One of the thorniest problems of the 21st century is how to get people to eat less meat. A new poll conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that most U.S. adults said they eat meat at least several times a week.
I’ve been vegetarian for close to 20 years and started in the deep south, so I was used to basically every meal revolving around meat. It’s definitely a big adjustment to cut out 100%.
Honestly you can get by really well just replacing meat with beans/chickpeas/etc. If you’re really dying for more variety check out TVP (textured vegetable protein). It’s just tofu that’s been crumbled and dehydrated. Since it’s been dehydrated it will absolutely suck up the flavor of anything you soak it in, and the texture in a soup/stew/curry/etc is very unnoticeable.
Check your store’s Hispanic aisle or your local Hispanic grocery store to get it a bit cheaper. If you don’t like size then soy curls are basically the same thing but larger.