Vegan foods, yeah or nay?

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madebyyouandi

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Since your looking for topics, what are your feelings on vegan foods? Do you like the hyper processed foods or homemade varieties? Any suggestions for something to try?

Myself, I love sprouted grains and beans. In the summer I'll sprout a great variety of things and grab a handful here and there, toss in a light dressing and wrap in a paratha or tortilla as a snack. 😁
 
I guess I’d say I’m fine with foods that are naturally vegan - fruit and veg, etc. The plant-based meat products I’ve tried, the nut-based fondue/cheeses…not so much.
 
madebyyouandi said:
I love both, but they're so expensive (here). When I get them I can't control my inner mooooo and usually eat it all at once. Have you ever made seitan? It's a fun process.
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Tried to make it without much success. Its quite easily available in supermarkets here these days and not too expensive. Its like making tofu. I've made it from scratch and its a 'fun process' but the best brand here is not expensive and very good.

I cook (and have cooked) a lot of vegan dishes. My adult son became vegan whilst he was still living here and I was a vegetarian in my youth and still eat very little meat. In fact if I think now, I can't recall the last time I ate meat in the last few weeks. I do eat eggs though and find them hard to do without or replicate in vegan food.

Many traditional dishes are inherently vegan anyway. In particular, a lot of Indian food is vegan and I love Indian food!
 
Personally I don't classify a food as part of lifestyle or diet but plant foods are good to eat and I do everyday, but don't bother with plant based refined and processed foods. So to answer your question, yes some vegan foods. :D
 
I love vegetables and think that any diet should have them as the star. However, when the label "vegan" is applied to anything, it's usually trying to compare itself to some kind of animal-based food. You'll never see "vegan broccoli" for example, broccoli just happens to be vegan.

I like vegetables way better when they're just being themselves, and not when they're pretending to be something else. So food that happens to be vegan, I'll all for it! Food labelled as "vegan" because some marketing department thought it might ensnare a few extra shoppers who are vegan-curious but still afraid to step outside of their meat comfort zone? No way.
 
I love fresh vegetables. I hate tofu. So, I'm neutral on vegan food, as a whole.

CD
 
I´ve been cooking vegetarian and vegan food since I was at university. I´ve yet to find a vegetable that I don´t like. I´ll eat nuts, leaves, roots, tofu (doesn´t rock my boat), seitan - no problem - and I´ve never tried to convert anyone else to my style of eating, nor criticized others about their dietary choices.
My concerns about Vegan food are twofold. The first is that there appears to be a certain radicalisation of the Vegan diet, a sort of evangelical crusade to convert the omnivore "sinners" to Veganism, through Hell or high water. I´m opposed to any radical impositions, and will resist them to the last, as I´m sure a lot of people tend to do. Promote veganism, by all means, if that´s what you think is good - but never, NEVER shove it in my face.
Radical options often attract fanatics, instant converts, groupies, who are blindly lead where no blind have ever been blindly lead before. They hysterically embrace a new way of life without ever considering what it really involves, and therein lies the problem. If you decide only to eat plant-based foods, then you also need to understand how your body receives adequate proteins, vitamins, carbohydrates, starch, sugar,minerals, etc. In other words, you need to understand how to balance your diet, because if you don´t, you could easily end up with an inadequate diet or (much worse) a dietary deficiency.
 
I don't think of Vegan as a food, but a lifestyle.

Humans aren't carnivores, or herbivores. We are omnivores. Veganism is a choice to be an herbivore, in a way. As an omnivore, I do eat and enjoy some "vegan foods," just not exclusively vegan foods.

As for the moral implications, there is such a thing as humane farming of animals. On the opposite, "nature" end of things, ever watch one of those videos of a lion chasing down and killing a gazelle? Nothing humane about how animals die in nature. That lion is sometimes eating before that gazelle is even dead.

As for global warming and animal farming, another reason vegans give for eating plants only, if you drive a car to a vegan restaurant with its gas appliances, air conditioning and electric light bulbs, don't preach to me about eating a steak. Not to mention other environmental impacts of vegetable farming, like fertilizers and pesticides.

As for health, some people have certain diets forced upon them due to allergies and other intolerances. Former president Clinton became a vegan after quadruple bypass surgery. He was a junk food junkie before. But, for most of us, it's a matter of balance. Like I said, we are omnivores. We need to eat a balanced diet to stay healthy. In fact, if someone is contemplating going vegan, I suggest they consult a doctor or dietician, and do lots of homework. No matter what you eat, your body needs certain things, and bad things happen when your body doesn't get all of those things.

CD
 
I tried a vegan diet once but I kept forgetting to tell everybody I met that I was a Vegan...so they kicked me out....

No...bad jokes aside...I love all whole foods..vegetables, nuts, grains, dairy, etc...I could survive perfectly fine, as I do go stretches without meat and dairy...but, why bother? I'd have a problem with the lack of variety, or, maybe I just don't know enough about preparing vegan meals..

Oh, and I cut and sell meat for a living so..there's that little detail..:p

Each to his/her own...viva la difference!
 
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Ok, I'll throw my 2 cents in with my bias opinion because I'm not vegan. Not all but some vegans do moralize and feel ethically superior and why in another post I said that I don't understand that stance at all. If your participating in a modern lifestyle with all it's conveniences then you are participating in an unsustainable industrial civilization that on an ongoing basis brutally invades, destabilizes and partakes in the death and suffering and the total destruction of entire ecosystems just to maintain that privileged lifestyle, and to think otherwise is naive.

To say eating meat is bad without any context for example, comparing responsible farming vs industrial slaughterhouses and then saying plants are good without any context comparing permaculture vs industrial agriculture is really just being disingenuous imo. Personally whether your vegan, omnivore or something in between if the food you eat is mostly produced locally, humanely and sustainability then there's a possibility that we all can come together and try to advance the situation we find ourselves together.

The vegan diet and its nutrition landscape is fraught with the misguided and with outright misinformation that is very hard to disseminate for the most part. The main reason is simply the vilification of all animal product for 2 generations, almost 50 years and I must say with very little to no evidence for causality giving the nod nutritionally to plant foods by default.....that moral high ground. Some of the worst foods nutritionally that are found in abundance in the SAD diet are sugar, refined grains and refined seed oils all which can be classified as vegan and have contributed more than any other nutrients to many diseases, especially the cluster where inflammation is the main contributor.

Everyone knows that plant foods are good for us and we should consume them in our diets. Some vegans took it further and said it was a superior diet to all other diets, but when you actually do research and I'm not talking popularity contests I'm talking science, it turns out to more than likely be one of the worst. Certain AA's amino acids that are found either in abundance or only in animal protein like choline, creatine, taurine, methionine, glycine and selenium which are really important for cells development, cognitive functions, brain development in general but very important in children. Other nutrients are slim pickings like EPA and DHA better known as omega's, b12, iron, zinc, calcium, vit A and D. Thyroid hormone synthesis requires iodine, which is pretty lacking in a vegan diet as well and there's so many others as well and I could go on for a few pages, but I won't bore you :laugh:

The food industry and corporations want us confused and to continue to be confused having us believe a balanced diet and that breakfast is the most important meal of the day bullsh1t is choked down our throats from first thing in the morning along with the 4 or 5 meals to follow lol, why because it sells products and they make a lot of money. Going to farmers markets and butcher shops is death and destruction for corporations......buy a range of whole foods that include some animal and some plant and eat when you feel like it. Rant over lol

EDIT TO ADD: Saying all that I do support the basic vegan fundamental ideology of reduced suffering just not the militant stance. A vegan diet can be healthy with proper understanding and nutritional intervention with supplementation. cheers
 
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Not sure where else to put this recommendation but I couldn’t believe these were plant based.


I’ve never tasted a plant based “cheese” that I would eat voluntarily let alone recommend but these guys were exhibitors on the weekend and I couldn’t believe how good their stuff was.


dilectio.com.au/products/


Especially the “goats cheese”. I was really amazed. I thought SatNavSaysStraightOn might jump on them if she comes across them.
 
We eat vegan dishes and have liked them, but I'll never give up meat. Many side dishes we have are vegan. I'll never forget people on a forum I used to belong to suggesting that keepers get their snakes to eat grass or similar. I liked reminding them that they did in a way by eating the pests that do eat the grass etc.
 
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