There can be many reasons why people start to take vegetarian diets seriously. These could be based on religious beliefs, health reasons, economic reasons, ethical reasons, animal rights, etc. However, it is easy to fall prey to well-intended bad advice from friends and skeptics.
The biggest myth is that preparing a vegetarian meal is a long and difficult process. This is not entirely true because there are plenty of vegetarians around and they do not spend more time imprisoned in their kitchen than other folks do.
Vegetarian diets are made of everyday ingredients such as vegetables, fruits, grains, and nuts. Depending on the particular flavor of vegetarianism in question poultry, fish, and other dairy products can also be included in the recipe along with legumes and starches like potatoes and rice.
Chances are you already have most of these items stored away and in case you do not, they are easily available from the local grocery or food store.
There are plenty of vegan recipes to be found in magazines, books, newsletters, and thanks to the Internet, you can do one search and end up with more recipes than you know what to do with.
Most vegetarian meals follow the same rules as regular diets except that they leave out the meat. While it can be argued that not eating meat means a lack of essential proteins, a well-planned vegan recipe can easily overcome that defect. It is quite possible to prepare a balanced vegan diet.
Vegan protein sources include nuts, legumes, fish, beans, poultry, tofu, and dairy.
The people in the Middle East are known for their strong bones and teeth. If you study their diets you will find that they are mostly vegan and yet they do not suffer from calcium deficiency that would make weak teeth and bones. These people are getting their calcium to make weak teeth and bones from vegetables, and so can you.
A vegan recipe will typically contain bacteria and less fat that can enter our body along with food. Since both can result in infections and heart diseases, a vegan diet is healthy as it involves lesser quantities.
Another reason for people to be put off vegetarian meals is the incorrect impression that vegan recipes involve things like limp lettuce and carrot sticks and that is about it. This is an example of very limite soups, burgers, steaks, hot dogs, casseroles, pasta, and imagination. There are no grounds to assume that a vegan recipe means a palate that will be starved for some variety or substance.
Vegan recipes can be overflowing with flavor and substance. It is possible to make some obvious food like curries, burgers, soups, steaks, casseroles, hot dogs, pasta, and desserts using nothing but vegan foodstuffs. Only very jaded critics of vegan recipes will insist that the result is not satisfying to the palate.
Since vegetarian recipes make better use of some herbs and spices, they tend to be more flavorful.
