Dear Twitterati, Twitterers of Manchester, @Ev

The Times Newspapers have said women are bad networkers and even mentioned me in the article! (click here to read the article) . Come on Women of Manchester and beyond, I want to prove them wrong. Ok, I’ve got to admit that in the past five Tweetups held @sweetmandarin the ratio has been 80% men 20% women (and that’s including me and my team of female staff!) but I’m confident we can improve that ratio.

I’d love to invite you to the Mega Tweet Up to celebrate the Queen’s coronation.
My dream: To meet Twitterers who are in Manchester or who are visiting Manchester and Twitpic with you.
My wildest dream: To see #sweetmandarin trending as a top 10 (see below – I am a Twitterholic)
Date: Wednesday 2nd June 2010
Time: 6-8pm
Dress: Dress to Tweet, Twitpic’s welcome
Cost: Free
Food: Ok, I’ll bring the dim sum
Drinks: Pay as you go
About me: I’m a Twitterholic (follow me @sweetmandarin and my twin @helentse), the Head Chef of Sweet Mandarin Restaurant and I brought the F Word Trophy home to Manchester (COME ON MANCHESTER!!!) by winning Gordon Ramsay’s Best Local Chinese Restaurant Award 2009-2010. To watch the blood, sweat and tears click here.
Book your place: Please follow and tweet me or email me lisa@sweetmandarin to confirm your place.

To celebrate National Vegetarian Week, Sweet Mandarin has an exclusive offer – the Mabel’s Tofu Claypot is available at a discounted price of £7.00 – oh and you don’t have to be vegetarian to order it! Sweet Mandarin has a lot of choice for vegetarians and can even cook up the most amazing Vegetarian Banquet. To book a table click here.

Veggie myth-busters for 2010.

There are a few myths that do the rounds about veggies – the Vegetarian Society would like to kick them into touch during National Vegetarian Week.

Poor protein – wrong!
Protein is available in all foods (apart from refined white sugar and some oils) and your protein needs are automatically met by a balanced, varied diet. Meat does provide protein, however it is only one source. Nuts, beans, eggs, soya products, pulses and dairy products are all excellent sources of protein.

Veggies eat fish –wrong!
Vegetarians do not eat fish or shellfish. Fish are cold-blooded animals living wholly in water. Vegetarians don’t eat animals.

Weak and feeble, lacking in iron –wrong!
A lack of iron is one of the most common problems in a typical British diet. It is just as much a nutritional problem for meat eaters as it is for veggies and research shows that veggies are no more prone to iron deficiency than meat eaters! Even meat eaters get 86% of their iron from vegetarian sources.

Being veggie is unnatural – who says?
Arguing that an action is natural can be quite problematic. A common argument used by meat-eaters is that because we have canine teeth this is evidence that we have been ‘designed’ to eat meat. Meat eating animals have sharp claws and, since they have to kill mainly with their teeth, possess powerful jaws and pointed, elongated, “canine” teeth to pierce tough skin and to spear and tear flesh. They do NOT have flat, back teeth like us which vegetarian animals need for grinding their food. As for our sharp teeth, gorillas are entirely vegetarian – as are almost all primates – and yet have far longer and sharper canine teeth than human beings!

Vegetarianism is a fad – don’t think so!
Some people do change diets as they change fashions. However vegetarianism has been around for literally thousands of years. For example, the Greek philosopher, Plato (427 – 347 BC), and his teacher Socrates (470 – 399 BC) were both vegetarians.
In the UK the first vegetarian cookbook was written in 1812. The oldest Vegetarian Society in the world was formed in 1847 in the UK.