PUT TO THE TEST: Veggie for a week

Make for the nearest barbie is Antony Quarrell’s advice.

If you’re going to attempt to go veggie then what better place to start than at a barbecue?

The smell of charcoal, burgers and sausages wafting round the neighbourhood is a sure sign that summertime is in full bloom.

But how would you feel it your dietary beliefs meant that you couldn’t throw a steak, sausage, burger or even a shrimp on the barbie?

A recent work barbecue was the starting point of my week long investigation into the world of vegetarianism. I’d long been curious as to whether I could cut it as a veggie for a whole seven days. Sure I’d had meat-free days before, once even pulling off a six day stint while on holiday, but a whole week of veggie-dom still eluded me.

Researching the topic I found myself asking why do people go vegetarian in the first place anyway?

To understand their motivations I thought I’d better begin at the beginning – literally. For an early apparent endorsement of a universal vegetarian diet, I checked out Genesis, the first book of the Bible, in which the creation of the world is described.

It all began with seeds. Doctrines of vegetarianism and non-violence to animals were found in the ancient civilizations of India and Greece, where the ideas were often promoted by religious teachers or philosophers.

More recently meat eating has raised questions in regard to health and the environment in addition to ethical concerns over the treatment of animals.

The meat industry has come in for criticism in recent years, with a UN report ‘Livestock’s Long Shadow’ revealing that 30 per cent of the planet’s land surface is used for global livestock grazing and feed production.

Meat, according to some, may also be bad for your health, with meat eaters said to be suffer higher rates of assorted ills including various cancers, obesity, arthritis, high blood pressure and indigestion.

Added to these fears about what’s in your meat, be it added hormones or BSE, and you have some serious food for thought whatever your viewpoint.

But is it enough to make you give up those cheese burgers and fried chicken nuggets?

Back at the barbecue I looked on as others picked out sausages and burgers. The only option I had was some healthy looking vegetarian kebabs consisting of sweetcorn and peppers, to which I added bread, salad and some coleslaw.

Not quite the usual barbecue fare, but tasty and nutritious none the less. Armed with some helpful suggestions of what to eat from other non-meat eaters, I began to adapt to my new lifestyle.

Over the next few days I found myself not missing meat that much – something probably helped by my chancing upon a recent radio report where it was discussed whether poison gas rather than electrocution was a more humane way to slaughter chickens.

I substituted my usual meat intake with an assortment of pulses including chick peas and borlotti beans as well as cheese.

Both rice and pasta dishes adapt well to a vegetarian diet, and the likes of chick pea curry and bean based pasta proved to be tasty alternatives.

I also felt generally more relaxed during the first few days but around the fourth day of my veggie regime I found my energy levels started to flag.

Following up a tip, I began to eat raw spinach – after all if it’s good enough for Popeye it should be good enough for me, right? – together with watercress, both good sources of iron. Nuts, an egg (good souce of vitamin B12, folks) and even a pint of Guinness were amongst my other attempts to find the elusive vegetarian pick-me-up that would boost my flagging energy levels.

Happily by the last day of my vegetarian marathon I began to feel more like my old self again. Was it a case of my body taking time to adapt to a new diet or had I been not been eating the right things in the first place?

It’s hard to say really, so maybe the experiment will have to continue a while longer.