Unless you are a vegetarian, chances are that you have never
eaten tofu. In fact, the only time tofu is brought up it is when
they are making light of the vegetarians diet.
So why do
vegetarians eat tofu? Is it because they have no other food that
they can eat?
Vegetarian are not required to eat tofu.
The fact is there are many vegetarians who never eat tofu or any
of the popular meat replacement food items like "veggie burgers"
or "tofurkey".
Vegetarians are able to maintain a healthy
diet eating any number of traditional meals or ethnic dishes
Tofu is often thought of as something that only vegetarian might
eat. It is versatile, highly-nutritional, and can is used to
replace many meat dishes.
Tofu can simulate many dishes
from turkey to hamburger in texture, flavors and consistencies.
Interestingly tofu can replace and exceed the nutritional value
of most all similar meat groups.
While vegetarians do not
actually need to consume tofu, doing so is often a wise dietary
choice can be the next best thing to eating real meat products.
This is especially key for those who enjoyed meat dishes before
they became vegetarians.
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Nutritionally tofu is low-fat,
has very little cholesterol, and is low in calories. It is made
out of steamed and compressed soy beans. Not only is it a great
source of protein but it is also heart-healthy and has been
linked to a decreased risk in cancer. This is important fo those
vegetarians who lack protein in their diet.
In addition
to being served as a meat alternative, tofu is also served in a
number of spicy and ethnic dishes, which were never intended to
contain meat. Surprising to some, many ethnic Indian dishes
contain large amounts of tofu cooked and prepared in different
ways.
If you are not a vegetarian but are considering
becoming one don’t let the fear of eating tofu stop you. Tofu
will actually help you maintain a healthy vegetarian diet. If
you already are a vegetarian, and have not tried tofu, you might
want to try it. It is nutritional and versatile and it does not
taste as bad as you think.
About the Author:
Ted is a featured writer for The Bloglands network of websites.
His vegetarian writings can be found at
http://vegetarian.thebloglands.com
Madhur Jaffrey's
World Vegetarian Cookbook from Amazon.co.uk
