Mike G wrote:REB, what did you eat as a vegetarian in Spain? I have this vision of trying to live on white asparagus with mayo.

Hi, Mike. The non-meat food was actually quite amazing. At the time, I was eating fish and seafood occasionally, so I just upped my pescatarian intake during the trip. My three visits were in '97, '98, and '99/'00, so my memory is a bit fuzzy. But, I do fondly recall:

> Repeatedly going back to a stand up cafe in Madrid (where I thoroughly enjoyed participating in the fun of throwing napkins on the floor) where I enjoyed a delicious bocadillo of smoked salmon and eggs with a side of fried bocarones.
> The homemade seafood paella and aioli that my friend's aunt made to celebrate the millenium.
> The many, many tapas in San Sebastian and Bilbao that were vegetarian or seafood.
> A six-hour lunch in a restaurant with a friend's large family. I don't remember what I ate, only that the plates kept coming and coming and that they were delicious. I think that my eating restrictions were the only thing that kept me from entering a serious food coma.

But, yes, had I not been willing to eat fish and seafood, my trips would have been rather difficult food-wise.

Ronna

Hellodali wrote:Tem, if this turns into something long-term, I'd highly recommend getting Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. Tons of great recipes, and thousands of variations for those recipes, with very few involving tofu or seitan. I use it as much as I use How to Cook Everything.

A vegetarian friend recommended this cookbook to me and I'm really enjoying it. Suddenly having this cookbook out so your girlfriend can see it and letting her know that you bought it because of her will definitely impress her.

I like herbal teas and when my husband and I were first dating he went out and bought the ones I like to store at his apartment without me asking for it. He probably spent about $10 but I still remember!

irisarbor wrote:"sneaking" in meat products is akin to sneaking in pork products for someone you know keeps kosher-it's just is plain wrong and disrepectful of their views.

For the record, I just want to make it clear that I do not support "sneaking" meat products to a vegetarian.

What I was suggesting is more along the lines of manipulation or coercion

For the record, I didn't think KennyZ was being serious

I'm thinking Indian as the main dish would have rice and some naan (got some from TJ's last week) along with it to make it more filling. Now all I gotta do is find a recipe. Cook's Illustrated had a veggie curry that looked OK, but I'm open to other options.

ETA: but ... hmm ... Making a homemade ravioli could be the trick. the Molto Mario cookbook I've got has some good recipes and I could make them the day before and freeze. All that'd be left to do to make the sauce. Or not even that if it's something like sage & brown butter. I'd need to practice browning the butter, however, as I always seem to screw that up. it'd make for a nice presentation and homemade pasta always goes over well with *the ladies*

RAB wrote: For the record, I just want to make it clear that I do not support "sneaking" meat products to a vegetarian.

I am no where near as PC... I say if you can sneak in some good 'ol lard or replace that "mock duck" with.... "duck" go for it!

I have come to realize that, for me anyway, dining preferences are almost as important as... er other preferences (trying to keep it PG). Along those lines, while I would never condemn or judge anyone for their choices in either of these regards, I also realize that someone just may not be romantically compatible if their preferences and mine don't line up.

Yes... food is very important to me!

As encouragement, tem, I would just say that my carnivorous brother--a man who never met a piece of meat he didn't love, a man who doesn't eat bread because it takes up stomach room that could accommodate more meat, a man who can down a 32-oz. steak without difficulty--has been living happily with his vegetarian wife for over 18 years. She does eat fish and seafood, as well as dairy and eggs, but I think they rarely eat the same entree. He does most of the cooking and usually makes a meat entree; they share the sides.

I think it's great you want to cook for her. I used to laugh that the saying on the cover of the old Settlement Cookbook, "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach," worked for me with my husband. I don't see why the way to a woman's heart isn't also the same route. Good luck!

EvA wrote:I don't see why the way to a woman's heart isn't also the same route. Good luck!

I learned this lesson long ago when I went on a few dates with a girl who (I think) dumped me for a guy who now has a little restaurant that starts with an M, ends with an O with a TO in between

'doh !

tem wrote:...Homemade pasta always goes over well with *the ladies*

You are right. Go for the homemade pasta.

tem wrote:I'd need to practice browning the butter, however, as I always seem to screw that up.

When browning butter, I follow the same rule that many follow in BBQ: low and slow.

Pasta dish worked on me. Conversely, I got him with pork chops sauced with apples, onions and a hard cider reduction.

7 course tasting menu at Sweets & Savories was our first date. My pescatarian future wife took a taste of seared foie gras because "the chef talked about it so passionately," and I knew we could make it work.

Kennyz wrote:7 course tasting menu at Sweets & Savories was our first date. My pescatarian future wife took a taste of seared foie gras because "the chef talked about it so passionately," and I knew we could make it work.

That's also where my wife had her first taste of foie gras. When we started dating she ate:

1. Pasta
2. Pizza
3. Veggie-only maki

Now she eats pretty much whatever. Poultry and chocolate are her only 2 no-go's.

tem wrote:Any advice on the menu or medium-term strategies in general ??

I've dated a disproportionate amount of vegetarians and diet has never been a problem in any of my relationships. If anything, I viewed dietary restrictions as a challenge and a way of expanding my own cooking skills. Whatever you do, don't try to convert your significant other into changing their diet. They should respect your diet, and you should respect theirs.

Otherwise, as for cooking ideas, there are multitudes of soup recipes that are easily adaptable into vegetarian-friendly equivalents, say, poblano-and-corn chowder, meatless borscht, potato leek soup, etc. Just start with a vegetable stock instead of meat stock. Indian cuisine, as has been mentioned, (especially the cuisines of Gujarat and Rajastan) is always a goldmine of recipes, given the significant vegetarian population there. Italy has a number of pasta dishes that are either vegetarian-friendly or adaptable. My favorite pasta dish, in fact, is vegetarian - Penne all'arrabiata. While it won't be the same, you can make puttanesca without anchovies that's quite lovely, too. Also, if you comb the cuisines of Central and Eastern Europe, you'll find a number of potato and noodle dishes suitable to vegetarians. A lot of meat recipes do well with legumes (chickpeas, especially), substituting for the meat component. And, if you must go in the faux-meat direction, there's always Boca and their type of meat substitutes (which I hated for the longest time, and now find myself occasionally craving. Yes, I will sometimes order a Boca or vegetarian burger when a meat one is available.)

There's a whole lot of great meatless cuisine out there, and, if you love cooking as much as I do, you should view this as a fun challenge and a way to expand your cooking repertoire. Go into it with an open mind (seems like you are), don't try to change her diet, just do your best to make her happy. Have fun with it! Cooking vegetarian is not a chore. It's a rewarding challenge. Good luck.

There are people that don't eat meat?

Now she eats pretty much whatever. Poultry and chocolate are her only 2 no-go's.

Why is chocolate a no-go? Just curious.

It's logistically too difficult to gain appropriate awareness of the dead, discarded chocolate pods.

Pie Lady wrote:

Now she eats pretty much whatever. Poultry and chocolate are her only 2 no-go's.

Why is chocolate a no-go? Just curious.

It's really just a taste thing. She just won't eat dark or milk chocolate. White chocolate is ok though.

so what happened?

MBK wrote:so what happened?

Everything went great

Made butternut squash ravioli in brown butter & sage and potato leek soup along w/ some bread from D'Matos. It was starch-a-riffic.

tem wrote:I learned this lesson long ago when I went on a few dates with a girl who (I think) dumped me for a guy who now has a little restaurant that starts with an M, ends with an O with a TO in between

MTOO?

PS Glad to hear it went well!

Gypsy Boy wrote:

tem wrote:I learned this lesson long ago when I went on a few dates with a girl who (I think) dumped me for a guy who now has a little restaurant that starts with an M, ends with an O with a TO in between

MTOO?

PS Glad to hear it went well!

me fail english ? that's unpossible !

tem wrote:Dear LTH Forum,

I never thought it would happen to me.

I've somehow ended up meeting a girl who is a vegetarian of the no-fish-either variety. I have no idea how this will work out in the long term but in the short term, she's coming over for dinner on Sunday and I'm looking for entree advice. I was thinking a Thai or Indian curry of some sort. I do have a Bayless cookbook that has a very good potato & roasted chile taco recipe but that seems a bit too casual.

Any advice on the menu or medium-term strategies in general ??

I think it should be simple for this to work out. If she is easy going. You can always do Indian food and there are plenty delicious american dishes that are vegetarian. Is she a militant? Is she doing it to be skinny without people questioning her why she doesn't eat? Mixed Veggies, rice, etc. At least she is not a Vegan.


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tem wrote:I've somehow ended up meeting a girl who is a vegetarian of the no-fish-either variety. I have no idea how this will work out in the long term but in the short term, she's coming over for dinner on Sunday and I'm looking for entree advice.

Any advice on the menu or medium-term strategies in general ??

Unless she just turned veg yesterday, she already knows what she likes and dislikes.

Why don't you ask her to tell you?

Best of luck. I married a veg and it was the best decision of my life.

Although, I must say, the second-best decision of my life was HER decision to rejoin the ranks of the omnivorous.

Hi,

My sister leans toward vegetarian with some departures: turkey bacon is ok, turkey is not, anything with a face is bad, but fish (which seem to be faceless?) are good with shrimp considered really, really good. On Thanksgivng she eats the stuffing conveniently ignoring the turkey juices present and other side dishes.

Last year at Thanksgiving, she came because she loves my stuffing. After all these years, she inquired about the ingredients, though I cannot believe it wasn't discussed before. She dropped her fork to the plate when she heard the stuffing had not only turkey liver, but pork sausage, too.

My sister unexpectedly showed up for Christmas dinner today. I made a stuffing with apples and cornbread as the dominant ingredients. I told her she would likely find the stuffing quite acceptable because there was no meat in it. She was very happily digging into a big bowl of stuffing, when the inspector general in her plucked out a wee piece of pork bacon. I had forgotten bacon was meat or at least from an animal with a face. She didn't believe me. She thought I was pulling a fast one on her, trying to corrupt her diet by design. Fortunately my nieces came to rescue, because they reminded her just minutes before I had recounted what was in the stuffing to them.

Another story has been added to our collection of Christmas family misunderstandings that are much funnier years later than in the present.

Regards,

The fact that your sister can pick a crumb out of a casserole and identify it as non-turkey bacon is a testament to the ineffacacy of turkey bacon.