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When I was backpacking around India and Nepal for 6 months altogether, I just stopped eating meat - their chicken pieces were always just bones with tiny bits of meat here and there, mutton was worse than chewing gum and that was it for the meat, food safety notwithstanding.

Now enter a wonderful universe of vegetable curries and masalas where every household has their own twist on recipes and it all tastes so much differently. I couldn't care less if there was no meat, the spice mixture, thick sauces and ingredients meant I felt very satiated and didn't miss meat at all.

Its all just in our minds. Recently I was explaining to my friend how I eat often cold salads for lunch and in the mountains its more likely some sandwich, probably already half-frozen in the backpack. And I don't care, it tastes great after some physical effort and gives body all it needs and some more. For him, you can't have lunch if its not warm and there is no big piece of meat on plate in some form.

Also some people equate spices with just chili, meaning for them that any spiced food must burn your anus for whole next week and leave permanent scars on lower back. Which is a shame, there is whole universe of intense tastes unavailable to traditional western cuisine that doesn't burn your tongue a bit (or it still can while not using any chili at all).



> there is whole universe of intense tastes unavailable to traditional western cuisine that doesn't burn your tongue a bit

FWIW, I agree with everything you said, but I'd like to point out there's a ton of spices used in western cuisine too.

For example, in my hometown (central Italy) we use a lot of wild fennel pollen, which goes on basically everything. In Hungary fennel seeds, marjoram, paprika and turmeric are in practically every kitchen.

Star anise, nutmeg, saffron, mace, clove etc.. have been used in western cuisine for centuries too, and are used in very traditional western dishes (french onion soup, bechamel sauce, risotto alla milanese etc)

Western cuisine certainly uses less spices than the indian subcontinent, but I would not say the spices were unavailable to western cuisine.


> their chicken pieces were always just bones with tiny bits of meat here and there, mutton was worse than chewing gum

This is strange, maybe they were exceptionally poor but generally speaking, the chicken or mutton in India is not just bones and definitely is not the texture of chewing gum. Now I don't know what they were doing wrong cooking that mutton but every time I've made it, it comes out incredibly, it melts in one's mouth. I hope you reconsider Indian meat dishes.

I agree on the vegetarian dishes, I mainly eat those during the week, but we get meat on the weekends.


Often what we want is some familiar texture and substantial mouthfeel of meat. Just adding tiny slices of meat to remind you it’s there or substituting it with “meatier” veggies like mushrooms or cabbage can do the trick.


What about protein intake?




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