Trends And Benefits Of Vegetarian Cuisine Sociology Essay

Vegetarian lifestyle has basically moved to the status of healthy living in western culture .Vegetarian people prefer to eat natural food with friendly menus considering a lot of benefits which could be as follows

A diet of fruits and vegetables can prevent diseases and reduce lung cancer and avoid blockage as well of the heart diseases ,diabetes is another problem in the cities which can be again prevented by intake of fruits which create lot of fibres ,vegetarian is good for your skin as it does not have an side effect, vegetarian food is again chemical free as it does have any animal cells and fat in it , our body can easily digest vegetarian food as it does not much time comparing to the animal food and with this we improve our digestion as well .

Facts about vegetarian cuisine

In 1961, the Journal of the American Medical Association stated that ninety to ninety-seven percent of heart disease, the cause of more than half the deaths in the United States, could be prevented by a vegetarian diet. http://www.vegetarian-restaurants.net/OtherIonfo/HealthBenefit.htm

A vegetarian diet is very healthy diet but it is important to make sure that it is well balanced as we need all kind of nutrients from all forms.

A healthy vegetarian diet should include grains and cereals, fruits and vegetables, dairy and soya products legumes nuts and seeds

It has been said that animal meat contains more protein than vegetarian food but some people still prefer to have to vegetarian food as it avoids lots of animal fat which can cause heart diseases and we can also avoid lots of calories.

After all this benefit we still might have a doubt as to why we should be vegetarian than here are some points which are relevant.

You’ll live a lot longer. Vegetarians live about seven years longer, and vegans (who eat no animal products) about 15 years longer than meat eaters, according to a study from Loma Linda University. These findings are backed up by the China Health Project (the largest population study on diet and health to date),

We can save our heart by reducing the intake of fat in our body which can reduce the risk of heart attack and related diseases

Researchers like NACNE Report (National Advisory Committee on Nutrition Education)and also The World Health Organisation (1990) say that we can reduce or even avoid cancer and eating more vegetable would be protecting our body from all these diseases

We can avoid intake of chemical that has been used on animals for some reason like to increase the growth of animals very fast or reproduction like the uk meat scandal 2007 which can also affect us in some ways

Ecologists and environmentalists are concerned about protecting the living creatures on earth

There might be many description of being vegetarian but In my project the main thing to highlight about being vegetarian is that people need to think what are they eating why are eating and how will it affect them,eating meat is not a bad practise it’s just people concept towards eating food , the kind of food they like the way they like, but it’s just being vegetarian will help them more when it comes to health , global warming, environment is concerned .

We all know that people eat vegetarian or meat food due to n no of reasons here are few reason which we think would be possible

Religion-there are certain rituals that we need to follow while having our daily food as it is very important. for e.g.- Hindu people cannot eat beef as it is their god and they worship cow which again makes an impact of consumption of food ,secondly Jainism- these are the kind of people that don’t prefer to eat meat as they are purely vegetarian society and even prefer not to eat products that grows under earth for eg potatoes ,onion and many more things ,Islam -these people do not prefer to eat pork .

Health issues -Eating lots of meat can lead to lots of fat which can again cause many diseases like heart blockage ,cancer ,diabetes and many more and all the doctors worldwide prefer not to eat meat in all these cases as they can lead to infection and poising as well which can lead to death. Eating meat does not mean it will affect the person but it can avoid the risk of diseases.

Environment – Raising lots of animals has lead to global warming which is again a threat to our environment .The emission of green house, chemical imbalance, water contamination has lead to problems.

Trends and fashion – In big societies people tend to have a vegetarian food as it has become a style statement and nowadays it’s been a trend of being vegetarian as people are creating awareness t to be vegetarian through magazines, yoga and other sources .

Conscience – some people have a feeling that if they turn to vegetarian they can avoid killing animals and they can make a lot of difference .Also some people conscious does not agree to eat meat products as they are not comfortable with it.

Timeline (UNITED KINGDOMS)

This paragraph will give us a brief idea of Vegetarianism as to when it started ? how it started and who were behind it . We will follow the history and find out various changed that was implicated in the vegetarian society

1452-leonardo da vinci ate no meat and he was entirely on vegetables. In 19 century Leonardo was great into his notebooks and he use to explore lots of things like reading books which made him vegetarian as he was against cruelty to animals

http://www.ivu.org/history/davinci/hurwitz.html

YEAR

DEVELOPMENT

1847

Vegetarian Society was formed in the united kingdom

1848

Vegetarian Society launched its magazine, which is still in production today

1889

1908

Vegetarian Granose Foods, the UK’s first major health and vegetarian food manufacturer, is established. In 1908 the international vegetarian union was formed ivu) formed.

1900-1914

Mahatma Gandhi and George Bernard Shaw join the London Vegetarian Society

1916

Wholly Vegetarian Dishes promoted for the first time by the Ministry of Food as part of food rationing programme in WW1

1920

Vegetarian Society holds its first summer school at Arnold House in Llanddulas that ran for five weeks

1941

Ministry of Food grants special concessions to vegetarians for extra rations of cheese and and nuts during WWII

1944

Vegan Society Formed

1961

First Cranks vegetarian food restaurant opened in Carnaby Steet in London

1967

Tiny organism used for the production of mycoprotein was identified

1969

Vegetarian Society became a limited company

1970

Vegetarian Society logo introduced

1981

Cauldron Food – first UK manufacturer of chilled tofu established

1983

Cordon Vert Vegetarian Cookery School established

1986

Marlow food formed – Quorn brand launched

1989

Goodlife Foods established

1991

Linda McCartney launches her vegetarian meal range

1991

First National Vegetarian Day organised

1999

Vegetarian food market exceeds £400 million in value

http://www.meat-free.org.uk/mf_timeline.aspx

History

The vegetarian society was formed on 30 Sep 1847 and it is more than 150 years old. A group of vegetarian activists joined together and formed this society with the means to make people realize the benefits of being vegetarian. The Vegetarian Messenger, on 15th October 1848. In that year, a new group was formed in London. By then, the society had grown to 478 members. a period of rapid growth for vegetarianism, with 34 vegetarian restaurants open in London out of a total of 52 in Britain as a whole. Bernard Shaw and Mahatma Gandhi formed the vegetarian society in London in 1888 to 1891. There was some concern that was raised among the vegetarian people stating that we need t o avoid killing animals and eating there flesh and this became a big debate indeed I 1944.but by 1909 and 1912 the vegetarian society did accept the support of eggs and milk products that comes naturally from an animals without harming them at all. So the people were fine with this kind of support and were still regarded as vegetarians. .

” When the first British vegan cookery book – “No Animal Food” by Rupert H. Wheldon – appeared in 1910 containing 100 recipes and two essays on why eating animal food was not a good idea, the Vegetarian Society’s sympathetic reviewer echoed similar comments: “this is undoubtedly a point demanding the attention of vegetarians…The recipes show that it is not at all impossible to obtain a variety of palatable dishes without recourse to either eggs or milk.”

http://www.ivu.org/news/3-98/vegsocuk.html

Developments and future trends in the vegetarian society

BY 1970 to 1980 there was an increasing interest among the vegetarian society and people started demonstrating the benefits of being through magazines, cookery books, teaching and skills .courses through professional chefs.

Few societies have introduced the national vegetarian week in order to promote the vegetarian dishes and make people realise the benefits of being vegetarian.

There have been many exhibitions such as national vegetarian congress held in paris on October 20 1899 and also Brighton vegan fare 2009 to create awareness among the people about the benefits of being vegetarian

Restaurants are trying various ways to impress people by innovating lot many dishes in vegetarian menu.

There is nothing wrong in eating meat but people just want to try something new and it can also be just a plane reason to be vegetarian.

There is nothing wrong in eating meat by figures show that people are converting themselves to vegetarian more often, surely there could be any reason but it might be beneficial for them in some way. . The figures are as follows – There are currently about four million vegetarians in the UK, representing some seven per cent of the population. Amongst younger people, that figure rises to 12 per cent. It is estimated that a remarkable 41 per cent of people in the UK are now including far less meat in their diet.

In the UK alone, approximately five thousand people each week are choosing to give meat a miss and join the veggie revolution.

If such trends were to continue, it is estimated that by the year 2030 everyone in the UK will be a vegetarian.

http://www.vegsoc.org/news/2000/21cv/introduction.html

As per this saying i won’t agree as some people still like to eat meat all the time and it is impossible up to certain extent as people are trying new techniques and methods to improve the taste of the food by constantly changing the menu, getting customers feedback, organizing exhibitions, getting comments and feedback from people as what extra could have been done . .

As per the assumptions show above we can expect more demand of vegetarian food which in turn would force people to open vegan or purely vegetarian restaurants in the future. And some of them are -Wild Ginger in Harrogate and Hitchcocks in Hull, Yorkshire; Black Bo’s in Edinburgh; West 13th in Glasgow

More Indians and Asians entering United Kingdom premises is creating a demand in vegetarian food which again is making difference to vegetarian figures

Recipes of Vega based products has developed same as meat based products.

Restaurants are making lot of changes in there menus as business is demanding for vegetarian food.

We are getting vegetarian foods in supermarkets which have omega 3 which is most of the time not there in vegetarian food so we can make out that people are getting more options which is again increasing the demand .

The lifestyle is also making a lot of difference in the eating habits —– people eating more of junk food and they don’t eat the food properly they are working as well as eating without any concentration which is affecting them ..

Our body is less resistance to things these days so people prefer to have vegetarian dishes and it could have many reason, health issues, and allergies. Its basically people have got options

Disadvantages and Advantages of being vegetarian

Being vegetarian does not necessarily means that it is good it also has lots of problems involved and these are some of the examples

More vegetarian food in demand need more labelling but the labelling in supermarkets does not specify what king of vegetarian product that is for e.g. – lacto vegetarian …. It would always state suitable for vegetarian but a vegan would not know it.

Vegetarian by products come form fungi which is again harmful for someone as someone might be allergic to it and it does not state in the vegetarian dishes all the time.

Some food products contain meat by products but we still show them vegetarian. For e.g. – some products have gluten which is an animal product but we still show vegetarian product. (BREAKING TRADE RELATION).

Some people are allergic to lot much food stuff which again makes them vegetarian which is also not a positive sign.

Sodium and salt consumed in more quantity could be more harmful.

When we cook food or cut vegetables we are destroying vitamins and by the time we eat the food it almost does not exists.

Nutrients vary in vegetarian and meat based products for e.g. – 100 grams of meat and 100grams of vegetables cooked or not cooked would not give the same proportion of nutrients. The proportion is not the same.

The digestion varies as well —digesting meat take more time than vegetarian. So it does make a difference.

The following diagram show the vegan food pyramid and explain a benefits of vegetarian diet.

Reference www.veganfoodpyramid.com/

By looking at the food pyramid we can make out what has to be consumed and in what proportion but it is very tricky question as it also depends on your age and kind of work the person is doing for e.g. If we burn more calories we need to have more of energy and if we don’t work we don’t need to have more calories intake.

After looking at the pyramid we can make out that the lower part of the pyramid is the one which we should eat more which includes fruits and vegetables as it contains more of fibres and the vegetables have more of vitamins in them

The second part of the pyramid shows that we need to have moderate amount of wheat and wheat products as they provide us starch and carbohydrates which is also good for our body .

The third part of the pyramid shows us dairy and pulses which again gives us lots of vitamins ,proteins and minerals , as we all know eating neat also helps us in protein intake but we need to make sure that the food we eat has be digestible and it should also be helpful to our digestion system

The fourth art of the pyramid shows us about the fats that u be used in very less amount , we know that we need some amount of fat in our body up to a certain extent but if more is consumed it will again lead to heart diseases . so it is very important to make sure that whatever we make it has to be in the right proportion and after all this we need to make sure that we consume atleast 8 to 10 glasses of water are body majorly has water .

Being vegetarian does not mean eating fruits and vegetables we have different categories in vegetarian society. In vegetarian society we still have optional food items that are consumed b the people for e.g.- a vegetarian person can avoid eating egg as it is also a source of animal product which a person would not be comfortable with so for this reason we have divided vegetarian people in 6 different categories and they are

LACTO- OVO

LACTO

VEGAN

JAINISM

RAW VEGAN/RAW FOOD DIET

Lacto -ovo—most of vegetarian people did not like eating meat as they could not see the suffering of animals so they avoided eating meat but they were fine eating egg and egg products but not meat ,fish and seafood .They were fine eating animals products until and unless if they were not killed like dairy products which come through animals

Lacto – These people are the other way around they can consume dairy products like milk, cheese, butter but not eggs. In this case the animal gelatine can also be avoided by getting special kind of products for e.g. -gluten free bread and products which are gluten free or gelatine free.

Vegan – These are completely different from the other two. they don’t prefer any animal or its by product they are purely vegetarian ,no eggs and no dairy products , everything that they eat has to be animal free .they have very less option when it comes to food and these people need to make sure that they need to get all kinds and nutrients from limited sources of food . for e.g.-vegan people has no means of getting b12 in the food list but then some food companies made sure that the cereals or cornflakes that they eat should have b12 in it .

Janism- These are the kind of people which are like vegan which don’t prefer any animal or it by product and adding on to that they do not prefer to eat food products that is grown under the ground as they think that micro organism underground might have contaminated the food. And these include onion, potatoes; they are fine with the products which grow above the ground level.

These are the kind of the vegetarian people that exists to day.

We will talk about the nutritional value which is concerned with the vegetarian food.

We all know meat and meat products has lots of vitamins and minerals and fat that is required for our day to day activities but all these nutrients can also be obtained by vegetarian products, here the brief idea as to what ingredients give the kind of nutrients.

These are the form of energies that we get from the food products basically from vegetarian food.

Proteins -it has been said that women needs about 45g of proteins per day and men needs about 55g of protein per day and it has been also said that excessive protein can lead to degenerative diseases which can create a lot of problems -http://www.eatwell.gov.uk/asksam/healthydiet/fiasandshellfishq/

Soya products, milk products, wheat, pulses, cereals, free range eggs these are the products which contain lots of protein in them and which should be consumed in certain quantity.

Protein is basically found in meat and meat products and it is found lesser in non animals products provided if u are a vegetarian we need to make sure that we should get all kind of proteins from vegetarian products. The very most important thing that we need to make sure is the difference between the essential and non essential protein, the non essential proteins are the one that can be assembled by the essential protein but the essential protein cannot be assembled by itself. Lack of protein can affect our body by lack of energy, obsiety, hair loss and sleeping problems.

From the vegetarian point of view, getting protein is not a big problem as we have many vegetarian foods which has good amount of protein in it, thought the vegetarian diet may not have all the essential proteins and i also depends on each person eating habits. For e.g. a vegan may not have all the proteins as they are limited to certain food which is again a big problem.

Fats-

Although people have a concept in their mind that fat is not good for health which is wrong up to a certain extent we need fat in our body but in a certain limit as it protects our some vital organs of our body from shock and pressure .the sources of fats are oil, nuts, dairy and dairy products .30% of calories should be from fat and protein cannot be converted into fats. There are two types of fat poly-saturated and mono-unsaturated fat and both the combination of these fats makes unsaturated fat and these are primarily found in vegetarian products. Olive and canola oil is very important oil when it comes to health. Triglycerides and trans fat are the kind of fat that are used fir taste but it is not good for our health and is creating heart diseases .it has been said that the food cannot be cooked without fat but it should be used in minimum quantity. In the UK, people consume on average about 10g per day of linoleic acid, found in around nine level teaspoons of polyunsaturated margarine or three teaspoons of sunflower oil. –http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8161616.stm

From the vegetarian points of view, getting fat is very easy as we have fat is many vegetarian foods like oil, dairy and dairy products but any fat consumed should be in less quantity as it may have effects on our health and as we have discussed the future trends people are very much concerned about their health so they prefer eating less fat. And vegetable fats are mostly unsaturated .we also get oil in the supermarket which has omega 3 in it and which is very important for a vegan as vegan cannot have dairy products .

Carbohydrates -these are the form of energy which is also required to a body and the simple source of carbohydrate is sugar. We need carbohydrate as it provides s energy gradually but it has been said that over consumption of carbohydrate can lead to obesity. Different sources of carbohydrate are rye bread, wheat bread, potatoes. Any food that name ends with ose has sugar in it like lactose (milk), fructose (fruits) is considered to be a carbohydrate and if excess is consumed it will be converted into fat easily

2 types of carbohydrate

Good one – fruits and vegetables and grains /Bad one – potatoes, pastas, pastries, direct sugar . – Excessive sugar can also lead to diabetics which can be a big problem so we need to make sure that we should consume limited amount of carbohydrate.

From the vegetarian point of view, carbohydrate are found in many plants foods like cereals ,barley ,oats and also fruits . The World Health Organisation recommends that 50-70% of energy should come from complex carbohydrates. But it also depends on the eating pattern from person to person.

MINERALS – minerals help our body to grow, there are some minerals that are found in our body, it has been said that beef has lots of iron which is very good for our health but since we are talking about the vegetarian products we need to mention the vegetarian dishes through which we can get the minerals for e.g. Green leafy vegetables, orange juice, wheat and oats, tomatoes, banana, oranges

There are different kinds of mineral those iron, zinc, iodine, calcium and all these minerals play a very important roles in our life for e.g. – iron is good for our brains and growth, calcium is good for our teeth’s muscle and bones ,potassium is good for our skin ,zinc is good for fighting illness and germs .

Calcium- green leafy vegetables nuts and seeds

Iron- dried fruits, green leafy vegetables

Zinc- cereals and green leafy vegetables

Iodine -sea vegetables these are certain vital minerals that are required for the growth of a body and we can find all these minerals from vegetarian food items.

As from the above explanation we know that vegetables are good source of minerals and we can get them in the right quantity .

http://www.vegsoc.org/info/basic-nutrition.html

http://kidshealth.org/kid/stay_healthy/food/minerals.html#

Vitamins and minerals information sheet

Vitamin A- good for healthy skin-carrots, spinach, watercress, margarine

Vitamin B2-breaking down the carbohydrate -Brazil nuts, rice, oatmeal, flour, sunflower seeds

Vitamin b3-for nervous system -peanut, mushroom, sesame seeds

Vitamin b6-red blood cell formations and protein metabolism -hazelnuts, banana, peanuts

Vitamin b12-red blood cell formations -herbal soft drinks, breakfast cereals

Vitamin c -bones, teeth, gums -citrus foods, spinach, berries

Vitamin d – For absorption of minerals for healthy bones-dairy products and margarine.

Vitamin e – Acts as an antioxidant protecting vitamins A and C- vegetable oil, avocadoes

Vitamin k -for blood clotting – spinach, cabbage and cauliflower

Minerals –

Iron- component of haemoglobin -green leafy vegetables

Sodium and potassium – maintain body’s water balance -salt, root vegetables and cereals

Calcium-for bones and teeth-green leafy vegetables, soya milks

Magnesium-strong bones and enzymes -found in plant food deficiency is very rare

Sulphur -play a good role in enzyme system – found very rare

http://www.vegsoc.org/info/vitmineral.html

Protein – Protein intake is also one the most important factors. Being vegetarian does not mean that we lack protein as it is found in most of the plants and vegetarian dishes .protein once consumed are broken down to amino acids during digestion and are then absorbed by the human body. Certain amino acids are made by the human body itself but some proteins are required by a specific diet the eight essential amino acids required by humans are: leucine, isoleucine, valine, threonine, methionine, phenylalanine, tryptophan, and lysine. For children, histidine is also considered to be an essential amino acid..

http://www.vegsoc.org/info/protein.html

Generally proteins are required for health and growth .they are very important as they help the structural support of our body.

The sources of proteins are – nuts, seeds, pulses soya milk and products, milk cheese and yoghurt.

The conclusion of this whole project is to spread the awareness among the people for being vegetarian .Eating non vegetarian food as no side effects its just person concepts towards eating . Other than this people think that eating vegetarian food would really help them in positive manner and it would be fair to human as well as animals. and it has been said to save the planet we need to stop killing animals and start eating vegetarian food which can also impact our environment .when it comes to physical fitness , health related people have always preferred to be vegetarian as it has no side effects to our body and the habits of eating . In the past few years we have also seen people trying to force the production of meat based animals which is in turn affecting us , as government has taken some measures to improve it and people are still eating meat but again its just a person concept towards eating vegetarian and non vegetarian food .