Oriental and Asian culture is more "evolved" on the nutritional level

It's true! I was just thinking the other day about how they don't consider meat to be essential to a diet, how they avoid eating it as much as possible if not vegetarian/vegan, how they know they can make proteins in their body with no meat/fish/ or even dairy products or eggs (look at Indians: they combine rice with lentils, it's cheap, it's good, and it's very healhy and they know it! Tell that to the average occidental and he/she won't believe you!)

I don't know about the United States, but in Europe, it seems like people keep believing that eating meat is very healthy, they think that if you do not eat meat, you're gonna be weak, that you're become retarded (well, I generalize, but there are exeptions of course, aside from vegetarians, some people do eat meat but know that it isn't the healthiest thing).

I really admire Oriental and Asian (especially Asian) cultures for being so much more evolved on that level. Don't you?
Also, look at most veggie recipes, they're based in Asian, Indian food...

 

My favorite foods definitly come from over there.

I've always thought Indian dishes are the best vegetarian ones too, they are thick enough y'know.

 

My favorite dish is veggetarian curry

 

Good point, I've noticed that too. After all they did invent tofu.

I'm convinced Eastern cultures are just more evolved in general.

TTFN
Sage

 

I'm confused here.... I know that the modern concept of vegetarianism did in fact originate in India, but it seems that much of asia is now as western as we are. I have a friend in Tokyo who claims that it is near impossible to find a vegetarian meal at a restaurant there, let alone a vegan one!

So it seems while we're taking all the good ideas from them, they're taking the bad ones from us! Could it be possible we are responsible for their "de-evolving"?

 

Oh really? I was surprised at first when I read about how your friend from Tokyo could hardly find vegetarian food at restaurants there, but in the end, it's not that surprising. I guess that it's all due to globalization - food is also a part of it! It's really a shame...

 

That's a tad rascist, isn't it?

 

And what about the history of vegetariansism in Europe? Vegetarianism has had a strong influence on European culture since the earliest Greek histories have been recorded. Does that not count?

 

are you referring to the Lotus eaters in the Odyssey? that's all i could think of... I've heard them referred to as the first hippies! which is very cool

btw, i dont think ancient greece was really a part of the east or west. it was the first democratic society, so it works both ways. history from the joining of egypt pretty much until alexander the great is a history of the whole civilized world, east and west. but im no expert.....

 

No, I'm referring to the strong history of vegetarianism in Western society. Many of our greatest philosophers were vegetarian, and promoted vegetarian ideal. Seneca (Roman), Epicurius, from who the term "epicurean" came, the Cathars. Do a like bit of poking around on the 'net, you'll find a very strong undercurrent of veg*nism from way back.

 

Okay, but, what kind of food did those Europeans eat? Like I said, when you're a vegetarian/vegan, most of the food you eat is coming from Asian cultures... like rice, lentils, soy, etc. And mixing vegetables with cereal is also coming from over there... Of course you can also eat French fries every day and say you're a vegan, but then, you're probably not very healthy...

Something else: poor people in Europe throusands of years ago didn't eat meat because they couldn't afford it, so they ate cereal, vegetables, which was actually very healthy but they thought that they'd be healthier if they ate red meat.
Now if you go back throusands of years ago in Asia, people ate the same things as they do today, being rich, or poor, and they knew they didn't need meat.

 

Not necessarily. You can be veg*n on all sorts of diets, not just Asian based. Do you thing the Pythagoreans ate noodles and tofu every day? No, they ate a healthy, vegetable and grain based medeterain diet.

BTW Lentils grow throughout Europe, and did then. They were a very common food (even for meat eaters) back in Greco-Roman times.

I don't have my cook-books on me right now, but if you want me to post a thread full of early Medeteranian vegetarian recipes I can.

 

And I really doubt the early Greco-Roman philosophers ate French Fries every day, considering that potatoes had not yet arrived in Europe back then.

 

lol but I never said they did!

 

First of all, I never said that the Asian diet was the only veg*an one

Second, I know that lentils grow in Europe, but they're mostly used in Asian diets

And I know tons of mediteranean vegetarian recipes too


Don't be so uptight, you misunderstood my point

 

I know. I was being silly. Perhaps my silliness did not translate over the internet too well.

 

Oh, many times I took people seriously when they were actually joking... it's hard to tell over the internet, yeah!