I’m just amazingly impressed with Morningstar Farms’ stuff. They make some really tasty spicy black bean burgers, astonishingly meat-like veggie corndogs, and last night I made a very nice batch of dirty rice tortillas using their “Crumbles” ground-beef substitute. It’s not exactly like ground beef, for one thing it’s a lot less greasy, but it tastes superb…
A friend of mine is a very devout Catholic, and every year he gives up meat for Lent. Of course, he’s also very Irish, so he allows an exception for corned beef hash on St. Patrick’s Day. I’m tempted to send him an e-mail about Morningstar Farms stuff, but I’m not sure that’d be a good idea.
“Hey man! You know that whole religious dietary thing you do? Where you deliberately stop eating something that you really enjoy? Here’s a great way to finagle your way around it…”
I don’t have a very good track record with the whole concept of food (or the lack thereof) as a form of religious expression. Once, back in College, I offered to buy a pizza for the gaming group I was with, not realizing that the reason some of them weren’t eating dinner had nothing to do with a shortage of weekend funds… Turned out that it was because it was Yom Kippur.
Oops. I suppose it could have been worse. Hypothetical situations involving beef and Hindus or pork and Muslims spring to mind.
I think it has something to do with having been raised in a Scandinavian Lutheran tradition… There’s an unspoken equation where food equals hospitality. There would always be various cookies, crackers, cakes and coffee in the basement after services. And after having experienced church picnics with multiple variations on Red or Yellow Hot Dish (tomato with pasta, tomato with pasta & chicken, cheese with pasta, cheese with pasta & chicken, tomato with pasta & cheese & chicken, etc.) the idea of not eating as a religious function seems just plain… odd.
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