What off-limit foods do vegetarians miss most? Till a week ago, I would have ticked off
canned tuna and pepperoni as foods I’d like to be hypnotized into enjoying once
more (yes, I know: peasant tastes). Well,
I haven’t found substitutes for them, and I’m not into tofu cooking, or eating,
but a few days ago, I tasted something I’d really miss if I also gave it up on
principle: vegetarian hot dogs.
OMG!
And to begin
with, my trying “Field Roast Vegetarian Frankfurters” was thanks to a feature
story in a cat magazine that ID’d a couple delicious meat-alternatives for
vegetarians (and vegans). My caring about
animals and not eating meat – was it virtue rewarded, in the form of a grilled vegetarian
hot dog? I’ll take it. Again and again.
Roaming around the Field Roast website, I learned that whole wheat
flour seems to be the most “solid” ingredient of these 200-calorie links; that garlic
and onion and appealing spices are included too; and that there are recipes for
other uses far beyond what I enjoyed: a butterflied hot dog, sautéed in olive
oil and slathered with yellow mustard, on a roll. (Next time, I’ll embellish.)
I was also gratified to find numerous other Field Roast products, from appetizers
and entrees through sausages, roasts and loaves – including, as you’d expect,
the “Field Burger,” with this version
blessedly free of the ubiquitous black beans. Another product was meatloaf (think: meatloaf
sandwiches!) with brown gravy. Its
description includes this line: “We’ll spare you
the just-like-mom-made references; simply cozy up and remember that Field Roast
loves you.”
Loving it right
back, I’m eager to find the
nearest store with Field Roast’s line of products and try more of them.
Please note: This has been an UN-solicited and UN-paid gastronomical announcement. And while I’m delighted to have discovered
Field Roast franks-plus, I hope only that I haven’t been singing to the choir with
this post.
Still thinking about
those ghastly South Korean dog meat farms, I wish Field Roast could expand its production
site(s) from Seattle to Asia and train farmers there to raise vegetarian food
ingredients. That would be about as far
away as possible from their horrible present “occupation.”
From Humane
Society International’s latest appeal:
Kaya only wants to do what comes naturally as a mother–to
keep her newborn puppies safe and fed. But every day she struggles to provide
those basic needs–undernourished herself, tethered by a heavy chain around her
neck. This is her life, their life together, on a dog meat farm in South Korea.
These are just some of the dogs suffering on this farm for the trade in their meat. And the cruelty lies within the shadow of the events happening just down the road at the Winter Games in Pyeongchang.
These are just some of the dogs suffering on this farm for the trade in their meat. And the cruelty lies within the shadow of the events happening just down the road at the Winter Games in Pyeongchang.
Day in and day out, Kaya
copes with fear, hunger and freezing temperatures, while doing the
best she can
for her helpless babies. The other dogs on this farm are shivering in the dark,
many of them trapped
in dungeon-like cages so small they can barely turn around.
The animals of the world exist for their own reasons.
They were not made for humans any more than
black people were made for whites or women for men.
--Alice Walker, poet and novelist
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