I’m trying to eat less meat. I’ve got a few different reasons for doing this—health, environmental, and financial. The one thing I’ve been worried about, though, is how to get enough protein in my diet without eating meat
As it turns out, this isn’t that hard, especially since I’ll simply be limiting my meat intake, not eliminating it from my diet entirely.
My real question, upon closer investigation wasn’t: “How do I get enough protein in my diet?” but rather: “How do I cut meat from my diet without feeling like I’m cutting meat from my diet?” I wasn’t looking for alternative sources of protein; I was looking for meat analogues.
Sure, I could eat a lot of quinoa and beans. But sometimes, I just want a taco or a burger.
While there are plenty of mock-meat options out there, I’m not too keen on the highly processed nature of many of them (plus, they are often more expensive than real meat, which cancels out the money-saving aspect of this dietary change).
After asking about non-meat protein sources on MetaFilter, I headed to the grocery store with my new found knowledge. The Chinese grocery store, it turns out, is an amazing place for vegetarian groceries. I picked up some TVP (textured vegetable protein, which sounds awful but is actually pretty good; more on this later), some vital wheat gluten (I’m going to make seitan), and a few other vegetarian protein sources.
Last night, I made TVP tacos. They were delicious. While the TVP didn’t have quite the same texture or flavour as ground beef, it was close enough for this meat-eater. The TVP was simple to prepare, easy to work with, and significantly cheaper than the equivalent amount of ground beef. Because TVP is relatively flavourless on its own, it really took on the flavour of the taco seasoning. It wasn’t meat, but it almost tasted like meat. I quite enjoyed it.
I plan to make some seitan later this week. It’s a bit of a time consuming process, so I may make more than I need and freeze the extras. I’m looking forward to the seitan, because I’m pretty sure that this is what the mock-meat at Padmanadi is made from. The food at Padmanadi is delicious, so if I can make something similar at home I’ll be very happy.
I’m only a few days into to my reduced-meat diet, but so far it is going well. I am quite happy with the results. Now, let’s see if I can stick with it.
Well.![Take the knife train to throat town, and I'll meet you at the station. Gotta be there by 4: 30. I've made our reservation. Don't be slow. Oh no no no. Oh NoO! NO! NOOOO! OH GOD!!! NOOOOOO! [gurgle... SPLUT... glurrrrghhhh...]](http://hijinksensue.com/comics/2011-10-03-far-beyond-driven.jpg "Take the knife train to throat town, and I'll meet you at the station. Gotta be there by 4: 30. I've made our reservation. Don't be slow. Oh no no no. Oh NoO! NO! NOOOO! OH GOD!!! NOOOOOO! [gurgle... SPLUT... glurrrrghhhh...]")
