Category Archives: Food

Bean

My second in command cooked breakfast for Mr Bean the other day. I won’t say more than that because everyone deserves some privacy.

And this afternoon I bought a really nice bean salad from M&S at Kings Cross.

It was so nice, I consumed it too quickly. Soon afterwards, I developed a tickly cough, which returned back to the Northeast with me.

My second in command met me off the train and, after an (draught) Erdinger in the Union Rooms, we called off at the Tuns. Unfortunately for my second in command, our local have a pretty nice dunkel wheat beer on draught (interestingly, from Tyne Bank, who generally add fish bits).

So now we’re home. And I’m quite drunk. But I have food in the oven and about to watch part three of the German series I’ve been watching on Netflix. It’s subtitled, but I can recognise some words from my days of playing Command and Conquer.

Anyway, while in the Tuns, I began coughing again. Which resulted in the dislodgement of a bean which had been stuck there for some time.

I’ve not coughed since. And the bean tasted nice the second time around.

Meat is murder

It is. Fact. But I’ve literally just read these words and it reminded me of times long gone. I can’t remember exactly when, but it was in the very early 80s. Walking through a subway in central London, I noticed a Smith’s Meat is Murder sticker on the wall; on the right hand side, amongst the graffiti. You didn’t see that kind of thing in the North in those days.

I’ve never claimed to be a fan of the Smiths; well, of the flowers in the pocket era. And I’m not too keen on the man himself as a person (he’s mental and a bit of a nob, after all).

But, as a brand new vegetarian (who was looked on as something of an alien at the time. It was the Northeast, remember), it was a brilliant thing to see.

Having read what Mr Marr has said recently about the Meat is Murder album, and its influence on vegetarianism, it’s clear that the album had real impact, though.

And now I’m going into my fifth without dairy produce week. I’m finding it so easy (the restaurant we’ve booked for our works Christmas lunch has offered vegan options – that’s plural), not what I’d expected at all.

Anyway, I bought a cool shirt.

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Fake cheese

I found pizza made with fake cheese in town this afternoon. Pleased with my discovery, I was looking forward to eating one.

Regrettably, it was vile.

Biscuits

In the past two weeks, I’ve consumed only two things made from (or including) animal derived products. The obvious was Quorn. There’s still some in the freezer, so there’ll soon be more. And then it’ll be used up. Then there’s margarine, or spread as it’s now called. Again, the spread was already in use. Which means I’m pretty pleased with myself.

I’ll concede that biscuits have been the biggest issue. Until this evening, that is. In two weeks I’d eaten no biscuits. But, then, my second in command made a random purchase from the corner shop at the end of the street. Initially, I’d dismissed them as almost certainly not vegetarian. And then I bothered myself to read the packaging. To find that they contained no animal-based contents. Now, this was surprising. As a new vegetarian, around 1982-3, I seriously struggled to find anything which was free from animal fat or sugar (which at the time involved charcoal made from bones).

So, it seems that it may not be so difficult to avoid animal products entirely after all. I think that this demonstrates the huge influence that vegetarians have had on the food industry over the last couple of decades.

Now, compared with becoming a vegetarian all those years ago, when most meals had to be made from scratch and eating out wasn’t possible, maybe it isn’t as difficult as I ‘d imagined.

I’m looking on this as a slow process. But at least I now have biscuits.

Out of control

Probably one of the most common reactions when someone encounters a vegetarian is, we’re designed to eat meat. Of course, there’s an element of truth in that statement. We’re designed to eat pretty much whatever we can get our hands on. But we’re not designed for what is now considered to be a ‘normal’ Western diet. And neither is the planet.

Veganism

I ate a fried egg sandwich last week and regretted it. Pretty much the same way I felt during my last year or so of eating meat. And, over the past few months, I’ve not eaten much cheese at all. It’s possibly part of the process of giving up dairy produce. Or just a period when I’m just not keen on the stuff. I’m undecided.

I had an interesting exchange with a self proclaimed vegan radical this evening on Twitter. He’d commented that if vegetarians gave up dairy, then the meat industry would collapse. There are two things wrong with that view: firstly, such statements serve only to alienate vegans from the people who are actually making a difference. And, secondly, if vegetarians were to give up dairy produce, there wouldn’t even be the tiniest of dents in the meat industry.

Anyway, after preaching to me for a while, and not being able to give a sensible answer to my point above, he unfollowed me.

Radicals nowadays just don’t have any commitment.

Seriously though, I agree with the cause, just not the attack against the only people who have a chance of becoming a mainstream movement against meat ‘production’.

Baby sheep

Just overheard some people’s conversation about which bit of a lamb tastes nicest. I’m sure it’s all soft and juicy, but at the end of the day we’re talking about eating babies.

Dirty

I don’t actually care if that last post offends anyone. I’m considering becoming more active in my views. I don’t have extreme opinions or anything like that. But I believe it ‘s wrong to eat animals. Roadkill’s ok I guess, but that’s a personal choice.

It’s so dirty though.

Murder

There has been a murder today. In fact, there have been several thousand murders today.

Of course, this hasn’t featured in today’s news for one simple reason. And that’s because I’m talking about animals rather than people.

It’s ok that animals are killed to fuel human greed. Apparently.

Greed. Because it’s not needed.

And cheaper? Because the NHS bill would be a lot lower if people didn’t eat corpses.

We have some pointy teeth. Yes, we do. And those teeth could tear through a dead creature? I don’t think so. We’re designed to eat what we can dig up (most common) or what we can catch. That doesn’t involve daily pink slime (processed food).

And, the important question, why don’t we eat dogs? Well, we do. But not in the west.

I’m sure that dogs taste just as nice as cows. And sheep. And rabbits (blurry line since they’re often pets). Oh, what about horses? Apparently they taste nice too, since no one noticed they were eating horse in their bovine products last year.

Last of all, people. Surely they taste nice too. We burn or bury them when they expire, so why not recycle them? Unappetising for people I accept, but we could recycle people for pet food. I mean, weren’t they designed to eat us?

I should stop. I could go on. But I’d offend people who eat other animals.

Fucking dirty.