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Guide to Vegetarian Convenience Foods | Table of Contents | Foreword | Book Orders

The Complete Guide to Vegetarian Convenience Foods
Why Vegetarian?
(from the Introduction)

On April 16, 1996, Howard Lyman, an ex-fourth generation cattle rancher and Director of The Humane Society's Eating with Conscience Campaign, made an unprecedented appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Show. While 20 million stunned viewers tuned in, Mr. Lyman described many of the horrible secrets of modern factory farming, including the beef industry's practice of feeding ground up cow remains to cattle. As in-studio cameras scanned the audience's shocked faces and microphones captured their gasps and groans, Americans learned yet another compelling reason to kick the meat habit.

Sharing the stage with Mr. Lyman was Dr. Gary Weber, a National Cattleman's Beef Association representative who sat with his mouth agape as Oprah blurted out this now famous response, "It has just stopped me cold from eatin' another burger. I'm stopped!"

The impact of the broadcast was powerful and immediate. Panicked commodities traders anticipated a dramatic decline in demand for beef; cattle futures plummeted, sending the market into a frenzy.  In a desperate attempt to restore the cattle industry's tarnished image, and to assuage the public's newest fears about the safety of America's food supply, Dr. Weber made a second appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Show the following week. But this time Mr. Lyman was not present to challenge Dr. Weber's assertions or to represent the public's interests.

With major sponsors' interests at stake, this arrangement was disappointing, but not surprising. Nonetheless, it was too late for the cattle industry to fully recover: an outraged public had already gained new insight into what really lurks inside that sesame seed bun.  Prompted by this exposure and explosive media coverage of Britain's Mad Cow Disease fiasco, the FDA issued a long overdue final ruling on the practice of using mammal protein in animal feed in the United States. This seriously flawed 80-page regulation prohibits the feeding of rendered animal remains to cud-chewing ruminants, (i.e. cows), but exempts horses, pigs, chickens, fish, and pets. It also allows the continued use of swine, horse's blood, milk, and gelatin in animal feed, in effect leaving the public completely unprotected against transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSE'S). 

Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD), the human TSE form of Mad Cow Disease, accounted for at least eleven deaths in the U.K. CJD is an incurable and fatal degenerative brain disorder which closely resembles Alzheimers Disease.  Victims suffer massive incoordination, seizures, and dementia preceding certain death. Yale and the University of Pittsburgh each conducted studies on the autopsied brains of Alzheimers patients. The findings: much higher than expected percentages of CJD in the U.S. population. Until such time that the FDA imposes a strict ban on ALL animal remains in ALL animal feed, there is no way to ensure the meat-eating public's safety against the ravages of Mad Cow Disease.

Interest in vegetarianism is rising sharply as people continue to learn more about the personal and global implications of their dietary choices. An estimated 12 to 15 million Americans consider themselves vegetarian, and the number grows steadily by as much as a million each year.  After a Gallup poll showed that 20% of adults are likely to look for a restaurant that serves vegetarian items, the National Restaurant Association advised its members to feature a few vegetarian main-dish items on their menus. Even the Magic Kingdom has caught on to this trend. Veggie burgers are now being sold at Disneyland and Walt Disney World amusement parks. In fact, demand for the meatless patties has been continually rising since first being introduced in 1994.

Why do people decide to become vegetarians? Their answers vary. Some cite the atrocities that animals must endure even before they are slaughtered. Others are concerned about the harmful environmental effects of a meat-based diet, and many realize the impact that their food choices have upon world hunger. Millions are starving in third world countries while their grain is exported to fatten cattle to feed people in affluent nations. Still others eliminate meat from their diets simply because it is healthier. Heart disease, breast, prostate, and colon cancer, diabetes, stroke, osteoporosis and many other life-threatening illnesses are directly linked to meat-based diets.

Texas Agriculture Department Assistant Commissioner Diane Smith, whose duties until recently included overseeing the marketing of beef, has her own reasons.  Here's how she explains why she hasn't eaten meat in 14 years: "It has nothing to do with my work. It's a personal preference."

Some people change their eating habits overnight, while others make the transition to a more wholesome diet gradually.  Personally, there was not a moment's hesitation for me. After reading John Robbins' Diet for a New America, I never once looked back. But like most vegetarians I know, I was raised on a traditional American diet consisting mainly of meat and dairy products.

I grew up in New York City, under the guidance of two extremely doting parents. However, my mother hated to cook, which was fortunate for us because she wasn't very good at it, anyway. As a result, she saw to it that we ate out frequently, at least two or three times per week, an awful lot in those days. We'd frequently go to the neighborhood diner where I'd usually gorge on a bacon cheeseburger with French fries and onion rings, a coke, and top it all off with apple crumb cake a la mode, a napolean, or something equally sweet and gooey. I remember these occasions fondly, because they were a welcome retreat from my mother's disastrous attempts at preparing chopped steak or meatballs and spaghetti (made with butter and ketchup).

Breakfast was not exactly a nutritional haven, either. For my mom it consisted of coffee and a cigarette. For me, it was not much better, a   Twinkie or Hostess Fruit Pie and secondhand smoke. As I detested the taste of most luncheon meats, my mom usually packed the same thing for lunch everyday; cream cheese and jelly sandwiches on white bread with chocolate pudding for dessert. Could this diet have been the reason I was an overweight child?

This story may sound all too familiar if you grew up in the late fifties or early sixties; a time when most Americans were in total darkness about nutrition and health. But we can't blame our parents for their nutritional ignorance when the majority of family physicians knew even less. Today however, the overwhelming evidence in favor of a plant-based diet cannot be overlooked or ignored.

Whatever reasons you may have for choosing a vegetarian diet, my book, So, Now What Do I Eat? is for you. Even if you still eat chicken or fish, chances are you know someone who is a vegetarian. Perhaps it's your teenager who arrives home from college with the unexpected news that she no longer eats meat, eggs, or dairy, leaving you to wonder what on earth you will feed her. (Warning: many vegetarian teens have been known to convert a parent or two.) Or maybe you've invited the boss over for dinner, and in the midst of preparing your famous Chicken Kiev, you receive an unexpected phone call from the boss's wife. She just wants to let you know that they are both strict vegetarians. Great, how do you make Kiev without chicken?

This book will make it simple for anyone to prepare and enjoy delicious plant-based meals in only a few minutes. There are no new complicated recipes to decipher, or expensive gadgets to buy. Within these pages you will learn about exciting new vegetarian foods with tastes and textures that are amazingly similar to the animal products they imitate but without the animal protein or cholesterol. Imagine meatless sausage, dairyless cheese and fishless tuna that look, taste and even smell much like their animal-based counterparts. Discover an incredible variety of burgers, burritos, and beverages made from nuts, grains, and tofu.  Prepare your palate for tantalizing dishes made from exotic sounding ingredients like tempeh, seitan, and amazake.

The best part of all, is that thousands of healthful foods like these are readily available at your local natural foods store and many are even showing up on supermarket shelves. It's easier than you think. You just need know what to look for. So relax, turn the page, and take a journey with me into the exciting world of vegetarian convenience foods!