Teetotal Vegetarianism - Day 21 May 25th 2009

''If slaughterhouses had glass walls the whole world would be vegetarian'' – Linda McCartney

Since Linda McCartney was one of the pioneers of a vegetarian lifestyle and her food has featured in this endeavour I thought it only fair we should explore the woman behind the eats.

‘’A pioneer in both the vegetarian and animal rights movements, the late Linda McCartney shared her knowledge and love of meatless cooking through a series of best-selling cookbooks including, Linda McCartney’s New Home Cooking and Linda’s Kitchen: Simple and Inspiring Recipes for Meatless Meals. In 1991, Linda launched her own line of meatless frozen meals in the United Kingdom. With her husband, Paul McCartney, Linda promoted the health and environmental benefits to be gained through a vegetarian lifestyle, and through her company, she was always looking for creative ways to bring new and delicious tastes into the realm of wholesome eating’’

The information was from the website www.linda-mccartney.com as was the following which describes the mission plan of the company.

We have been making good tasting, high quality vegetarian food since 1991 when Linda started our food company. Our intention was — and still is — to provide our friends and customers with an easy, healthy alternative to a meat-based diet.

Since then, we have produced popular vegetarian meals for an ever-more environmentally aware world. As animal lovers, we are proud that our products are cruelty free and that not one animal suffers in the production of our delicious meals.

We sincerely hope you will enjoy our line of food and that you will join us in helping to make our world a better place for us and our children to live in - Paul McCartney’’

Linda McCartney died aged 56 as a result of cancer in 1998. Paul McCartney suggested people turn vegetarian as a tribute to her. An act almost as noble as a Gentlemans Wager...

Vegetarian Dish of the Day;

Linda McCartney Vegetarian Country Pies

Box Blurb: Soya Mince in a rich onion gravy within a light flaky pastry pie

The first thing I noticed about these was the very thick pastry. Even when meat is locked inside I like my pies to have a thin crust. The box has promised a ‘light flaky pastry’ but I found it very stodgy. The mince was also very gritty and was more like real mince than the Quorn stuff I have been so enjoying. Perhaps I had a bad batch but these were not what I expected. Not terrible but they really lacked the finesse I was hoping for from a McCartney dish and was another poor showing following the Quarter Pounders; all whilst Quorn is sneaking up the rankings. After the beauty that was the Duke ShawZy pie these seemed pretty light weight. Nothing to stop me going through the slaughterhouse glass after Alice.