Here are some definitions:

-Piscarion - Eats fish, dairy products, honey, eggs, vegetables and fruit but not meat or slaughterhouse by-products

-Vegetarian - Eats Dairy products, honey, eggs, vegetables and fruit but not meat, fish or slaughterhouse by-products

-Ovo-Vegetarian - Eats eggs, honey, vegetables and fruit but not meat, fish, slaughterhouse by-products or dairy products

-Lacto-Vegetarian - Eats dairy products, honey, vegetables and fruit but not meat, fish, slaughterhouse by-products or eggs

-Vegan - Eats Vegetables and Fruit but not Dairy products, honey, eggs, meat, fish or slaughterhouse by-products

-Fruitarian - Eats Fruit and sometimes fish but not Dairy products, eggs, meat, fish, honey or slaughterhouse by-products.

Also please note that cheese sometimes contains enzymes from calves' stomochs.

getting back to Quorn ??,

I worked in the next lab. (at Manchester Victoria University) to where the quorn work was done. It might be of interest to know that the workers went all over the world trying to find a suitable fungus to culture, eventually they used one they found three miles from the lab! One way to see the world!

cheers

Waaza

Did they go around the world before or after they found the fngus next doors ;-)!Mamta

before, of course!!

Hope you had a relaxing vacation.

cheers

Waaza

Spotted several quorn based products in the freezer section of the supermarket the other day. The only reason I was looking was I was after some steak canadians* and looked in all the freezers to no avail. What I found odd was most of them were copying meat products but without the meat, including a version of bacon !

I don't understand why you would want your none meat product to be like meat? It sort of seemed like someone not liking vegetables so they had pieces of meat cut to look like carrots and peas to go with a lamb chop !

is it just me?

Steve

• steak canadians are usually a sort of wafer thin processed meat product with some herbs and spices that you shallow fry for sandwiches

It is not you just Steve, I used to say that too, until I stopped eating meat myself. You see, I like the taste of meat, but have given it up for other reasons. So, it is nice to be able to make parallel things when I am cooking meat for others. I tend to use more and more 'gluten' protein these days though, not Quorn. It is so easy to make from chapatti dough and has no additives/eggs, and has more of a meaty texture than Quorn.

Mamta

I dont know if you ever did find out the answer but it was preety easy to find Quorn stopped using battery eggs in any of their products in 2004. I dont know if you realised this but Quorn has been aproved by the national vegetarian society which will only approve new products if they contain no meat, fish, poultry or battery eggs so yeah all their products are free range.

Ah thanks for that Jess, is that on their website then?

Steve

I just bought Quorn "chicken" nuggets. And want to know if their products sold here in the US also use cage-free eggs? This is what wikipedia says, "...by 2004 all Quorn products sold in the UK were produced without battery eggs, earning the Vegetarian Society's seal of approval." But, it specifically says "sold in the UK" - what about the US?

I am newly a vegetarian (The more I learn about how factory farms mistreat their animals - I just can't support the cruelty!) I'm hoping to become vegan, but it's hard to make a complete life style change overnight.

I will not buy Quorn in the future if they are still using battery eggs here in the US. I emailed them directly, but they never responded.

Thanks for any information.

Hello Jme

I use Quorn sometimes, but don't like the taste of it that much. And, I can't answer your questions about it ether!

Meanwhile, have you tried using Gluten meat substitute? It is not that hard to make. I have eaten it in Hong Kong, made to taste like meat/chicken/fish, you couldn't tell the difference. The only one I know how to make is this one, Gluten, worth a try. May be some other people here know how to make other varieties?

If you are a new vegetarian, make sure that you get nutritionally sound diet, even if this means talking with a dietician or nutritionist. Look at Indian recipe ideas using so many different dals/lentils and beans, as well as paneer cheese. Becoming a vegan is harder. These days, milk production is not cruel to the babies and they are not deprived of milk. So have a think about giving up milk products too, it makes being a vegetarian harder. If you are still new and unsure, may be you could look into sourcing your supply from places where animals are bred humanely, rather than giving up everything all at once?

Bottom line is that it is possible to be a vegetarian and healthy, but you must research properly about suitable diets.

Mamta

Hi all, I have recently been made aware of the fact that free range is not always what we would consider free range.And as has been said, even free range involves significant bad treatment of chickens, including killing of males.

Go vegan!

Its hard im not going to lie, but if you get yourself organised you can do it, the key is to get a good variety and find lots of vegan recipes and make them! ...otherwise it gets REAL boring.

Also it is virtually impossible to eat out and has been a problem for me.I stopped going out to any restaurants because it was pointless.As I said, it is not easy, but the sense of satisfaction you get will be huge.Also if you have any spiritual beliefs, you will be aware of how much bad karma you sidestep by not being involved in the abuse of other living creatures.To be honest, people who do eat meat their whole life will struggle to ever get out of their karmic debt.

i just don't think that veganism is all that healthy. if you have to take a supplement because you are not getting something naturally from your diet then the diet is not good. B12 deficiency can cause irreversible nerve damage and other horrible things. vegan people get rickets and can sometimes have the bones equivalent to those of an 80 year old. then there is the thyroid problems that many vegans seem to suffer from.

i recently read a book called 'how to prevent and cure heart disease' written by a Dr. called 'Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., M.D.' and i was told about it by vegans. having a partner who suffered from a heart attack a few years ago and had to undergo bypass surgery i thought this book would be an ideal christmas present. the book basically says that you can prevent and cure heart disease if you follow a strict fat-free vegan diet. you can't eat anything with a mother or a face (as he aptly puts it), no dairy products or eggs, no oils (including olive oil), no nuts, no coconut and no avocado. if possible you should limit - or preferably - remove salt from your cooking, and you should avoid fruit juices and only about 3 pieces of fruit a day. apparently the sugar in fruit makes the pancreas work harder and causes an insulin surge and makes the liver work harder and then the liver produces more cholesterol.

(I once watched an episode of the x-files and it was about a housing estate where the home owners had to make sure that everything was kept neat and tidy, and if they didn't then this monster that was made from soil came out of the ground and ate them. This diet makes me think of that x-files episode for some reason. I just visualise a bunch of middle-ages people all stood like statues outside on their laws, i dunno why - not that i am saying heat disease is something that only middle aged people suffer from, either.)

i believe that humans evolved eating meat, fish, lots of greens, and seasonal vegetables and fruits. I don't think we evolved to drink the milk from a cow - that is fine for a baby cow but totally unnatural for a baby human. we are the only species that drinks milk beyond infancy and many people are lactose intolerant anyway but not aware of it. then we get onto the subject of soya milk and almond milk, but it really isn't milk at all. milk comes from a breast.

i think that the healthiest diet anyone can eat is one that contains meat, fish, eggs, lots of vegetables (in particular green leafy ones for calcium), and fruit. I dont drink tea and coffee and instead i drink lots of herbal infusions. i drink a pint of nettle infusion daily and this is one of the best sources of calcium.

im bored now. but i would just like to say that i dont think veganism is healthy. i am against animal cruelty but i think the farmers around here would have a problem if i went to kill my own cows (I dont eat lamb or pork) so i will just have to buy it from a supermarket . im not religious and i dont believe in karma (no offence intended) so i cant be brainwashed that way. for what it is worth i am against animals being treated cruely and i have watched all the peta videos too.

To follow on from DaN's comments if it doesn't say free range on the box, the eggs aren't going to be free range in the box.

Every commercially produced egg must be stamped with a number sequence starting:

0 = Organic (80% organic feed and lower stocking density than free range)

1 = Free Range

2 = Barn

3 = Caged.

Free Range doesn't mean organic.

'Cage free' just means the chicken hasn't lived in a cage but probably never seen the light of day in a barn (so the chicken can be given more nights and days in a week than us to increase egg production.)

'RSPCA monitored' just means the chicken haven't been stuck like sardines in a cage.

Chicken under any system can have had their beaks trimmed but if this is a good or bad thing (it does stop them attacking each other is a debate for another day!