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Definition of vegetarians
Every country has different definition
of vegetarians. The vegetarian is defined as the product without
animal material in our country. That is, ranging from the
animal meat liquid, to the soup, extractive and condensate
of grease and animal material, do not belong to vegetarian
food. The five pungent plants such as shallot and leek are
not included too, because of the irritant; some vegetarians
also eat some milk and egg for health factor, on consideration
of the sects.
Vegetarian supermarket is still in the sprouting stage at
home, but it has rather large developing space. As the domestic
food and drink industry tends towards diversity and internationalization,
the vegetarian restaurant is not a bad access to develop Chinese
traditional food and drink. Since the health recognition is
rising and the vegetarian population at home and abroad is
flourishing, many overseas Chinese or Taiwanese compatriots
have gone to the occident to invest in the processing of vegetarian
food in succession. Moreover, since the traders think highly
of the developing potential of vegetarian industry in Taiwan,
the domestic merchants introduced the vegetarian prepared
food with vacuum and aluminum foil package, which can be treated
with microwave and is convenient for taking with abroad trip.
In recent years, the vegetarian products has kept getting
rid of the stale and bringing forth the fresh, it even tends
towards more diversity and delicacy. All the processing traders
cudgel their brains for researching and developing diversified
imitation meat or fish food without exception. Now the products
imitating the ham, chicken, sausage, hot dog and steak on
the market are remarkably true to life, they seem no difference
with meat or fish.
Vegetarian products have entered the chain supermarket gradually,
due to the popularity, it can be estimated that the vegetarians
will be the trend of food and drink consume in the future
and that the vegetarian market will replace part of meat or
fish in the market. Due to the reports in the newspapers and
magazines, in addition to the functions of anticancer and
preventing chronic disease, the lifeblood food and drink was
popularized bit by bit. The combination of vegetarians and
lifeblood food are also the future trend of vegetarians.
Classification of vegetarians
The motives of
vegetarians are different by people. Some eat vegetarians
for religious belief, some for health factor, some for economic
factor, others even for protecting ecological environment,
that is, never killing wild animals and protecting the hillside.
In general, the vegetarians are divided into the following
six kinds:
| 1 |
Vegans: |
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Only eat pure
vegetal food, i.e. devout Buddhist, monk, nun, etc.
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| 2 |
Semi-Vegetarians: |
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Refer to those
who eat any food except the red meat in the U.S.A.
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| 3 |
Partial Vegetarians: |
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Ere prevailing
vegetarians among Taiwan folk. They only eat vegetarians
at breakfast, but can eat meat or fish at lunch and supper.
Some only eat vegetarians at breakfast on the first day
and fifteenth day of a lunar year.
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| 4 |
Egg and milk
vegetarians: |
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Eat eggs besides
the dairy products and vegetal foods. The vegetarians
are implemented to the followers of Christianity Sabbath
church. For example, the Taian hospital in Taipei also
provides the egg and milk vegetarians.
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| 5 |
Egg vegetarians:
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Only eat eggs
besides vegetal food.
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| 6 |
Milk vegetarians: |
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Only eat dairy
products besides vegetal food.
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The vegetarianism discussed internationally
is divided into six kinds in general:
| 1 |
Vegans: |
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Refers to strict
vegetarians, which never eat any food containing the animal
component
and even the honey.
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| 2 |
Egg vegetarians: |
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Eat egg product
and vegetal food.
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| 3 |
Milk vegetarians: |
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Eat milk product
and vegetal food.
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| 4 |
Milk
and egg vegetarians: |
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Eat milk, egg
product and vegetal food.
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| 5 |
Buddhism vegetarians:
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May be vegans, egg vegetarians,
milk vegetarians or egg and milk vegetarians, and avoid
eating the "pungent" such as onion, garlic,
leek, at the same time.
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| 6 |
Occasional
vegetarians: |
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Eat meat generally,
but occasionally eat vegetal foods or egg and milk vegetarians.
The motive of such vegetarians is usually for changing
to insipid taste, for health, weight reduction or beautification,
etc.
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Advantage and disadvantage of vegetarians
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Advantage
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| 1. |
The vegetarians have less coronary artery disease, because
the cholesterol (only contained in animal food) and blood
pressure in the blood of vegetarians are lower than those
who eat meat.
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| 2. |
Since the vegetarians eat more vegetable and fruit,
which have relative less quantity of heat due to more
fiber and large volume, it is good choice for those who
want to reduce their weights.
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| 3. |
The vegetarians are less possible to have constipation,
consequently fewer have constipation and diverticulosis
diseases than those who eat meat or fish.
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| 4. |
The vegetarians have longer life compared with those
who are not vegetarians. Niuweishengbao (1975) pointed
out that the death rate of vegetarians is lower than that
of those who are not. It may be concerned with the eating
and living habit.
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| 5. |
The animals can become meat, egg and milk only if they
are fed with forage; so it is not economic to provide
them to people for eating. Because every piece of earth
planted with soybean can produce over ten times protein
more than that for feed the beef, even that planted with
corn can produce five times of protein.
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| 6. |
The grease is a cancerigenic factor, while the fiber
vegetarian is an anticancer factor. Since the vegetarians
eat less grease and more fiber, they are less possible
to have cancer. The research report point out that the
vegetal food was beneficial to anticancer.
For example, most patients with carcinoma of large intestine
did not like eat vegetable, especially Chinese cabbage,
wild cabbage and cabbage. The cancer of stomach is highly
concerned with eating fewer vegetables. It was pointed
out that eating fewer vegetables was the factor causing
cancer of stomach; those who do not eat fresh vegetable
or greenery vegetable with vitamin C are easy to have
cancer of stomach.
The vegetables contain the carotene, which can resist
the skin cancer, because the carotene is easy to become
vitamin A inside the body. The function of vitamin A includes
affecting cell division and helping to maintain immunity
system. The healthy immunity system can conquer the cancer
cell; it can even get rid of the cancer cell after there
is tumor.
The none nutrient but anticancer component in the vegetables
and fruits, i.e. the Indoles and dithiolthiones of the
crucifer and the phytoestrogen in many soybean of the
beans, has the same function as the tamoxifen, which is
a medicine in chemotherapy, as for clearing up the estrogen
that fosters the cancer cell. Tamoxifen has successfully
prevented the cancer cell of some mastocarcinoma from
proliferation. Besides the soybean, the soybean milk,
bean powder, miso and bean curd all contain the phytoestrogen,
which is the good news to the vegetarians.
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Since
the vegetarians do not eat any animal food, they seem
insufficient of full protein, quantity of heat, vitamins
and minerals.
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| Protein |
In order to make full use of the protein, the vegetarians
should offset the weaknesses by the strong points, to
increase the protein in the vegetarians by supplementary
function. For example, the common cereals (rice, wheat,
corn) lack of lysine and tryptophan, and the beans lack
of menonine and cystine; therefore, if the vegetarians
eat the cereals and the beans together, they can supplement
the indispensable amino acid to enhance their nutritive
value. For example, the best beans include the soybean,
young soya bean, green soya bean, horse bean, haricot
bean, pea, ormosia, mung bean, etc. The cereals include
the rice, wheat, oat, corn, millet, etc. The seeds include
the gingeli, pumpkin seed, and sunflower seed. The drupes
include the peanut, cashew, walnut, pistachio, etc.
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| Quantity of
heat |
The children have small stomach, but the vegetarians
have large volume and low heat energy, which are not sufficient
to help the children grow taller and increase weight.
The pregnant women need large quantity of heat, so they
are not suitable to eat vegetarians.
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| Mineral |
The vegans are easy to lack of calcium, ferrum and zinc.
25-35% of the hemosiderin taken in from the beef can be
digested and absorbed in the human body, but only 2-10%
of the mineral ferrum taken in from the vegetables can
be adsorbed. However, it was found out in the researches
that taking in much vitamin C is helpful for the vegetarians
to absorb ferrum. The fiber vegetarians can inhibit the
adsorption of zinc, so the vegetarians should pay attention
to take in appropriate amount of fiber vegetarians and
eat drupe, bean curd, wheat embryo, and other foods containing
zinc. The vegetables contain phytic acid and oxalic acid,
which can reduce the adsorption and utility of calcium
in the body, it can be improved by supplementing the milk.
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| Vitamin |
The vegans are easy to lack of vitaminB12, D (only contained
in animal food), B2. But only if they eat some egg and
dairy products, they need not worry about the lack.
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Main material of vegetarians
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1.Flavoring
and spice |
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In general, the animal and fish meats contain large
amount of 5'-IMP, so they have strong delicacy. However,
the vegetable generally contains little nucleotide, only
1/20-1/100 of that in the animal, and the majority are
5'-CMP, 5'-AMP and 5'-UMP, which are less delicious. Therefore,
another flavoring or mushrooms are required for deliciousness,
so as to enhance the flavor of food. The simulation fish
meat products need the reaction flavor to adjust the flavor,
so that the food has the taste of meat. In general, there
are two kinds of matter that can add deliciousness to
the food:
(1) Amino acid, i.e. sodium glutamates; that is, monosodium
glutamate.
(2)The nucleotide series of delicious flavoring.
However, people generally have vigilance about using
the monosodium glutamate, they are afraid of its harm
to health, therefore, only the nucleotide that is obtained
from the natural food can be used to add deliciousness.
There are many kinds of nucleotide, but only three of
them have deliciousness, they are Inosine-5-phosphate(5'-IMP),
Guanosine-5-phosphate(5-GMP), and Xanthosine-5-phosphate(5'-XMP).
(1) mushrooms:
Among the vegetables, there are only the mushrooms (i.e.
mushroom) contain considerable 5'-GMP, so they become
the important delicious flavoring for cooking vegetarians.
There are many kinds of mushrooms, the amount of 5'-GMP,
the delicious matter in the mushrooms, varies with the
kinds. The mushroom has the highest content of 5'-GMP,
pine mushroom takes the second place, both two have strong
deliciousness; lily mushroom contains less, and the meadow
mushroom only contains little.
(2) high delicious monosodium glutamate:
high delicious monosodium glutamate can be divided into
two kinds. One is completely composed of nucleotide and
expensive, the nucleotide contains Inosine-5-phosphate(5'-IMP)
and Guanosine -5-phosphate(5'-GMP), the former has the
deliciousness of stripey, while the latter has that of
the mushroom. The other is composed of a little of nucleotide
and some amino acid i.e. glutamate alanine or glycin,
etc, it is relative cheap. Now the latter is common in
the market.
The deliciousness of high delicious monosodium glutamate
is six to ten times more than that of the monosodium glutamate;
very little dosage can obtain the same deliciousness as
the monosodium glutamate. Therefore, it is not only suitable
for processing the vegetarian food to add flavor, but
also for cooking at home.
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2.Konjac： |
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Konjac, whose scientific name is Amorphaphaphallus Konjac
C. Koch, and whose English name is elephant Foot, Konjac,
is a perennial herb of genus snake-taro of araceae, characteristically
having perennial tuber. It is originally produced in India
and Ceylon. It is planted in the southwest area in our
country from of old; in recent years, it is mass produced
especially in Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou areas; Konjac was
introduced to Japan with Buddhism and started to be planted,
the present variety includes Zailai species, China species,
Beizhong species, etc. Its producing areas are distributed
in Qunma county, Jinggang county, Shanxing county, etc.
There is wild variety in the mountain area of our province,
it is one of the ancient plant left by the ancestors.
Recently it is planted artificially, now the artificial
planting areas include Taidong area and Puli, Yuchi, etc
of Nantou county. In recent years, Taidong agricultural
improving farm introduced some varieties from Japan and
southeast, etc, to carry out planting experiment and processing
research, it is the pioneer of R&D of Konjac in our
country.
The Konjac processing products follow the tabular Konjac
from Japan; there are few styles. In recent years, the
domestic vegetarian merchants have made many new products
by Konjac material. When the Konjac is made into final
product, its water content is as high as 97.3%, the protein
is 0.1%, the carbohydrate is 2.3% (the sugariness is 2.2%,
the fiber vegetarians is 0.1%), and the others are mineral
and coarse fiber. The size of Konjac powder is 100-500micron,
it contains the glucomannan, the ratio of carubinose to
glucose is 3: 2, the bond is β-1.4, the molecular weight
is above 300,000 D, the ethanilide is scattered. When
the Konjac is heated in weak alkaline environment, the
heat stable gel will be obtained, it is mainly because
the weak alkaline can break the ethanilide, reduce the
activity of water and form the hydrogen bond in tridimensionality.
Konjac is not only heat stable, but also rather stable
after repetitive heating. Konjac has better gelatinous
effect to algin than to acacia. When the Konjac is recombined
with water and dried again, it can form rather strong
membrane, which is rather stable in cold water, hot water
or alkali, it will not dissolve even after it has been
boiled in the hot water for several hours. Konjac has
water-retaining, chickening and gelatinous effect, so
it can be extensively applied in jelly, ice cream, cake
and pastry, etc.
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3. Vegetable
protein |
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Generally speaking, the nuts, beans and cereals are
the most abundant source of vegetable protein, and they
are easy to supplement each other. Therefore, among the
vegetarian meals, the staple foods (rice) cooperate with
the cereals (corn, wheat and other product) and beans
can provide enough protein to satisfy the requirement
of human body, they can completely replace the meats.
Moreover, these vegetable proteins made from wheat and
soybean can also have the same character and flavor as
the meats by proper processing and cooking.
If some sugar and sauce are added to the vegetable protein,
such asskin of soya-bean milk, bean curd, gluten, etc,
it can cause the Maillard reaction to obtain special flavor.
Besides, the vegetable protein can also be used to make
the simulation meat or fish products including the style
and flavor of the ham, beef, fish, etc.
Now the vegetable proteins as material for vegetarians
are as follows:
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＊.Fiber
soybean protein
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The fiber soybean protein, whose local name is
artificial meat or artificial vegetarian meat (the
latter is the local name of religious vegetarians,
the formal name is T.V.P. for short), contains about
52% of protein content and over 18 kinds of amino
acid, it can be called complete protein.
Now there are two kinds of commercial T.V.P. ,
including the spun vegetable protein and thermoplastic
extruded vegetable protein . Spun vegetable protein
is made by the following steps; Dissolve the soy
isolates into aqueous alkaline, and form the fiber
in the aqueous acid by a kind of thing like the
spinnerette used in spinning and weaving, then form
the bunches; the bunches can be made into products
by some edible binding agent with some color and
flavor. Such spun fiber vegetable protein can be
cut into various shapes, and made into the products
like the beef, bacon, ham, fish and chicken and
other animal products. The price of such products
is more expensive than the real meat.
As to the thermoplastic extruded vegetable protein,
it is made of the undenatured bean powder and the
components with the other colors and flavors, it
is extruded into different sizes of granules at
high temperature for short time, and these granules
can replace part of the thin meat. This kind of
artificial meat has simple method of preparation
and low cost, so the second kind of T.V.P. are popular
in the Occident and Japan. (Cole, 1972)
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＊.Concentrated
soybean protein and isolated soybean protein
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The isolated soybean protein
(I.S.P. for short) is the matter that has got rid
of all the carbohydrates in the TVP, whose protein
content is as high as 92%, but that of the concentrated
soybean protein is 70%.
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＊.Flour
bowel, gluten, baked gluten
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Add water to the wheat flour,
temper them into the dough, and add more water to
wash it out, then the amylum will scatter with the
water, the residual matter like the rubber is the
gluten. Extend the raw gluten, wind it around the
chopsticks, and boil it, it will become the flour
bowel. Ferment the raw gluten, extrude it into small
balls, and steam it, and then it will become the
baked gluten. These three kinds of wheat protein
products have pliant flexibility, like the meat
for chewing.
The vegetarians are often cooked into vegetarian
chicken, vegetarian goose, whose appearance and
taste are like the real ones and have high nutritive
value, therefore, they are popular among the vegetarians.
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＊.
Skin of soya-bean milk and red-bean dumplings
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The skin of soya-bean milk and
red-bean dumplings are the soybean products. The
skin of soya-bean milk is formed on the surface
of soya-bean milk after heating; the manufacturing
flow is as figure 2. Both of them are regarded as
the material of vegetarian goose, shredded vegetarian
chicken, vegetarian meat roll, shrimp roll, the
sacrifice for worship, fillet, etc. Moreover, the
skin of soya-bean milk is largely used in handmade
roll.
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Soya-bean
milk
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→
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Heat
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→
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Form
the skin
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→
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Pick
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→
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Dry
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→
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Skin
of soya-bean milk
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＊Pan of 8-10cm deep70-80℃ 20mins
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4.Curdlan |
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Curdlan is the natural polysaccharide that takes glucose,
nitrogen and micro mineral as nutritive source and produced
by the fermentation of microbe (Alcaligenes faecalis var.
myxogenes). It is called Curdlan because it has the curdling
ability after heating.
When the Curdlan water dispersant (above 2%) is heated
up to above 80℃, it will become the heat irreversible
gel, the quality of which is between agar and glutin.
After the 3% Curdlan water dispersant (above 3%) is heated
up to above 80℃ and cooled, it is crisp at the normal
temperature, like the fish quenelle; the crispness is
reduced after cooked but the flexibility will not be reduced,
it tastes like the blood sausage. Thanks to its characteristics,
it is regarded as the material of vegetarian food by many
people.
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5.lactoprotein |
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The dosage of lactalbumin and sodium casein in lactoprotein
is very large in processing the vegetarians, especially
for vegetarian product without egg. Sodium casein is mainly
used as nutrient improver, emulsification, foaming agent
and tackifier in the process. Thanks to the heat culdling,
water-retaining, acid resistance and dissolvability, etc,
the lactalbumin can be applied in processing the vegetarian
meat product, vegetarian cake and simulation aquatic product
as a substitute of egg.
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6.Mushroom |
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After the macerated mushroom was stirred into filiform
by the fritter or stirrer, they are cohered together by
some edible natural glues or sticker, and made into diversified
simulation meat or fish products by adding different reaction
flavor. At present, the common products include vegetarian
mutton, stew, sausage, quenelle, etc. Coat the inner powder
with sea-moss peel, and deep fry it , then it can be made
into Tenfura, fish, chicken and other products.
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