RECIPE: Low-fat bean burritos - veg. food in Wollongong

[Guest guest]

Hi Anna,

 

This isn't Sparrow but Pat And hey, I feel

your pain, as they say. Whenever I was in

Wollongong (not very often for the reasons given

here!) there seemed to be a choice for veggies

between limp salad and chips - and the potatoes

actually might have been cooked in lard anyway

I never found asian restaurants there to be

especially accommodating regarading veg food,

unless of course they specialized in veg only (eg

Bodhi in Sydney). Sometimes we just had to blink

(something I couldn't bring myself to do now) or

go hungry yet again. Other vegetarians living in

Wollongong (mind you this was over eight years

ago now) said the same.

 

Something else - and you'll know this, Anna, but

it's sometimes useful to state these things for

others reading along: In the USA it is quite

common to ask for deviations from the menu items,

as in 'no cheese on that' or 'can you do that

with [insert item] instead of [whatever]'. They

almost always do that for us even here in Canada

In other parts of the world it would not

necessarily be as acceptable to ask for a special

order - you take what's on the menu all too

often, scraping aside what you cannot eat.

 

About the two veggie restaurants in the temple -

they're on Happy Cow, saying they're open Tu to

Sun, 9 to 5, closed Mondays. Perhaps they're

having a very long Monday. Or perhaps they too

didn't get enough business to keep doing it.

Sigggghhhhh.

 

Hang in there, Anna! You can always make your own

- and although I too found that so-called 'vegan'

foods were hard or impossible to find (vegan

'butter'? Hah!), you really can adapt to doing

without so many things. Just don't be intimidated

by recipes that assume that you can walk into any

shop and pick up vegan substitutes for everything

that would be in an omnivore recipe! People don't

write 'em to make us envious, honestly LOL They

are just used to having an easy time of it. You

can live without vegan cheese, vegan margarine,

vegan faux me*t, etc.And you'll probably be

healthier without all that fat and processed food

and chemical additives anyway!!!

 

Good luck - keep writing in!

 

Love and hugs, Pat

 

- > I have done a search as well and didn¹t find

> much at all. I noted the 2

> restaurants that claim to be in the Buddhist

> temple but I¹ve toured it twice

> and didn¹t see any restaurants there. Maybe

> they have limited hours or are

> only open parts of the year, I don¹t know.

 

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[Guest guest]

Hey Pat, I didn¹t realize you¹d been over here! Well if you do come again,

look me up!

 

I think part of the problem for me is I¹m a rather fussy eater. I¹ve never

been big on Asian or Indian foods, and those tend to be the first things

people suggest as good for finding vegan foods. Where I am I haven¹t found

many vegan options, even in the local Chinese restaurant. But heading a bit

up north, closer to Newcastle, I did come across a Chinese place that

offered ³vegetarian chicken² and ³vegetarian beef² dishes. That intrigued

me, so I tried the chicken one. It had been quite some time since I¹d had

the real thing, so when I first bit into their vegetarian chicken I stopped

cold and said I can¹t eat that, it¹s chicken! I swore it was! But my

omnivore hubby took a bit of it and very quickly assured me it most

certainly wasn¹t the real deal, so I happily finished it up. They have

since come out with a similar product I can buy right in the store, but as I

said, it¹s a bit higher in fat than I¹d prefer.

 

Now we¹re trying to figure out where to go for Valentine¹s Day. Since my

choices are limited, it¹s always the same couple of restaurants we go to.

I¹d love to go somewhere new for hubby, but am afraid I won¹t find anything

I can eat. I think I should go back to the Mexican place again and tell

them to just double my veggies in the fajita!

 

Anna

 

 

On 12/2/08 12:37 AM, " Pat " <drpatsant wrote:

 

>

> Hi Anna,

>

> This isn't Sparrow but Pat And hey, I feel

> your pain, as they say. Whenever I was in

> Wollongong (not very often for the reasons given

> here!) there seemed to be a choice for veggies

> between limp salad and chips - and the potatoes

> actually might have been cooked in lard anyway

> I never found asian restaurants there to be

> especially accommodating regarading veg food,

> unless of course they specialized in veg only (eg

> Bodhi in Sydney). Sometimes we just had to blink

> (something I couldn't bring myself to do now) or

> go hungry yet again. Other vegetarians living in

> Wollongong (mind you this was over eight years

> ago now) said the same.

>

> Something else - and you'll know this, Anna, but

> it's sometimes useful to state these things for

> others reading along: In the USA it is quite

> common to ask for deviations from the menu items,

> as in 'no cheese on that' or 'can you do that

> with [insert item] instead of [whatever]'. They

> almost always do that for us even here in Canada

> In other parts of the world it would not

> necessarily be as acceptable to ask for a special

> order - you take what's on the menu all too

> often, scraping aside what you cannot eat.

>

> About the two veggie restaurants in the temple -

> they're on Happy Cow, saying they're open Tu to

> Sun, 9 to 5, closed Mondays. Perhaps they're

> having a very long Monday. Or perhaps they too

> didn't get enough business to keep doing it.

> Sigggghhhhh.

>

> Hang in there, Anna! You can always make your own

> - and although I too found that so-called 'vegan'

> foods were hard or impossible to find (vegan

> 'butter'? Hah!), you really can adapt to doing

> without so many things. Just don't be intimidated

> by recipes that assume that you can walk into any

> shop and pick up vegan substitutes for everything

> that would be in an omnivore recipe! People don't

> write 'em to make us envious, honestly LOL They

> are just used to having an easy time of it. You

> can live without vegan cheese, vegan margarine,

> vegan faux me*t, etc.And you'll probably be

> healthier without all that fat and processed food

> and chemical additives anyway!!!

>

> Good luck - keep writing in!

>

> Love and hugs, Pat

>

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

> Hey Pat, I didn¹t realize you¹d been over here!

 

We were in Sydney for nearly 25 years

 

> I think part of the problem for me is I¹m a rather fussy eater. I¹ve never

> been big on Asian or Indian foods, and those tend to be the first things

> people suggest as good for finding vegan foods.

 

Okay, that does make for a problem, doesn't it. Mexican is the next best - but

as you say

it can be frustrating. Sometime Spanish (as different from Mexican or south

american)

restuarants have appetizers/snacks/tapas that are vegan - if you're lucky - but

I have only

found a few options at best, and how far can you go on patatas brava and garlic

mushrooms anyway! Such places are easier for the ovo-lacto crowd - but most

places are.

(Hey, don't you like that slip: 'ovo-lacto CROWD' as if there were mobs and mobs

of

vegetarians filling up all the omnivore restaurants! Now THERE'S an idea for a

protest!)

 

>closer to Newcastle, I did come across a Chinese place that

> offered ³vegetarian chicken² and ³vegetarian beef² dishes.

 

Those can be quite unnerving - I was upset over some 'ham' once - and had to be

reassured by the vegetarian restaurateur that it really wasn't animal flesh!

It's difficult to

tell if it's years since you even had a taste of the stuff, isn't it.

 

>They have

> since come out with a similar product I can buy right in the store, but as I

> said, it¹s a bit higher in fat than I¹d prefer.

 

It's available here (London, Ontario) too - along with faux ham, faux beef, and

the usual

run of faux sausages, hotdogs, salami, burgers, etc. - just in the regular

supermarket

now. But you know, apart from trying some 'ground round' (which I really didn't

like), I've

not tried again. I use the fat as an excuse, but I'm not sure if that's the

reason. Maybe I

just like the idea of saving such things for the odd time I have them when we

dine out. I do

eat faux meats at my local mostly vegan veggie restaurant (where they flag the

dishes that

are ovo or lact or both) now and then - in spicy asian-style dishes.

 

> Now we¹re trying to figure out where to go for Valentine¹s Day.

 

We too! LOL And, by coincidence, it'll be either our local mexican place, which

really does a

couple of nice different vegan burritos (or whatever form you want to eat the

filling in) or

the above-mentioned asian-vegetarain place - or I suppose an Indian restaurant

near us

which has a wide selection of vegan dishes. Because I'm not feeling up to pasta

outside of

my own kitchen this week!

 

Have a lovely time on Thursday - it's not about the food anyway, I tell myself,

but about

the experience. Good thing too, eh? LOL

 

Love and hugs, Pat