About 24 hours after my 14-year-old daughter decided to become a vegetarian, a dreadful realization hit her.

        “Omigod. I can't eat Skyline.”

        For a girl who was introduced to Cincinnati chili in utero, and who doesn't hesitate at a large five-way, this was no small obstacle to her new dietary resolve.

        Frankly, thinking of the difficulties of adding a new set of constraints to what I can make for dinner, I hoped it might be enough to send her back to the meat-eating side.

Proud parent

        But I'm proud of Louise. I have never in my life given up eating anything.But she has put aside her craving for some of her favorite foods in order to stick to something that seems right to her for many reasons.

        She realized, one by one, that there's a lot of food in the world that isn't vegetarian. Potstickers at Chinese restaurants. Goetta. Chef Boy-ar-dee canned ravioli. Roast beef. But since Earth Day this year, she has eschewed them all.

        Even better, she has taken me seriously when I pointed out that vegetarians can't live on white rice, cheese and dessert. She has decided she likes the stalks of broccoli (though not the tops), has gamely tried vegetarian cashew chicken at the Blue Gibbon, and freezes tubes of yogurt for snacks.

        Vegetarianism is about making a connection between how you live your own life and how the world works. What better way would you like to see your child's mind work? So I guess I'm for it, though if it turns out to be a temporary teen-age girl thing, that's OK, too.

        Meanwhile, I figured I could create a vegetarian Cincinnati chili for her. It couldn't be especially hard. Though it's built around beef, there's so much spice in it that surely something reasonable could be substituted.

        Add spaghetti, chopped onions and cheese, and you probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

Meat substitutes

        As a substitute for the meat, I had two choices. I could make the chili from beans, essentially combining a two-way with a four-way. Or I could use textured vegetable protein, or TVP. That's a processed product made from soybeans that has the look and consistency of ground beef (though only someone who's been a vegetarian for years would claim it tastes like it).

        We found that the TVP chili looked very close to the real thing, but didn't carry flavor as well as beans, making an insipid imitation . Canned kidney beans were too sweet, and dried ones took forever to cook. Either way, the spices had to be pumped up to make up for the lack of beef.

        I had expected to like the homemade version best, but it was too subtle. A packet of Gold Star chili mix created a stronger and more authentic flavor. So our favorite version is also the easiest: almost as easy as ordering at the counter.

Easy Vegetarian Cincinnati Chili

        1 15-ounce can of tomato sauce
       1 packet of Gold Star chili mix
       2 16-ounce cans of red beans (not kidney beans, but small red beans. Bush's is one brand)

        Cook the tomato sauce and chili mix together, with about a half a can of water, for at least 20 minutes. Add the beans and simmer for another 15 minutes. Serve, of course, on thick spaghetti and top with shredded cheddar cheese and chopped onions.

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