What Everyone Is Saying About Organic Veggie Burgers

By Janine Hughes


Gone are the days when vegetarians, especially those who insisted on eating everything organic, were mocked and ridiculed. Today, ordering organic veggie burgers at the local fast food restaurant is practically mainstream. Note that not all commercially-prepared veggie burgers are better for you than good old-fashioned ground beef. To be sure your burger is the best and most natural that nature can offer, make sure you know what you are eating.

The ordinary Joe on the street hears, "organic, " and thinks, "chemical-free pesticides and fertilizers." That's just horse manure. Today, national government set the standards that include ecological balance, biodiversity and conservation of resources. Organic farmers also avoid using genetically-modified seeds and other products.

While there are many commercial vegetable patty mixes on the market, many of them rely on soya protein as the principle ingredient. Today, much soy is extracted in a process that uses hexane, a recognized neurotoxin and carcinogen. Linked to both nerve damage and brain tumors, there is no FDA-specified limit for the amount of hexane that can be used in food preparations.

Organic produce has another advantage in that it hasn't had the taste bred out of it. In the interest of increasing yields, pesticide resistance and other noble features of fruits and vegetables, somehow the chemicals that make food tasty are eliminated.

Making your own vegetarian patty mixture is healthy and fun. You can make it up before going to dinner parties or barbecues. There are loads of recipes available, all of which have an infinite number of variations. Not all are based on soy, but if you do decide to include this as an ingredient, make sure it does not contain hexane.

Mixtures based on chopped nuts are tasty, popular and good for you, but nuts alone do not a patty mixture make. Canned chick peas (also known as garbanzo beans in some locations), cheese, chopped vegetables and beaten egg all make for a versatile and easy to use base. There is no limit to the number of combinations and you could make it your life's work to prepare a different patty mix every day and never exhaust the possibilities.

Sweet potatoes, or even white potatoes, form a good basis for vegetable patties, as are lentils. Bulk the mix up with breadcrumbs or panko. Experiment with different vegetables and flavorings and you're good to go. Cereal grains like quinoa make good patty mixtures. Scale the recipe up and you have the basis for a tasty vegetarian loaf as a substitute for meat loaf.

Apart from those with medical concerns, the occasional commercial vegetable patty will probably not cause any harm. A winning patty mixture can also be scaled up and used to make a tasty vegetarian loaf that you can even serve your meat-eating guests. Eating organic is no longer a fad, it's here to stay. More and more popular diet plans, including the Daniel (Fast) and Paleolithic (Cave Man) diet, are all specifying naturally grown fruits, vegetables and meats.




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