“Where do you get your protein?”
It’s a question most vegetarians or vegans loathe to hear, but probably hear it fairly often. Not that people ask it to be jerks, necessarily. In all likelihood, it’s a failure of our nation’s school systems. Be it science or health teachers, distilling the protein content out of every possible food has never been high on the priority list. Most people are just misinformed. The long-standing food “pyramid” was only recently replaced by the Obama administration to reflect a more well-rounded selection of foods—mostly from the plant kingdom. We’re learning; but it’s a process.
So the vegetarians and vegans figure it out by trial and error. Sure, we could eat veggie chick'n nuggets all day long “for the protein“, but we know better. Hopefully.
Protein is one of those nutrients we need every day. If you’re an athlete or pregnant, you need even more of it. In fact, many meat-eaters get a good amount of their protein from non-meat sources every day, whether they know it or not. That’s because protein is widely available in many foods. And while those faux nuggets are darn tasty, they’re processed, and that means loads of salts, flavorings, fats and more gnarly ingredients are added. They’re no comparison for true, whole food protein sources. Here are a few sources of vegetarian or vegan protein that you’re hopefully already eating.
