I want Schema.org to add dietary requirements to the Person specification. And I need your help! Background Schema.org is a metadata standard. You can include it on webpages to create structured, machine-readable data. Here's a sample way of representing a Person: { "@context": "https://schema.org/", "@type": "Person", "name": "Albert Einstein", "hasOccupation": [ { "@type": "Occupation", "name":…
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I've been a vegetarian for half my life and I have been blogging about crappy vegetarian labelling for a decade. Usually it's a rant about how a seemingly innocuous dish has hidden bone jelly in it - but today I experience the reverse situation. So, I was in the "veggie snacks" aisle of my local…
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I'm a sucker for weird veggie-friendly foods! I especially love discovering what other countries and cultures do to replicate their meaty dishes in veggie friendly formats. So I was delighted to find a local store to me selling all manner of Chinese meat-substitutes - including these amazing looking "Chicken" Drumsticks! I ordered a bunch and…
Continue reading →Synthetic meat is coming soon! Actually, it has been coming soon for a long long long long long time. There are many interesting social aspects to this future. Is lab-grown meat kosher or halal? Would eating human-meat be cannibalism? Is it vegetarian? But, most importantly, what do we call people with a dietary preference for…
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I go to lots of conferences, unconferences, hackdays, and tech events. As a vegetarian, I'm used to being relegated to second-class when it comes to event catering. If I'm lucky, I get some cheese sandwiches mingled with a plate of meaty snacks. That's why I was overjoyed at ODF Plugfest Rome when the organisers made…
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I was incredibly fortunate that my new employer sent me to a conference in China recently. I can't discuss what I did out there - but I can report on all the delicious food I ate! (NB - I paid for all meals myself!) Being veggie in Beijing was relatively easy. I had a stock…
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It is a little masochistic to dwell on one's mistakes. I doubt anyone thinks that I am perfect (not even my mother!) - but I think talking about our mistake serves a useful purpose. It's healthy for us to discuss our failings, and hopefully helps people from following in our footsteps. After last week's success…
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A few weeks ago I tried some delicious vegetarian caviar. Beautiful - but expensive. I began to wonder how hard it would be to make my own flavour pearls. Well, all good experiments start by buying a beginners' kit. Before attempting basic "spherification", I decided to attempt something much more simple. Agar-Agar veggie strips. 400g…
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Has it really been 6 years since I last had vegetarian caviar? That's far too long! Sadly, the manufacturers of that particular brand have disappeared - so I was overjoyed when I discovered the UK-based Vegetarian Caviar Club. There are four flavours available, and jars cost between £6 and £7 plus postage. Let's get one…
Continue reading →I once read an excellent article which asked the seemingly simple question "Is Kosher food Halal?" It's worth a read to understand the politics, religion, cultural assumptions, ecclesiastical law, and bigotry behind the two systems of approved food. To me, the argument is a bit like saying "Who would win in a fight - Chewbacca…
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