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There's a big difference between reducing meat consumption from American levels to sensible ones and becoming vegetarian, and another leap from there to veganism. While I am partial to arguments for the former and will note that westerners' objections to a plant-based diet seem to stem partially from their inexplicable inability to prepare vegetables in any way that isn't disgusting and unpalatable, I doubt there is anything that would get me to give up meat, eggs, and dairy completely. If your focus is on the environment, then arguing for a diet that's more restrictive than necessary seems counterproductive and only likely to encourage obstinate resistance.
On the other hand the ethical objections only really seem to convince sheltered first worlders who have never interacted with farm animals outside of a petting zoo; most people around the world encounter them often, know how intelligent they are, and slaughter them for food by the millions nonetheless. I will happily explain to people how pigs are smarter than dogs over a bowl of pork or how as a kid I had a pet chicken that would wait for me by the door every morning over a plate of wings. I may like and respect those animals, but at the end of the day they aren't human, simple as that.
Finally, the negative health effects of modern diets are numerous, and some of them may stem from overconsumption of certain meat products, but it doesn't seem like the dominant factor by any means when stacked up against overloading on refined sugars or just overeating in general. Even if that were the case, the solution would simply be to return to a more traditional diet where we eat meat less often, but when we do we eat as much of the animal as possible, instead of fixating on a few lean cuts of meat while turning the rest into pet food.
Any advice on that? Every time I decide to "eat more vegetables" I end up flummoxed on how to do that exactly, other than steaming them and having them as a side. Or making a salad. Or dumping a can of green beans into a bowl and calling it good.
What vegetables are you having, exactly?
I agree with the other comment about the best and easiest way to make generic leafy greens tasting good being stir-frying them, with some shallots/scallions/ginger/garlic (not necessarily all of them at once) and salt, maybe some oyster sauce. The Cantonese would blanch it very briefly before stir-frying to preserve colour and improve texture, but it’s not necessary if you don’t want to wash another pot. Conversely, just blanching them works for a lot of Chinese vegetables as well, if the vegetables themselves are fresh enough. Try to pick smaller specimens of e.g. choi sum or bok choi; the leafy greens I find in the west tend to be very overgrown, and as a result taste worse (less taste overall, and more bitter than average), less crunchy, and much more stringy and fibrous than in indigenous Chinese cooking.
But it would help to know which vegetables you’re actually using. None of the above is very useful if you’re trying to eat pumpkin.
Right now I mostly eat tomatoes in the form of homemade tomato sauce, onions in the form of cooking them up in sauces or burrito fillings, and that's about it. I mean, I'll eat other vegetables at restaurants and functions, but cooking at home that's pretty much it. Maybe once every couple of weeks I'll make fried rice, I throw some canned peas and carrots in that. If we're getting fancy I might put some canned green beans in a bowl as a side.
Are there any vegetables you‘ve had in the past that you liked and would like to replicate?
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I find leafy greens taste best either cooked the Chinese way (sauteed briefly with things like garlic and osyter sauce) or tossed into a soup right before it's done. The key is to add some salty and savory flavors and to not overcook them. If you would rather they be soft, you could go for the Indian/Middle Eastern route instead, which is to chop them finely and stew them with a lot of herbs and spices.
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