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V-talk: vegan, vegetarian and verisimilitude

windhoek

windhoek

The Phoolosopher
Sorry about the title, I couldn't think of a better fitting word to round things off, even though it obviously doesn't. Anyway, this thread is about vegan and vegetarian foods and lifestyles.

To get things going here's where I'm at: I'm not trying to become vegan, but I've now given up meat, fish, eggs and milk and dairy products; I should clarify, I've still got a wee drop of milk in the fridge and some chocolate in the cupboard which I bought before I decided to give up milk and dairy-based products, which I'll go ahead and consume seeing as they're already out of the supply chain, as it were. But once they're gone, no more milk or dairy products for me.

I was in Tesco earlier on my lunch break and I took a few minutes to see whether milk and eggs were an ingredient in things I might buy and holy shit, milk and eggs are in everything: chocolate, pastries, rice pudding, salad cream, every cake under the sun, pasta this, pasta that... and believe me, the list goes on.

Foods I know that are good to go include: salad stuff; vegetables; nuts and fruit; some if not most breakfast cereal; alternative milk and dairy products like almond milk and vegan yogurt. And then there's vegan replica food: vegan sausage rolls; vegan cornish pasties; vegan fake meat slices, and so on.

Like I say, I'm not trying to become vegan, but somehow I am.
 
Marmite
Don’t forget Marmite.

Not buying processed food is the best thing you can do for your health.
 
Bob McC said:
Marmite
Don’t forget Marmite.

Not buying processed food is the best thing you can do for your health.
Click to expand...

I'm sure you're right. I mean, are there any obese vegans out there? Not many, I'm sure.

And marmite? It's never been on my radar - I must have tried it once and experienced the marmite effect and I've never tried it again :)
 
I've been getting a lot of pleasure from the following salad dish of late: leafy stuff, plum tomatoes, cucumber, celery, mixed olives, Quorn fake meat slices, sprinkle of chia seeds, salad dressing (need to change to oil-based something or other) and a dash of salt and pepper. Boom, happy days are here!
 
I went vegan nearly 6 years ago. Like you, I was a bit stumped initially when checking food labels in the supermarket. Whole aisles were now off limits! Nowadays there are many more vegan versions around. The No Bull burgers are superb, for example.

I try to avoid too much processed food - I eat mostly fresh veg, beans/pulses and rice/pasta/potatoes - and I must say, the inability to grab any old junk food as I walk around a shop must’ve prevented me putting on about half a stone in the past few years!

One thing I would mention is that there’s no need to get obsessed with protein intake. We don’t need anywhere near as much as some people assume. Personally, I try to keep to a high-carb, whole food, low-fat diet. At 40 I’m often mistaken for someone 10+ years younger, and I’m the same weight as when I was 25, so the diet does seem to slow the ageing process as it’s not under attack from all the crap that’s in meat and dairy.

Hope it goes well for you.
 
Derek, Good for you - and good for the environment, and good for animals. I've been vegetarian for nearly 20 years, but still use milk in tea and coffee, butter on bread and eggs for baking. I know - half measures.

However please do remember to take a daily vitamin B12 supplement since there are no good vegan sources of B12 and it can cause nervous system damage if you go without for an extended period.
 
You will find you'l end up doing a lot of food préparation. Salads are pretty straightforward, especially if you expérimenté with different oils, many of which have distinctive tastes. You'll also find that cuisines from Italy and India have high vegetarian content.

I'm not keen on the fake food stuff, main because they often taste fairly ordinary, but mostly because the adventure starts in your kitchen. Things like falafel are a taste delight, as even the humble chip can be. You'll find there are things you need to watch though. For example, I made , or was going to make, babaganoush tonight. Forgot the tajine, so rushes down to the shops. As I cycled up the street to home I heard a loué explosion. Quick investigation proved it to be coming from my kitchen. The aubergines I'd left in the ovnr to cook had all exploded.

The babaganoush still tasted good, though. I did wonder, as I scraped them from the over walls into the bowl, exactly how healthy they'd be, but, hey, at 180°C most germs will turn their toes up :)
 
B12 is why I still take milk and the occasionnel egg. The body stores excess B12, which is handy
 
There's a lot of stuff now I quite like Wheaty
chorizo and Applewood cheese (it melts on pizza etc) as well as tofu seitan tempeh.Best to stick to non processed though.
Have a look at Bosh on YouTube.
 
avole said:
B12 is why I still take milk and the occasionnel egg. The body stores excess B12, which is handy
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Due to the low bioavailability of the B12 in eggs, you’d have to eats hundreds of them to get the B12 RDA. If, as you say, you’re only eating eggs for the B12, it would be better to stop as the other negative health effects far outweigh the extremely minimal B12 effect. The egg industry like to push info saying eggs have B12 but it’s not in an easily absorbable form.

People with the highest B12 levels tend to eat fortified cereals and plant milks - which also have other health benefits like high fibre content - I usually just have a small daily tablet. Meat can have some B12 as animals like cows and sheep can absorb B12 made in their own guts, it also gets faeces on it during slaughter and eg. cattle are often injected with it, so it can come with that steak dinner too.
 
I'm not strictly vegetarian or vegan but I enjoy the food, mostly. Like @avole though I steer well clear of fake foods and substitutes. Vegan meat substitutes and cakes are particularly disgusting imho.

One thing I find slightly irritating is when people confuse vegetarianism and veganism. A strictly vegan world would be a very different place which I'm not totally convinced some who claim to be vegans fully understand or appreciate.
 
Pretty much plant based here. I go through phases of 'if its got a face or an arse I'm not eating it'. Once in a blue moon I'll fall off the wagon.....staying with a family in a hut in Borneo where their 5 yr old caught the chicken we were to have for tea.....It was lovely.

I've a few vegan mates......You'd know they were vegan within seconds as they are consumed with the constant desire to let everyone in a 2 mile radius know.

I eat nothing out of a tin other than tomatoes or beans (and only these as I cannot be arsed soaking dried ones).

I cook most evenings from fresh and try to buy fresh daily. If it cannot be in front of me in 20 odd mins I'm not interested. Pretty much addicted to Thai and S.E. Asian food at the moment.

I can highly recommend https://www.realfoodsource.com/

I've kind of stopped buying almonds and almond milk thats sourced from the US as I believe they aren't too nice to their bees out there.
 
windhoek said:
I've been getting a lot of pleasure from the following salad dish of late: leafy stuff, plum tomatoes, cucumber, celery, mixed olives, Quorn fake meat slices, sprinkle of chia seeds, salad dressing (need to change to oil-based something or other) and a dash of salt and pepper. Boom, happy days are here!
Click to expand...
Quorn is very processed, I think. I much prefer soya based products.
 
vince rocker said:
Quorn is very processed, I think. I much prefer soya based products.
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Quorn is grown from a mould. I've just done some manufacturing work for them so I can give you chapter and verse on the manufacturing process. It's heavily processed, but so is Marmite.
 
windhoek said:
I've been getting a lot of pleasure from the following salad dish of late: leafy stuff, plum tomatoes, cucumber, celery, mixed olives, Quorn fake meat slices, sprinkle of chia seeds, salad dressing (need to change to oil-based something or other) and a dash of salt and pepper. Boom, happy days are here!
Click to expand...
Salad dressings are easy. Oil of any flavour you like, vinegar likewise, lemon if you want, mustard, salt and pepper, herbs or garlic if that's your thing. Bung it in a jar, shake. Very tasty. I'm reducing my meat consumption, I like vegetables and especially beans.
 
I'm sure I've read online - first mistake right there - that B12 from tablets can only be absorbed very slowly so that there's no point in taking more than two a week; a tablet a day makes for expensive piss. I've been taking B12 tablets twice a week for a few years as my meat intake had been low for years and now it's down to zero.

I forgot to say, I'm also off honey.

If I was travelling in a developing part of the world and found myself staying in a small village and I was offered meat, fish, eggs, honey or milk I think I'd probably accept. But as long as I stay here and alternatives are available, an alternative diet it is.
 
What you say applies not just to developing parts of the world, by the way. Living part of the time in SE Asia and eating out a fair bit, I'm well aware that some of the street vegetarian food does contain in particular chicken and seafood stock. That said, the tofu dishes are magic, and you soon get used to the high chilli content. in most of the street food.

I also eat and enjoy stacks more fruit than I ever did. The downside is that I've lost interest in alcoholic drinks. I'll have a béer in social company when out, but the fridge has long been empty, as has the wine cellar.
 
windhoek said:
Like I say, I'm not trying to become vegan, but somehow I am.
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But why are you changing your diet in this way ?

(my 19 year old daughter has been vegan for 3 years, so I, her pescatarian father, support this by buying 95% vegan for the household. I strongly feel there is an environmental imperative for humanity to adopt a vegan diet & consider it a lack of consciousness on my own part that I have not quite done so. Lots more to write, but I’m out for the rest of the day. Btw, Quorn has egg white in it, unless you’re buying the new vegan Quorn which is still not available in NL)
 
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