Sunday 29 March 2009

thoughts on burgers



One of the times when I've been food shopping with the boys, the lady at the checkout scanning our food commented on all the vegetables we were buying and we got chatting and I mentioned we were veggie (well, almost vegan). Because she had been admiring the aubergines etc, I think Id assumed she'd be an ally (!) but she suddenly looked genuinely aghast and cried 'Oh no, they'll never be able to go to Mcdonalds!' Looking back, the idea that never going to Mcdonalds is going to blight their experience of childhood is a strange one. True, I will never go in there with the boys or anyone; their disregard for animal welfare has been very publicy exposed, needless to say more. It does bring up social issues though, or at least raises them for the future. I don't want the boys to feel like their missing out on things. But I want them to know the origins of foods, and if their friends like burgers for their tea I want the boys to have an equivalent; actually, one that leaves it far behind. Made tofu burgers a while back which Rohan ate, but they didn't really go for them, but they hadn't eaten anything in that sort of form before. Tonight we had roast potatoes, lots of vegetables and I bought some Cauldron carrot and onion burgers which they had with a little organic vegan gravy. They did like these; and I tasted them too (very nice) as I noted that they were vegan with lots of good ingredients like chick pea and brown rice as well as the carrot, with salt reasonably low down on the list. Cauldron foods are really tasty, I only really buy the tofu now (the smoked is delicious) but when was more vegetarian I bought more of the range, but not so much now as they use egg, presumabley to bind. It would be so good if they could use a replacement for this, because the products are really excellent. I would probably take the boys to Wimpy though, if they were desperate. For the chips and veggie option. I've got some completely irrelevent pics to post! One of the boys with their cart (they got it for their 3rd birthday in November, but hadn't used it much but now its warmer out they have had fun being out with it and pretending it's a train etc!) Plus a pizza we had the other eve, with Cheezly's melting mozzarella on top, very tasty. Oh, and more cakes! Celebratory cakes when some lovely friends came to visit with their gorgeous new baby girl. Fluffy white cupcakes from Vegan Lunchbox.

3 comments:

Clone.Girl. said...

I think comments like that are annoying. No one gets it. The thing I hear the most is, "Have you ever had a hamburger?" and I respond, 'yes'. Unfortunatly I was not raised vegetarian (Or vegan). As soon as people know I have had a hamburger they are like, 'Okay'. Like I would have missed out on some big experience or something. It is so dissapointing that some people can be so dumb about things that are different to them. It frequently gets on my nerves and is defintley the hardest part about choosing to be a vegan or a vegetarian. Your boys probably won't feel like they are missing out. They've been fed good healthy food so they shouldn't have any desire for the cheap junk that Mcdonalds calls food.

Bea said...

'Have you ever had a hamburger?' Its quite funny in a way!! I can't imagine that McDonald's taste of anything after veggie food.. I was brought up around meat too- I remember thinking I should be liking Mcdonalds' food! But really it was just the bap and the seasoning... at least we have something to compare with I guess.

Unknown said...

Hi it is Rohan... I am 11 bye