Turnip Greens and cabbage?

Question

O.K. I have not always been a vegetarian. I converted about 3 years ago. I did it to loose weight. I got accustomed to being on an all vegetable diet and liked it. I don't eat any form of meat except occasional sushi. I do, however, use bacon or fat back for flavor when I cook greens and cabbage. I was raised eating greens in this fashion, and I can hardly eat them any other way. What do other vegetarians think of this practice?

Answer 1

Well, if you eat sushi and use animal fat in your food, you aren't vegetarian.

If you can't handle your greens with some other type of fat, it's your choice to keep doing it the old way, but vegetarians do not eat fat from animals' bodies.

Try olive oil or Earth Balance and maybe some balsalmic vinegar.

Answer 2

Who ever said that vegetarians don't eat fat from animals, does not know what they are talking about and are very ignorant. Milk, cheese, butter have some form of animal fat in it. Would that make a lacto-vegan hypocritical and not a vegetarian? But they are! When you eat cookies from the store, chances are there is going to be butter (animal fat) in it! Wow, I'm not a vegetarian anymore because I ate cookies? But that's not meat and I am a lacto-vegan because of the butter. Ridiculous! I've done my research and eating greens with pork (taking it out) did not make the list of you becoming non-vegetarian. I believe it falls in the lacto-vegan because of the fat being eaten instead of the meat. It's the same deal with taking pepperoni off a pizza and pepperoni fat is on it. Having pork in your greens and taking the meat out is not hypocritical and you are not eating meat.
It's actually okay! I am a vegetarian and I do the same thing because without the fat, it taste bleh and the cabbage stinks! As long as you leave the meat alone in the pot and eat the cabbage, you are still a vegetarian because you are not technically eating meat, just the fat. Cheese and dairy products have some form of animal fat in them, am I not a lacto-vegan then? Makes no sense to me!
But if you want to prevent the stinky smell of cabbage and not have meat in it, here's an alternative:

"Cabbage contains mustard oils (isothiocyanates) that break down into a variety of smelly sulfur compounds (including hydrogen sulfide and ammonia) when the cabbage is heated, a reaction that occurs more strongly in aluminum pots. The longer you cook the cabbage, the more smelly the compounds will be. Adding a slice of bread to the cooking water may lessen the odor. Keeping a lid on the pot will stop the smelly molecules from floating off into the air, but it will also accelerate the chemical reaction that turns cooked green cabbage drab".
http://www.asianonlinerecipes.com/vegetables-guide/cabbage-preparing-cooking.php

But when you eat sushi, try the vegetable kind. Because I DO agree, eating seafood in sushi is meat and that would not make you a vegetarian anymore.

Answer 3

Eating occasional meat means that the label of 'vegetarian' is not accurate for you. You could qualify it by saying "I'm an almost-vegetarian" if you're looking for a shorthand way to say "I am a vegetarian most of the time, but I do occasionally eat small amounts of meat and fish"

Answer 4

I'm in the same boat. My mother always uses drippings when flavoring her veggies and loves to put at least one ham hock in the greens.
It is a hard habit to break...but it must be broken. I now realize that it is quite hypocritical for me to use animal parts as a source of flavor. I no longer do that.

Answer 5

Why does it matter.

You changed your diet to lose weight, did it work? Do you feel healthier? Do you like the taste of what you eat?

If yes, great.

Why would it matter if other people who eat absolutely no meat approve of your adding bacon to your greens or your eating sushi?

Answer 6

I am not a vegetarian, but I know that adding the pork to the greens makes it no longer vegetarian. I do agree however that it is the tastiest way to prepare them.

Answer 7

Im sorry... I think using the fat from an animal or eating sushi (w/fish) is just not vegetarian...

Sorry... just my opinion.

Good luck! :)

Answer 8

Sounds hypocritical.

Answer 9

try smoked turkey butts or wings to season your greens and/or veggies. although turkey is "meat"... i believe it's healthier than the pork alternatives.

Answer 10

i think you tend to lie a lot, but its entertaining.. so keep it up