Jump to content

Not many people appear to know this but Parmesan isn't vegetarian.


Recommended Posts

I?m not vegetarian and I don?t come from a vegetarian home but vegetarianism has never been something incomprehensible or strange. If someone says they?re vegetarian they don?t eat animals, end of, whether it is an oyster, fish or a yeti.

wee quinnie Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> On a related issue to my previous posting...

>

> If you think the cheese thing is nitpicking, it's

> really awful when you get to someone's gaff and

> they serve you fish or something because that's

> "vegetarian"! In case you're wondering, when it

> has happened to me, I haven't told them, and just

> eaten it....

>

> Obviously stupid of me to assume that people know

> what vegetarian means in the simplest form. Mind

> you, when I lived in Australia and told people I

> was veggie, quite commonly, the first question

> asked would be "Do you eat chicken?"!!!!


hi wee quinnie, totally agree with you. You'd think people would know what was truly vegetarian and what wasn't (esp restaurants, cookbooks and former mother-in-laws!) :)


How many times do I remember being served 'vegetarian' noodles with prawns, quiche, ( You can pick the ham out dear, that will be okay won't it? My ex's mum asked me, a look of horror on her face when I said, no).


Oh yes, has also been assumed ( when I was veggie) that fish and chicken is 'ok'! Er ... no!


Hate all those 'fake' meat products you seen now tho.

Sean, those people are NOT vegetarians. They may not be that fussy about what they eat, but I AM that fussy about the English language. I agree with Woof on the "don't eat meat" front - that's them, not "vegetarian" flibbertigibbets.

ISTR that Parmesan is an official EU designation that can only be used for cheese made according to a traditional recipe that uses animal rennet.


In which case, the vegetarian substitute (made from rennet obtained from fungi or genetically engineered micro-organisms) cannot be called 'Parmesan'.


A quick Google reveals many brands of vegetarian Parmesan-substitute.

woofmarkthedog Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Isinglass is collagen/gelatin which is gathered

> from the swim bladders of fish

>

> It's used to clarify wine & commonly known a

> "Filings"

>

> ( & not a carrot in sight )


W**f, I'd heard this was the case with bitters but not lagers. Never knew about wine though. Does it apply to both red and white do you know? If it applies to red then I can hardly call myself a vegetarian any more I suppose. I'm not giving up red!

ah yes that story - but that was more of a Clarkson type "joke" than an actual recipe


It's boorish and silly but I'm not sure it's factually:


" it was discovered that Gordon Ramsay's soup deemed suitable for vegetarians contained chicken stock,"

SeanMacGabhann Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Rosie - I basically agree with you and WQ about

> what constitutes a real vegetarian

>

> BUT

>

> I doubt Jamie Oliver would be publishing a book if

> it was only going to sell to real vegetarians.

> s'true...


Yes BUT if it's strictly vegetarian you don't have to be a vegetarian to use it. For the benefit of the wider audience you could also go on to say that people who have diets that approach vegetarianism for whatever reason will find it easier/simpler to describe themselves as vegetarians and I don't see anything wrong with that.


PS If it's got a non-vegetarian cheese in it the Vegetarian society would not deem it vegetarian, and surely that's a reasonable definition of vegetarianism.

I asked my brother (the only veggie) what he wanted to eat at the wedding breakfast of my recent nuptuals. His response was - the normal will be fine - just swerve the bacon and make sure there are some veggie sausages knocking around.

Rosie - don't make me go all Jack Nicholson on yo' ass


WQ - agree with you completely in your PS. But the point about the book, although obviously true is moot. There wouldn't be enough non-vegetarians who would buy the book to make it viable. I reckon anyway

SeanMacGabhann Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

>. But the

> point about the book, although obviously true is

> moot. There wouldn't be enough non-vegetarians who

> would buy the book to make it viable. I reckon

> anyway


Dunno about that. Delia Smith,(who charmingly mentions in the veggie section of her Complete Cookery course "that Hitler was..guess what a vegetarian!"), brought out a veggie compilation a few years ago which was pretty successful - AND she endorses that parmesan style cheese I mentioned in my opening post.

I like my mum's definition.


At a Rotary Club Dinner in rural Goucestershire, in the 80s, after politely turning down chicken and fish, she lost patience and said (very calmy and in her lovely RP accent)


"I'm a vegetarian. I don't eat anything that f*cks" *



*Now, I know some pedant will now point out that fish don't techincally f*ck (fertilisation of the eggs happens outside the fish) but if you take f*ck in this context to mean reproduce sexually (as in by fusion of male and female gametes)then it's not a bad definition.

annaj Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> *Now, I know some pedant will now point out that

> fish don't techincally f*ck (fertilisation of the

> eggs happens outside the fish)


Except for live-bearing species, in which the male impregnates the female by inserting his gonopodium into her 'vent' (i.e. where the babies pop out) :)

katie1997 Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I'm cross posting too ...

>

> fish bladders used to make beers and wine ...

>

> also in lots of other products, not all use the

> seaweed substitute so yes, animal gelatine too.


Wine fining is an interesting one. There should be no trace of the fining agent left in the wine, but you are right, a dead animal product can be used in the process (though more often than not a non-animal fininf agent is used). Gelatine and blood have been used as a fining agents as has, for the vegans, egg whites (quite common).


As I said, no trace of animal protein should remain, but I suppose it depends on how rabidly PETA your vegetarianism/veganism is.

annaj Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I like my mum's definition.

>

> At a Rotary Club Dinner in rural Goucestershire,

> in the 80s, after politely turning down chicken

> and fish, she lost patience and said (very calmy

> and in her lovely RP accent)

>

> "I'm a vegetarian. I don't eat anything that

> f*cks" *

>

>

> *Now, I know some pedant will now point out that

> fish don't techincally f*ck (fertilisation of the

> eggs happens outside the fish) but if you take

> f*ck in this context to mean reproduce sexually

> (as in by fusion of male and female gametes)then

> it's not a bad definition.


As a proud pedant I'd also point out that a cow, minced into little pieces, formed into a hamburger and shoved into a bread bun is not, technically or otherwise, capable of f*cking anything but my cholesterol levels.

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Latest Discussions

    • Post much better this Xmas.  Sue posted about whether they send Xmas cards; how good the post is,  is relevant.  Think I will continue to stay off Instagram!
    • These have reduced over the years, are "perfect" lives Round Robins being replaced by "perfect" lives Instagram posts where we see all year round how people portray their perfect lives ?    The point of this thread is that for the last few years, due to issues at the mail offices, we had delays to post over Christmas. Not really been flagged as an issue this year but I am still betting on the odd card, posted well before Christmas, arriving late January. 
    • Two subjects here.  Xmas cards,  We receive and send less of them.  One reason is that the cost of postage - although interestingly not as much as I thought say compared to 10 years ago (a little more than inflation).  Fun fact when inflation was double digits in the 70s cost of postage almost doubled in one year.  Postage is not a good indication of general inflation fluctuating a fair bit.  The huge rise in international postage that for a 20g Christmas card to Europe (no longer a 20g price, now have to do up to 100g), or a cheapskate 10g card to the 'States (again have to go up to the 100g price) , both around a quid in 2015, and now has more than doubled in real terms.  Cards exchanged with the US last year were arriving in the New Year.  Funnily enough they came much quicker this year.  So all my cards abroad were by email this year. The other reason we send less cards is that it was once a good opportunity to keep in touch with news.  I still personalise many cards with a news and for some a letter, and am a bit grumpy when I get a single line back,  Or worse a round robin about their perfect lives and families.  But most of us now communicate I expect primarily by WhatApp, email, FB etc.  No need for lightweight airmail envelope and paper in one.    The other subject is the mail as a whole. Privitisation appears to have done it no favours and the opening up of competition with restrictions on competing for parcel post with the new entrants.  Clearly unless you do special delivery there is a good chance that first class will not be delivered in a day as was expected in the past.   Should we have kept a public owned service subsidised by the tax payer?  You could also question how much lead on innovation was lost following the hiving off of the national telecommunications and mail network.
    • Why have I got a feeling there was also a connection with the beehive in Brixton on that road next to the gym
Home
Events
Sign In

Sign In



Or sign in with one of these services

Search
×
    Search In
×
×
  • Create New...