# Vegetarian/vegan forum?



## The Little Penguin (Aug 3, 2007)

Just a thought from a new user...

First off, I'm really enjoying posting here a lot, and this board seems like a great resource! I do have to say, though, that having the vegitarian and vegan topics of interest relegated to either "Health, Nutrition, and Special Diets" or "Vegetables and Vegetarians" seems kind of odd to me- the first because it seems awkward to lump vegan recipies in with food allegey info and diabetic recipies, and the second because it seems to suggest that vegetarians are people who just eat vegetables!

It seems to me that it would make MUCH more sense to have a seperate forum, perhaps sub-divided into "Vegetarian" and "Vegan" like the "Beverages" forum is divided into alcoholic and non-alcoholic sections.

My humble suggestion...


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## BreezyCooking (Aug 3, 2007)

While I'm neither Vegan nor Vegetarian, my husband doesn't eat any meat products & I make & enjoy a large number of vegetarian recipes.

I think a separate forum for this would definitely be enjoyed & used here.


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## redkitty (Aug 3, 2007)

It would be for some of us, Little Penguin... nice that you want it here but remember you are a new member of a "cooking forum" where most people eat a normal meat filled diet!

We do have the veggie section here, for me it's enough.


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## The Little Penguin (Aug 3, 2007)

redkitty said:
			
		

> It would be for some of us, Little Penguin... nice that you want it here but remember you are a new member of a "cooking forum" where most people eat a normal meat filled diet!
> 
> We do have the veggie section here, for me it's enough.


 
Point taken, but what I mean is... if a someone is looking for a vegetarian pasta sauce they gotta scour the "Sauces" forum, if you want to post your vegan cheesecake recipe most people in the "Desserts" forum probably won't try it, and so on. It's very fragmented.

It also doesn't make sense to me that the "Vegetable" forum would double a the "vegetarian" forum, as vegetarians eat much more that just vegetables, nor are all "vegetable" dishes _vegitarian_. (green beans with bacon, anyone?)

To be sure, I'm not trying to gripe or anything; I was just curious if anyone else felt the forum layout was a little cumbersome with respect to looking for vegan/vegetarian-related stuff.

Just my  $0.02!


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## GB (Aug 3, 2007)

You make an interesting point.

I think, if anything, what we would do is just remove the word "vegetarian" from the name of the forum and leave the name as just "Vegetables".

As for the Health Food section having vegan in it, that could be considered a special diet. Not diet as in a way to lose weight, but diet as in a way of eating. 

If someone wants a vegetarian pasta sauce recipe then the sauce forum would be the ideal place to put it as it is a sauce. 

I will bring this up with the other Admins so that we can discuss it.


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## Alix (Aug 3, 2007)

Hey Little Penguin, we actually retitled the Veggie forum a while ago at the Vegetarians request to give them a "home". If it isn't working like that then perhaps we can just remove that title for you.


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## The Little Penguin (Aug 4, 2007)

Alix said:
			
		

> Hey Little Penguin, we actually retitled the Veggie forum a while ago at the Vegetarians request to give them a "home". If it isn't working like that then perhaps we can just remove that title for you.



Maybe it _is_ working! I'm brand new, and it's possible everything _does_ work just fine! My thoughts above we just my initial reaction...

In any case, thanks for reading and considering my thoughts. I'm enjoying the forum a ton!


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## BreezyCooking (Sep 24, 2007)

*Vegetarian Forum?*

I'm going to temporarily revive this topic, probably because I, like "Little Penguin", do enjoy a lot of vegetarian recipes that don't really "fit" anywhere else here.

For instance, Saturday night I made a wonderful Sesame-Maple Roasted Tofu dish from Eating Well magazine that I'd like to share here. Where, exactly, would I post it? It's not ethnic & it's not a vegetable dish. My only recourse, I guess, would be to post it under the pasta/grains forum since I served it on a bed of noodles.

Eating Well frequently has wonderful vegetarian recipes featuring tofu & other vegetarian products that wouldn't easily fit anywhere here - except for maybe "Miscellaneous", which frankly seems to be nothing more than an overflow or repeat catch-all for the "Off-Topic" forum. It's definitely not a forum for "recipes not suited for anywhere else" as it's supposed to be, if you view the threads.  Ninety-nine percent of the threads on the supposedly "Miscellaneous" forum could (& should) easily be moved to "Off-Topic" or elsewhere.  There are virtually no recipes listed on that forum, although that what it's supposed to be for.

Why not just move all the stuff out of "Miscellaneous" to "Off-Topic" & change "Miscellaneous"  a "Vegetarian/Vegan" forum?  I bet you'd find that nearly everything in "Miscellaneous" really isn't that out of place in its new home.


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## vyapti (Sep 27, 2007)

After reading through this thread and one about raw food, it occurred to me that vegetarian's are unwelcome in the Discuss Cooking forum. I don't know if this is intentional or not, but there is a contrast in perception between those that eat "a normal meat filled diet!" and the wierdo's that have an interest in vegetarian meals.  As it stands, there is no place for vegetarian food in this forum. If there is no place for vegetarian food, the site will not attract vegetarian cooks. This may not be intentional, but the result is that an entire cousine is being excluded.

This forum has a bunch of wonderful people with great recipes and experiences. The diversity of members is a strength, not a weekness. I hope this diversity is epanded.

I'll part with one of Goodweed's recipes (I've probably adapted a bit). It is delicious, vegetarian, and doesn't have a single vegetable in it:

Goodweed's Black Beans and Rice:

Cilantro Pesto 
1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese 
2 cloves garlic 
1/2 cup unpacked fresh basil leaves 
1 cup unpacked fresh cilantro leaves 
1/2 cup unpacked fresh parsley leaves 
juice of 1 lime 
2 Tbs olive oil

Beans and Rice 
2 cans black beans, drained and rinced (or 1/2 lb raw, boiled) 
3 cup water 
2 cup jasmine rice 
1 Tbs butter, softened 
1 Tbs creole seasoning 
1 dash cayenne 
2 Tbs pine nuts

Heat black beans to be mixed in when rice is finished cooking. Rinse and drain beans well. ALternately, raw beans (1/2 lb) can be soaked overnight in water 2 inches higher than the beans, or use the quick soak method on package. The following day when ready to prepare, drain beans. In a covered kettle, add 2 inches of cold water to drained beans. Simmer beans until tender, about 1 to 1 1/4 hours. Drain and keep beans warm. 

For pesto, chop basil, cilantro and parsley and mince garlic. Combine with olive oil and grated parmesan. Set aside. 

In a large heavy skillet bring 3 cups of water to a boil and stir in jasmine rice. Cook rice covered over low heat, undisturbed 18-20 minutes or until water is absorbed and rice is tender. Fluff rice with fork and add to beans. Stir in butter, pesto, pine nuts, creole seasoning and cayenne. To make a little spicier add some more cayenne. 

Top with tomatoes, avocado, cilantro and a dolob of sour cream and salsa.


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## GB (Sep 27, 2007)

vyapti said:


> and the wierdo's that have an interest in vegetarian meals.


I have never seen anyone say anything negative on this site about vegetarians or their diets. Your words are the first I have ever seen putting them in a negative light.



vyapti said:


> As it stands, there is no place for vegetarian food in this forum.


 I beg to differ. This site has MANY areas for vegetarian food. Let me list a few:


Appetizers & Hors D'oeuvres

Bread, Cornbread, Sandwiches...

Desserts, Sweets & Baking

Eggs, Cheese, Dairy...

Ethnic Foods

Fruit & Nuts

Pasta, Rice, Beans, Grains...

Salads & Salad Dressings

Soups, Stews & Casseroles

Vegetables

Being a vegetarian is a diet choice. Just as we do not have a low cal forum or a no carb forum or a raw food forum we do not have one solely for vegetarians. 99% of the recipes you would post in a vegetarian forum would fit in one of the forums we already have. This is not to the exclusion of vegetarians, but to the contrary, it is inclusive of them.


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## BreezyCooking (Sep 27, 2007)

Wow - how did I miss that one??!!???  And I just happen to have all the ingredients on hand.  Am thinking some plain grilled chicken breasts with this as a bedding will be terrific!!

(See - vegetarian dishes can work both ways.  : ))


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## kitchenelf (Sep 27, 2007)

To say "vegetarians are unwelcome here" is a bit harsh, don't you think?  I really don't get your use of the term "weirdo" either.  The only negative light shed on vegetarians so far at Discuss Cooking is your post.

The rice and bean dish you posted does have a home here - it's called Pasta, Rice, Grains, and Beans.

As for the Pesto - it could go several places.  It could go under Sauces or Miscellaneous OR even Ethnic.


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## keltin (Sep 27, 2007)

I’ve been thinking about it, and I can’t think of one single vegetarian recipe that doesn’t fit into one of the categories already here. Some get confused about Tofu, but tofu is made from soybeans......a bean. As such, it fits under Pasta, Rice, Beans, Grains......

Am I missing something about vegetarian ingredients? 

And what about a Deep Fat Fried Forum? We Southern Boys think everything is better fried! Does “redneck” classify as an Ethnicity?????


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## vyapti (Sep 27, 2007)

The Little Penguin said:


> Point taken, but what I mean is... if a someone is looking for a vegetarian pasta sauce they gotta scour the "Sauces" forum, if you want to post your vegan cheesecake recipe most people in the "Desserts" forum probably won't try it, and so on. It's very fragmented.


 
You are correct, 99% of vegetarian cousine could go in other threads. It's food. Little Penguin's point is, though, is also very true. It's fragemented. A vegetarian forum would solve that. And it would probably not be at the expense of any other forum. 


GB said:


> Being a vegetarian is a diet choice. Just as we do not have a low cal forum or a no carb forum or a raw food forum we do not have one solely for vegetarians.


It may be a diet choice, but it is also a cousine. The problem, though, is it's not an ethnic cousine. So it would get lost with Ethnic food. Most other foods (meat or ethnic or soups) have a natural place on the forum. Posters know where to post and where to go to brouse. This is not true with vegetarian food.


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## keltin (Sep 27, 2007)

I guess I’m missing something, but I figured vegetarians browsed DC the same as anyone else. You think of an ingredient, then you go to that forum and look for recipes. With carnivores, we think “I want chicken” and we go to the chicken thread. With Grillers & Smokers, we go to the Outdoor cooking forums. With vegetarian, I would have thought it was the same in that you pick an ingredient such as bean, tofu, lettuce, rice, mushroom, pasta, tomato, etc, and could go to that forum?


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## BreezyCooking (Sep 27, 2007)

Bravo Vihapti.

And has anyone taken the time to actually check out the *"Miscellaneous" *forum?  You know, that forum that's supposed to contain *"recipes not fitting* *anywhere else", *but in reality just contains flotsam & jetsam that really belongs in other forums or in the OT forum?  

What a worthless forum.  I'd do something about that before giving vegetarians the shortshrift here. 

And to the poster who implied that "meat-eaters" constitute the majority of the folks here & thus we who enjoy more vegetarian fare aren't "in the know" cuisine-wise?  I'd really up my reading on current dining/cooking/eating trends.  You're really out of sinc.

I'm not a vegetarian, & enjoy a good steak or lamb curry as much as the next person, but I'm also savvy & health-conscious enough to realize that it's infinititly important for us to experiment with other food choices besides meat to keep our diets in a healthy balance.


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## keltin (Sep 27, 2007)

BreezyCooking said:


> And to the poster who implied that "meat-eaters" constitute the majority of the folks here & thus we who enjoy more vegetarian fare aren't "in the know" cuisine-wise? I'd really up my reading on current dining/cooking/eating trends. You're really out of sinc.


 
I just read this whole thread again........twice. And I'm not seeing where that was said. Is that from another thread or something?


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## BreezyCooking (Sep 27, 2007)

Keltin - the comment was made over on the "Forum Ideas & Help" forum.  Sorry for not id'ing that.


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## healthyfoodie (Sep 27, 2007)

keltin said:


> I guess I’m missing something, but I figured vegetarians browsed DC the same as anyone else. You think of an ingredient, then you go to that forum and look for recipes. With carnivores, we think “I want chicken” and we go to the chicken thread. With Grillers & Smokers, we go to the Outdoor cooking forums. With vegetarian, I would have thought it was the same in that you pick an ingredient such as bean, tofu, lettuce, rice, mushroom, pasta, tomato, etc, and could go to that forum?


 
seems logical...  that's what I do and I'm a vegetarian.  Whenever I see a recipe post that has chicken in it or some other meat in it, I think about how I could use it w/o chicken or by substituting tofu or seitan or veggies.

I almost posted when this thread first came up, but refrained.  I don't think we need a separate forum for vegetarians and vegans.  But, is there a way to add more icons to the post icon choices?  Maybe for recipes, there could be an icon indicating whether or not it's vegetarian?


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## keltin (Sep 27, 2007)

healthyfoodie said:


> seems logical... that's what I do and I'm a vegetarian. Whenever I see a recipe post that has chicken in it or some other meat in it, I think about how I could use it w/o chicken or by substituting tofu or seitan or veggies.


 
Or Portabello Mushrooms!!!


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## healthyfoodie (Sep 27, 2007)

keltin said:


> Or Portabello Mushrooms!!!


 
mmmmmmmm.... pooortabelllla mushrooooooms


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## Andy M. (Sep 27, 2007)

I feel confident I'm correct when I say everybody eats vegetable dishes.  They are not exclusive to vegetarians.

What would be in a vegetarian forum that would be of interest only to vegetarians?  We have a vegetables forum.  It covers the topic of cooking vegetable dishes.

As to the fragmentation issue, that's a fact of life for most of the forums.  A beef dish could be in the beef forum, soups, stews, ethnic, outdoor cooking. etc.  There can't be unification.


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## kitchenelf (Sep 27, 2007)

A title can always contain the word Vegetarian in it followed by the recipe, just like we do ISO or REC or TNT

Vegetarian:  Black Beans and Rice
Vegetarian:  Cheese Ravioli with Pesto

That's what titles are all about - put something in the title that you know you would search for if you were searching our site.  This was a good point to bring up.  Icons wouldn't help during searching but something in the title would definitely be good!

The reason we haven't put in a forum as such is because, like someone said, most recipes fall under another category.


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## BreezyCooking (Sep 27, 2007)

I can't believe you're really that obtuse Andy M. "Everybody eats vegetable dishes"? What rock have you been living under for the last 20 years or so? LOL!!!!

The difference in a "Vegetarian" forum, is that all or the majority of dishes provide complete proteins via vegetable sources - thus providing the same nutrients normally provided by a meat & veggie dinner. That's a very simplistic version, but I'm hoping you got it since you're obviously way WAY behind the times.  Vegetarian dishes - & high-level cuisine vegetarian dishes - have been around for a long long time. : )


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## keltin (Sep 27, 2007)

If there were a vegetarian forum, where would recipes like “Penne with Zucchini”, “Brown Rice Pilaf”, or “Portobello Stir-fry” go? None of those dishes have meat, so do they go under vegetarian, or under the Pasta / Beans / Vegetable forums? 

If I wanted to post a recipe for a pasta salad made with pasta, peas, olives, and an herb pesto (no meat), where does it go? Vegetarian or Pasta?

With dishes like this, isn’t it decided by the inclination of the poster/author and not the dish since the dish is inherently vegetarian? Isn’t it possible that non-vegetarians could miss out on some great pasta/bean/grain recipes since they wouldn’t think to look in a vegetarian forum for a recipe?

I like the title tag idea myself (put Vegetarian in the title). I’ve become very dependent on the Title Search feature here at DC!


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## GB (Sep 27, 2007)

The interesting thing is that we used to have a vegetarian forum. It is what is now known as the vegetable forum. we had vegetarians complain to us that having a forum called vegetarian was not cool with them (I forget the actual reason as it was a while ago), so we really can't win. We have a vegetarian forum and we are asked by the vegetarians to remove it. We don't have one and we are told we are unfriendly to vegetarians because we don't have one.

If you think the site would benefit from a vegetarian forum then look at the vegetable forum. 90% of what what posted in there was posted when it was a vegetarian forum.


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## BreezyCooking (Sep 27, 2007)

As I said before, true vegetarian dishes comprise vegetable components that make complete proteins for those that follow a vegetarian diet. Dishes that just contain vegetables &/or pasta/grains easily go elsewhere. 

There are many vegetarian/vegan dishes that don't fit anywhere else here, provide complete nutritional proteins, & are worth singling out in a forum easy to access.


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## Andy M. (Sep 27, 2007)

BreezyCooking said:


> Sigh. Keltin this really shouldn't be that difficult to understand.
> 
> As I said before, true vegetarian dishes comprise vegetable components that make complete proteins for those that follow a vegetarian diet. Dishes that just contain vegetables &/or pasta/grains easily go elsewhere. What's the big problem?
> 
> There are many vegetarian/vegan dishes that don't fit anywhere else here, provide complete nutritional proteins, & are worth singling out in a forum easy to access.


 

I'm amused by your assumption that dishes posted in the other forums we have mentioned can't or aren't nutritionally complete! LOL

When you have a minute, please post a vegan or vegetarian recipe (or a link) that doesn't fit into an existing forum. (oops, almost forgot, 
  )


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## vyapti (Sep 27, 2007)

There are separate forums or sub forums for Beef, Lamb, Pork, Game and even a separate one for Veal. Is anyone willing to even recognize a bias? 

There is a bias. There are separate forums or sub forums for Beef, Lamb, Pork, Game and even a separate one for Veal. That's fine. But, there's also a missing component in the world of cooking. Vegetarian is a category that exists on most recipe sites and it doesn't exist here.



GB said:


> . . . so we really can't win. We have a vegetarian forum and we are asked by the vegetarians to remove it.


 
I don't understand why this is an us against them thing. From what I remember about the "add an Herb forum" discussion, it involved cordial discourse. This discussion does not seem cordial to me.


keltin said:


> If there were a vegetarian forum, where would recipes like “Penne with Zucchini”, “Brown Rice Pilaf”, or “Portobello Stir-fry” go?


 In the vegetarian forum. And I promise I'll post some deep fried stuff


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## GB (Sep 27, 2007)

And why would Penne with Zucchini not fit in the pasta forum? Why would Brown Rice Pilaf not go in the Rice forum?

Yes we have separate forums for beef, chicken, and veal. Where is the bias? There are plenty of places for vegetarian recipes as well. 

This has nothing to do with "us against them". I am not even sure who is the "us" and who is the "them. Like I said, we used to have a vegetarian forum and we were yelled at by vegetarians to remove it. Now we are getting the opposite.

And Breezy, if you really think that just by naming a forum "vegetarian" that you are going to get people only posting nutritionally complete meals then I challenge you to look in the vegetable forum to see how many you see in there. As I said before, 90% of those posts were made when that WAS the vegetarian forum.


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## keltin (Sep 27, 2007)

BreezyCooking said:


> There are many vegetarian/vegan dishes that don't fit anywhere else here, provide complete nutritional proteins, & are worth singling out in a forum easy to access.


 
So, like a one pot meal, but done vegetarian style? Can you please give me some examples?


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## vyapti (Sep 27, 2007)

Taco Bell used to sell a sort of styrofoam with cinnamon sort of thing.  I'm not sure where I would post that.


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## GB (Sep 27, 2007)

vyapti said:


> Taco Bell used to sell a sort of styrofoam with cinnamon sort of thing.  I'm not sure where I would post that.


????????????????


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## keltin (Sep 27, 2007)

vyapti said:


> There are separate forums or sub forums for Beef, Lamb, Pork, Game and even a separate one for Veal. Is anyone willing to even recognize a bias?
> 
> There is a bias. There are separate forums or sub forums for Beef, Lamb, Pork, Game and even a separate one for Veal. That's fine. But, there's also a missing component in the world of cooking. Vegetarian is a category that exists on most recipe sites and it doesn't exist here.


 
But those are just ingredients! Same as a vegetarian Black Bean and Rice, or vegetarian Eggplant Lasagna. Those two dishes have Beans or Pasta as the ingredient. I’m just kind of lost as to what the difference is. Healthyfoodie mentioned using seitan. I’ve never heard of that, and I can see how that doesn’t fit anywhere else. But tofu is a bean. 

Also, what would happen in a vegetarian forum? Wouldn’t it be chaos without having sub folders? I mean, Biscuits are vegetarian. So is cake, brownies, French fries, and a Bloody Mary. 

Either way, I don’t have a horse in this race. I’m just curious as to what would make it different. Besides using seitan, I’ve not seen anything that doesn’t fit elsewhere. But still, it doesn’t matter to me! I come to DC nearly everyday and simply hit “New Posts” and it pulls up everyone that I haven’t seen since my last visit. So, 99% of the time, as I’m reading and responding to posts, I don’t know where they are on DC. Heck, I just had to double check and find out that THIS thread is in the Forum Help area!

Sometimes I search a particular forum based on the ingredient, but most often if I’m looking for something, I use the Search Title function. 

I kind of see the point if we think about methodology. There are many ways to cook ribs, but one method is to grill or smoke, and that method has it’s own forum. I’m newly into outdoor DO cooking, and even though my recipes would fit into beef, chicken, soups, etc, I put them in the Outdoor Cooking DO forums because that is the method I’m using. From that line of thinking, I kind of see the point. 


And I look forward to your deep fried recipes!!!!!


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## keltin (Sep 27, 2007)

vyapti said:


> Taco Bell used to sell a sort of styrofoam with cinnamon sort of thing. I'm not sure where I would post that.


 
Miscellaneous!!!!


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## *amy* (Sep 27, 2007)

My 2 cents...

I would post the recipe under Health/Nutrition/Special Diets (includes vegan etc.) catagory - that already exists on this site, & label same vegan/vegetarian.

For whatever it's worth, here's the definition (as it sometimes confuses me as well):

Vegetarianism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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## keltin (Sep 27, 2007)

*amy* said:


> My 2 cents...
> 
> I would post the recipe under Health/Nutrition/Special Diets (includes vegan etc.)


 
Holy rusted metal Batman! I didn’t even know that forum existed. It even specifies Vegan. 

I think the dark-side of my deep fat-fried mentality disallowed my eyes from recognizing that forum was there!!!! 

Wasn't it Hank Jr. that said "A country boy can Deep Fry"?!?!?!?!?!


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## *amy* (Sep 27, 2007)

keltin said:


> Holy rusted metal Batman! I didn’t even know that forum existed. It even specifies Vegan.
> 
> I think the dark-side of my deep fat-fried mentality disallowed my eyes from recognizing that forum was there!!!!
> 
> Wasn't it Hank Jr. that said "A country boy can Deep Fry"?!?!?!?!?!


 
 We better keep our deep-fried twinkies out of there.


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## *amy* (Sep 27, 2007)

vyapti said:


> Taco Bell used to sell a sort of styrofoam with cinnamon sort of thing. I'm not sure where I would post that.


 
vyapti, I think I remember that... wasn't it a dessert? Sure was good.

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

So... would now be a good time to ask if we can have a topic under Desserts/Baked goods called:

*Souffle/Mousse/Flan/Pudding/Custard*
(also includes foam )


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## vyapti (Sep 27, 2007)

*amy* said:


> vyapti, I think I remember that... wasn't it a dessert? Sure was good. )


I think they had to ban it because you could pour gasoline on it and make napalm.


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## *amy* (Sep 27, 2007)

vyapti said:


> I think they had to ban it because you could pour gasoline on it and make napalm.


 

(How'd my tongue sticking out get into my/your quote? Odd.)

I thought it was a 'for a limited time special'.   So, you're anxious to share the recipe with us?, lol.


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## Michael in FtW (Sep 28, 2007)

vyapti said:
			
		

> After reading through this thread and one about raw food, it occurred to me that vegetarian's are unwelcome in the Discuss Cooking forum.


 
Huh? What, pray tell, does a discussion about *cooking* certain vegs to increase the available nutritional value, or safety, vs eating them raw have to do with being anti-vegan/vegetarian? FWIW - I always eat all of my veggies, I can't think of a veggie I don't like, and sometimes I eat an entire meal of only veggies!

With the exception of the "meat" forums ... the forums we have are applicable to recipes for both herbivores and carnivores. Don't look at our having "meat" forums as anti vegan/vegetarian - think of it as our way of accommodating our "knuckle dragging, inarticulate, slobbering and grunting" meat eaters.


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## Mel! (Sep 28, 2007)

I agree with The Little Penguin.
It makes vegetarian food seem boring, when it is put with special health diets and vegetables. 
I make delicious vegetarian food, but am reluctant to read anything titled special diets or health food. 

Mel


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## Mel! (Sep 28, 2007)

GB said:


> I have never seen anyone say anything negative on this site about vegetarians or their diets. Your words are the first I have ever seen putting them in a negative light.


 
I have seen a few GB. But nothing bad enough to report.
There are people who have a bee in their bonnets, about vegetarians. 
But I suppose they can be ignored. People have a bee in their bonnets about quite a few things. Environmental activism, human rights activism, vegetarianism.... I dont know why people object to these things so much, because their are so many advantages to them.


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## kitchenelf (Sep 28, 2007)

OK folks - If someone has a question about where to post a vegetarian recipe please feel free to PM any of the Administrators.  We will be glad to help.  In the meantime, if a recipe could clearly go under another forum preface your title with the word - Vegetarian.  It will make an Advanced Search a breeze!!  It really will fix a lot of the issues here.

I think the tone of this thread, once resurrected again, took us all by surprise.  No one here has ever given the impression that Discuss Cooking is anti-vegetarian or biased against vegetarians.  That's really a silly statement and once it was put out there all sorts of defensive emotions surfaced - that's just human nature.  

And Mel - I think the reason why people have a "bee in their bonnet" or object to things is because they don't understand and don't want to take the time to understand so they just spout off.  It's shallow.  Let's not jump in the shallow line with them.  

None of us here are opposed to talking about anything when it comes to new forums.  Like we said, we had a Vegetarian Forum.  OK, it may have been grouped with the Vegetables but that was purely because in the format they fit together.  We did not have a separate forum because most things could go somewhere else.  We were asked to change it and we did.  To put a vegetarian forum back will just take a lot of thought on our part - we don't just change the forums in a snap or on demand.  There's some work that goes into it first.

vyapti - if you'll think about everything you've mentioned, it has a forum already.  Even those things you mentioned with cinnamon - sounds like the Bread Forum would fit, doesn't it, or maybe the dessert/baking forum?  We put a lot of thought and time into coming up with the forums we thought would benefit Discuss Cooking.  To accused of being "bias" makes our backs arch a bit and doesn't exactly make us saddle up to an idea when we know we have tried to to our best in the past.  That's also human nature.  

If anyone has anything CONSTRUCTIVE to say please keep the discussion going.


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## Alix (Sep 29, 2007)

My only contribution here is to say that this site is dedicated to food and cooking. ALL KINDS OF COOKING. To that end, we have worked very hard to come up with the forums and subforums as they are listed. We are not trying to slight anyone, in fact, we are attempting to make searching for things EASIER. Adding a Vegetarian forum would create some havoc and further splinter folks. If you have a recipe that is vegetarian, merely scan through the ingredients and see which is the most dominant. The Pasta, Rice, Grains and Beans forum was created that way to fill that need. 

GB may not remember why the Vegetarian subforum was removed, but I do. The vegetarians in the membership at the time said it was redundant because of all the other forums they could use. And if you look through our forums you will see that we made them specific for that particular reason. 

We sure don't want anyone to feel slighted, but that is not a good enough reason to reconstruct the boards and move hundreds of recipes. Sorry guys! I'm sure that isn't the answer you wanted.


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## Indigo_Swale (Oct 20, 2007)

How about a *"Meatless Protein"* section? Would that address the issue? 

You could keep a "Pasta, Rice, and Other Grains" section, while recipes that feature *beans, tofu, seitan* and the like would henceforth go into the "Meatless Protein" subforum.

Just a thought....

ETA: I'm sure there are whole forums devoted exclusively to vegetarian and vegan cooking, which might be better places for the OP to conduct recipe searches.

Also, in a perfect universe, where site administrators had all the time in the world to devote to their DC administrative duties, the "Health, Nutrition and Special Diets" might be further broken down into subforums including "Vegetarian", "Vegan", "Raw", "Wheat-Free", "Sugar-Free/Diabetic" and "Other". But we don't, of course, live in a perfect universe.

So...If you follow a restricted diet, you will probably have better luck finding recipes that suit your needs on forums devoted to those special diets.


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