vegetarian.

Being second or even third generation vegetarian is very different from being first, not least because they have been able to see the effects of a vegetarian lifestyle on their parents and even grandparents. It might never cross such a person’s mind to yearn for a bacon sandwich with tomato sauce or a French dip beef sandwich au jus, because the thought is abhorrent to them.

They have not had to take a conscious decision and a huge physical endevour to cut meat from their diet after maybe eating it for twenty years or more. My father gave up meat for ethical as well as practical reasons when he was sixty and he yearned for ‘bacon butties’ (sandwiches) for the rest of his life. He thought it difficult.

His reasons for giving up meat were pretty typical: he objected to the callousness to animals that is brought about by intensive farming methods in some countries; he objected to the use of hormones and preservatives in live animals and he thought that eating so much meat was not a sustainable lifestyle for a growing world populace, that was growing increasingly rich enough that everyone would would like to eat more meat sooner or later.

Society does not make it easier or encourage the would-be vegetarian. The farming industry has grown colossal and they have a personal interest in selling us their dairy, meat and eggs. It is hard to escape pictures and hoardings promoting their products. Although the situation is better these days, restaurants still cater usually to the meat-eaters and vegetarian meals always seem small and costly by comparison.

Luckily there are plenty of ‘Eastern’ restaurants that cater naturally to the vegetarian because many Easterners are vegetarian. You can always find vegetarian meals on a Chinese, Japanese or an Indian menu. Hindus are vegetarian. Thai restaurants will also have a high quantity of meatless meals.

However, if you do not enjoy spicy food, you are back in the pizza hut or the sandwich bar in most towns. Society has moved on, but there is still a long way to go yet the vegetarian life is definitely becoming easier to sustain. There is comfort in numbers, so it would be worth taking vegetarian cookery lessons if your resolve begins to weaken.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on a number of subjects, and is now involved with how to cook for diabetics. If you would like to know more, please visit our web site at Cookbooks For Diabetics.

It is very handy to know something about the most common constituents of foodstuffs, so that you can use this knowledge to your advantage whilst choosing and cooking food. The more you know about the constituents of food the better prepared you will be to select the best method of preparing that food. In this piece we will talk about some constituents of food.

Carbohydrates are a concentrated form of energy as is fat. However, the two substances differ in several methods, not least in that fat supplies energy in a very concentrated kind whereas carbohydrates provide energy in a more economical fashion. Over indulging in either fats or carbohydrates will result in becoming overweight quite quickly.

Therefore, this is the region that dieters must concentrate on, although ‘experts’ do not agree which is the most damaging. Traditional diets recommend cutting back on fats, whereas some more contemporary diets recommend practically eliminating carbohydrates from one’s diet.

The fact is that the body and most of the food that we put into it is made up of chemical elements, the most important of which are nitrogen, carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. Protein is the only thing that we eat that contains nitrogen, which goes a long way to explain why protein is essential to us.

Protein is also the most difficult substance to find in the vegetarian diet. It is not impossible by any means, but the choices are severely limited because most people get their protein from meat, fish, dairy and eggs.

The other three elements: carbon, hydrogen and oxygen are constituents of carbohydrates. In fact, the very word ‘carbohydrate’ suggests the names of those three elements. ‘Carbo’ – carbon and ‘hydrate’ – hydrogen and oxygen, as in water. Carbohydrates are most extant in starches and sugars.

Starch is one of the most omnipresent kinds of carbohydrate. It is to be found exclusively in vegetables and pulses et cetera. While starch is boiled, it expands and bursts its cell walls causing water to thicken yet when it is cooked with dry heat, it melts and turns into dextrine, which is a stage before it turns into sugar.

Sugar is another vital constituent of carbohydrates and is also found mostly in vegetables and fruit, although there is also some in milk in the form or lactose. Corn produces glucose. Young vegetables contain sugar, but as they become older it becomes starch.

Sugar melts with the application of heat, but if it is already in liquid form, it will give off water and begin to caramelize. The distinctive colour or caramel is brown, and if it is over cooked, it becomes dark brown and bitter. Sugar in fruit and vegetables will leak out into boiling water and so will be lost, unless that water is salvaged and used elsewhere.

Cellulose is a form of carbohydrate closely related to starch. It is to be found in the structure of plants and vegetables and although it is largely indigestible, it cannot be ignored in the human diet. Cellulose surrounds the goodness we are looking for in vegetables, so by cooking this food we are attempting to break down the cellulose to release the goodness.

Young vegetables have thinner cellulose than older ones, which is why some vegetables need to be cooked quickly and fiercely although others have to be cooked slowly yet gently.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article writes on several subjects, but is at present concerned with French dip sandwich recipes. If you want to know more or check out some great offers, please go to our site at Vegetarian Sandwich Recipes.