Last week's mega was so active! Love to see it. How's everyone been?
Please comment below if you want to be on the weekly vegan nerd call!
Join the Vegan Theory Club discord here
Non-human beings are our comrades :vegan-liberation-rad: :vegan-v:
Remember the rules; in particular, this comm is for vegans only. Feel free to discuss anything from beans :bean: to your undying and eternal hatred for carnists. :frog-no-pretext:
:vegan-edge: Veganism isn't a diet, it's about animal liberation.
Veganism is a philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude—as far as is possible and practicable—all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose
:very-smart: Other resources
Short clips to send to carnists (CW):
- DAIRY IS SCARY! The industry explained in 5 minutes
- What's Wrong With Eggs? The Truth About The Egg Industry
Documentaries (CW x2):
The sidebar has other great resources to check out, too.
New weekly mega :vegan-seitan:
@Alf @layla @LibsEatPoop @spring_rabbit @President_Obama @Nepharoni @prolepylene @ZoomeristLeninist @StewartCopelandsDad @EndMilkInCrisps @WoofWoof91 @MF_BROOM @MaybeNickCage @Catherine_Steward @edwardligma @GVAGUY3 @muddi @LegendaryMember @pocket_tofu @Dingus_Khan @CommunistBear @BeamBrain @DirtbagVegan
My first time being tagged in a mega and it feels so special :meow-hug:
can you @ me for the next mega?
also, would it be possible for a mega/stickied thread for curious carnists to ask questions and stuff? before i went vegan i was the annoying person asking a lot of questions and i know that for people starting out it can seem daunting at times. :im-vegan: btw
was thinking about my journey to veganism the other day and how much i was influenced by replaying (lol) vampire the masquerade bloodlines. like the anarchs were the obvious cool faction but then the obvious shortcoming was that they were all about freedom and equality for vampires but still zero concern for all the humans they feed on, so really just a democracy for the ruling class and continued enslavement and death for those they consider lesser. massively hypocritical, and an incredibly unjust hierarchy that goes against everything anarchism is about. not like cool real anarchists like me, nosir. and my brain of course saw the obvious parallel with human cattle and how we treat actual cow cattle and how the vegans would think i was a similar hypocrite, but obviously that was ridiculous because its totally not the same for...reasons? and i really couldnt come up with a good argument to convince myself other than trying to dismiss it with "well obviously its absurd because obviously, theyre animals", but it really kept gnawing at me and i think its actually one of the big things that tipped me over. so yeah :im-vegan: cos i didnt want to be a hypocritical videogame vampire
This is a really good analogy and I'm surprised I never considered it before.
Went on a lovely hangout with a friend. Went to a nice local cafe with outdoor seating to paint our dnd models. I ordered a hummus bagel and a soy london fog. Delicious.
I get home and my intestines start killing me, and then I spend all afternoon in the bathroom.
I think someone poisoned my tea 🤢
The amount of times I order a drink from a cafe/coffee shop and end up getting milk contamination is absurd. Even when I tell them I have an allergy. Best of luck with your recovery
For real. I was lactose intolerant long before I was vegan, and yesterday was rough.
It's a shame, cause that was a really cute cafe and I would love to come back.
Yeah, I've been on a years-long journey of "oh, most of my food/health problems were dairy all along?" which feels crazy to think about. Maybe there are other options there for you though
just doesn’t get anything with dairy alternatives when he goes out
That's probably what I should be doing. But soy chai lattes are too tasty to not have. Having to explain dairy allergies to people in food service is the most frustrating thing. I feel like it's not that hard of a concept but apparently it is. The amount of people who don't understand that butter comes from milk is wild
Looking for good vegan Puerto Rican recipes. My bf is despairing over his inability to cook me his classic family recipes. Family meals were the only really happy times in his childhood so it's super important to him that he can show his love by cooking, so our different diets has caused us a lot of stress recently.
I think if I can find something that hits all the right flavor notes, that he could optionally add meat to if he really insists on it, would go a long way for us.
that he could optionally add meat to if he really insists on it
I would be so insulted if someone added meat to a meal I made
Yeah I'm making a lot of compromises to be with someone who I was with long before I stopped eating animals.
spring_rabbit can have little a cognitive dissonance, as a treat.
Good luck to you. I've had carnist boyfriends and they don't work out for me. Just can't handle someone who thinks so little of the feelings of others that they insist on eating their tortured corpses even when it's completely unnecessary, even at the expense of my feelings. Can't stand the thought of kissing a mouth that has bits of corpse decaying in it.
Don't compromise your heart too much. You deserve someone who cares about what's important to you
Yeah I think I'm hard on the "I can fix him" cope, but we'll see how this goes I guess.
I had to deal with that for a full week last year when I did all the food prep for a backcountry canoe trip with my cousin. Thankfully it wasn't huge amounts/variety since the only thing that'll last out in the woods is cured meat, but it still makes you feel a bit shitty to spend all that effort making it tasty and protein-heavy enough for someone for them to just dump flesh into every helping.
I asked him near the end if there was anything he'd change about the food, and he said, "No, it was all great! I'd just add meat" :sadness:
im completely ignorant about puerto rican food, do you have any example recipes so we could maybe suggest alternatives to the meat in them, or similar vegan recipes?
Well he would probably consider it the greatest of insults if I tried to make asopao without the requisite animal bits, but papas rellenas and rice and peas look like they would pretty adaptable without the beef/pork. Unfortunately most of his childhood comfort foods amount to "meat, but seasoned really special."
Or like a good flan or tres leches recipe would be pretty cool. I want to cook cero leches.
few thoughts that may or may not work:
for that asopao or others that rely on medium-sized animal chunks in a sauce, you could try king oyster mushrooms, which i think are by far the best meat replacement and just so damn good generally. Chopped into decent-sized pieces and scored (important - really helps them soak up flavour) before a bit of frying, they give a really satisfying texture. Well-marinated firm/hard tofu can also help satisfy that craving for chunks of more chewy stuff, although could of course be a harder sell cos of the bad rap tofu gets with omnis. and for the small pieces of ham in that, i think a good replacement for small bits of ham etc in things like fried rice and soups is enoki mushrooms, which i think hit that satisfying texture and flavour note
for the papas rellenas or others that rely on mince, perhaps well-seasoned brown lentils or textured vegetable protein, with the seasoning including some smoked paprika to give more of the mince vibe? they can be bland and a bit weird if not seasoned well but it seems like the spices are doing the heavy lifting here anyway even when theres animal involved
of course you could always try the actual fake meats that people make, but im personally not so into those so i dont really have suggestions, and i kinda think they invite comparison with actual meat and might just really remind him that hes "missing out"
i have zero suggestions for the sweet stuff, sorry!
Why y'all gotta put cashews in everything?
Had to order out for a picnic while my sister was in town, and fucking veggie burgers had cashews in them. Why? What purpose do cashews serve in a veggie burger patty? (I know the answer of course; to spite me personally.)
This is why I cook for myself as much as possible.
(did nail cooking some naan and roasted pepper hummus later tho, so that was good)
mandatory vegan ingredients (must be included in all vegan recipes):
- raw cashews
- nutritional yeast
- garlic powder
- smoked paprika
- virgin coconut oil
non-mandatory (but strongly recommended) vegan ingredients, should be included at least in every meal:
- agave syrup
- pink or black salt
- miso paste
- aquafaba (bean pee)
:im-vegan:
I only went vegan like 6 years ago now, and grew up kinda redneck, so I've had lots of meat when I was young, and tbh I prefer veggie or bean burgers to the impossible burger and the like. They're not meat-like, and that's what I like about them.
But with the cashew thing, I have hella food allergies, including all nuts, so even before I was vegan I avoided restaurants when I could. I've picked up more allergies over my life, but I've always been allergic to nuts, so I have no idea what cashews actually taste like
I prefer veggie or bean burgers to the impossible burger and the like
Hardcore same. I can't stand meat replacements or even cheese replacements. Half the time they taste like tainted meat. A bean burger is infinitely more pleasant imo
Yeah, I've heard that the Impossible Burger is really meant to be geared toward omnis instead of vegans, and I feel like that makes sense. I've never had an Impossible burger before cuz I feel like it would feel like I'd be eating meat and I'd freak out, even though it's obviously not actually meat. I've also heard that it "bleeds" like real meat and smells like it too when cooking, and I always found the smell of cooking ground beef to be revolting.
And besides, I've been vegan for several years now and my diet has gotten so much healthier that I'm a weirdo who now has cravings for and would rather eat bean burgers much sooner than meat substitutes with a shit ton of grease.
I’ve never had an Impossible burger before cuz I feel like it would feel like I’d be eating meat
It sort of tastes like meat, but it tastes like the kind of shitty fast food burger meat that, itself, doesn't really taste like meat. It's perfectly acceptable, not terrible or anything. Still prefer a good bean burger though.
I’ve also heard that it “bleeds” like real meat
This is true, it's really gross and pink and weird.
and smells like it too when cooking
This part is (I think kind of famously) not true though. It smells really weird, some omnis compared it to dog food, and I can't really un-smell that. It's got this weird hint of dried dog food smell, like when somebody opens a bag of the stuff, not especially close to you but close enough that you know what it is.
Overall, a solid 4/10. Acceptable slop. Will provide calories, probably not much else.
The smell is weird. Have you ever smelled an imitation perfume and then the real thing? It's kind of like meat smell, but slightly different and way more intense. Real meat doesn't really smell until you start cooking it, but impossible (and beyond, to an extent) starts smelling like cooked meat as soon as it's gotten warm.
I still like fake meat, sometimes I just want a huge hunk of protein. To each their own ofc.
Garlic chips in place of almonds is interesting, may have to try that!
But sadly, I'm also allergic to Cardamom (black and green), which seems like its in like all Indian food. Still, rice pudding slaps on its own, with just sugar and bit of pumpkin spice. I'm slightly leery of garlic in it, as I have trouble like, mentally picturing how it would taste, but roasted garlic is mild enough I may just need to give it a try, with some substitutions (I may add rice, as I feel like just boiled oat milk would be a little weird; I don't think it 'creams up' as much as boiled milk does).
I do sub sesame/tahini in place of peanuts/peanut butter pretty often tho (I've tried soynut butter, and it just don't hit right tbh, and the other common peanut sub is sunflower butter which... Also allergic :sadness: )
Merriam-Webster just added "plant-based" and "oat milk" to their dictionary: https://vegnews.com/2022/9/merriam-webster-plant-based-oat-milk
In other news, I can't believe they didn't already have plant-based in their dictionary lmao
I can’t believe they didn’t already have plant-based in their dictionary lmao
It seems a bit weird to me, actually. I don't think of plant-based as a word requiring defining, it's two words with definitions already in the dictionary. It's like listing a definition for "stop sign" ... oh wait.
Just seems odd is all lol
If carnists knew what I thought of them, they'd probably never talk to me again
Any recommendations for easy meals for 1? I feel like I should expand my regular repertoire from variations on bowls of beans and grains.
Thanks for the recommendation, I am a fan of thai cuisine so I'll definitely try this.
My easiest and laziest meal is scrambled tofu with veggies and toast. I put some hot sauce on it and use vegan butter on the toast and it's a pretty filling meal (for me, at least). The one thing you'd need to get is kala namak (black salt) for an eggy taste, other than that it's pretty simple and you can add whatever veggies you'd normally like in scrambled "eggs." I use this recipe
I'm not a huge breakfast sort of guy, but i do have black salt so I'll give this a try. Thanks!
when im on my own, stir fry noodles are one of my main easy staples, fry some firm tofu then whatever veg youve got in a wok and add some packet hokkien noodles for a bit at the end, maybe some cashews, and shove on random amounts of soy sauce and vegan oyster sauce and lao gan ma chili oil
also if you make a dish with rice as a side, cook extra rice, then next meal you can just make super easy fried rice (with some frozen veg, soy sauce, tofu or cashews etc for protein, enoki mushrooms if youre going fancy etc)
Oh perfect timing!
I need to make a dish for a potluck tonight, vegan ofc.
Anyone know any good potluck recipes?
https://minimalistbaker.com/pea-pesto-pasta-with-sun-dried-tomatoes-arugula-vegan-gf/
Pea Pesto pasta. Very good hot or cold. I make it all the time although I usually don't add the arugula or sun dried tomatoes
bought a big bag of cashew chunks for sauces, maybe cheese. Used to make margherita pizza a lot and I've been missing it. Any good cheese subs or pizza ideas?
i need help meal prepping pls - i got school plus work i have no tiiiiiiiiime
What have you been making? I find that curries (and rice) last a few days and make for good meal preps
Yeah, that's usually my go to. It's the simplest thing I know how to make that isn't just a sandwich lol. I was just wondering what else people here do for meal prep. On YouTube people are making like five course meals lmao.
Chili and thicker soups are also great options, especially if you have a big pot or an instant pot.
