I've been trying to switch to a vegetarian diet recently, it's a slow process as I am trying to convert my boyfriend (he's slowly coming around, yay!).

I was thrilled to discover Quorn and their massive array of meat replacement products.

The thrill though was short lived.

After stocking up on quorn mince, quorn chicken style pieces and quorn burgers I decided to make myself a yummy spaghetti bolognese using the quron mince.

Several hours later I was the sickest I have ever been in my life. Vommitting, diarrhea....I almost passed out at one point, I was shaking and it felt like someone had put a knife through my stomach. I couldn't stand to walk to get myself water. If I had been alone that night the situation would have been a hell of a lot worse as I would have remained dangerously dehydrated.

Upon recovery I did a google search and discovered that 1 in 100,000 people can have a severe allergic reaction to mycoprotien which is used to make quorn. They have actually been sued in the past because their packaging fails to make consumers aware of the risk of an allergic reaction.

I know it's impractical for every product on earth that could possibly induce an allergic reaction to have a warning, but the thing is, most people are aware of traditional allergens such as peanuts, lactose etc. The majority of people have no idea what mycoprotein is let alone whether they may be allergic to it. There should be a warning.

Anyway...I just thought i'd let you all know.

For the majority of people Quorn is absolutely fine, but just incase, if you are planning on trying it, make sure you do it when you know there is going to be other people around. I wouldn't want anyone to have to suffer through what I did by themselves!!!!!

I've heard about this. It's like made in a lab or something out of fungus.

I think you should look into soy products. They're VERY healthy. I don't know if there are soy products in your area. But where I live most of the stores have them.

ewww thats gross :/

mind you, i bet you lost a few kg in the process lol.

Out of curiosity, why would you go vegetarian?

Wow thats bad I'm sorry to hear that.
I love quorn, eat it all the time. Not your you though obviously!
Hope you're feeling better now x

Yeah...i'm sticking with TOFU from now on! I love it and it's so easy to cook. I wanted to try the Quorn products as a way of encouraging my boyfriend into it. He loves his spag bol and quron mince was a way for us to both be happy....oh well!

Red meat always makes me bloated so I have never really eaten it that much. I have always been a big chicken and fish person though.

Over the past few months I have been really affected by images of fish flailing about suffocating after being caught, or chickens living with no space to move and no access to sunlight. Seeing a slab of meat at the butchers has suddenly started turning my stomach, and the same for big cuts of fish.

I have been studying philosphy at uni and in a few subjects the work of Peter Singer has really stood out to me. His view point is that it's not necessarily wrong to kill animals, however it is wrong to cause suffering for any sentient being.

So if an animal has lived a good life, with access to food, sunlight and the ability to roam free as it pleases, and it is then killed instantly and painlessly, it would be okay to eat it. But the animals that we eat haven't had that life or that death. So it feels so wrong for me to eat the meat that is in the supermarket or the butchers.

I had never thought about it before...but it's suddenly started to affect me so I would like to make the change to a vegetarian diet.

I love tofu and could eat it every night, i've always drunk soy milk instead of dairy and i'm not a massive fan of cheese so it's nice to keep those out of my diet as well.

I think it's entirely possible to have a satisfying vegetarian diet - the idea that all vegetarians go hungry is crazy!




RECOMMENDED READING: Animal Liberation by Peter Singer

Wow thats pretty unlucky and I feel sorry for you. I tried some the other month and didn't get any reaction to it but I haven't had it since as I didn't think it tasted very nice.

LAUGH OUT LOUD!
Sucks to be a VEGGIE TAR IAN!

Im sorry but you ppl puzzle me.I cant understand your logic.You wont eat red meat, but you will eat chicken and fish.makes no sense.Or you wont eat chicken, but you'll eat eggs.Hypocrits if ya ask me.

Umm no thats not vegetarian if they eat white meat, thats just a preference to not eat red meat.
There are also ecto lacto vegetarians (they eat milk and eggs and veges), and lots of other definitions of vegetarians.
Somebody who eats white meat however is not a vegetarian, no matter what they call it, because a vegetarian eats vegetables only unless its something else.

Yeah...could you be more ignorant?!

I said that i've eaten chicken and fish in the past but that I am moving away from that so that my ethics don't clash with my practices. So that i'm NOT a hypocrit. I don't eat eggs either. Or drink milk.

This is interesting to read about. I've been vegetarian for about five months now and I eat Quorn products almost everyday...never once have I had any kind of reaction to that.

Strange. Good luck on being vegetarian though!

Megan

I tried Quorn chicken nuggets many years back and they made me sick because they were so meat like. At first I thought I had picked up real chicken. Haven't had Quorn since.

People like you really bug me. Stop judging us and start looking at your own life. Are you a perfect individual? I'll bet you aren't!