I went to high school with that guy...

If Ron Swanson won't eat fish (Fish meat is practically a vegetable) how dare you assume he'd eat felafel and tofu!

Bite your tongue.

Ha, the recipes look good but the Ron Swanson I saw last night (rerun) ate 3 porterhouse steaks and then wanted to go get bacon and egg omelets for dessert. He would look at you under his lowered eyebrows, say excuse me I'll be right back and then you would hear him drive away in his car.

Yeah, I'm not entirely sure about a tofu vegan pot pie or vegetarian steamed buns. I mean, I personally love a good vegetarian take on a meat dish, but there are some things that are just fundamentally better with meat, and pot pie and dumplings are two of them. I've learned this from tasty yet disappointing experience. (Moussaka is another. If someone tells you it's all about the rich sauces and eggplant, they're lying - mushrooms are not a substitute for lamb.)

Falafel is a pretty good idea though - even though it doesn't taste like meat, at least it's heavy and fried! And how about black beans? I'd rather eat black beans than ground beef in a burrito or chili any day.

Yeah, nice try, but Ron Swanson would never eat of any of these things. I think he might go for grilled cheese (American cheese, thank you very much!) and maybe mac n' cheese, french fries, or hash browns.

I've made vegan pot pie for people who are meat lovers, and they raved about it. If the flavor is there, then the lack of meat shouldn't matter. And that recipe has a ton of flavor. I'm also pretty annoyed when people say something doesn't work simply because there's no meat. Maybe you just haven't had the right recipe. A dish made poorly even with meat wouldn't taste good. And things don't have to taste like meat to be filling or delicious.

chicagocook- that is very true but when people who eat meat get very vocal about vegetarian things "not working" try to think of it more in terms of something you enjoy to eat being subbed out and being told it tastes just as good (translate- the same) or better than the original. Bad example, but if you love to drink orange juice and someone gives you a glass of prune juice instead saying its just as good and better for you. Sure, it's fine to drink, but it's never going to be orange juice you are familiar with and prefer.

Ron Swanson is not a rabbit.

Don't try tofu on a guy that won't even drink clear liquors (they're for rich women on diets).

Mushroom and chestnut ragout with mashed potato. Make the ragout with tomatoes, red wine, bayleaf and a pinch of allspice (and onions, garlic, carrots etc). Red blooded vegetarian stew

The only one Ron Swanson MIGHT taste is the tamales... but they're probably too foreign. He would shake his head in disgust at the vegetable pizza and vegan pot pie for sure. Let's not even get started about the falafel!

Lol, this is an awesome post though and I'm vegetarian and think these all look delish. The grilled pizza looks especially good because my husband just got a pizza stone thing for the grill!

Without going so far as Ron Swanson, try the stuffed delicata squash recipe at Sunset.com. Or a raclette with the real-deal cheese. Or a spanish tortilla.

My vegan favorites are stuffed cabbage, a creamy mushroom, potato, and barley soup, and a roasted veggie strudel. For junk food, vegan beans and franks made with Field Roast frankfurters is awesome.

These recipes may or may not satisfy Ron Swanson, but they will definitely satisfy both my veg self and my meat-eating husband. Thanks!

Yes to the falafel and the pizza. We only have meat for dinner twice a week but I agree with Buttons and JMorri26, some recipes just aren't the same when you sub in tofu. I love tofu but I hate it when it tries to be meat.

I found myself proud to be a "real man" when, after clicking into this post, I found that I made 4 out of 5 of these things on a regular basis (I've made steamed buns for the first time recently, so while I've made all five, those I've only made one time...). I've never done tofu in a pot pie; I usually do seitan or no meat substitute at all. And with tamales, I like sweet potato and chipotle or black bean and roasted chile... But yeah, good article. I only wish that there were some new stuff on here for me to try!

"Just give me all the bacon and eggs you have. Wait, wait...I worry what you just heard was 'give me a lot of bacon and eggs.' What I said was 'give me all the bacon and eggs you have.'" - Ron Swanson

You had me at Meat Tornado.

Remember, he threw free meatless bacon samples in the trash at the supermarket. Why? "So, no one will have to eat it."

I've been vegetarian for many years and I'm not really all that fond of vegetables :) But what I really don't like is the substitution thing. Tofu is fine but I don't like it when cooks (normally non-vegetarian ones) make what would usually be a meat dish and use tofu instead. Then, as others have said, it's going to be second-best as far as a meat eater is concerned. And there's no need to make things that are called 'meaty' names like 'cutlets', 'sausages' etc. for the same reason.

Meat eating is psychological. I can make vegetarian or even vegan meals and my husband will eat it, but half way through he gets this look and says, "Is there meat in this?" and when I say no he fries up some bacon or a burger and puts the rest of his meatless meal in the fridge for me to eat.

There's probably no way to get a real Ron Swanson to eat something made out of plants, but as a former meat-craver who has been vegetarian for 20 years and still sometimes dreams of pastrami, I find that seitan goes a long way towards satisfying my desire for something with the rich flavor and mouth feel of beef or lamb. Peter Berley has a lovely seitan bourgingon stew that's good for special occasions (all that red wine and garlic is pretty convincing), and Madhur Jaffrey's mock lamb curry with seitan is great, too. I've even swapped out real beef for seitan in some heavily-sauced stews and casseroles, and been very pleased with the results! I think the key is "heavily-sauced"--there's no way you're going to fool anyone with a seitan Meat Tornado...

While you're on the subject of Ron Swanson, how about a an article featuring his furniture making http://offermanwoodshop.com/index.html