9140 Meat substitutes

Not sure you have to eat Quorn, Adrian. There are a lot of cereals like Quinoa that are packed full of protein. Peanuts are also a good source. Still I suppose they too are difficult to locate in Italy!!!

Here you have lists of vegetarian products available in Italy:

[url=http://www.vegetariani.it/vegetariani/indices/14.html]vegetariani - marchioVegetariano[/url]

I've never seen Quorn for sale in Italy, but then we tend to do most of our shopping in supermarkets, so it's possible you'd be able to find it in health food shops (not seen many of those around, but there are a few).

Larger supermarket frozen food sections usually have soy-burgers and some have variations on that theme. I can't recall the brand of the ones I like off the top of my head, but the burgers could be made in the same factory as Tesco's the taste and texture is so similar. There's another brand which produces various soy things but I find them all about as appealing as oven-warmed damp cardboard. Again, I can't remember the brand, but it's obviously all a matter of personal tastes so you'll want to try them no matter what I say.

Some supermarkets also have soy burger or cutlet type things in the chilled food section. Not sure why, since the things are vacuum packed and would probably last a decade or so without refrigeration. They come in various flavours and I find some reasonable and others revolting.

My devoutly carnivorous partner finds all of the above disgusting, so there you go... :laughs:

Al

I adore vegetarian food but I have to say the above has the same effect on me as on your partner, Allan!!! Just an aside. Have you had your baby yet???

Certainly Quorn is not available in Italy. Quorn is a trade name, owned by Premier Foods, and they don't export to Italy. It might even be banned!

How sensible!

Peanuts are easy to find. OTOH I guess walnuts and almonds are better for you but then I hate both :eeeek:

Lentils are fairly common.

Beans are less good but even more common.

Brocoli in season isn't hard to find.

Even plain pasta has protein in it. IIRC 85 grams of pasta is something like 10 grams of protein. If you consider the requirement usually stated is 0.8 grams per kilo of body weight even a couple plates of pasta gets you close. Of course if you're a bodybuilder looking at much higher intake you'll need lots of pasta :laughs:

There is an Italian brand called Valsoia based in Bologna [url=http://www.valsoia.it]Prodotti di Soia - Alimenti di Soia :: Valsoia - Bontà e Salute :: Latte di soia, lecitina di soia, gelati di riso, gelati di soia[/url] , which does a large range of soya products, burgers, bangers, through to milk and icecream. Even our small supermarket stocks some of its products and the larger Coal in Piano Falerone has a bigger range. Robert says he enjoys the product, he does not eat meat.
I think if you search here you can find alot of non meat foods, especially for people on restricted diets, many Italians now complain of allergies and intolerances, especially to gluten ,which I suppose is why alternative foods are finding their way onto mainstream supermarket shelves.

[quote=Angie and Robert;86061]There is an Italian brand called Valsoia based in Bologna.[/quote]
That's the brand I was trying to remember as making the soy burgers I particularly like, but it's interesting how the company's website shows a lot of products that I've never seen in any of the supermarkets we visit.

(Apologies for going off topic, but in reply to Sally, yes, Katharina arrived on Sunday 16 March. She's lovely, Barbara's fine and we're hoping to all be back home in Abruzzo soon.)

Al

Congratulations on the new member of your family.
Angie

Congratulations on baby Katharina, Al! Lovely name. Best wishes.

Going back to the main topic of the thread, I have seen plenty of vegetarian and special diet products at the large supermarket chain Esselunga. I am sure that there will be a branch near you.

Many congratulations to you and Barbara, Alan. Lovely news.

As for "healthy" food, well there's also the Italian Coop. A lot of the food there is organic and locally produced without the labels telling you so and you can even find oats and muesli there (albeit still not as good as you find in the UK as it still contains added sugar) However it is a great place to shop. There's one just outside Sulmona in Il Borgo shopping centre.

[url=http://www.cooperativegrocer.coop/articles/index.php?id=623]CG -- Building the Future[/url]

I eat only a little meat -- perhaps once a week. I use Quorn mince and pieces quite a lot, and the Tesco's vegeburgers aren't half bad!

But I'm anticipating that when I move to Italy, I might find that I'll include more meat in my diet. I don't know. There are lots of typically Italian style meals based on bread, oil, cheese, beans and vegetables.

I notice that the meat substitutes from ConBio and Mopur linked from the vegetarian website in Gala's first post ([URL="http://www.vegetariani.it/vegetariani/indices/14.html"]vegetariani - marchioVegetariano[/URL]) are gluten-based. I don't know of any Italian product based on mycoprotein (fungus!) as Quorn is.

A question. Do Quorn products contain unwanted and unhealthy additives??? I bet they do and best avoided.

[quote=Sally Donaldson;86090]A question. Do Quorn products contain unwanted and unhealthy additives??? I bet they do and best avoided.[/quote]Ingredients: Mycoprotein (87%), rehydrated free range egg white, flavouring.

Sorry it still seems suspect to me. Mushrooms are known to be exceedingly good for you so why not use fresh organic ones in a vegetable stir fry for example with some organic brown Basmati rice. This way you avoid the added mysterious, unamed "flavorings"!!!

Here's the website link which doesn't include Italy I see. - [url=http://www.quorn.com/]Quorn.com | Welcome to Quorn™[/url]

Hi
I suppose we should really be looking closer at items like this.... being veggie over 30 years. We too eat Quorn 1-2 times per week normally and I guess would miss it if it were not for the lovely food we've found in the shops in Italy whilst self-catering. We do eat a lot of fresh pasta with all manner of ingredients and this has become even more varied since going to Italy. So I would guess for protein this combined with walnuts , almonds and beans (again so many different types , including soya) will suffice nicely. But if it’s the substitute for things like curry or chilli , then it depends on your taste, but we’ve found over the years both of these can be made equally if not better without meat… Italians do wondrous things with vegetables, try a few when you are out and if you like them, grow and make it yourself….

The firm whch owns the 'Brand' Quorn is quite fascinating. It is called Premier Foods, and this is the page which shows you some of the 'brands' they own. (The link doesn't work, but if you typed it in, it would!)

[ATTACH]1959[/ATTACH]

http://www.premierfoods.co.uk/premierfoodsmain/our-brands/$our-brands_home.cfm

The intention of the company, when it was set up, was to buy 'orphaned brands' - things which large food and chemical conglomerates couldn't be bothered to market any more. Quorn they bought from AstraZeneca, which had inheirted it from ICI. (Wikipedia is quite good on the history of Quorn.)

So - if you wanted to construct a menu using Premier Foods brands, you could start with Quorn drowned in Bisto, with Paxo stuffing: follow it up with Atora dumplings and Oxo: then Smash with something from Sharwoods, and for pud Ambrosia creamed rice or Angel Delight!

Amongst these gems there are some surprising orphans - Cadbury for example is a bit of a surprise.

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So not quite vegetarian then!

Been following this and am aghast that anyone would want or miss Quorn, when in Italy. Feeding vegetarians is so easy in Italy and even Vegans eat well. Gluten free is a bit of a challenge but compared to buying fresh foods in England, it's heaven here...just go to your neatest market. Carluccio offers hundreds of recipes too.

[quote=Noble;86223]Been following this and am aghast that anyone would want or miss Quorn, when in Italy. Feeding vegetarians is so easy in Italy and even Vegans eat well. Gluten free is a bit of a challenge but compared to buying fresh foods in England, it's heaven here...just go to your neatest market. Carluccio offers hundreds of recipes too.[/quote]

Hope no one ever has to explain they are "Eggitarian" in Italy Neil.... But I cannot agree more that Italy does not need Quorn.... and that there is plenty to offer any Vegan, Lacto- vegetarian , vegetarian or otherwise... Just for the record I give up meat (animal/fish flesh) around 36 years ago on more that just moral grounds ... strange enough health was one of them - check the records! The other main one being.... I didn't not like it...! Must check out this Carluccio character....

Actually as quorn's main ingredient is a type of funghi very similar to a wild bracket funghi known here as 'chicken in the woods' it isnt that alien to the Italian diet!! I've cooked this funghi and it does taste and have a texture just like chicken.
I'm actually opposed to the inclusion of (battery) egg white in the product .Hopefully a more acceptable binder can be substituted.However if in 20 years theres not enough food on the planet to feed everyone it will be this type of food that we have to turn to.If anyone sincerly believes they can carry on guzzling milk and cream and eating meat at the current rate of consumption they are fooling themselves!

I love Italian food but what non-veggies have to understand is that every so often as they want a Big Mac or a Bacon Sarnie veggies quite fancy a quorn sausage sarnie with loads of ketchup!! Not so different then to meat eaters.

No-one expects italian bars and restaurants to start serving quorn or soya mince based dishes but it would be great occasionally to be able to buy these products in a shop or supermaket.

[quote=myabruzzohome;86341]I'm actually opposed to the inclusion of (battery) egg white in the product.[/quote]So were British vegetarian organisations. That's why they changed it to free range.
[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quorn"]Quorn - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/URL]

I do understand your longing.....perhaps like so many of us, you too must make a quick dash to England...as I do for a REAL curry with all the trimmings...ah ...if only once a year!

You can buy all the spices here, or have friends bring or send them out So its not too difficut to create a real curry here. That is of course if you like cooking. Robert went to an evening class before we left England, but somehow with all the lovely food out here the need for a curry goes away. That is not to say that if I could phone out for one I wouldnt!
A

If anyone in South Marche wants Quinoa they sell it at Aurora vineyard just outside Offida (along with fabulous organic wine). I eat kilos of the stuff so my mum is very pleased she no longer has to bring it out. As my husband is allergic to cows milk I cam also vouch for the amount of soya based products here- I find it much easier to feed him here- his geatest joy is finding that many gelaterias do at least one or two flavours of Soya ice cream & more suprisingly it actually tastes like icecream!

Talking of cow's milk, I'm Interested to hear if you can buy lactose free milk in Italy.

flip - just tried to post something here and it got hurtled off into cyberspace by the look of things....maybe coz I might have had a little pair of Rant Pants on - although I didn`t mean to!!!

I was just saying that I was strict veggie for almost 8 years - and I loathed Quorn with a vengeance....always seemed such alien stuff to me....especially when you can get your sauce slathering hit from humungously healthy and super tasty burgers made from roasted nuts/seeds and veggies....and pulses too....yum yum pigs bum....errrr without the pigs bum, natch....also nuts are up there in the superfood category....oooozing protein, antioxidents and cholesterol free....

as for guzzling cream/milk and meat creating food shortages.....food shortages are more about politics than available food - we have way enough food to feed the world. It`s not meat eaters that cause the problems, but excessive packaging, food miles and people wanting strawberries and asparagus at Christmas that does much of the damage....

ok....rant pants coming off now....

[quote=Sally Donaldson;86441]Talking of cow's milk, I'm Interested to hear if you can buy lactose free milk in Italy.[/quote]

Yes, you can. It comes in 500ml blue cartons, you can find it in larger supermarkets alongside 'normal' cows milk. We bought it for a while when our youngest was suffering with eczema. Haven't had to buy it for years now and for the life of me the name fails me. Goats milk is also available, again in larger supermarkets.

Wonderful to hear Anne. Thank you. I have just changed to it here in London in the last week to see it makes any difference and wondered if I would have to revert to ordinary milk whilst in Italy.

I've found this site if your a dab hand in the kitchen and want to have a go at making your own meat substitute.

[url=http://apriti-sesamo.blogspot.com/2007/06/meat-substitute-homemade-seitan.html]Apriti Sesamo: A meat substitute: homemade Seitan[/url]

cowabunga - sounds positively carpet-like - and a definite nightmare for anyone who has a problem with gluten!!! Shoyu is very high in salt too.

I doubt Lizzy that gluten intolerance is anymore of a problem in Italy than it would be in the UK, and as with all these things people adapt. There is rice pasta and rice based products in most of our local supermarkets, my friend Maria the local butcher is gluten intolerant, and is careful what she eats when eating out, but with so much of the culture here being based on fresh homecooked food it is something that she has learnt to live with. And it is possible to buy buckwheat and other flours in our local healthfood shop so cakes and bread can be enjoyed as well.
A

I wasn`t implying that gluten intolerance is any more of a problem here in Italy - I was only saying that the recipe for the `meat substitute` that was posted would be a nightmare for anyone with a gluten intolerance.

Personally, I find the thought of dining on slices of soaked shoyu flavoured dough about as appealing as munching my way through a Well Worn Y-Front Panino....even with a generous slathering of tomato ketchup ....:eerr:

As Angie and Robert have said, there is also gluten intolerance in Italy and an industry has been developed to cater for the needs of that percentage of the population. They even have an English version. Have a look at: [url=http://www.celiachia-food.com/]CELIACHIA-FOOD Prodotti dietetici - celiachia, cibo, glutine, intolleranza, intolleranze, alimenti senza glutine, dermatite erpetiforme, dermatite, morbo celiaco, sprue celiaca, alimenti privi di glutine, allergia ai farinacei, allergia al latte, Coe[/url]

I just thought of another product which can be eaten by those suffering from gluten intolerance and it is a very Italian product: [B][I][U]polenta[/U][/I][/B]
You can have a look at an old thread I started last year under that name: [B][I]Polenta[/I][/B] and adapt some recipes. Here is an example for a delicious bread, very easy to make and very convenient as the special bread without gluten is awfully expensive.

[B][I][U]MICROWAVED POLENTA BREAD[/U][/I][/B]

1 cup special flour without gluten
1 cup polenta (yellow cornmeal)
1 tablespoon baking powed
2 tablespoons sugar
dash mustard powder
salt and pepper to taste
1 large can creamed corn
3 eggs, beaten
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
dash of paprika

Sift flour, polenta, baking powder, sugar, mustard, salt and pepper. Fold in creamed corn, beaten eggs and oil.
Grease a 4 cup mould. Coat with grated cheese and paprika. Pour in bread mix. Cook on medium 12 minutes, then a further 1 minute on high. Stand 5 minutes before inverting.

Just an aside - [url=http://uk.news.yahoo.com/skynews/20080331/tuk-great-british-breakfast-comes-under-45dbed5.html]Great British Breakfast Comes Under Fire - Yahoo! News UK[/url]

Thank you Sally for that word of warning. I think that it is all the chemical additives in bacon an sausages what makes them dangerous and if you eat those daily... it can become a real problem. On the other hand, eggs, being a natural product seem to be OK. Actually, they are now saying that they do not increase cholesterol levels as they used to say before.... It reminds me about the warnings concerning Aspirin... and then they started saying that, taken in moderation, it is the panacea for very many ailments... I wish that they would make up their minds! One of these days they are going to tell us that all those medical additives are good as they protect us from something else.... Still, I think that natural products are the best.