Vegetarian Recipes

Vegetarian cuisine is based on food that meets vegetarian standards by not including meat and animal tissue products (such as gelatin or animal-derived rennet). For lacto-ovo vegetarianism (the most common type of vegetarianism in the Western world), eggs and dairy products such as milk and cheese are permitted. For lacto vegetarianism, the earliest known type of vegetarianism (recorded in India), dairy products such as milk and cheese are permitted. The strictest forms of vegetarianism are veganism and fruitarianism, which exclude all animal products, including dairy products as well as honey, and even some refined sugars if filtered and whitened with bone char.

Vegetarian foods can be classified into several different types:

Traditional foods that have always been vegetarian include cereals, grains, fruits, vegetables, legumes and nuts.

Soy products including tofu and tempeh which are common protein sources.

Textured vegetable protein (TVP), made from defatted soy flour, often included in chili and burger recipes in place of ground meat.

Meat analogues, which mimic the taste, texture, and appearance of meat and are often used in recipes that traditionally contained meat.

Vegans may also use analogues for eggs and dairy products (such as aquafaba, plant cream or plant milk).

Foods used in vegetarian cuisine

Food regarded as suitable for all vegetarians (including vegans) typically includes:

Cereals/grains: barley, buckwheat, corn, fonio, hempseed, maize, millet, oats, quinoa, rice, rye, sorghum, triticale, wheat; derived products such as flour (dough, bread, baked goods, cornflakes, dumplings, granola, Muesli, pasta etc.).

Vegetables (fresh, canned, frozen, pureed, dried or pickled); derived products such as vegetable sauces like chili sauce and vegetable oils.

Edible fungi (fresh, canned, dried or pickled).

Fruit (fresh, canned, frozen, pureed, candied or dried); derived products such as jam and marmalade.

Legumes: beans (including soybeans and soy products such as miso, soy milk, soy yogurt, tempeh, tofu and TVP), chickpeas, lentils, peas, peanuts; derived products such as peanut butter.

Tree nuts and seeds; derived products such as nut butter.

Herbs, spices and wild greens such as dandelion, sorrel or nettle.

Other foods such as seaweed (however seaweed is considered inedible by some strict vegetarians for the same reason it can be considered to be non-kosher by orthodox Jews: the possibility of tiny animals sometimes adhering to it.);[derived products such as agar, which has the same function as animal bone derived gelatin.

Beverages such as beer, coffee, hot chocolate, lemonade, tea or wine.

Foods not suitable for vegan-vegetarians, but for some other types of vegetarians:

Dairy products (butter, cheese (except for cheese containing rennet of animal origin), milk, yogurt (excluding yogurt made with gelatin) etc.) – not eaten by vegans and pure ovo-vegetarians

Eggs – not eaten by pure vegetarians, vegans and lacto-vegetarians (most Indian vegetarians)

Honey – not eaten by most vegans

Traditionally, Brahmin cuisines in most part of India, except West Bengal, are strictly vegetarian.

Gujarati cuisine from the state of Gujarat in western India is predominantly vegetarian.

Many bean, pasta, potato, rice, and bulgur/couscous dishes, stews, soups and stir-fries.

Cereals and oatmeals, granola bars, etc.

Fresh fruit and most salads

Potato salad, baba ganoush, pita-wraps or burrito -wraps, vegetable pilafs, baked potatoes or fried potato-skins with various toppings, corn on the cob, smoothies

Many sandwiches, such as cheese on toast, and cold sandwiches including roasted eggplant, mushrooms, bell peppers, cheeses, avocado and other sandwich ingredients

Many side dishes, such as mashed potatoes, scalloped potatoes, some bread stuffings, seasoned rice, and macaroni and cheese.

Classical Buddhist cuisine in Asia served at temples and restaurants with a green sign indicating vegetarian food only near temples