What is the best vegetarian or nitrite/nitrate free bacon?

CorneliusPhoton

Interesting article about nitrates in foods here, looking at the evidence for both health benefits and detriments for consuming nitrate-rich foods. They feel that the evidence for adverse effects is weak and that the benefits outweigh the potential risk.

http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/90/1/1.full

Approximately 80% of dietary nitrates are derived from vegetable consumption.

After eating 200 g of spinach, your saliva has about 18x the nitrite levels than the EPA standard for drinking water.
http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/90/1/11

It seems that green leafy vegetables have more nitrates than bacon. Do you guys avoid spinach and arugula? Do you feel that you eat enough antioxidants to cover it? I don't have an argument either way, just interested in the discussion.

RoseyDgirl

I belong to a local CSA and have uncured, nitrate free - pasture raised bacon delivered monthly. It's more expensive, but the quality of the meats and having products delivered to my door makes it totally worth it. Why eat fake when real is so delicious?

GottaBurnEmAll

kshatriyo wrote: »

Gottaburn,
http://veganamericanprincess.com/6-easy-award-winning-fake-bacon-recipes-hard-to-believe-its-this-simple/

Thanks! I have to wait until some company does something with pea protein. I'm soy intolerant too!

I might try the recipe with the mushrooms, though. That looked interesting.

Strawblackcat

Elise4270 wrote: »

singingflutelady wrote: »

kshatriyo wrote: »

This thread is one for my permanents, all so many great ideas. I just want to point out that I am not sure, but I believe naturally occurring nitrates and nitrites in uncured bacon is just as carcinogenic, no? They are essentially the same thing to your body, are they not? I am confused about it, but I don't give my kids much of anything with nitrates/nitrites and only indulge when I can't stand it anymore.

The carcinogenic effect of bacon has been very much overstated by the media. Eating bacon every day will raise your risk from about 5% to 6%.

I know it's a real risk in childhood leukemia. I wonder if pork belly is uncured? That'd be a good choice for those that eat animals.id live to do an alternate product, but soy is a real issue for me.

Pork belly is usually sold fresh, so it doesn't normally have any added salt/nitrates/seasoning. It cooks differently than bacon does, though. It's usually much thicker, so you have to cook it for longer on a lower heat to render more of the fat out and get it crispy. Still delicious, though. The bacon that I buy is essentially pork belly that's sliced to a thickness inbetween that of bacon and pork belly.