Vegetarianism and Wine

Thomas,

I do excuse your bluntness, but must assure you that you are completly mistaken.

I love to cook and cook often!

In fact, I have few greater pleasures than to invite friends over on a weekend for a special meal with good wine.

As for vegetarians in France, yes, they are an endangered species. Just ask Rashaan!

Yours truly,
Alex

Thomas,

I do excuse your bluntness, but must assure you that you are completly mistaken.

I love to cook and cook often!

In fact, I have few greater pleasures than to invite friends over on a weekend for a special meal with good wine.

As for vegetarians in France, yes, they are an endangered species. Just ask Rashaan!

Yours truly,
Alex

OK. I'll email you some vegetarian recipes that will pair with red wine--even the great ones, not that I get to pair those on a regular basis. Of course, all you have to do is find out which vegetable dishes are served in Cahors--they seem to pair everything with Malbec...

The last time I was in France--Cahors, Beaucaire, Orange, CdP, Provence, Narbonnes, and Banyuls--I must have gained fifteen pounds in three weeks, mostly from MEAT and wine!!!

We are all conditionned by our upbringing. My difficulty to relate to a meatless wine dinner is surely grounded in my personal history, and perhaps I need to open my eyes a little more...

Ok. Understood.

As far as being a vegetarian in France, I never found it to be a problem and never understood why people thought it was so difficult. Assuming one eats fish and seafood of course. Without those it could be harder. A vegan diet is the one that seems impossible.

There are three or four excellent Vegetarian restaurants in Paris (I asked one for California wine...they didn't think it was funny). Of course I forget their names. Most vegetarians here don't eat fish. But there are many compromises. I eat egg and have to say that a cheese souffle is my first date meal of choice with wine of course. As a Buddhist I don't eat anything with a face.

We have some great local organic olive oils, but adding butter can add depth to many dishes...so Thomas is correct about matching fats and acid. California cuisine is a mix of flavors and we have wines made in the overripe or European style so matching food, wine, or setting is a good idea. And it is fun too! I agree with Rahsaan's semi-point that an old wine can be so soft that it would match with many vegi olive oil base Mediterranean style dishes. Another common element of food is sweetness. There are many sweetened sauces like a Thai peanut sauce that would require a riper wine if one wanted to drink a red wine. Sweet food will make the acid of wine taste more sour. Many local zins are called BBQ wines because they can work with sweet BBQ sauce.

Of course we all see the world from mainly our own points of view.

We are all conditionned by our upbringing. My difficulty to relate to a meatless wine dinner is surely grounded in my personal history, and perhaps I need to open my eyes a little more...

Ok. Understood.

As far as being a vegetarian in France, I never found it to be a problem and never understood why people thought it was so difficult. Assuming one eats fish and seafood of course. Without those it could be harder. A vegan diet is the one that seems impossible.

You are correct Rahsaan. I have a tendency to think of the word "vegetarian" to mean what it sounds like. I never could figure out how fish and cheese got into the vegetarian food classification .
Seems the word vegetarian really means: non-red meat and fowl eater.