[bonnnie]

So, my boyfriend could eat only dairy and meat and be completely happy. He is very picky. I am his opposite. I love whole vegan foods and dishes with beans, whole grains, seaweed, etc.

In Germany (at least in the city where I live), we don't have all of those fancy veggie forms of meat, like in America. I don't know why. We have tofu and seitan.

So, last night I made him chicken fried seitan, which was vegetarian- as I used an egg (they also don't have egg substitute here). I sliced the seitan into thinner strips, dipped them in an egg, then lightly coated them with bread crumbles. I fried them for a few minutes in a non-stick frying pan with a minuscule amount of olive oil.

I then stuffed them into a whole grain pita with salad and such. He LOVED it. And this is the man who HATES tofu.

I feel like I just passed a really hard test. It is so hard to satisfy someone with Vegan/Vegetarian food when they have a love obsession with all meat and cheese things.

Oh, he hates the gas that he claims he gets from veggies, beans, etc. Apparently the meat and cheese and yoghurt don't give him gas..... Oh boys! How did I find my opposite!

[nelie]

If you want omni friendly recipes with a mixture of meat substitutes, I'd look at the Vegan dad site. I've heard Vital wheat gluten is difficult to get in Europe? You can also look for a recipe for doing seitan from scratch using wheat.
http://vegandad.blogspot.com/

I generally don't do meat subs at home myself.

[Wildflower]

What about making vegetable based curries or soups/stews? I find a lot of people expect these to be vegetarian, so they don't really miss the meat.

Same with itallian pasta dishes, although I am not sure how common those are in Germany.

[bonnnie]

Wildflower- He always looks for meat in the soups! Germany is famous for being a meat-eating, sausage country. Which is actually ironic - they are known for being super environmentally friendly... their cars are enviro friendly, they separate all their trash - recycle everything, they have windmills everywhere, but still eat meat like its going out of style and meat is known as being one of the main contributors to global warming. So, the country is starting to become a bit divided... they have tons of documentaries on normal television about the terrible effects of factory farming, but without factory farming, they could not eat nearly so much meat. So, people are starting to take notice and many of them spend more money and buy the best organic meat products they can. But, it is still a problem.

But you are right on with the pasta dishes. I can effectively make any pasta dish (with cheese) and he will eat it and be a super happy man. Italy is literally right next to Germany (they share a border), so they LOVE pasta and pizza, etc. here.

I think, when you love someone, you want to feed them heart-healthy foods. My father had a heart attack at a young age and I'm pretty sure a lot of that was brought on by his diet. So, I feel this need to continually try to feed my boyfriend more veggies and less meat and cheese. Eventually, I will have the perfect recipes and convert him! It just take time..... lots of time.... and his body has to get used to the new fiber and tastes.