National Vegetarian Week

It’s National Vegetarian Week! Are you taking the challenge and only eating vegetarian meals this week? Well, you should – it’s great! As a vegetarian of fours years I can promise you it is so easy, I made the change literally overnight. Becoming a vegetarian really opened my food world up to some delicious flavours and tastes that I was missing out on when I just ate chicken every day!

Eliminating meat from your diet, or indeed reducing your meat intake can be much better for your health – if you eat a balanced diet of course. Eating fresh, whole foods is a healthier option than processed because there are fewer additives – if any – and if you find grains and vegetables a bit bland, there is a huge range of spices you can add to create some amazing dishes! Look out for our Pulled Jackfruit Burrito recipe on Friday!

The Vegetarian Society

National Vegetarian Week is a campaign run by The Vegetarian Society, an organisation which offers tips & advice to new vegetarians, certifies products as suitable for vegetarians so it’s easier to know what you can and can’t eat at a glance and it keeps vegetarians issues in the news to raise awareness.

The society was established in 1847 and is based in Altrincham, Greater Manchester. It has always worked to support and represent vegetarians from all walks of life. The society defines a vegetarian as:

Someone who lives on a diet of grains, pulses, legumes, nuts, seeds, vegetables, fruits, fungi, algae, yeast and/or some other non-animal-based foods (e.g. salt) with, or without, dairy products, honey and/or eggs. A vegetarian does not eat foods that consist of, or have been produced with the aid of products consisting of or created from, any part of the body of a living or dead animal. This includes meat, poultry, fish, shellfish*, insects, by-products of slaughter** or any food made with processing aids created from these.

The Hairy Bikers

This year The Hairy Bikers, Si King and Dave Myers, are getting involved and will be publishing their very own Vegetarian Cookbook The Hairy Dieters Go Veggie on the 18th of May this year!

They said:

As cooks, we’ve always appreciated our veg and they’re a hugely important part of our cooking. And lately, without really thinking about it, we’ve been eating less meat. The more we learn about cooking great food, the more we enjoy making use of all the amazing produce that’s on offer and creating dishes where vegetables, pulses and other plant foods are the stars of the show. That’s why we’re getting stuck into National Vegetarian Week this year… and we think you should too!