Before the red blooded meat eating, beer and whiskey brigade have conniptions about my choice of website for this disclosure, let me assure you that good vegan food is very appealing and healthy despite the well-bandied-unhealthy-vegan-walking-advertisements for why you should not go there.
And just to be clear – veganism is the new black in food – super trendy – but eating vegan just to be in vogue does not fly with me. In fact, I despise the Hollywood beautiful who condemn meat eaters for their support of “cruelty to animals”. I think they’ve been watching too many Halal killings and I suspect vegan eating is simply a healthy way to keep their weight down for the next all important movie with bonus PR for joining the politically correct climate change set.
I do not buy into forgoing meat to save the planet as PETA suggests under the heading “Fight Climate Change by Going Vegan”.
If you’re serious about protecting the environment, the most important thing that you can do is stop eating meat, eggs, and dairy “products”.
PETA
Absolute rubbish! Climate change is by no means a proven scientific disaster. The real reason I enjoy vegan food is very simple and non-political – done well it tastes soooo good. I love staying with my vegan family and eating their vegan food because, well, the food is just so damn good, it’s varied and delicious. In fact, I’d swap it out for my humble meaty menu at home any day, but sadly I don’t have the resources, or the inclination, to go fully vegan.
And these days, the nutrition from vegan eating is, in my experience, superior to what you get from the meat and three veg. Here’s a comment from a vegan athlete about getting sufficient daily protein for his muscle repair needs.
Make sure you include a decent protein source, even if just a little bit, in every meal or snack.
“Mainly, this just keeps you mindful and prevents you from slipping into junk-food-vegan, carbohydrate-only mode. It’s as easy as adding nuts or beans to your salad, protein powder to your smoothie, almond butter on your bagel, or beans to your pasta dish (actually not an inauthentic thing to do in italy). for snacks, eat a handful of nuts, spread some sunflower butter on your apple, make roasted chickpeas, dip a pita in some hummus…all of these add just a little bit of protein, but if you eat two or three snacks a day, it all adds up.”
Meat Athlete
Vegan food done well is pretty much unbeatable in my book, in terms of attractiveness, taste and nutrition. Much of it is raw, and creativity successfully substitutes the missing meat, dairy, eggs and fish.
But it’s not easy to produce appealing vegan food – which is why it’s got such a bad rap. That and the concept of roughly chopped raw veg artfully laid on a plate with flowers, fruit and nuts or fake meat is not where good vegan food is at all. Good vegan food has sauces and food combinations to delight the senses. Nuts are used too for vegan milks and cheeses, including Parmesan, and jackfruit and sweet potato replicates the texture of meat.
Vegan desserts are delicious and some of the richest, most decadent you will ever taste. You’d never recognise the lack of eggs and cream.
In truth, I’m a lazy cook – not clever or resourceful enough to reproduce the texture and flavour of good vegan food, so I don’t even bother to try. Plus, it’s time consuming soaking beans and all the rest, and then you’ve got to invest in a myriad of spices, sauces and condiments.
I regard veganism as a new religion, requiring huge dedication and commitment. It’s more than just substituting fake chicken or mince, it’s using a variety of ingredients in a cunning fashion that awakens all the senses, including the palate.
To motivate yourself into the vegan mindset you could watch “Cowspiracy” or “73 Cows”, but I refuse to because, quite frankly, I like eating cows – and pigs and fish and chickens… sorry, they are not my friends – they are my food. Actually, I never met the animals before they became my food, so any moral dilemma is solved right there.
My extended family sigh when hosting the vegans, serving up their bewilderingly bland salad and boiled veg while quietly sniggering about people stupid enough to refuse the hero of their meal, which is always the meat. I don’t bother explaining that good vegan food is an art, and their tasteless offerings would never make the vegan cut in a month of Sunday roasts. There are some things best left unsaid in the interests of maintaining good family relationships.
But I cannot lie, there is nothing quite as good as sneaking out for a crisp, crunchy BLT in the middle of my vegan eating stint. In my part-time vegan world, I happily allow myself the best of both worlds – a foot in both camps. Live and let live, I say – unless you are my food, of course. Also, I’m not abandoning my commitment to our farmers, traditionally the backbone of the economy and hopefully will be for a long time to come.