Vegatarian?

After Ive been pretty much stong armed by my doc to go seventy percent vegetarian Im running out of ideas. Is there a good vegetarian restaurant in town or something along those lines? Cooking lessons maybe? Thanks for your replies.

I know of two and know the general locations. Hopefully someone else will be able to fill in more detail.

Colibri Garden is run by Peter and Georgina, longtime popular restaunters. It is located near Maskaras Clinic.

THere is a new vegan? restaurant in San Antonino near the Plaza. The young woman sells wonderful chocolate stuff at the Tuesday Market and I have lost her flyer about the restaurant but the menu sounds interearing.

And a third option is the wonderful restaurant MachiMá next to the Ajijic Clinic. They plan to start cooking classes in Nov.

Also, on Facebook you can join the group Ajijic Vegan/Whole Food Plant Based Community. Lots of info there.

You can take vegan cooking classes out in Santa Cruz with Greg and Eddie and their FB page is Lake Chapala Plant Based Cooking Classes.

TONS of blogs, websites, and information on eating a plant based diet on the internet. Watch the Forks Over Knives documentary. And the Sanjay Gupta CNN video called The Last Heart Attack.

Good luck, a plant based diet is the ONLY way to eat for optimum health.

I'd like to know who your enlightened doc is, Ajiblue, would you share the name for us?

MY hematologist, Dr. Velazquez Ferrari, world respected in his field and a professor at the U. de G. medical school, recommends red meat in your diet at least 3 times a week and up to once a day for maximum red blood functionality (contra anemia).
So there are other opinions

Sure it was Dr. Leon and Dr. Jessica who offices with him.  The diet has really turned my declining kidney function around.  Yeah!  And thank you all for your suggestions.

Jasmine's restaurant, across from the Ajijic plaza, has a number of Indian vegetarian offerings. Open Thurs. through Sunday.

Cocinart, on 16 de Septiembre, in Ajijic, usually has a few vegetarian entrees, too. Open Wed.-Sun. for lunch and dinner. Excellent cook.

Dr. Jessica is my doc, too. Very thorough approach.

ajiblue wrote:Sure it was Dr. Leon and Dr. Jessica who offices with him.  The diet has really turned my declining kidney function around.  Yeah!  And thank you all for your suggestions.

That's excellent! Good job.

I've been plant-based most of my life, my diet is currently at 85 - 90% plants, virtually no red meat most of my life, cholesterol is 116 and I have no stents or bypasses.

My favorite online cookbooks for ideas and inspiration are: The Homemade Vegan Pantry, Vegan Bowl Attack, The Vegan Stoner Cookbook, and Thug Kitchen - Eat Like You Give A F***k.  And the wonderful blog The Gentle Chef: https://thegentlechef.com/

Slainte, if your doctor was correct all the vegans and vegetarians in the world would be anemic or dead! lol

Tango Restaurant advertises that they have a vegetarian menu as well as steaks.

The debate over vegan, vegetarian and meat eating has been going on most of my life, and it has passionate adherents on both sides.

Whether converts are made or not, the believers hang in there and who can blame them, since most veggie types are healthy looking, as opposed to the people walking the streets with an extra 40 plus lbs bulging from their clothes?
I'm not a believer either way; will eat most things set before me and try to make healthy choices. Luckily, most of us debating the issue are able to afford those choices and the area has them in abundance.

Trailrunner wrote:Slainte, if your doctor was correct all the vegans and vegetarians in the world would be anemic or dead! lol

Nope, not everyone, including vegans suffer from an anemia problem, just as many meat eaters do not have a cholesterol  problem.

gringal wrote:The debate over vegan, vegetarian and  meat eating has been going on most of my life, and it has passionate adherents on both sides.

Whether converts are made or not, the believers hang in there and who can blame them, since most veggie types are healthy looking, as opposed to the people walking the streets with an extra 40 plus lbs bulging from their clothes?
I'm not a believer either way; will eat most things set before me and try to make healthy choices. Luckily, most of us debating the issue are able to afford those choices and the area has them in abundance.

I have had a couple of close friends who went vegetarian and gained weight like crazy....grain products (pastas, etc.), starchy root vegetables and sugar.
It's how much you eat of anything and there's a lot of high calorie carbs in the vegetarian world.
Give up bread, alcohol, and sugar laden products, or use sparingly, and you will see weight disappear.  Stick with lean, grass fed beef, or other lean meat and you won't have a weight problem.....most important....don't overeat....anything

Don't worry, Slainte, we're not gonna take your cow meat away. lol

However, current farming practices are non-sustainable, damaging to the environment, and the  more people who become vegetarians and vegans the better the earth will be. There are hundreds or thousands of documentaries on the subject.

Then there's the issue of cruel and inhuman slaughter houses. Again, many documentaries on this too. Ok, I grossed myself out, I'm done.

Trailrunner wrote:Don't worry, Slainte, we're not gonna take your cow meat away. lol

However, current farming practices are non-sustainable, damaging to the environment, and the  more people who become vegetarians and vegans the better the earth will be. There are hundreds or thousands of documentaries on the subject.

Then there's the issue of cruel and inhuman slaughter houses. Again, many documentaries on this too. Ok, I grossed myself out, I'm done.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-pesticide-monsanto/monsanto-fights-to-sell-arkansas-farmers-herbicide-linked-to-crop-damage-idUSKCN1BI2RD

Mono culture of any crop is a recipe for disaster. We really need to get back to basics and amend the soil and rotate crops as well.

On the subject of vegetarian restaurants... there are four lunch sized salads available at El Huerto Café (none of them a Caesar) that are all different, exceptional and reasonably priced.

My Millennial spawn have been harping on us to go "plant based" for the last year. I can't say I disagree entirely. Meat is a good protein source, but us meat eaters do eat much more than we need--4-6 oz every few days is most likely MORE than enough. But our meat sources aren't what they used to be. Are there reliable local sources for organic, non-chemically exposed meat? And speaking of chemicals, can we depend on our "fresh" fruits and veggies to be available likewise? Haven't hear a slogan for "better living through chemistry" in a long time!! And I could probably live without meat, but I will never give up my cheese!!!

hahaha And dairy is probably the first thing to give up! Bovine growth hormones, massive antibiotic residue, animal fat, pesticide residue, and who knows what else. 

No, for the most part, Mexico uses pesticides. In a few enlightened areas, Lake Chapala being one of them, we have organic produce available at our weekly farmers market on Tues. Some at the Monday market too. There is also a woman with organically raised meat as well. Probably just cow and lamb.

You can grow your own organic veg with our year 'round growing season!

Don't most people eat meat three times a day? I think they don't think a meal is complete without cooked animal flesh. . .I agree with your spawn.

Yeah, they've told me dairy is the worst..but it's soooo tasty.....That growth hormone thing is interesting. Sure hasn't made me grow int the right places!

As usual, I'm "in the middle" of the matter. Every day but Sunday, I have the slow cooking oatmeal topped with fruit. Sunday, eggs. Meat, a few times a week, usually a minor part of the meal. Frequent patron of the Tuesday market.
But........no way am I giving up Manchego cheese!

Thanks so much everyone!

BTW, on that aforementioned FB page, Ajijic Vegan/Whole Food Plant Based Community, somebody posted about a very well-stocked interesting veg tienda in Guadalajara called Mr.Tofu. one of the members went up and checked it out and was impressed. So to save everyone trips up there we are putting a combined order together and the woman is going to send our order down on UBER and we all will split the 190 peso charge. 

This will happen at the end of the month. To participate, join the FB page, check out the Mr. Tofu website, and wait for the guy who is organizing the order to announce it to place your order. The woman said it would be a 2 day turnaround.

They have a good selection of vegan cheeses an Beyond Meat products!,

As we live in Chiapas as well as at Lake Chapala, we have become acquainted and socialize with a number of indigenous folks down there and they tend to be vegetarians but consume mostly starchy stuff such as beans and tortillas. While we are not vegetarians, we tend to avoid red meat for a
couple of reasons. One reason is doctor's orders as I (in my mid-70s) have some kidney problems and, as it turns out, red meat is hard to digest when one has insufficient kidney function and I have found red meat , as availabe in much of Mexico, at least in my experience,, to be less attractive to the palate than what one might find in, say, a Chicago joint specializing in beef dinners. Perhaps our indigenous friends in Chiapas are less inclined to eat less meat is that chasing the chickens, cows and pigs around thr barnyard before slaughtering ,gutting and then cooking the various creatures before each meal to be a bit of a burden.

Consider Dawg to be on board for the Mr. Tofu group order, Trailrunner so I will sign up on Facebook and split the transportation charge with the rest of you although, as a native Alabamian, and devotee of BBQ pork (or, as we say in Alabama, "poke" ) sammiches,, no way should that hawg turn his back on me and assume his ass is sacrosanct.

Ok, Bubba, I will look for you. I placed my order with David Sunday by email and we're looking at delivery 10 5/6. This will be the first so - vamos a ver. I ordered the Beyond Meat products and some 'cheeses' and chipotle black bean burgers. I'm told the best cheeses are Follow Your Heart and Chao, with Daiya being a semi-distant third in flavor. Miyoko is the best but not carried yet by Mr. Tofu. Keep an open mind and palate Bubba, it ain't never gonna be as good as Canadian sharp cheddar but it be tasty and healthy and you can eat as much as you want without damaging your cardiovascular or renal system. You'll get used to it and it will taste good.

Last night I made chocolate mousse with Silken soft tofu, Hershey's chocolate, vanilla, maple syrup, and that was about it. Damn good!

Machima, next to the Ajijic Clinic, has started vegan cooking classes for the FB page group. The upcoming one is, I think, Oct 16th and is listed on the FB page. This one will be soup and I signed up as I always learn something from these classes and I want to support the restaurant and owners who are first-rate.

Your kidneys will thank you too, Bob.

What is David's e-mail address? Maybe you could post his list of items for sale. I am especially interested in those bean burgers but I wonder if he has burgers that are extra spicy. That' s OK if he doesn't - just an inquiry. Since we also live in San Cristobal de Las Casas about half the year more or less, I would be an occasional client but, I also, if I like his inventory and he sells items not available in Chiapas, the trunk of my car just might be a fully stocked mobile branch eatery a couple of times a year. I am personally not fond of tofu. I became a vegetable freak upon visiting the city then called Madras in India during my vagabond years in the 1960s. Indian vegetarian food is quite exotic so maybe I'm overreaching here but let's give it a try.

Bubba, David is merely the guy who is coordinating the order for the store in Guad.

To make your order, just go to the FB page, scroll down to the first of 2 threads on Mr. Tofu. All the information you need is there including David's email. Go to the Mr. Tofu website and make a list of what you want and send it to David at his posted email. He will confirm. It's all there.