Why are people vegetarians? Is it for health reasons or on principle?
Obviously, it differs from person to person, but I believe that most vegetarians are vegetarians on principle. But even then, the principle differs. My girlfriend is vegetarian because she loves animals to bits, she would literally live in an animal park if it was up to her. She's the kind of person who thinks 99% of humans are scum and thinks that every animal is a loving creature that wouldn't hurt her because she's nice to them (just so you know, I completely and utterly disagree with her, I think she's mental in that respect, and I get the serious doghouse treatment whenever I kill a fly or say about the animal that barks all night and keeps us awake "that dog should be shot").
My principle is still regarding animals but it's totally different. Just because I don't love animals and I don't want a house full of them (in-fact that's the last thing on earth I want - I literally hate pets), doesn't mean that I don't respect them. The way I look at it is, I'd be pretty pissed off if aliens came to earth and decided to eat all the humans because they were dumb animals who probably tasted nice. If you can get the nutrition from other sources then I find it sick to eat the flesh of a living thing purely because "it tastes nice". To me it's equal to the bastards who hunt and kill foxes because "it's fun". Get an Xbox, you sick fuck.
Because it's all about respect, I also respect people who eat meat (because I believe that everybody deserves respect until the moment that you know they're not deserving of it), so don't go thinking I'm an animal rights activist or anything.
I'm in Texas, so I really don't run across this. I eat a lot of fruits and veggies, but also meats for protein... what do you eat for protein, just nuts?
There's a substitute food range that uses combinations of various natural elements (Mycoprotein, soya, tofu and the like) to make different textures, for example the texture of chicken, or the crispy texture of bacon. This is then naturally flavoured (although sometimes there's a few E numbers in there) to taste like the food it is a substitute for. But the ingredients that are included have the nutrients you need, including tons of protein and fibre (although you may also have to take supplements depending on the variety, or rather lack of it, of your diet - just as you would if you were eating meat but nothing else). They're also a lot lower in calories, which is great - if you don't want to lose weight you can eat twice as much.
The main brands in the UK are Quorn, Linda McCartney and another one whose name escapes me at the moment (I'm not a big fan of theirs, the stuff they make is quite hoity toity), and the range of stuff you can get is great. For example, you've got your bacon, your burgers, your chicken fillets, your chicken escalopes (chicken coated in e.g. cheese, cheese and tomato, garlic and herbs, mushroom sauce or whatever, and then coated with breadcrumbs), sausages, steaks, mince (great for lasagne, spaghetti bolognaise and the like)... They even do chicken nuggets, which are disgusting and pink in the middle - just like a certain McSomebody's. They've got it down to a fine art!
The entire Quorn range can be found
HERE.
Some of it is great, some of it is alright. For example, I secretly gave my dad (your typical "vegetarians are little gay boys" dad) a sandwich with the Quorn bacon on, because while the Quorn bacon was cooking he would always say "that bacon smells gorgeous" - thinking that it was meat that was cooking. As soon as he'd taken a bite he was saying "where did you get this bacon from, we've got to get more of this stuff, it's bloody gorgeous!!" The Quorn sausages are quite rubbery, though (Linda McCartneys are better), and the Quorn burgers are nowhere near as satisfying as the real thing.