October 25, 2011 Leave a comment
What Ho ! The Minstel
The Spanish Onion Minstrel sang
One sad and doleful chord;
The Potatoes listened to him
As they strolled upon the sward.
His song “peeled” forth so sweet and strong
So strong and sweet and wise,
The Potatoes’ Celtic hearts were touched
And tears gushed from their “eyes.”
From: Vegetable verselets for humorous vegetarians (1911)
October 13, 2011 Leave a comment
The Delights of Spring.
A Song by a Vegetarian.
Spring’s delights are now returning,
See where sprouts the crisp seakale;
Early greens and cauliflowers
Now command a ready sale.
Vegetarians now rejoicing
Asparagus again may dress;
And fewer doubts of what’s for dinner
Meed their anxious minds distress.
They who fondly dote on pudding
With joy the new-born rhubarb see,
And greater rapture hails the budding
Of the prickly gooseberrie.
Now returns the green cucumber,
That with nightmare doth distress;
While for those in peace who’d slumber
Springs anew the simple cress.
Now in large yet penny bunches
Radishes again are seen:
And the lettuce tempts to lunches
At the shops of grocers-green.
Let other bards in rhyme discover
Joys that other seasons bring;
I, a vegetable lover,
Tell the pleasures of the Spring.
From: Punch Vol XXXII (1857)
October 7, 2011 Leave a comment
More commentary on vegetarianism from Punch (1854). Interestingly vegan…
A VEGETARIAN EATING HOUSE.
The immense success of the late Vegetarian Banquet at Leeds has induced an enterprising enthusiast to start an Eating House, conducted entirely without the assistance of the Butcher. But not only is the Butcher renounced, but also the Fishmonger, on the principle that it is wrong to catch fish: for vegetarianism professes to be an improvement on that doctrine, the first promulgators whereof were fishermen. The Poulterer is excluded likewise; for not even eggs are tolerated: it being considered cruel to rend the tie which exists between them and hens, if not cocks also: and although this objection may not apply in the case of ducks, by reason of the indifference of those birds to their eggs, yet it is thought that to eat ducks’ eggs would be to take a shameful advantage of the ducks’ neglect of their eggs. Recourse is not even had to the Dairyman; to drink cows’ milk is to rob calves: and if the cow has no calf, to milk her is to weaken her, by creating an artificial drain upon her constitution. Milk quite sufficient for the composition of puddings and pies is obtained from various plants, and the requirements of the tea and breakfast-table arc completely met by the milk of the cocoa nut.
In short, the Baker, the Greengrocer, and the Grocer in ordinary, purvey all the materials which form the bill of fare provided at these novel Refreshment Rooms: the staple of the kitchen is derived entirely from the kitchen-garden. The beverages—for the establishment is teetotal as well as vegetarian—essentially consist of the unfermented juice of the pump.
We have honoured this Vegetarian Eating House with a visit, and on inquiring what there was ready, were informed by the waiter that there was “some very nice grass just up.” “Do you think,” we cried, “that we are going to be such geese as to eat that ?” Nice young grass, Sir,” he repeated: “new cut.” The idea of grass made us ruminate a little. “Any hay?” said we. “No ‘ay, Sir,” answered the waiter, blandly. “No ‘ay, Sir; but beautiful ‘grass—sparrowgrass.”
“Peas, Sir?” suggested the waiter. We ordered peas. “Two peas—thoroughly done!” shouted the man, down a pipe.
“What will you take to drink, Sir?” he asked, returning to the table. “There’s toast-and-water—there’s apple-water, lemonade, ginger-beer.”
“Any ale?”
“Hadam’s hale, Sir; very old; first liquor as ever was drunk.”
Bring us a pot of Adam’s ale apiece; we prefer it mild.” “Yessir.” So saying the waiter disappeared; and presently returned with our dinner; for which, however, we found our two peas insufficient, so we demanded what else there was.
“Kidneys, Sir—fine kidneys. Marrow.”
“Come,” we said. “This is better than we thought. Kidneys and marrow. Bring a couple of marrow-bones.”
“No bones, Sir.” Vegetable marrow.”
“Two kidneys then.”
“Two kidneys, Sir. yessir.”
“Let them be devilled.”
“Very sorry, Sir: don’t devil our kidneys. Red-nosed kidneys, or kidney beans, Sir?”
“Red-nosed kidneys!” we cried in astonishment.
“Yessir. ‘Taturs, Sir.”
“Potatoes with red-noses!” we again exclaimed. “In this abode of Temperance! Well; never mind: bring us some of your debauched potatoes.”
” ‘Ow will you ‘ave them, Sir? Plain?”
“Hey ?—no. A la maitre d’hotel—that is with parsley and butter.”
“Parsley, Sir, we ‘ave; but no butter. Butter a hanimal substance, Sir; we use no hanimal substance. Ile, Sir.”
“One wants something else with potatoes,” we observed.
“You can ‘ave,” replied the waiter, minced turnip, or ‘ashed carrot, cabbage ‘art stuffed, scolloped hartiehokes, curried brocoli, fricasseed cucumber, roast onion, stewed endive, truffle and mushroom pie, beet-steaks, pumpkin chops.” We chose a slice of roast onion; and when we had eaten it, the waiter inquired whether we would take pastry or cheese. “How is it you have cheese,” we demanded, “and not butter?” “Damson cheese, Sir,” was his reply. We had some bread and damson cheese; and then asked what was to pay. “Yessir. Two peas is eight; and kidneys is five—that’s thirteen—and two roast onions is one shilling, two and a penny: and breads and cheeses four: and two waters a apeny each is two and fivepence apeny.”
We settled this little account without any demurrer; and under the excitement of the generous fare we had been partaking of, gave the waiter half-a-crown, telling him to keep the change, which amounted to a halfpenny for himself.
From Punch Vol XXVII
October 6, 2011 Leave a comment
I have recently been looking at old vegetarian recipes on openlibrary.org and google books and I came across some commentary on the new fangled vegetarianism in the British satirical magazine Punch, circa 1848.
THE VEGETARIANS.
We see by the papers that there is a society existing in Manchester, that devotes its entire energies to the eating of vegetables, and the members meet occasionally for the purpose of masticating mashed potatoes, and munching cabbage leaves. “Sweets to the sweet” is a popular maxim, and “Greens to the green” may fairly be applied to the Vegetarians. At one of their recent banquets, a party of 232 sat down to a couple of courses, in which sage and onions, beetroot, mushrooms, and parsley, were the principal luxuries. Joseph Brotherton, Esq , M.P., the gentleman who is always wanting to get the House of Commons to bed by 12 o’clock, was in the chair, and proposed a series of toasts, which were drunk in plain water, and as several odd fish were present, they no doubt felt themselves quite in their element. We do not quite understand the principle upon which these gentlemen object to animal food; but if health is their object, we do not think that will be promoted by the mixture of messes they sat down to the other day at Manchester.
In addition to their sage and onions, they disposed of several dishes of plum-pudding—in itself as heavy as plumbago—almonds and raisins, cheesecakes,’ custards, grapes, gooseberries, sago, figs, and flummery. There is something very infantine in the pretended simplicity of this fare, for none but a parcel of overgrown, children would sit down seriously to make a meal upon sweetstuff. We look upon the vegetarian humbug as a mere pretext for indulging a juvenile appetite for something nice, and we are really ashamed of these old boys who continue, at their time of life, to display a puerile partiality for pies and puddings.
And the follow up:
THE VEGETARIAN MOVEMENT.
When we noticed, a week or two ago, a
banquet of vegetables, we were not aware that a great Vegetarian Movement was going on, with a vegetarian press, a vegetarian society, a vegetarian boarding-house, a vegetarian school, two or three vegetarian hotels, a vegetarian Life Insurance Office, vegetarian letter-paper, vegetarian pens, vegetarian wafers, and vegetarian envelopes.
The Vegetarian Advocate has replied to our article on the late vegetarian banquet, and we must confess that, notwithstanding the very cholera-inducing diet on which the members of the sect exist, the answer is by no means of a choleric character. The Vegetarian Advocate has a delicious vegetable leader, with two or three columns of provincial intelligence, showing the spread of vegetarian principles. There are vegetarian missionaries going about the country inculcating the doctrine of peas and potatoes; and there is a talk of a vegetarian dining-room, where there is to be nothing to eat but potatoes, plain and mashed, with puddings and pies in all their tempting variety.
We understand a prize is to be given for the quickest demolition of the largest quantity of turnips; and a silver medal will be awarded to the vegetarian who will dispose of one hundred ‘heads of celery with the utmost celerity. We sincerely hope the puddings will not get into the heads of our vegetarian friends, and render them pudding-headed; but they are evidently in earnest; and, if we are disposed to laugh at them for their excessive indulgence in rice, we suspect that,
will be the only reply they will make to us.
I do love me some vegetable word-play. I have also come across more interesting vegetarian content in Punch that I’ll put up in the coming days.
October 5, 2011 2 Comments
A good deal of nonsense is talked (by meat-eaters I mean, of course) about the properties of food, and they would have us believe that they eat a beef-steak mainly because it contains 21 per cent of nitrogen. But we know better. They have eaten steaks for many years, but it was only last week, in working up for a debate, that they found out about the nitrogen. It is not the chemical ingredients which determine the diet, but the flavour; and it is quite remarkable, when some tasty vegetarian dishes are on the table, how soon the percentages of nitrogen are forgotten
New Vegetarian Dishes (1892)
New Vegetarian Dishes is an interesting book. It was written, as the preface states, not for the ascetic “thorough-going vegetarian”, but for those looking for food that “while nourishing, shall at the same time be palatable” [always a plus] and who “would like to be relieved from the necessity of eating flesh … because they would willingly diminish the sufferings involved in the transport and slaughter of animals”. Obviously a vegetarian book, not vegan, but giving it’s date I’m willing to sub out a few eggs.
The first recipe to catch my eye was No. 108.–Semolina Sausages.
Ingredients
Boil the diced potato and cabbage until the potato is cooked through, then drain and mash them together. Add the breadcrumbs, semolina, egg-replacer, herbs, and seasoning and mix through. Leave to cool. Form into sausage shapes and bread . Shallow fry until golden brown.
More croquette than sausage, but certainly palatable.
October 4, 2011 6 Comments
I love eating tofu like this. Sure, I could have had it with rice and stir fried broccoli, but sometimes you just want tofu. Amiright, ladies? It’s based on something I found on the blog ieatfood years ago, the tofu is coated with corn starch, fried, and the sauce is 1/2 cup each of soy and sweet chilli sauces, sesame oil, rice vinegar, chili flakes, cayenne pepper and sesame seeds.
October 3, 2011 4 Comments
… and he says, ‘Can you make me one with everything?‘
Vegan cheese is fairly accessible around here. The bad news it is Tofutti brand American Flavoured Slices. I mean they’re ok, but there’s only so much you can do with a individually wrapped portion of imitation processed cheese. There are places to pick up some Sheese or Cheezly, but not nearby. The revolution that was Daiya or Teese type pizza suitable cheese has bypassed here. Notzarella is seeking to enter the market here exchanging donations for blocks. Having sold a kidney, I jumped online and ordered a 1kg block.
Pros:
Cons:
Regardless of it’s problems, it does make a pretty good pizza. I definitely will be getting more, as I do like pizza.
October 1, 2011 2 Comments
Heart-Beets
“Wilt thou be mine, Oh, Rosy One
Thou’rt sweet enough to eat.”
Thus spoke an am’rous tuber
To his sweetheart, shy Miss Beet.
When Miss Beet heard her lover’s plea
She coyly whispered, “Yes;
But you’d better ask Papa, my dear.
Before we wed, I guess.”
Paterfamilias heard the swain–
His answer–why repeat it?
The meaning was quite clear and so
The lover wisely–“Beet it.”
From: Vegetable verselets for humorous vegetarians (1911)
September 16, 2011 Leave a comment
Hi there. This is just a placeholder post in anticipation of the beginning of Vegan Mofo V: The Wrath of Grapes. The picture above is some berbere paste I made recently after ordering Papa Tofu loves Ethiopian food, from Kittee.
Mr Apes' World of Crepes 