I was a lacto-ovo vegetarian for about a year. Meat was incredibly gross to me and I wanted nothing to do with it. Even after that year, three bites of filet mignon would satiate my yearly meat cravings for the next decade.
Finding delicious vegetarian fare wasn’t a challenge. A problem arose when the chef replaced the meat with a meat substitute product and pawned it off as vegetarian option.
Case in point. At a nameless restaurant on the River Walk (San Antonio), the menu included Vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie. Yum. I made a vegetarian shepherd’s pie of my own that included lentils and an assortment of veggies, so I was excited to see their “twist on a classic English dish.”
When the waitress brought out my meal, I prepared myself for a savory delight.
If the banquet is in the first bite, I was going home hungry.
My vegetarian shepherd’s pie was nothing more than carrots, a chopped up Gardenburger, and a ridiculous amount of onions. Ew. Ew, ew, ew, ew, ew.
Note the chef: The absence of meat isn’t what makes a good vegetarian meal.
Likewise, the absence of grains, dairy, legumes, and sugars is not what defines a good Paleo dish.
Case in point. This week I made grits, except with celery root. It was a dismal reminder that substituting does. not. work.
Paleo recipe sites are akin to navigating minefields. There are good ones out there, to be sure. However, others have been eating Paleo so long, they may have forgotten what the SAD version tastes like. And still others just seem so excited that their Paleo meal was edible, they post the recipe with a testimonial of how their entire family gobbled it up and asked for eighths.
Abashedly, I occasionally fall for their gushing testimonials. Ooh, paleo banana bread, paleo pecan pie, paleo Hawaiian haystacks. If I were using my brain, I would realize there is ZERO chance of making a Paleo meal that semi-tastes like Hawaiian Haystacks.
Just because it looks like creamy mashed potatoes, doesn’t mean it tastes like creamy mashed potatoes. It’s still mashed cauliflower with coconut milk and pepper. If you are making the dish with full understanding that it tastes like cauliflower, you’re good to go. But if you are making it in hopes that it will be reminiscent of Thanksgiving Day mashed potatoes on Grandma’s dining room table, you are in for a disappointment, indeed.
Paleo meals are their own beast. They are uncharted territory and share no similarities to my former diet, other than the food still goes in my mouth. Fudge babies are not brownies; they are dates, cocoa powder, walnuts, and vanilla extract. Delicious. But not the same.
Tags: Paleo, Paleo Recipes, PCOS, PCOS Diet, PCOS Nutrition, PCOS Treatment, PCOS Weight Loss, Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, Women's Health
What’s most interesting to me about “paleo substitutions” (besides all the cultural/acculturation issues) is how clearly it illustrates that pretty much all neolithic starches have NO FLAVOR. If I have to add a boatload of butter to something before I can enjoy it, why not just cut out the useless middleman and eat butter? That last paragraph also brings to mind my sister, who loves chocolate *and* carob, but always points out to skeptics that carob is only a failure if you expect it to be a replacement for chocolate, instead of something that stands on its own merits.
PS: Thank you very much for your writings here. I have one friend and another family member with PCOS and your experiences are helping them give paleo more serious consideration (after a brief period of evangelizing, I now either remain silent or stick to quick interjections).
Carob is only a failure if you expect it to be a replacement for chocolate, instead of something that stands on its own merits. I love that comment! You should be writing this blog. And amen to the no flavor aspect. Going Paleo has made me realize how desensitized my taste buds have been my entire life.
Good luck with your friend and family member. PCOS = not fun. Hopefully they find success soon. And hopefully your tongue doesn’t start bleeding from biting it too much
I’m so glad you touched on this topic — this is something that has bothered me about a lot of paleo food websites. Paleo versions of SAD food just serve as a reminder of what we’re “missing out on” by eating Paleo, since they will never taste like the original versions of those foods. It’s a bit more difficult to create a new type of cuisine that doesn’t focus on or try to replace grains/legumes/dairy, but recipes that accomplish this are the ones I often rely on, since they don’t leave me with the feeling that I’m depriving myself of something by eating Paleo. Instead, it makes me feel like I’m expanding my food repertoire, which makes me a happy camper.
I love looking at it that way–expanding your food repertoire. Great insight, Reshma. As always, thanks for adding to the conversation.
Hey, can I get that recipe for the chocolate ball things again – I mean the proportions. I had every intention to make it months ago (since I now love the taste of cocoa), but forgot to write it down, thinking I would remember it in my (now pregnant) brain.
Also, I totally agree with what you said about substituting. Just make sure you know that it will not taste the same. At the beginning of my no dairy/no soy diet my friend recommended a ‘cheese’ that I could have. I guess I was expecting it to be a little close to the flavor of real cheese, especially since she said that it was the bext non-dairy cheese out there (her son has many allergies). I made a whole pizza with the stuff and could not stomach it. It tasted like a weird form of melted butter, sort of. Anyways, I realized that I would just have to change instead of substitute.
I was wondering if you could send me some good sites to study up on paleo. I am not ready for it yet, but it does sound like something that would have many benefits.
YES! Whole9 and Robb Wolf are both really good starting points. And ask me anything you want. Paleo is so fab.
It’s so true–you have to change instead of substitute. I think everyone who commented should have written the post instead of me. I can’t even imagine a whole pizza with fake-o cheese. Though it was probably better than my celery root grits…(shudder)