Being Vegan

[tragabigzanda]

Hey man no judgment. We’re generally flexitarian — lots of dairy, then meat or fish 2-3 meals a week.

Big challenge is dinner time meals that are vegetarian, easy, healthy, and that my 4-year old will enjoy. Lots of veggie quesadillas, mezze platters, Vietnamese rice noodles, and veggie rice bowls. Try not to lean on pasta too much. Could use more recipes here.

[dad]

I recently picked up this book from the library. Desmond is a gastroenterologist in the UK. I'd heard him on a podcast recently, and picked up the book for ideas for myself, and eventually things I could add to our family menu. At least things that are not a noticeable difference. I do like the veggie quesadilla option though. Good call. My kids also love ramen, and I'm sure there are plenty of meatless options to choose from. Not too into pasta here - hit and miss.



The other piece, which I feel like you've brought up elsewhere (maybe this thread?) is how food is about connecting with people through shared experience, and I've come to appreciate so much more in the last several years. I'd love to get there with my kids with a meal I've made for them. They're also still young...

[tragabigzanda]

Yeah we'll do ramen a lot too, and by that I mean the better quality store-bought instant stuff, with a bunch of fresh toppings.

[Jorge]

bump.

how many plant-based RMers do we have on the board?

What has your journey been like? Did you have any lapses?

Hello. I started doing vegan things at the beginning of 2015. I set up all kinds of rules about when I would eat meat, like only when eating meals with other people, or only when eating with other people if there isn't a good vegan option, or only cheese is OK but not blah blah blah. Quickly I realized that wasn't working and committed more fully.

I'd have months-long periods of being fully vegan followed by months-long periods of being vegan but then eating a donut when someone would bring it into work, or eating fish because that was what was served or whatever. In my head, if I wanted a label I'd use "vegan, but not religious about it". At other points I was probably straight-up pescatarian.

I've been fully vegan since 2020 sometime, I want to say. Well, I did eat fish once in 2022 but it was unpleasant and I think that was the only time.

My motivation started out as environmental and has progressed to being basically just for the animals. Never for my health, honestly. I've never tried to cut junk food out of my diet nor do I ever intend to. I can make lists of the best store-brand accidentially-vegan cookies at four different grocery chains and have very definite opinions about different brands and milk-bases for non-dairy ice creams.

The most sustainable, compelling, and persistent motivation for me has been for the animals. Though I do still think switching to a diet with minimal animal products is probably the most effective environmental action an individual can make. (Happy to follow up with another post about this later on).

So that also means I'm not buying animal products in other parts of my life. My belt is made from cork (company is Corkor, tremendous). My shoes are different canvases and microfibers and whatever. I didn't throw out my wool suit or my leather chair, but when I need to replace them it will be with cotton/synthetic alternatives.

It's not even something I think about too much anymore, it's just kind of my standard. I don't find it holding me back. The only truly horrid part is when you're sharing a meal with someone who has obviously never spent even one second thinking about where their food comes from and they get obsessed with ridiculous questions like "is parmesan cheese vegan?" "where do eggs come from?" "is lettuce technically considered meat?" "is spaghetti vegan?". So that's the worst part.

This is a long post. Please don't read it

How often do you run into those ridiculous-questions people? Are they usually older folks?

[The Argonaut]

How often do you run into those ridiculous-questions people? Are they usually older folks?

Oh yeah, almost exclusively older folks. Last November, my mother (with help) served a fully vegan Thanksgiving, other than the turkey. This blew the mind of every boomer at that table. The joke is that vegans talk about being vegan a lot, try sitting down to a mosly-vegan meal with a 70-year-old.

It wasn't even weird stuff. Maybe a lentil loaf is a little goofy, but how do you have so many questions about mashed potatoes made with soy milk and vegan butter (basically margarine, which has been around forever). One guy asked how we made vegan gravy, then asked how one makes regular gravy. He was astounded that vegan gravy was possible without even knowing what regular gravy is. One person is a literal medical doctor who had questions that were not too far off from "where does milk come from?"

It was astounding (and annoying). And it makes you realize why America needed advice from guys like Michael Pollan about what food is and how to read ingredients labels. Entire generations just mindlessly shoveled whatever we were told was food into our mouths.

My mom is not a chef, but she's basically a chef. She's been cooking family meals on a daily basis since she was about 12. She loves food, she cares about food. She makes stuff from scratch, within reason. That was kind of how I came up thinking about food. But that doesn't seem to be the standard. People do not know how food is made or what it's made of (older people, especially).

[Ello Sailor]

How's her vegan lasagna?

[tragabigzanda]

It’s fine

[wease]

I’m guessing when dad and I meet next month, it won’t be at a steakhouse…

[dad]

I’m guessing when dad and I meet next month, it won’t be at a steakhouse…

I'm not worried. I always find options.

[96583UP]

maybe one day campbell's foods will run a vegan lineup and change the way amuricans think about their foodz

[dad]

How often do you run into those ridiculous-questions people? Are they usually older folks?

Oh yeah, almost exclusively older folks. Last November, my mother (with help) served a fully vegan Thanksgiving, other than the turkey. This blew the mind of every boomer at that table. The joke is that vegans talk about being vegan a lot, try sitting down to a mosly-vegan meal with a 70-year-old.

It wasn't even weird stuff. Maybe a lentil loaf is a little goofy, but how do you have so many questions about mashed potatoes made with soy milk and vegan butter (basically margarine, which has been around forever). One guy asked how we made vegan gravy, then asked how one makes regular gravy. He was astounded that vegan gravy was possible without even knowing what regular gravy is. One person is a literal medical doctor who had questions that were not too far off from "where does milk come from?"

It was astounding (and annoying). And it makes you realize why America needed advice from guys like Michael Pollan about what food is and how to read ingredients labels. Entire generations just mindlessly shoveled whatever we were told was food into our mouths.

My mom is not a chef, but she's basically a chef. She's been cooking family meals on a daily basis since she was about 12. She loves food, she cares about food. She makes stuff from scratch, within reason. That was kind of how I came up thinking about food. But that doesn't seem to be the standard. People do not know how food is made or what it's made of (older people, especially).

Argo, what do you do for your day-to-day meals? Do you meal prep on the weekend? Do you play it by ear?

[Bammer]

I had some very unappetizing chicken yesterday and it’s got me in a vegetarian kick now that will probably last a couple of days.

[The Argonaut]

How often do you run into those ridiculous-questions people? Are they usually older folks?

Oh yeah, almost exclusively older folks. Last November, my mother (with help) served a fully vegan Thanksgiving, other than the turkey. This blew the mind of every boomer at that table. The joke is that vegans talk about being vegan a lot, try sitting down to a mosly-vegan meal with a 70-year-old.

It wasn't even weird stuff. Maybe a lentil loaf is a little goofy, but how do you have so many questions about mashed potatoes made with soy milk and vegan butter (basically margarine, which has been around forever). One guy asked how we made vegan gravy, then asked how one makes regular gravy. He was astounded that vegan gravy was possible without even knowing what regular gravy is. One person is a literal medical doctor who had questions that were not too far off from "where does milk come from?"

It was astounding (and annoying). And it makes you realize why America needed advice from guys like Michael Pollan about what food is and how to read ingredients labels. Entire generations just mindlessly shoveled whatever we were told was food into our mouths.

My mom is not a chef, but she's basically a chef. She's been cooking family meals on a daily basis since she was about 12. She loves food, she cares about food. She makes stuff from scratch, within reason. That was kind of how I came up thinking about food. But that doesn't seem to be the standard. People do not know how food is made or what it's made of (older people, especially).

Argo, what do you do for your day-to-day meals? Do you meal prep on the weekend? Do you play it by ear?

For lunch today I ate a banana, an apple, a Luna bar, and a cup of coffee. Yikes!

[Alex]

How often do you run into those ridiculous-questions people? Are they usually older folks?

Oh yeah, almost exclusively older folks. Last November, my mother (with help) served a fully vegan Thanksgiving, other than the turkey. This blew the mind of every boomer at that table. The joke is that vegans talk about being vegan a lot, try sitting down to a mosly-vegan meal with a 70-year-old.

It wasn't even weird stuff. Maybe a lentil loaf is a little goofy, but how do you have so many questions about mashed potatoes made with soy milk and vegan butter (basically margarine, which has been around forever). One guy asked how we made vegan gravy, then asked how one makes regular gravy. He was astounded that vegan gravy was possible without even knowing what regular gravy is. One person is a literal medical doctor who had questions that were not too far off from "where does milk come from?"

It was astounding (and annoying). And it makes you realize why America needed advice from guys like Michael Pollan about what food is and how to read ingredients labels. Entire generations just mindlessly shoveled whatever we were told was food into our mouths.

My mom is not a chef, but she's basically a chef. She's been cooking family meals on a daily basis since she was about 12. She loves food, she cares about food. She makes stuff from scratch, within reason. That was kind of how I came up thinking about food. But that doesn't seem to be the standard. People do not know how food is made or what it's made of (older people, especially).

Argo, what do you do for your day-to-day meals? Do you meal prep on the weekend? Do you play it by ear?

For lunch today I ate a banana, an apple, a Luna bar, and a cup of coffee. Yikes!

Argo, you should write a vegan entry in the “What’s on the Menu?………………….” thread.

[coptheriotact]

I don’t use meats in my cooking anymore, there’s enough vegetables to substitute in curries, pastas, stir fry’s etc + I love tofu, aurbergines, mushrooms etc

Unfortunately sometimes I go through phases of not cooking enough that If i am too strict in what I don’t eat, it’s no longer beneficial to my health, I used to stick to vegan frozen meals but i struggled with only 10% being vegan, I’d have to buy the same ones over and over and pay more if they weren’t on special.

I can’t afford to eat out very often so when I do, I tend to order whatever I want unless there are actually exciting vegan meals available. (I don’t want to get pumpkin risottto for dinner)

I did feel less guilty being vegan and if I had someone cooking for me all the time I’d probably still be. It’s nice to have less restriction on myself but still focus on cooking without meat wherever possible