Grrl Power #199 – Dietary complex
I like how apparently this steakhouse serves all their entrees with sides of bacon.
If you’ve never done it, treat yourself to Churrascaria at least once. (Unless you don’t eat meat obviously.) It’s a style of restaurant where you pay a flat rate, usually quite a bit, like $50-65, and waiters dressed like understated matadors bring you unlimited meat. Quality meat. Imagine all you can eat rack of lamb, top sirloin, bottom sirloin, filet mignon, sausage, rib eye, bacon wrapped, beef ribs, pork ribs, Parmesan crusted pork loin… you get the idea. It’s a lot of money, but it’s great once or twice a year, birthdays and the like. It was at a Churrascharia place that I had Achilles’s exact thought. I freely admit to making nyom nyom sounds and doing orgasm eyerolls. I could go a few days as a pure vegetarian, there’s plenty of delicious non-meat things to eat, but after a 3-4 days, maybe a week, I’d be going spare for a burger or something involving sausage.
I love how writing works some time. The woman on the left in the second panel (named Seneca, even though her name doesn’t appear anywhere in the comic yet, just for reference) has appeared in the background a few times but I didn’t really have a character for her other than “Latina Badass a la Vasquez” but now that I’ve written a smidgen of dialog for her, she’s forever cursed with a sweet tooth. That’s not a bad start.
So next page is number 200, which beyond being one of those round numbers that humans feel the need to make a big deal about. That said you don’t want to miss it. :) It’s too bad it’s landing on a Thursday and not everyone has moved their Grrl Power bookmark from the Monday folder to the probably underpopulated Monday Thursday folder yet. I’ll throw out a little advertising with my new banner which I’ve used to update the vote incentive finally if you’re curious.
Update: The ComicMix tourney had moved to round 3! Again as happened last year we’re up against Order of the Stick, a level boss if there ever was one!
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Nobody else knows what a sopaipilla is. Y’all are missing out.
Sopapilas are like fries, except you put sugar on them instead of salt.
At least that’s what Cook Serve Delicious tells me.
That reminds me of Churros. Only with potato and not cinnamon-doughie-goodness
Sopapillas are one of the best food groups.
There’s a Churrascharia place just up the street, apparently the only one in Pittsburgh. Man, if I could afford it, I would be there all the time. Still, their base price is $40 for dinner so it’s not as bad as some.
https://www.greenforestdining.com
I’ll have to try that when I go back to see the in-laws in Pittsburgh :-)
If you are ever in Vegas, I highly recommend Pampas in the Miracle Mile shopping center near the Planet Hollywood casino. So good!
And when I went to look up the name I found out they have a location in Palo Alto, about an hour from my house!
I can so seen Sydney challenging everyone to an eating contest. The winner can make fun of her being a vegetarian, the losers get made fun of for not being able to handle hot food.
Max: alright that’s enough jok…
Sydney: no worries max I got this. They can make fun all they want but only if they can beat me in a little food challenge.
Achilles: what sort of food challenge?
Sydney: oh just a simply one. If you can survive what I eat with out wimping/complaining they you can make all the jokes you want, but if you can’t, why then ….
ROFLM (rolls on floor laughing maniacally)
That is PERFECT. I would love to see such a contest.
I’ll take that challenge!
Bring on the Ghost Chilies! (Or the T Trinidad Butch Scorpion, if you can find them – runs up to about 2 million Scovilles.)
Dude. She can eat noodles with a rating of 3 MILLION scovilles, provided it doesn’t slap her eye.
She’s not strictly vegetarian as she eats fish, so she’s good nutritionally.
Heh yeah capsaicin doesn’t actually do any damage so all the super hero immunities wouldn’t help them. If they can taste food they can be burned by spicy food.
Hmmm…Expose Achilles to mustard gas & pepper spray. Since it’s certain he’ll survive that, he’ll be a well-seasoned hero.
Ever seen the reaction that folks have to catching the faintest whiff of skunk? Then imagine what it is like having that under your nose for a week. But combine with a burning hot spicy sensation in your mouth. That does not lessen after a week’s worth of gargling icy cold water. Even Achilles might choose to call it quits before he reaches Sydney’s level of food tolerance.
Interestingly, I’ve never minded skunk smell. Admittedly, I’ve never been sprayed in the face by one, but I figure that’s more a matter of intensity than anything else. But I’ve smelled many a freshly-run-over skunk and to me it’s just another scent, and not a particularly bad one. Not a GOOD one, precisely, but a useful one – I find it clears a stuffed nose quite nicely. And I have a strong enough sense of smell that I use it more than most, so anything that so readily returns that sense gets a thumbs up in my book.
The act of spraying turns the liquid into an aerosol. The fine droplets formed are optimised to carry the scent. And there are likely to be subtle chemical changes too, as a result of exposure to the air in that manner. I suspect that should you get sprayed or come near someone who has, you will find that the scent is overwhelming compared to roadkill skunk.
Partly the chemicals in Skunk Spray react with moisture to get even stronger. It’s why simply throwing a dog (or human) into the shower after they’ve been sprayed only makes it worse.
I think skunk is like cilantro. To some people it tastes fine, to others it tastes like soap. There’s a chemical or amino acid in there that some people can taste and some people can’t, and it totally changes the flavor of it. Same thing with bell peppers. To some people they taste sweet, to others like me, they taste acrid.
I’ve heard people describe skunk smell being like really concentrated urine, but I don’t smell that at all, I actually kind of like the smell of skunk, or rather, what I smell.
It makes me wonder how much my palette would change if you could switch bodies with someone. Do I not like pickles just because I don’t happen to like that exact flavor, or am I tasting something that people who do like pickles aren’t?
I still say that no one here who hasn’t eaten a chocolate bar while inadvertently driving downwind past a pig farm just hasn’t LIVED. At least it prevents you from accidently dozing off behind the wheel…
We don’t know what exceeds Sydney’s threshold.
Considering that, back at the restaurant where she had her own “noodle incident,” Sidney outright *asked* if they had pure cap ( https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/697 ), I don’t think there’s a pepper-farmer alive who can match her limit…
Sydney, if you’re willing to eat fish YOU ARE NOT A VEGETARIAN!! FISH IS MEAT!
And this is why she didn’t want people to find out.
Besides, you haven’t paid attention: Someone else said ‘Vegan’ first (well, ‘ve…’ anyway. Sydney assumed they were going to say it, though) and she outright said she didn’t know the exact terms.
She was just agreeing that ‘Yeah, you caught me, I don’t eat meat, but please don’t tell anyone’
There are many levels of vegetarianism, and some DO eat fish. Why some think that just because the animal swims instead of walks that it is a lower form of life, but then, I don’t understand thinking that plants are any less deserving of life. Eating is killing, no matter WHAT you eat (unless you can find a way to “eat” sunlight). We all have to decide what level of kill we are willing to eat. Since I don’t see plants or fish as being of less value than cows, deer or rabbit, I eat whatever seems tasty at the moment. But I won’t look down on those who make other choices. Won’t look up to them either.
Generally speaking, vegetarian types who eat seafood are considering more their ecological footprint as opposed to considering things a “lower form” of life. Due to the way the ecosystem of the ocean works, and what sort of seafood people eat, there’s a lot less ecological/caloric “waste” from eating most preferred fish and shellfish when compared to land animals.
At least part of that is likely because people tend to eat smaller fish, I suppose the ecological “waste” of a chipmunk and squirrel diet might be similarly small, but I haven’t heard that they’re particularly tasty. Or served at many restaurants. Basically, it is generally the case that the closer to the bottom of the food chain you go, and the smaller the animal is, the more ecologically efficient it is. And that matters to some people, so that is reflected in their choice of foodstuffs. Of course explaining all of that can take quite a while, so identifying as a “Vegetarian, but I do eat seafood” is a lot easier.
Squirrel is actually not bad if seasoned properly like most wild game. If you look at a some of the more traditional southern cooking you can find some good recipes.
Uh, no. The phrase “vegetarian who eats fish” is a blatant contradiction. Vegetarianism is “not eating animals”. Animals are fish. Why is this so hard to understand?
Whoops, small type there. I meant to say “fish are animals”, not the other way around.
^typo
He he. I do not normally comment on typos, but that one is just too ironically funny to pass over!
I’m a pescetarian like Sydney (although for different reasons), but since most people don’t know what “pescetarian” means I usually say I’m a vegetarian.
I’m a vegetarian. One of my friends, like you, is a pescetarian, and also like you, she usually just says vegetarian to save herself the explanation unless someone sees her eating fish and asks.
It probably helps that I don’t actually eat fish that often.
Sure we do! It is one of the branches of Christianity. And we know how early Christians used to use the sign of the fish to secretly communicate their faith to other believers. So the fishy thing makes sense.
;-)
Well according to the Catholic church fish isn’t meat.
https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2014/03/13/good-question-why-isnt-seafood-considered-meat/
When this idea was instituted, land meat was a thing that only the nobles ate. It was the superior food. Only peasants ate fish and vegetables. So on fridays, a good catholic noble was supposed to eat like a peasant.
any peasant could catch a fish. Nobles were the only ones allowed to eat venison.
She’s the type of vegaterian that doesn’t eat mamals. Fish aren’t mamals
(To waiter) One serving of duck-billed-platypus, for the girl with the balls, please.
?
But Platypi aren’t fish. Not especially cute either, admittedly…
But neither are turkeys or ducks, and she don’t eat fowl either.
Dude, nobody knows what platypi really are.
Whatever god was smoking/drinking when he made that species, I`m going to keep far, far away from that.
But why? If it’s good enough for God, it’s still not good enough for YOU?
Platypuses are mammals. Even though they lay eggs, they have mammary glands and nurse their young. I guess God just decided to have a little fun when he made the Australian (Oceanian) ecosystem. Duckbilled Platypus, Tazmanian Devil, Kangaroo (literally translated means “I don’t understand you.”), and so on. Basically, the continent was a giant version of the Galapagos before humans set foot there.
They are ‘marsupials’
Platypi and Echidna’s are the only non-extinct Monotremes or Egg-laying Mammals. Marsupials are Mammals that carry their young in pouches and include Kangaroos, Wallabies, Koalas, Wombats, Posssums and the Tasmanian Devil.
Basically Australia is where God decided to rut all his weird little science experiments of weird animal types and “things-that-can-kill-you-in-ten-different-ways”.
Right, knew they were something more than garden-variety ‘mammal’
I figure that she just does like I do and go by vegetarian simply for simplicity’s sake rather than go through the 20 minute challenge to explain what foods are taboo. Plus if you look Sidney never actually says she is vegetarian herself.
While there is nothing wrong with being a vegetarian. I could never be one. I get too much fun being carnivore.
I agree. Becoming a vegetarian would be a missed-steak.
Hah hah I’m sure vegetarians have never heard that joke before. I laugh because it’s on the next page.
Besides everything eats everything else in this world. Plants feed off the earth, smaller animals feed off of them, larger animals feed of of them, while larger animals feed off of then and so on until all the larger animals(humans induced.) die and are fed back into the earth. Its the way of nature, no reason to deny yourself such a wonderful and tasty experiences just for some silly sympathy.
Nope, but you probably SHOULD deny yourself such a tasty experience for the sake of not using several times the land-areal you actually need. As I covered in my post, meat raised on farmed food (rather than hard-to-farm uneven grassland) is terribly wasteful due to all the energy the animal uses itself in its lifetime.
Besides, instincts are instincts, saying ‘there’s no reason to feel bad’ doesn’t necessarily help, it’s essentially just patronizing.
If she feels sad whenever she thinks of animals suffering for her food, it’s kinda hard to enjoy a good steak – and given the amount of people who cry in MOVIES, which are FICTIONAL on top of still following your logic of being part of (the fictional) nature, I don’t see how your point stops anyone from being sad.
Put simpler: Sometimes it’s easier to just plan around your emotions, than try to change them.
Ya know what’s a lot more wastefull in the land department?
Biological food.
According to some calculations, you could feed about 4 billion people if all food was produced biological.
Sounds great, until you realize there are quite abit more than 4 billion people on this planet
FTW?? Yes, i am ignoring vitamins/minerals in the category of FOOD, but are still eaten as “supplements” to a NORMAL diet of “food”… SO… unless you’re are eating ROCKS, then ALL “food” is BIOLOGICAL… so just what exactly ARE you talking about? or did you mean to say “organic”? the definition meaning roughly: “no pesticides or artificial crap was added in the production of this food product”? that kind of organic?
I’m confused as well.
I can only see two explanations: 1) They require a farming-method that isn’t so harmful to the soil but ends up being less efficient (because farming DOES suck out a lot of the nutrients and such. It’s always done that, even when we let nature farm itself and just went searching for stuff that looked edible. Discovering a way to farm without needing to either put back nutrients or letting the earth ‘rest’, would be a big step forward in farm-tech)
2) They’re talking about ‘free-range’ animals, but in that case we’re still dealing with animals. And besides, in some countries there’s barely any additional cost to free-range given how you can use uneven ground. Norway in particular has a lot of mountains covered in a couple feet of dirt, which means there’s plenty of grass but it’d need explosives in immense qualities to ‘flatten’ it. Often you’d need to blow up a literal mountain to get a decent America-sized farm going.
Yea, I mean the no pesticides sort of stuf, my bad
I believe the term you were looking for is ORGANIC.
And yeah, if the human race was to abandon all our farming technological advances, and returned to organic farming, about half of the world’s population would starve death, especially we also stop using fossil fuels to supply energy to farm machinery, and stop using underground aquifers for irrigation.
I’ve actually seen quotes that the world could sustain only two billion human beings if we completely abandon the technologies of the “Green Revolution,” but I suspect that those numbers are kind of old.
Part of the fun of reading older science fiction (1950s and before) is when the setting is a hideously overcrowded Earth, whose citizens are practically starving and REAL food is a luxury, and then seeing that this dystopia is an Earth that has only four or five billion people on it.
“Everything dies so that others may sustain life.”
I for one am proud of my God-given ability to consume an entire ecosystem to survive. And whenever I’ve encountered someone complaining about my eating meat as I do it I usually just send them this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwSKkKrUzUk
I couldn’t be a western vegetarian, but most Indian dishes are meat-free.
Although there are a few exceptions, of course. Such as whole goat biryani.
And now for the complete antithesis of Sydney’s food philosophy.
https://vanheist.deviantart.com/art/Wattle-Ya-Do-415798541
HA! P4 OBEY!
Okay, I have to make this point, because it’s really, really stupid not to.
I’m a carnivore by preference, and I like my steak rare at best But not only have I HAD veggie burgers, but I’m here to tell you that almost nobody I know can tell a well-cooked no-meat burger from an actual real hamburger. In short, as a carnivore, I’ve had, and I’ve LIKED soyburgers, veggie burgers, and so on. Can I tell the difference? Yes. Can my friends? Sure…if I tell them first. Have I ever met anybody aside from myself who could tell without prior notice? No.
And yeah, there are a LOT of really good dishes that are meat free. Some of them are Eastern, many aren’t. But, honestly, I refuse to try a vegetarian diet mainly because it is very difficult to eat healthy without including meat, and I refuse to put that much more effort into my diet.
And I should point out, for those who are speaking of how many people more vegetarian diets feed, as opposed to carnivorous diets: yes, cattle–even free-range cattle–take up signficantly more food per acre than does feeding people off of just corn/rice/soy/wheat/whatever. This is true. It’s a proven fact.
Which, of course, is why all of you people restrict your ENTIRE diet to…say…corn. No fruit. No vegetables. No fish or cheese or eggs or meat, and, definitely, above all else, no fat.
Of course, I don’t know what you eat during the other nine months of the year, when your chosen crop is not producing, but that’s not my problem.
Me? I say five thousand years of nutrition studies was worth it, and I’d like to make sure I have all my teeth when I turn 45. So for all of those who feel superior because of the land area they are saving by not eating meat: I don’t remember what the yield-per-acre is on apples, but I DO recall that it’s not much better than cattle, so you lot can bugger off.
In my experience, I had a vegetarian friend tell me to try their meat substitute meat product, saying you can hardly tell the difference. It winds up tasting like an oatmeal cookie or whatever, and I tell them, “clearly you have forgotten what meat tastes like” Obviously some products will hit closer to home than others, but that one example was way off.
I’m not a vegetarian.
Now, my opinion is that when you’re trying to imitate meat products so you’d not taste the difference, you’ve gone wrong already. There’s a restaurant with a delicious veggieburger (that’s the official name) that I get once a week in the cold season, (I might add that it’s the only burger they serve, though they’re certainly not a vegetarian shop.) But part of what makes it delicious is that they don’t really try to imitate a meat burger. The “meat” is deep-fried cheese, the bread is good, crusty bread (a bit like baguette) and not burger-style floppy stuff, the green stuff is a big heap of tasty salad, and the fries are actually very crispy chips and not soft potato sticks. I love that stuff (well, once a week).
I also love various meaty stuff, just not those half-raw, he-man steaks – what an awful waste of good meat for the sake of demonstrating your testosterone!
I could easily live with much less meat in my diet, but given that I pretty much don’t cook for myself, my selection in that area is a bit limited – even more by being a diabetic: the vast majority of non-meat meals are stuffed with carbohydrates, which wouldn’t have troubled me before I got that diabetes … but now, there’s just no good way of dealing with those mountains of carbohydrates. I just wish the food industry did more of the other stuff … but I expect it’s easier to make noney with either meat or carbohydrates (chips, bread, noodles, …).
Don’t tell me you like steaks cooked until they taste like rubber
What makes you think half-raw steaks are about testosterone? I have never heard my Mom order a steak better cooked then ‘bloody’, and usually she says ‘still kicking’. And I’m not even exaggerating.
That sounds like me too! I actually prefer seafood, but when I crave red meat; the less cooked the better. Probably because it’s by body trying to compensate for having a very hard time pulling certain minerals or vitamins from produce. I probably will never consider any type of vegetarianism.
Well, I personally never specified “still kicking” in a restaurant, but I have told them to just slaughter it fresh & run a butane lighter under it a couple of times…
I told them to drag the cow through the kitchen and give me a knife. And the ONLY time I had a “well done” steak I wound up sick as a dog for 3 days.
EVERYBODY can tell the difference when they know they’re eating meat substitute ahead of time. I could not tell you why–I think it’s psychological–but they can. It’s kind of bizarre, actually–if people know ahead of time, not only will they claim (quite honestly) to be able to tell the difference, but they’ll all have much the same descriptions of the actual taste, even though it has no relation to the vegetable masquerading as meat. Trust me, this is something I pay attention to.
You want to know what you SHOULD be tasting when you eat, say, soybeef? You should be tasting beans, because that’s what it’s made from. But you won’t. Ever. Not once. But tell people they’re eating it, and they’ll taste…oh, a whole variety of things, from tofu, to oatmeal, to…well, you name it. Thing is…badly made meat substitute really does taste awful. So much so, that one has to wonder why they bother. But well-made…well, let’s just say, over half the hamburgers you get in restaurants are not real meat, because that’s been known to cause lawsuits to happen over a wide variety of causes. Because yes, some people really are stupid enough to buy a BEEF HAMBURGER, and think there is no meat in it. I wish to heaven I was making that up, but, nope, I’m not.
But the good stuff–which I’ve had–is almost indistinguishable. Go to most restaurants, and you’ll never be able to guess which one’s real meat, and which one’s not. Unless, of course, you’re like me, and you can’t actually smell the meat to be deceived.
I’ve eaten a lot of different brands of veggiburger, and there’s not one I’d mistake for ground beef.
And if I ordered a hamburger and got a veggiburger, that would be grounds for a lawsuit, and not being too stupid to know what hamburger is made of. I’d love to hear some actual citations of restaurants who sever vegiburgers in place of beef burgers and still call them hamburgers out of fear of being sued by a person who is too stupid to know what that means. What happens if a person has a soy allergy and is served a soy-burger when they ordered a hamburger?
The only thing I’ve ever eaten which I found indistinguishable from a beef hamburger was an ostrich burger. And it’s a lot leaner than beef, although that may be moot if the restaurant has to add fats in order to cook it properly.
My sister & brother-in-law are capital-V Vegans. My sister & my dad once fed me a vegan hot dog without my knowledge. I instantly knew something was horribly, horribly wrong (and “real” hot dogs are barely meat in the first place). Conversely, I later had a vegan dog with chili, knew it going in, and it was OK. (Mostly because chili is awesome, and needs meat just as much as it needs beans – that is, not at all.) Also, Vegan baked goods are juuuuuust fine.
I am not here to ignite a rage-war, but meat does in fact produce far less food per acre considering the energy that goes into raising animals (unless both the animals and their food is heavily gene-altered, I guess…).
The most energy efficient kind of meat is chicken, where you get back a third, 33%, of the energy spent in meat product, losing the other 67%. Though meat usually DOES include more energy per weight unit when compared to most vegetarian foods, the process of creating it takes more energy than you get in return.
If you hadn’t already guessed it, yes I am a vegetarian ;P Also one that doesn’t care much for how I eat, and I’m still able to wrestle my brother who weights more, train handball five days a week and has a great love for meat. Just throwing that out there^^
Are you sure?
I thought pigs were the most efficient in transferring animal food into meat, upwards to 50% of it.
I could be remembering that wrong offcourse
Oops, completely misread the upper half of you post, rendering the upper half of mine just irritating nagging. Sorry, but this page doesn’t seem to let me delete it…
Still, I am vegetarian and proud… Modern science does miracles for keeping beans and vegetable edible when they’re not fresh from the field. Much like the freezing and vacuum packaging does for meat.
There is nothing wrong with being a ‘proud vegetarian’, or even a vegan!, the problem is when that ‘pride’ forces people to abuse those who still eat of the meat and feel ‘superior’ because they don’t eat anything ‘cute’ or with a face
I don’t mind if they feel superior just so long as they don’t act superior.
Yeah, that ^
Keep your feels to yourself (not ‘you’ in particular)
I feel that they have an Natural Right to speak their minds about their dietary habits…But they don’t have any Right at all to try cramming it down my throat, literally or figuratively. Those who do so allow me to exercise my own Right to Simply Not Listen to Them.
‘Cramming it down your throat’ is part of what I meant by ‘acting superior’.
You, a vegetarian? No, I never would have guessed! =P
Seriously, though, I will repeat myself: you get far more calories per acre, or per energy unit, from the staple crops than you do from any animal source. This is why they are staples, and that is why we get the majority of our calories from these sources. But if you’ve ever seen the amount of work that goes into producing things like market-fresh red peppers, tomatoes, asparagus, sugar, molasses, artichokes, etc, you’d know that the claim that meat actually requires LESS energy per calorie than most of the stuff we eat in our diets. Trust me–I’ve grown this crap, and it takes a LOT of work, much of which MUST be done by human hands, to produce a bushel of apples or a ton of tomatoes, and a shockingly large portion of the work CANNOT be mechanized with today’s technology. You can get around some of this by using genetically engineered crops and using a wide variety of inorganic chemicals on the crops, but applying those same techniques to animals will STILL get you a better yield per unit of energy expended upon their growth than, say, lettuce. Why? Because you don’t have to bloody weed an animal crop, among other things.
Trust me, dude, there is a bloody good reason why almost all cultures have included animal meat in their diet, despite all of the MANY problems it causes, and have even gone so far as domesticating animals entirely for food purposes, and that reason is that animals provide more calories per energy/time unit involved than anything but the staple crops. Even leaving aside the super-food properties that are coming to light with things like eggs and cheese, meat diets are less stressful on the environment than most of the more complex vegetable crops. And, I repeat, I don’t care what your logic is: I’ll fry before I give up my apples, which means I’ll sure as hell fight to the death to keep my less energy-intensive beef.
P.S. Please note that, for obvious reasons, I am leaving aside the energy cost of refrigeration (which is done to both plant and animal products), as well as a variety of other post-purchase energy costs. Please also note that I have TOTALLY ignored the energy costs of spices, as they would easily put everything else to shame.
Please also note that I have no problems with Sydney’s logic on vegetarianism, as it is completely honest in its reasoning and purpose. I do maintain that she has never met a wild pig, or she would have a very different tune, but that’s okay–I have known a few people who have met the ugly, monstrous creature that is a full-grown adult pig, and still maintained their desire to avoid hurting cute animals. They just generally amended the list to exclude pork. =P
“Why? Because you don’t have to bloody weed an animal crop, among other things.”
This is nonesense, because the feed which an “animal crop” eats did have to be weeded. And sown, and harvested. All that work you’re claiming animals don’t require, is required. In addition to the care animals require, such as antibiotics when they are sick (or just in case, as is the standard practice), veterinary attention for illness or injury or birthing, etc., etc.
But you know what doesn’t require any weeding? The deer you shot or the rabbit you trapped.
In Japan and elsewhere there’s a thing known as Seitan. It’s excellent in many Asian dishes, and being wheat protein is part of a healthy vegetarian diet.
As long as your not sensitive to Gluten.
Honestly I don’t feel comfortable with a criteria to choose who must or must not suffer based on how much pleasing to the eye they are. For starters it seems too much related with what some discriminations between humans are based on.
It appears we have found Achilles’ weakness!
Also, weighing in on the “Best Vegetarian Foods” discussion: Probably my favorite, for non-vegans, is the Caprese. Fresh tomato, fresh basil, fresh mozzarella, and a good balsamic? I eat meat and I’ll still take that over Achilles’ aioli dripped steak.
You can really raise that Insalata Caprese to a new height simply by tossing in some black or Kalamata olives and a little dribble of a really good Extra Virgin olive oil.
*drools* I want a recipe!!!
It’s just about the simplest thing in the world. Here’s what my wife of Italian descent does:
Slice Roma tomatoes, slice fresh mozz, pick fresh basil from the garden, wash, and pluck the leaves, discarding the stems.
On a plate, lay down a row of basil leaves, half overlap with a row of mozz, half overlap with a row of tomato. Repeat until the plate is covered. Very lightly salt, and drizzle with olive oil. Called the “Flag of Italy” for the green, white, red motif. Serve with a basket of bias cut slices of Italian bread (we usually use baguette instead).
Exactly. Or, like me, you can cheat and use boccachini (little mozzarella balls) grape tomatoes, small basil leaves or a chiffonade of larger leaves, toss together with a little olive oil, toss in a few olives. I know the olives aren’t traditional, but I like how they complement the rest.
I’m not sure what the most delicious vegetarian dish is, but gluten free Casein free spinach pizza is delicious.
I am not quite sure what that is, but even the vibe of it made me slightly nauseous. I really would not want to even smell it, let alone eat it!
I dunno, I’m not a vegetarian but I’ve had grilled mushroom steaks that affected me in the same way as beef steak. With the bonus of not having meat strings stuck in my teeth.
If you floss regularly that problem goes away.
please4, if we are just hoing non meat – and avoiding the food gestapo – i have 3 words for you all:
Three. Cheese. Pizza.
nuff said – enda argument….
well 3 more words – with tobasco sauce :)
Speaking as a meat-eater, I’d prefer a veggie pizza to a cheese one.
That depends ENTIRELY on the cheese involved. Once you start branching out beyond pizza cheese, the taste starts to really vary. A good 3-cheese is pretty awesome. Spinach pizza, however, should be taken out back and shot.
You mean quattro stagioni?
I know americans don’t like to use languages they don’t know, but lets call the puppy by it’s name
Umm, doesn’t ‘quattro’ mean ‘4’? So how is that the same thing? o_O
Actually that is four seasons – a pizza with all four quarters with different toppings.
Quattro formaggi would be four cheese.
DAMNIT, you’re right.
Well, nothing to see here people. All is fine
dammit – really need to spell check:
please, if we are just talking non meat – and avoiding the food gestapo – i have 3 words for you all:
Three. Cheese. Pizza.
nuff said – enda argument….
well 3 more words – with Tabasco sauce :)
Some of Sidney’s key qualifications for falling under the not-food category is being furry and cute. How would she feel about a nice naked mole rat stew, or a rack of roast warthog?
Rat tastes horrible, so that doesn’t count.
Wharftog can be when they are young?
I think what’s-his-name..Pumbaa?…would be sufficient to have her turning down the warthog.
So Sydney isn’t a vegetarian. She eats meat. Fish are animals and so have meat. Not a bit of leaves or fruits or nuts from them.
I had the same experience depicted here. You are looked upon as mentally unbalanced and they are there to “cure” you of the affliction. Even to the fish business. However I do eat meat, just not that much anymore. Mostly vegetables and some fruit as I can afford it.
But for the purpose of Social gathering and dinners she is. She would order off the vegetarian menu. She won’t eat most meats and the ones she will wouldn’t be a normal entree in most of the USA. Therefore when thinking about her dietary choices the best thing to call it is Vegetarian.
Oh really? So I suppose that the next time I eat out, I will have to avoid clam chowder? Or lobster? Or crab legs, or salmon, or tuna, or….
Those are normal entrees in Coastal Cities not so much the rest like I said MOST of the USA
I figure that she just does like I do and go by vegetarian simply for simplicity’s sake rather than go through the 20 minute challenge to explain what foods are taboo, as it makes for the layman a handy rule of thumb.
The “Comment on it here” link in March incentive banner still point to February incentive comments page (Valentines day).
I believe the terminology that Sydney doesn’t know is “piscatarian”. My niece is on that diet (or close, anyway; she’s still phasing out chicken from her meals). It’s particularly common for people who are into the non-suffering aspect of vegetarianism (as opposed to the ecological or nutritional varieties), because fish are typically not exposed to the sorts of trauma that are associated with factory farming. (Many piscaterians I’ve encountered have cheerfully stated that they would go back to meat-eating in a heartbeat if it weren’t for the cruel conditions created by modern approaches to meat-packing.)
It’s a valid ethical position, if not necessarily one I share, and so I prefer to encourage her to develop her own ethos rather than try to nit-pick at it or make fun of her. (Besides, her brother does enough of that for the whole family.)
Yay, Sydney eats fishies too! She is not completely isolated from yumminess.
Personally, I became a vegetarian because most meat taste (and smell) gross me out. Especially bacon. I went full out and excluded fish and bird as well because it’s just wimpy to exclude some meats from your diet “because you don’t like them”…
Also, cutting up animal limbs (as I do to get bones for larping equipment) and feeling the similarities between their joints and mine, the smell of rotting animal carcass resembling the one of fried meat… I really have no wish of turning carnivore again.
Not forcing my opinion on anyone, but I simply cannot get what people see in meat.
Wait, you feel it’s fine to mutliate an animal just for it’s bones for your games, but you won’t eat it the flesh? o_O
What do you do with the rest of it? Throw it out? No wonder it’s rotting! O_o
Well, if it’s the smell of rotting meat that turns you off, consider cooking it *before* it rots? I mean, by the time meat starts to stink, it’s too late to consider eating it anyway.
Despite all the teasing that we do, I totally respect peoples’ dietary choices. Be they ethical or as a matter of taste. If we did not have such divergence of taste, not only would life be less colourful, but we would increase the risk of loosing too high a proportion of the population in the event of serious contamination of a particular food type. Look at the (unrealised) potential along those lines from mad cow disease.
“it’s just wimpy to exclude some meats from your diet “because you don’t like them””
Seriously now, how is it “wimpy” to not eat the things you don’t like, and eat the things you do like? That’s what almost all people do.
Vegetarianism, for reasons of morality, and not for reasons of health is one of the most morally false acts of hubris i know of. Its a binary solution set. Man is either superior to the things we eat or the same as the things we eat. If we are superior, we owe nothing to what we eat save proper stewardship. If we are the same as what we eat, then we only have to look to how the things we eat treat each other to know that we are treating them no better or worse than they treat themselves.
I hate to be “that guy” but I have to say, I`ve lost a lot of respect for Sydney`s character since this little reveal. Mainly because after many years of research into animal rights and vegetarianism I’ve come to the conclusion that they are not pro animal rights or pro health but instead anti-human life.
Not eating something because it’s cute is actually a pritty big sign of empathy.
For the same reason that it’s pritty damn difficult to slice open a dead cat (believe me, I’ve tried. Not the most fun thing to do when you like cats), if you imagine the face of a cute animal while you’re thinking of eating it, that’s empathy.
And empathy is one of the things that sets us apart from other animals. Especially empathy for other creatures, which you basicly NEVER see anywhere else in the animal kingdom
Not eating something because it’s cute is like opposing abortion because fetuses are cute, or being against gays because gay sex is disgusting.
Not true. The first only involves yourself, the latter two involve actively seeking to influence others. It is very clear that this is a private choice for Sydney.
…Tell that to the people whose nostrils are singed from Sydney’s dietary choices…
That is an entirely different situation XD
Neither of which are a problem as long as you keep your opinions to yourself and don’t bother anyone with them
Mmm, I think that is stating the case too strongly. We do have the principles of freedom of speech, after all. Discussing one’s preferences should never be condemned. It is only when such transitions to attempting to convert someone else to one’s own preferred choices, when they are not receptive to such, that it oversteps the boundary.
See, for me, it’s not the converting, or even the discussing that’s a problem. I’ve been wrong before, and I will be again. I know I’ve been wrong before, because admitting it is rare enough that my friends mark it down on the calendar. Along with my admitting I do not know something, but that’s just because they’re jerkasses.
For me, it’s not the discussion, but the LACK of discussion that’s a problem. If somebody is willing to make a case, and talk about it, and poke holes in my logic, and get their logic poked in return, I’ll usually concede that they at least have a point. My agreement may be less than complete, but it does not need to be complete–that is what freedom is all about. But when they try to FORCE me to accept their position…that’s a problem. And it is one that seems to be growing, to be honest, which is causing me to become that much more willing to assume that somebody like gays are out to force me into their lifestyle than I have been in years past.
Good point.
I guess a better way of saying it would be ‘not a problem as long as you don’t harrass other people who don’t follow your beliefs, and don’t try to force your belief on other people’.
The Wil Wheaton rule: Don’t Be A Dick!
Beg your pardon but no, it is not. Empathy is about understand and share others’ emotions. “Cute” is a judgement about the look.
Of course you could be able to be empathic for cute beings (or human beings, or white human beings, or whatever) but that do not make both equivalent.
Actually be able to be empathic only for cute beings (and not for the ugly ones) is a big sign of discrimination.
Unlike many in discussion, Sydney didn’t mentioned anything about morality. She said “cute”. That means her problem is overactive imagination. Personally, I don’t imagine anything cute when looking at meat. Actually, when I TRY to imagine cute cow or pig, it ends up cartoon. And chicken doesn’t look cute to me even as a cartoon.
(Luckily, it is not hard to exclude cartoon animals from diet. I mean, their nutritional value is low and they don’t serve them in most restaurants anyway :-)).
Yeah, cartoon animals should be left out of a person’s diet, unless they also happen to be a cartoon themselves…Judge Doom in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, for example. Back when I was too young to remember it (one of my mom’s favorite “baby stories” about me), I ingested ink once…ONCE. Not only is it not nutritional, but it apparently doesn’t taste good either.
Poor Sydney. Getting Picked on because she doesn’t eat most meat. :'{ But still, loved the vote incentive! XD
Wait…cows are cute? I guess the baby ones are, but unless your eating veal it shouldn’t be a problem. Pigs are cute though, (well, at least some times)
I don’t know why some people seem to think meat comes from the bloody hundred acre forest, and they are eating piglet,
Not that there is anything wrong with vegetarianism, i just don’t understand when it’s because of their cuteness.
I mean, if i followed that line of thought i would have to stop eating my daily baby sandwich.
The baby ones have the juiciest meat
Most people here have probably seen stuff on the internet about how cute Pugs (the dog breed) are: Over the course of generations, these dogs were specifically bred for the “smashed nose” look that makes them “cute.” This is the same kind of hypocrite that can’t understand why Pugs have trouble even *breathing* & other lifelong health problems because of such strict breeding.
In history, noble bloodlines practiced inbreeding to the extent that their own offspring suffered, because THEY wanted “pure breeding.”
THAT’S what turns my stomach: People who put mere appearance ahead of any kind of practical function & have been the cause of such suffering, not only on the animals, but among other people too.
“…not everyone has moved their Grrl Power bookmark from the Monday folder to the probably underpopulated Monday Thursday folder yet.”
I… I… OMG how long has this been going on?! Gah! I just ran back and re-read all the last few months’ comics. Not like it’s exactly a chore, but… I’d missed so much!
Moving it into the 2-3/week tab soon as I get home.
Did I say Thank You? No. Thank You!
that’s one of the things i don’t do for my bookmarks… sorting by days… nope i bookmark the last page i read, then to make sure that i get all the new content, i just start with the bookmark as a refresher, then hit “next page” until nothing new shows up… then i grab that link and copy/paste to my now-old bookmark… poof! no more missed comics anymore… i don’t even bother to sort them anymore, just the ones that i check most frequently at the top, with ones that i check on a less-frequent basis further down the list.
You must read relatively few comics then. With my list that would get waaaay too tedious…
Fortunately for me, a lot of the comics read are part of the same ‘circle’ (<a href="https://www.ma3comic.com/"start here then use the navi-bar), so that cuts down on the bookmarks
Fortunately for me, a lot of the comics read are part of the same ‘circle’ (start here then use the navi-bar), so that cuts down on the bookmarks
Not necessarily I read roughly in the same way and this is my comic list: https://pastebin.com/T6SCEeVw
You must read relatively few comics if you can read all of them without RSS reader. (Also, most comics I read don’t have fixed schedule.)
meh… i, huh… *religiously* (snerk), read about 10 everyday without fail, after that about 30-ish that i do once/twice a week or so, with probably about 175 in total bookmarked, so, for me at least the 40-ish ain’t that bad.
Is Sydney being a piscatarian another Alan Davies shout-out?
Anyway, know a lot of piscatarians, and I think a few just find it easier to say “mostly vegetarian, with occasional fish”.
Ok, finally I win the Easter-egg! And I gave everybody a nice long chance to claim it.
The final panel should be either be “+2 smugness” or “-1 morality”.
Because Sydney’s smugness definitely goes up there. Even though her moral superiority slumps down.
NONSENSE! She only has so many skill points available from her level up. To put two points of skill in smugness would mean less ranks in cursing, intimidate, and ninja-senses.
Why is the Salmon named Oscar?
well, i guess if it was called Nemo, then Sydney wouldn’t be able to eat it?
Ever since I found out the truth about clownfish, I just cannot watch Finding Nemo without thinking about what will happen after the movie finishes.
You mean the gender thing?
Yea, that was a very interesting thing to find out
when they call something”yadda yadda Oscar”, it usually means a big chunk/fillet smothered in Bearnaise sauce with expensive seasonal vegetables….
Unless their talking about the grouch…
Due to my background, I was raised ideally to be a lacto-ovo but if I was to eat any animal life, it can only be animals with cloven hooves & chews cud, fish with fins & scales and only birds like chickens, turkeys, quails, pheasants & ducks.
Some people become vegetarians cause they lost the taste for meat, like my parents they spent a few years in India where of you eat the wrong piece of meat you can actually die from sickness, so they avoided meat that whole time, and when they got back home to the states they found out they no longer liked the taste of meat
Yup.
For much the same reason I don’t like chocolate.
Alergic for it as a kid, so never ate it
Dear God, the inhumanity! You poor fellow! *hugs RobK* Just (*sniffs, to hold back a tear*) let me know if there is every anything I can do to help. And, hold firm. A cure might yet be developed!
To be fair, I was kinda baiting you out there :P
I always get the same reaction, it’s funny.
These days I no longer hate the taste, and if someone is giving out icecream that has a little bit of chocolate in it, I’ll still eat it and enjoy the rest of the icecream (cornettos are a good example).
But I still don’t like it, and I’ll pass on everything primarely cacao.
I am proud of your fortitude. Keep putting a brave face on it!
Those guys making fun of Sydney for being vegetarian should probably know better. I doubt any of them could handle Sydney’s standard lunch, not even “aggravatingly invincible” Achilles. Actually, Sydney should make them try, just to show em’.
I don’t have a problem with vegans or vegetarians unless they are the preachy kind. If you don’t want to eat meat, fine. But I do, and I would appreciate you not forcing your views down my throat.(not directing these comments at anyone in particular, just in general). of course, proud carnivore people, like how Achilles and co. are just as bad. Also, don’t try and make your pets vegetarian/vegan with you. Humans can pull it off with a little effort, but dogs and especially cats cannot, they are carnivores by nature and will not be healthy.
Doesn’t really look/sound like they are making fun of Sydney, just having some fun with the new recruit
Is Sydney really a piscapalian? Or maybe she just doesn’t like red/white meat
Sydney likes red/white meat. Salmon and cod!
All kidding aside, she’s never said she doesn’t enjoy the flavor, just that she doesn’t want to eat things she finds to be cute, and she apparently finds all land animals cute but doesn’t find fish to be cute.
I am pretty much the reverse of Sydney on her dietary habit. I love meat but cannot stand fish. But I would not deride her for her dietary choice.
Same here (mostly), most fish tastes ucky to me, except whatever they use to make local fish & chips (they used to use shark, think it’s now blue cod)
Wait, is Mr Amorpho sneering at the idea of spaghetti? o_O
I don’t think he’s sneering. Looks more like the face of a guy who’s thinking
Thought it was Heatwave who was the slow-processor :P
As in thinking about a good veggie dish
I only eat white meat like fish, turkey, chicken and crocodile.
No pig, cow, duck, sheep etc
Allergies suck
Aannnnd, I’m in the middle of a Lent in which I gave up meat and soda.
…Bad timing with this comic, huh?
Maybe stop reading this until Lent is finished? You can always pick up where you left off. Of course, that doesn’t mean you can’t load up the comic long enough to cast your vote for it…
:D
Dang it! You really should use a sign-off warning:
“Do not follow link to my gallery, if you used to play City of Heroes”.
Your art is just too good and two of the pictures, in particular, have very strong associations with much-missed favourite characters.
*wipes tear from eye with paw*
I commission good artists.
Also, surprised you found my CoH commissions….which pieces were you talking about?
Never got the love for big pieces of meat. Meat is a neat component, and yeah some things where the taste mostly comes from the way it is made like bacon can taste very good alone. But in general a piece of meat alone (with normal seasoning) isn’t very interesting, it doesn’t taste bad or anything it’s just nothing special for me.
Oh I might love it with the right sauces or coating, my grandmother made a great mushroom sauce and well made Viennese Schnitzel can be quite tasty, but there the meat mostly acts as a carrier.
I feel sad for you. Not because of your stated indifference to meat, but simply because it sounds to me like you were not properly exposed to good meat cooking, at a time of life when it would have allowed you to appreciate it properly. That is a problem I recognise in myself, going the other way, for information. My mum could cook lots of things well, but her technique for certain vegetables was not the best. So I never liked those particular ones.
And, even when I have the opportunity to eat well-prepared ones now, the fact that I do not fancy them, means I am missing out. I occasionally nibble on one of the green things I dislike and go “yea, that isn’t bad”, and could see how if I had greater exposure to it, I would appreciate the subtleties and tastes more. But, then I look at that yummy hunk of meat on the plate and the icky stuff gets pushed to it’s proper place. Away from the real food!
Yay, Sydney is a vegetarian just like me and she even eats exactly the same stuff as I do :D