Prawns

Jack Vegas

In the process of going vegitarian, Ive cut down to only 3-4 meals a week with meat ingredients, and was thinking today about soem of my favourites when getting a chinese takeaway - Prawns in batter and Prawn Crackers.

I tried to justify to myself that I could still it prawns and be a vegitarian, but I was simply bull$hitting myself - anybody know of any vegitarian alternatives for these tasty treats?

che81

unfortunately "mock prawns" is not something i have seen in ireland yet. i saw a programme with kylie kwong a while back where she went to a budhist restaurant and had some "mock prawns" in china. she said the texture was there but not the taste.

seafood was definitely the hardest thing for me to give up. but remember it's no point becoming a veggie if you're making yourself miserable. do what you can and feel comfortable with.

there are some really tasty tofu dishes out there in chinese restaurants. go with them.

Nature Boy

And remember you don't have to find something to directly replace what you used to eat. There's lots of different kinds of veggie meals. Just try as many as you can and find what you like!

silja

Keep in mind some prawn crackers do not contain actual prawn, just prawn flavouring, and are in fact vegetarian. Depends on the brand though, and I am not sure my local Chinese Take-away would tell me the truth if I asked what was in the crackers

Nature Boy

Yeah, I wouldn't say they'd even know! It's a pitty cos I liked prawn crackers and I always don't eat them even though they might actually be veggie

Tar.Aldarion

Can you buy them anywhere? You can't get em from a chinese anyway, they usually won't know if they are vegetarian or not all right.

sweet-rasmus

oh! no, my sister (not vegetarian) bought prawn crackers to make at home and they most certainly had prawns in them! veggies stay clear

Reptileboy

When I first became a vegetarian back when I was a young teenager, I was so enthusiastic that when I suddenly realised the number of food items I could no longer consume I was astonished. Becoming a vegetarian is an education in itself, with a very steep learning curve.

So don't be afraid of consuming meat products inadvertently. I think we have all been there. In fact, the ongoing controversy with Masterfoods and their Mars bars just demonstrates that even the most eagle eyed vegetarian is not immune.

While I no longer consume any meat products, I still have the same old tastes. And when I smell the frying of bacon, I can still remember the taster. But I always remember that what tastes good on the tongue, does not do so in the heart.

Sometimes I feel that even amongst other vegetarians I am an outsider. I generally don't like the majority of vegetarian dishes and I rarely favour vegetables. As you can guess, my palate is not very wide.

Tar.Aldarion

Nor is mine, not great is it Reptileboy?
Good post.

Reptileboy

Tar.Aldarion wrote:

Nor is mine, not great is it Reptileboy?
Good post.

Absolutely not. It seems that most supermarkets and stores are no longer stocking the same number of vegetarian friendly items they used to. It would appear the trend has moved to more low fat options and Polish foods.

I find Tesco the worst offender. A friend of mine who works in stock control for one of their stores tells me that they routinely change their stock for unknown reasons, despite many products being best sellers.

I cannot recall the number of times I have discovered new veg friendly items in Tesco's, only to have them disappear after a few months.

I'm not a big fan of the many vegetarian options available in most restaurants as some tend to just remove the meat part and throw it on a plate.

I would like to try the prawn flavoured fake prawns if they are available. I loved prawns as a kid and still miss them.

Tar.Aldarion

The vegetarian option in most restaurants is terrible all right, and I never eat out.
Tesco have a good range in Britain, we should annoy them till they stock the same here.