The Vegetarian & Vegan Thread

[nicestthing]

I'm trying to cut down on soy milk as well; almond milk is rather expensive and making my own isn't cheaper either.
Coconut milk seems to be a good replacement, you can find it at Waitrose and Holland&Barrett and it's about £1.35-£1.50.

 

[cold_sun]

^why do you cut down on soy milk ?

 

[nicestthing]

Seems like these days everything that has got soya in it is highly processed and soya itself isn't as healthy as it's commonly thought.
I've been reading about it for a while and trying to cut down on soya products in general.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/435280-the-downside-of-soy-milk/

http://www.kimberlysnyder.net/blog/...s-about-soy-put-that-soy-milk-down-right-now/

http://mynewroots.blogspot.com/2009/04/rice-milk-101.html

 

[seamnoir]

Non-dairy "Milk" experimentation

Long time vegetarian, vegan as of 5 or so months ago.

On non-dairy "milk":

Over the course of about a month, I decided that I would exhaustively experiment with various vegan milk offered on the market. I tried each for baking, cooking, and caffè lattes. I tried coconut, almond, rice, hemp, and tried 'n true, soy.

SOY MILK is by far the best. I enjoy Kirkland's organic vanilla for baking, cooking, and caffè lattes. Rice and almond are great for pastry making and anything that requires rich binding. Coconut, as well, but not if you're not a fan of the flavor; I love to use it in my Indian curries. Hemp, hemp, hemp... hemp is by far the most foul tasting. I couldn't stomach it for anything, but it didn't hinder my baked goods. I made croissants well with it.

You really can't go wrong with soy. I can make yogurt and curdle it like cow milk and the flavor is just right for me. Baked goods always turn out perfectly with soy milk. Also, soy has the best nutritional profile; from high protein, little fat, vitamins. Rice and Hemp are slacking in those categories. Soy just reigns supreme. I'm sure if you stick with organic then you'll be fine. I have used cashew creme, by Mimi, and I think you can skip it. It's good, but unnecessary and probably only decent when cooked. The cashew flavor is a little too strong for me.

Just thought I'd share .

 

[dauphine]

I was raised vegetarian, my whole family is vegetarian. - I eat meat sometimes, but not around my mom and dad. I also don't really like to cook it, I'm afraid of being the lapsed vegetarian who gets food poisoning. It would be too ironic.

 

[Serenity*Now]

I'm not convinced on the studies in the media re: soy to cut it out completely. [I did a recent search on PubMed for evidence-based studies linking soy and cancer last week, most recently.]
I prefer almond milk and coconut milk to soy milk, however.
We watched "Forks Over Knives" this weekend and I highly recommend that movie to get anyone inspired over the health benefits of going vegan.
It is a challenge, however, and I'm farrrrrrrrrrrrrr from perfect but better than most (of the ppl we know).
Another challenge is trying to find websites that have (GOOD) recipes that do not incorporate sugar or considerable added oils. Really trying to get my fats through whole foods (nuts, seeds, avocados, etc) as compared to EVOO or coconut oil. And "sugar" through fruits (ie, applesauce for baking) or through maple syrup and agave.

 

[lucy92]

its so funny that you mentioned the forks over knives documentary because thats what scared my partner into going vegan!

i love silk soy milk! growing up i always thought i had a lactose intolerance. my parents used to pressure me into drinking cow milk as a child (or i would have to give up dessert at dinner if i didnt finish my milk) i used to have to pinch my nose and quickly gulp the milk in order to actually finish it.

my next objective is to purchase the babycakes cookbook. babycakes NYC is a famous manhattan bakery that is glutin free and vegan.

 

[nicestthing]

A few blogs I visit to get some good gluten free/vegan/raw recipes [not all of them are both gluten free and vegan but most of the time it's easy to find replacements]:
http://ohsheglows.com/
http://sketch-freeveganeating.blogspot.com/
http://happyherbivore.com/
http://mynewroots.blogspot.com/
http://thefruitpursuit.com/ & http://some-like-it-raw.com/all-recipes/
http://rawcandy.wordpress.com/
http://vivelevegan.blogspot.com/
http://www.kimberlysnyder.net/blog/category/recipes/
http://theveganstoner.com/
http://veganyumyum.com/
Hope you'll find something

 

[dauphine]

I just checked out theveganstoner.com

the illustrations are super-cute!

 

[seamnoir]

lucy92, BabyCakes is good, but I've had and bake better desserts than many of it's items; for a drastic fraction of the price, I might add. However, their mint brownie muffin is TDF!

 

[Teja]

A few blogs I visit to get some good gluten free/vegan/raw recipes [not all of them are both gluten free and vegan but most of the time it's easy to find replacements]:
http://ohsheglows.com/
http://sketch-freeveganeating.blogspot.com/
http://happyherbivore.com/
http://mynewroots.blogspot.com/
http://thefruitpursuit.com/ & http://some-like-it-raw.com/all-recipes/
http://rawcandy.wordpress.com/
http://vivelevegan.blogspot.com/
http://www.kimberlysnyder.net/blog/category/recipes/
http://theveganstoner.com/
http://veganyumyum.com/
Hope you'll find something

Thanks for all the links. Some blogs are really interesting and inspiring.

 

[vandekamp]

for three years I've been vegetarian and in early May of 2011 I became a vegan. it wasn't difficult at all for me to give up animal byproducts but I am getting so, so frustrated with my family and generally meat eaters around me who feel the need to pressure me and grill me on what it is exactly that I eat. my mother is supportive of me being a vegan which is important to me, but it's just everyone else around me that I can't stand all of the questions. and it's not like they're generally interested in what I eat - it's more like they're angry that I'm vegan.

I'm sure this question has been asked a million times but how do you deal with people around you that might get angry about your vegan/vegetarian eating habits? I try to not let it bother me, but inevitably it does.

 

[lucy92]

i also would mention that you are just concerned about the quality of the food you eat.

unfortunately in the US (and in many other countries) its perfectly legal for food products to contain a human hair additive which gives processed food their "bounce" etc. (thereby turning you into a cannibal) its also legal to use ammonia on ground beef or beef trimming to kill some germs while never listing it as an ingredient.

 

[Neely]

I'm so glad you bring this up vandekamp. I constantly face scrunity from some family members. Most of the time, I handle it with light humour, but lately I've been triggered by certain comments and I've become very sensitive and frustrated.
Certain people have been pressuring me to eat fish, calling my choice to be vegan a religion and undermine my long term commitment to being vegan. As well they have been attempting to dispute my moral beliefs by asking absurd ultimatums--"oh if you are deserted on an island, and a lion is attacking a human, who would you shoot?" in order to illustrate that I am either a hyprocrite or a misanthrope. And most of the time, I get it, they want to agitate me...and it oftens works .
However, on the other hand, there are wonderful people in my life who support my decisions, and even offer to choose to eat at more vegan friendly restaurants, surprise me with vegan cupcakes and avoid making me feel inferior. I think I just ought to spend my time with those friends instead...

 

[lucy92]

^ i would yawn and say "didnt we already discuss this before?"

or say that this is a decision you have made after consulting your doctor.

 

[tigerrouge]

I certainly believe that you don't need to be vegan or vegetarian to see the sense in supporting someone's efforts to be more conscious about the food we're putting into our bodies.

If friends and family are wary about what a vegan lifestyle might involve, they only have to ask the person, instead of automatically deriding their choices - but for many, it seems easier to approach veganism as something unfamiliar that should be undermined, rather than an opportunity to see and explore new approaches towards food and life.

We don't have to share each other's behaviour in order to learn about the benefits and drawbacks of any particular lifestyle, we just have to have an open mind and be willing to listen.

 

[matryoshkadoll]

Hmm...

for three years I've been vegetarian and in early May of 2011 I became a vegan. it wasn't difficult at all for me to give up animal byproducts but I am getting so, so frustrated with my family and generally meat eaters around me who feel the need to pressure me and grill me on what it is exactly that I eat. my mother is supportive of me being a vegan which is important to me, but it's just everyone else around me that I can't stand all of the questions. and it's not like they're generally interested in what I eat - it's more like they're angry that I'm vegan.

I'm sure this question has been asked a million times but how do you deal with people around you that might get angry about your vegan/vegetarian eating habits? I try to not let it bother me, but inevitably it does.

It is usually based on the presumption that you believe that you are morally superior to them. The best way to deal with them is explain why you are a vegetarian in a calm demeanor and if they continue to be belligerent, it is best to ignore them.

 

[dauphine]

Babycakes is a nice bakery.
But I was not too in to the cookbook, it called for some hard to find ingredients ( Example:xanthan gum - for household baking? Seriously?) But I love Isa Chandra Moskowitz and her cookbooks/cupcake recipes are great and not as complicated.

 

[lucy92]

dauphine, i see that you live in NY. its very easy to get ingredients like that at kalustyans.

 

[dauphine]

That's true, as well as Dual Specialty Store, which is one of my favorites, but I don't like to have to schlep for specific ingredients. I'm having a dinner party tomorrow though and haven't settled on what dessert to make so maybe I should revisit it.