The Vegan Thread

Linda saus microwave perfectly happily, so you can do sausage sandwiches in 2 mins at work. All of a sudden, meat eaters are tempted.

Any suggestions for meat restaurants that also have a decent vegan menu?

Gauthier does both

Richmond vegan sausages are in Tesco/da bomb.

Been meaning to try them, I've heard good things! The only Tescos anywhere near me are all pretty small so might have to look elsewhere.

I’ve seen them in Sainsbury’s too

Vegan Galaxy chocolate is pretty good

That looks good.

Thanks for all the tips folks and the friendly welcome. I'm sure I'll be in here bugging you over the next few weeks!

Cheers, I always thought it was just vegetarian.

I'm a bit late to this, but if you're somewhere where there are good vegan restaurants (e.g., London), treat yourselves to eating out, too. It really gave me a sense of what's possible with vegetarian/vegan cooking.

And as others have said, don't worry about 'Veganuary'. I mean, I'm hardly someone to complain about terrible puns, and the 'themed month' thing really seems to work for many people, whether it's about moustaches or something actually important. :)

If you can already cook, that's a huge advantage, and you'll find it very easy to convert your cooking. I had to learn to cook when I went vegan, but it's now one of my favourite hobbies.

Enjoy it!

This has been going on for a while and I've been following it slightly:

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/dec/29/ethical-vegan-jordi-casamitjana-protected-status-court-tribunal

I'm not sure if I'd consider it a good thing if veganism became a protected belief. I completely understand why people want it (and I know many people are currently in situations in which they are discriminated against), but I don't think it's something that only has positives; there's always the official 'othering' (as opposed to the existing unofficial one) that comes with it, and that can be very damaging, e.g. it may make people think of it as more of an inflexible and quite high threshold to cross rather than the gradual adoption of veganism that most go through (which may take longer, but which from talking to people I think is more sustainable and generally longer-lasting). I think I'd rather it continued to gradually seep in. However, I can't predict what consequences this would have, and I may well be completely wrong.

This is a very long article on nutrition, and I haven't read it in full, but I thought I'd post it for those interested in that kind of angle:

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/dec/29/is-veganism-as-good-for-you-as-they-say

I don't know much about nutritional science, but I seem to remember quite a few studies which questioned veganism in similar ways that this article does, because they tend to examine the question of 'what makes us healthier?' in fairly limited ways.

moustaches or something actually important

oi! mustaches are important!

#successfultrollissuccessful

If you can already cook, that's a huge advantage, and you'll find it very easy to convert your cooking. I had to learn to cook when I went vegan, but it's now one of my favourite hobbies.

fully agree.

my cooking was pretty good but when I went vegan I learned a lot of new things and I do enjoy cooking even more now.

Here's another article about farming:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/dec/24/vegetables-vegan-organic-agriculture-farming

I've never been too worried about the fact that much produce is fertilised with animal manure, as I think it's currently not possible for the vast majority of people to source veganically-farmed fruit and veg, and because it's also something that'll sort itself out gradually as veganism becomes more widespread. Obviously, veganic farming is preferable, but I think that with a (hopefully) shrinking animal sector, the economics will turn against animal-derived fertiliser quite naturally.

Got as far as here

The full picture is rather more complex than it first seems. Scientists have found that a combined group of vegetarians and vegans appeared to have a higher risk of haemorrhagic stroke than did meat-eaters. But owing to the small number of vegans in the study, it is hard to draw firm conclusions. “Possible reasons might be related to lower cholesterol levels or a deficiency of some nutrients, such as vitamin B12,” says Tammy Tong, a researcher in the University of Oxford’s Nuffield Department of Population Health.

Vegans grouped together with vegetarians kinda defeats the purpose of investigating whether the plant based diet has a positive impact or not IMO. especially as it sounds like they only had a couple of vegans participate.

“Vegans are also at a higher risk of B12-deficiency, since the nutrient is only naturally available from animal foods. Low B12 levels may be linked to raised blood levels of homocysteine, which may be linked to higher risk of stroke.”

Thought it was generally understood that b12 is actually found in soil. And that most animals raised on processed feed are given it as a supplement, because they are also at risk of being deficient... or something 🤷‍♂️

Yes, what with vegetarians usually taking loads of dairy and definitely not being very comparable.

I get the impression from what I've read over the years that the main natural 'source' of B12 are insects, but that may be nonsense. It may explain it being in the soil, though, and vegetarian great apes are said to ingest it because they don't clean their food of insects.

There are some edible insects that are a great source of b12 but most people aren’t going to want to eat them.
The few animals that are lucky enough to graze in fields get b12 from the soil which is then absorbed by their flesh and subsequently absorbed by people that like eating animals.
The majority of animals however, raised in sheds, are only eating processed feed so they (as in the vast majority) have to get a b12 supplement to assist with their ‘healthy’ growth.
We get none from the soil either as we wash all our veg etc
We’re all being supplemented; vegans are just not getting it via a third party.
Personally I drink a couple of cups of soya or almond milk a day (or have with cereal) as well as taking spirulina and still take a b12 supplement just in case for whatever reason my routine foods are unavailable. It’s water soluble so you can’t OD on it.
If anyone’s in any doubt, Cronometer is a useful tool for checking your balance of micronutrients during your transition stage.

Sorry for slow reply! Haven’t really been on the vegan thread lately!
Recently has been a lot of baked tofu(rolled in ginger and nutritional yeast) stir frys and soups.
Stews with spelted grains and a really good jackfruit and quinoa bake. I fucking hate jackfruit and this was the breakthrough dish for me.

In dirty vegan food news me and LadyLiz are currently in SE Australia, aside from dodging bushfires left, right and centre we’ve eaten damn well here so far. There was a Lord of the Fries on almost every street corner which I presume is the model Temple of Seitan was built on. Big Asian community also meant endless pho, sushi and noodle options. Sadly we didn’t have time to go to Loving Hut so will have to return one day to keep ticking them off around the world...
Yesterday we drove from Melbourne all the way to Paynesville. Our only option mid-drive was the new vegan Whopper from BurgerKing(well, it’s called Hungry Jacks here), obviously I wouldn’t normally give such a scummy company my money any more but I can confirm it was edible at least by the standards of takeaway food. Having never eaten a Whopper before going vegan I have no frame of reference. At a guess it’s the beyond meat patty but could be their own version.

Will get back on the cooking a recipe tip once we’re back home.

If you manage to get as far as Byron, make sure to visit No Bones. Highly recommended

If you end up back in Melbourne, I'd say Tahina, Gringo Vibes or Ballards are all better options than Loving Hut if you're heading to the one in Thornbury. Red Sparrow in Collingwood, Yong Green Food in Fitzroy both good spots too. Union Kiosk in the CBD is a cute all-vegan jaffle spot on Causeway lane.

No soil on my Oca :)

Oca is also an excellent source of zinc (100 grams of oca covers 12% of the daily value for zinc) and vitamin B2 (55% of the daily value)

Source: https://www.healwithfood.org/nutrition-facts/oca-oxalis-tuberosa.php#ixzz69r1L1tUw

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Ha the only reason Loving Hut popped into my head was after finding ourselves in the San Fran one last year and obvs frequenting the one in Archway. Like Pokemon I want to catch em all. Well aware there’s better options available in many places these days ;)

We’re in Paynesville now which is a pretty sleepy little town but the supermarket was well stocked with plenty of options. All the restaurants in town are seafood-based tho. There’s a pretty nice looking one that we might give a try tomorrow evening, if anything it looks modern enough that they’d probably be prepared to whip something up for us.