There is a revolution afoot, the tiny sound of marching vegetables into the world of haute cuisine. Vegetarianism appears to becoming the new restaurant trend to hit the UK. Coupled with an increasing awareness of the burden of raising animals has on world resources, expanding culinary innovation and interest in healthy lifestyles; the new breed of vegetarian restaurants are sleek, modern and as far removed from their stereotypical image as you can get. Think Stella McCartney rather than Swampy.
Despite the recession, according to the Vegetarian Guides there are now 30 top-range restaurants in the UK, a whopping 50% increase since 2007. Saf, the innovative raw food restaurant in Shoreditch (London) is opening another two venues this year and new kid on the block, Otarian is opening three sites simultaneously this year. Even Aldo Zilli has muscled in on the act with Zilli Green opening, albeit to mixed reviews, in Soho.
So does this mean that we are finally turning our back on meat?
There are over 5million vegetarians in the UK however, according to The Guardian, the numbers are not likely to swell dramatically as people are becoming ‘meat-reducers’ rather than ‘meat-avoiders’. From the perspective of someone who is a committed omnivore, but enjoys vegetables and would like to see more innovative vegetable-based dishes, I welcome the opportunity to have more choice and once which does consist of broccoli and carrots boiled within an inch of their lives covered in cheese, pasta or pastry.
Co-founder of Michelin-starred restaurant, Vanilla Black, Andrew Dargue says “We don’t cook for vegetarians, we cook vegetarian food”, they are consistently pushing the food boundaries, challenging the view that all vegetarian food is bland and boring. Considering over 50% of their customers are meat eaters, they must be doing something right.
Mark Bittman author and food writer at The New York Times explores the links between obesity, lifestyle diseases, global warming, environmental issues and over-consumption of meat, junk food and carbohydrates in his book Food Matters. Not only did his burden on the environment reduce from ‘…an SUV to a Prius’, his experience through writing the book and changing the way he ate from a high meat and saturated diet to a ‘Lessmeatarian’ way of life enabled him to naturally drop thirty-five pounds or 15kgs, and reduce both his cholesterol and blood sugar levels.
It makes sense to reduce the amount of meat in our diets, not only are our portion sizes larger than ever, there is an increasing lack of variety on people’s shopping lists as well as a decreasing level of vegetables consumed overall. The industrialised factory farming processes as depicted in the recent film Food Inc and based on Eric Schlosser’s groundbreaking book Fast Food Nation show how neglect of animals and the humans who work in the industries have catapulted food poisoning to catastrophic proportions.
Animals reared in dark, crowded conditions, pumped with a cocktail of medicines will not provide nutritious food for our tables. Given the choice, I would choose vegetables every time. Not only do they give us lots of vitamins and minerals to help our body’s perform optimally, repair and rejuvenate they also provide fibre which is essential for good digestion, elimination of toxins, cellulite reduction, and that inner glow that you can’t get from a tin.
Watch out For...
Just a wee word of warning if you are thinking about ditching meat either slightly or in entirety.
Starcharianism
Protein and complex carbohyrate balance is incredibly important for health, without animal protein it can be very easy to rely on grains as the main basis of a meal. If you have a diet that contains an excess of starchy carbohydrates there is a possibility that this can increase weight, especially if it is of the white variety.
Food combining
Mixing wholegrains such as brown rice, barley, buckwheat, spelt and millet with pulses and beans such as lentils, kidney beans, chickpeas and aduki beans will give you a full compliment of the eight essential amino acids that we require for our body.
Soya
Avoid soya based meat-imitation products, these are highly processed and contains a cocktail of chemicals that will give your body more to deal with than required. Stick to traditional forms of soya products such as tofu, tempeh and miso.
Check out the BitchBuzz Healthy Eating series to find out more. Issue three out next Friday.
Image via Jenny Downing's Flickr