   Textured Vegetable Protein
  I''ve decided to become a veggie, and I remembered this stuff being in a burrito that I ate once and I thought that I''d give it a try.So I bought about a pound of it today and made some. Blech. It tastes wheat germy. Obviously some consider this to be a meat substitute. I don''t need a meat substitute -- I just bought it for the protein -- but dang I wish it tasted better.I ate it plain, by the way, which may be part of the problem. Does anyone else have any TVP cooking ideas? 
  I''m a natural veggie (my parents never forced me to eat meat, and I never chose to do so) so I''m always looking for good sources of protein. Milk (and milk products) are always good. Apparently cashews and peanuts are also extremely high in protein (although I can''t imagine eating them for a meal).TVP varies *hugely* in quality... what I''ve usually eaten is veggie sausage, which is quite nice, if a smidgen bland. You can get these cans of little TVP chunks in some brown sauce which are good, but I can''t remember what they''re called... just microwave, add whatever ingredients you like (or eat plain on toast) and it''s all good. I''ll take a look next time I''m at the supermarket. If you want ideas for getting rid of the rest of that TVP - try cutting it into strips, marinating it in lemon juice, and frying. It might help a little. ;  Why do people choose to be vegetarian?For health reasons?For money reasons?Because you dont want to hurt animals?Because everyone else is doing it?Some combo of the above?I find that unless I eat some meat, I''m still hungry. Even if I eat 4 pounds of salad, beans carrots and other veggies, Im still hungry  until I get some meat in me.  ;  Heh... probably as many reasons as people, but I do tend to come across a few major groups:1) The trendoids. Generally only vegetarian when others can see them being so... also the worst perpetrators of the sort of fake vegetarianism that gets me continually asked whether I eat fish/chicken/whatever: "I''m vegetarian, but I eat a little bit of fish. And other seafood. And chicken. And beef. And pork. And sheep eyeballs. And I think seals are seafood if they''re small. But mainly I''m vegetarian!"2) Women who have to cook meat a lot. I''ve been told by several different women that meat is very unpleasant to cook... I think handling it raw turns them off it.3) Conscientious objectors. My Dad is one of these - he doesn''t eat meat because he believes it''s wrong to kill animals.4) People who don''t like meat. There are actually quite a few of us (this is the box I go in). It smells strongly of dead things, and I never learned to associate that smell with food, so to me, meat isn''t food. Sometimes I''ll smell a barbequeue and think ''mmm that smells good'' but it''s usually the onions. 5) Religious vegetarians. Some Indian religions (Buddhism, Hare Krishna) are religious, and they tend to stick to it rather well from what I''ve seen.6) Evangelical vegetarians. Usually from groups 1, 3, or 5, these people try and force anyone they meet to become vegetarian, and are the bane of all other vegetarians anywhere. Even without these, though, meateaters are always extremely defensive about their diet around vegetarians. At school (and even at university) I got (asked|questioned|harssed) about my choice not to eat meat, as if by simply not having a meat pie when everyone else did I was somehow trying to force them to change their diet.There are also the mythical groups that people who know nothing about vegetarianism seem to think exist. They may well do, but I''ve never met them:1) The tightass vegetarian. Refuses to buy and eat meat because it''s too expensive. I''ve read about them in fiction books, but unless we''re talking about dumpster guys and bag ladies (who would quite happily down a snagger or few, I''d bet) then I''d say rather rare... although there is the comic association between old people and pet food.2) The ''because my mummy made me'' vegetarian. I don''t think I''ve ever met anyone whose parents forced them to become vegetarian - usually it''s the other way around, with parents trying to make their kids eat ''good normal food''.Well, there you go - a not-so-brief synopsis of the common-or-garden varieties of Homo Vegetarianis.;  I''m no vergitarian but I do occasionally eat veggie-style. It''s quite good but I absolutely detest meat substitues or fake meat. It tastes horrible! Eigher eat meat or don''t but don''t get started on fake meat. Yech. There are plenty of much nicer vegitarian things to eat.   Sander Maréchal[Lone Wolves][Game Developers Emporium][E-mail][Hosting $7,95/mo][Forum FAQ][Google] ;quote:Original post by Utwo  I''ve decided to become a veggie, and I remembered this stuff being in a burrito that I ate once and I thought that I''d give it a try.If I were you, I''d become broccoli, that''s a tasty veggie.  Oh, vegetarian, nevermind.  ;  Sander - I am so   with you there. I''m vegetarian, that means I don''t like   meat, and I don''t want to eat   meat. TVP that''s not trying to be anything but nice TVP is the way to go.Oh - I don''t know how international/local they are, but here in Perth (Australia) there''s a chain of vegetarian restaraunts called Utopia. Mostly they sell that ghastly bubble tea stuff, but the restaraunt part also sells really good vegetarian food. They''re run by the Buddha''s Light International Association, but don''t seem at all preachy. 