Sunday, January 30, 2011

I'd love to know

What was the biggest change for you when you went vegan? What foods did you eat at first? What did you miss, if anything? What was your favorite meal to make when you first went vegan - what are YOUR standby meals - for anytime of day - when you just don't know what else to make?

If you were going to add something to a Vegan 101 class, what would it be?

12 comments:

  1. I'll just answer these one-by-one. :)

    What was the biggest change for you when you went vegan?

    Eating at restaurants! One of the things my husband and I used to do together a lot was eat out. Now it's much harder for us to do so, especially since I also have to keep a low-gluten diet.

    What foods did you eat at first?

    I went vegan in the summer and we'd already signed up for a CSA, so I was eating a lot of fresh veggies! I also admit I spent a lot of time looking for the perfect cheese substitute (which I found in Daiya).

    What did you miss, if anything?

    Being able to eat at restaurants easily. And cheese, at least at first. Although I think I'm a 'real vegan' now - the other day I made my husband something containing cheese and nearly gagged at the smell. Ok, I'm kidding about the 'real vegan' part, but it surprised me that I was so turned off by a food that I used to LOVE!

    What was your favorite meal to make when you first went vegan - what are YOUR standby meals - for anytime of day - when you just don't know what else to make?

    Fave: Scrambled tofu, which is STILL one of my favourite meals. :)

    My standby meals are stuff like:

    - scrambled tofu with toast and maybe roasted potatoes if I have time
    - Pasta with a simple sauce, like a vegan pesto or tomato sauce with lots of sauteed veggies
    - pancakes (easy to make vegan)
    - Curry - Thai or Indian, easy to make and delicious
    - Stir fried veggies over rice or rice noodles with a simple sauce
    - if I'm in a huge rush: veggie burgers with a salad or soup from a can/jar. Amy's brand makes good ones.

    For all of those I do gluten-free versions, but they're easy to keep gluten-y too. :)

    If you were going to add something to a Vegan 101 class, what would it be?

    Info about vitamins, especially Vitamin B12, Iron, and Vitamin D (warning that D3 is animal based, D2 vegan-friendly).

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  2. The biggest change was how much time I spent cooking. I make most things from scratch now and rarely use anything packaged. And when I first went vegan I definitely missed cheese and dairy but I found after about 3 or 4 weeks that was gone. And I missed convenience foods, like running through the drive-thru. At first, I relied on veggie burgers and gardein pretty heavily but quickly I tried so many new veggies and preparations, I bought about 4 cookbooks and was fortunate to test recipes for a vegan cookbook, all of which helped me broaden my horizons and menus. If I were to add something to a vegan 101 class it would have to be how to cook tofu. There are so many ways and types that I think alot of people are intimidated but once you learn what type/brand/preparations you like it makes it so much easier and then you will start to crave it just like you used to crave bacon cheeseburgers, I do at least!

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  3. biggest change for me was not having 4 kinds of cheese in my refrigerator at one time. i ate the foods i eat now- however now i am eating a wider variety of veggies and such. i still miss and probably will always miss salami. not sure if we will ever have a substitute for that. standby food items i always have on hand are pasta, apples and bananas. i make pasta of some sort every week. it's one of my favorite things and is a great easy standby dish to create.

    i would recommend people tackle the obvious things first, then start to learn more and incorporate that into their life too- hidden ingredients, buying or making vegan personal care products etc. i'd also remind them that a slip up doesn't have to mean a give up- we are all just doing the best we can- and to continue on this compassionate pathway is the best choice anyone can make- no matter how perfect or imperfect.

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  4. Avocado and tomato sandwiches saved me when I first went vegan. I had been vegetarian for a year, and I made potatoes O'Brien, and pizza bagels pretty often in my pre-vegan days. I really missed Haagen Dazs coffee ice cream for a long time. I ate gallons of that stuff before. I think I started just making baked potatoes and roasting vegetables at first. And lots of pasta with marinara. The biggest change for me was explaining to friends and family what I would and wouldn't eat. I started bringing food to holiday gatherings, and figuring out what was vegan friendly at the restaurants we frequented.
    Now I eat a lot of mashed potatoes, pasta, stir fried veggies, beans and rice! with guacamole, and soup. I scoop up a ton of Amy's non-dairy vegan burritos whenever they go on sale.
    I would tell people just starting out on their vegan adventure, to not let anyone bother them about their journey. If you accidentally eat something that isn't vegan, it doesn't mean you've failed. You just move on, and try your best. Everyone has their own timeline. If you get confused about why you're doing this, or disheartened, go back to whatever made you consider veganism. Read up on factory farming, and the fur industry, and health studies about the benefits of cutting meat and dairy out of your diet. Get informed about nutrition so when people give you a hard time about protein or whatever, you can shut them down.

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  5. What was the biggest change for you when you went vegan? Not eating with my family? Being more limited in restaurants? I really can't remember!

    What foods did you eat at first? This is horrible, but I really can't remember. I worked in a NFS and we sold these delicious breaded tempeh cutlets (this was already 3-4 years in tho). Stuffed cabbage, marinated tempeh cutlets, tofu spread on sammies, too long ago! I should've kept a journal.

    What did you miss, if anything? I was a big cheese eater, so maybe that? I dunno, probably cheese on pizza. But when I went vegan, there really wasn't any vegan cheeze on the market. Now there are so many recipes to make your own as well, back in the early 90s, not so much. Also my mom has always been a great accommodating cook. I would definitely had missed her yummy Thanksgiving sides, but she has made me vegan versions, and now all vegan as long as I can remember.

    What was your favorite meal to make when you first went vegan. I like to experiment. My first cookbooks were Moosewood and The enchanted broccoli forest, tofu cookery, The New Farm and Friendly Foods. I cooked out of The Farm quite a bit. The two recipes that stand out from Moosewood were the broccoli and tofu number with pb sauce and my favorite to this day: Sri Wasano's Infamous Rice Salad. That stuff is amazing. The farm taught me how to make "normal" stuff. I also lived with a friend who was a big cook, so we played around with stuff a lot.

    what are YOUR standby meals - for anytime of day - when you just don't know what else to make? I keep brown rice in the fridge and mix it with nutritional yeast and kimchi. That's a gem of mine. I also like pupusas and pasta. Anything Vietnamese--salad rolls are great for a quickish meal. So are the veggie burgers in Vegan Vittles--just tvp, oats, flour and pb with whatever spices you want and soy sauce.

    If I were going to add to a 101 class, it would be fun to do a loaded pizza. Or to show how yummy and delicious nuts can be utilized. I wish I knew about soaking cashews when I first went vegan. I never buy soy creamer. Or even making icecream would be fun.

    xo
    kittee

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  6. Biggest change when I first went vegan was cooking more. I guess a lot of people say that, when I first went vegan, I really did a lot of cooking. Now Jake does the majority of it, which I love.

    I really loved )& still do, although we never eat it) the lentil loaf recipe from the New Farm Cookbook, that's a great cookbook & has a lot of really fun recipes.
    I still miss cheese. I blame it on the Wisconsin part of my family.

    Stand-by meals, grilled diaya & tofurky, anything with field roast in it, anything involving dave's bread, jake's biscuits & hand pies, roasted root veggies, stir-fry with rice noodles, and the old stand-by: tofu scramble.

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  7. 1) What was the biggest change for you when you went vegan?
    Everything! It completely changed my view of humanity's place in the world, and my view of (farm) animals. It introduced me to food politics and the propaganda, corruption, and injustices behind it. It revolutionized my idea of what a healthy diet is. Finally, it made me aware that I have a choice and I have purchasing power as a consumer.
    On the food front, I had learned to cook and began cooking more from home, using raw ingredients/whole foods. For the first time in my life, I bought flour. That was a revolutionary change.

    2) What foods did you eat at first?
    A lot of hummus. Lol. I also made a lot of sandwiches, soups, curries, and tofu dishes.
    I also made sure I went out and found veganized versions of things that I thought I would miss. So I picked up Field Roast Sausage, Coconut Bliss Ice Cream...etc.
    3) What did you miss, if anything?
    I missed a lot of things... pulled pork sandwiches, bbq pork buns, whole hard boiled eggs, fish sushi, drinking milk from the carton (I do that with almond milk now), brie, reese's pieces.... I didn't go vegan because I didn't like the taste of meat, dairy, and eggs. But you know... as time passed, and with the more I learned, the cravings subsided and I started craving other things, like tofu scrambles, pad thai, pumpkin curry... Plus with my increased knowledge about the issues and health benefits and my increased consideration of animal's rights, it became easy. Goat cheese was the easiest thing for me to stop craving after I met/played with some goats at Animal Acres. I never craved an egg again after meeting a chicken who was just recently rescued from a battery cage. Also when I first started out, I remember I missed being a care-free, naive consumer. It would be so much easier to NOT have to check if a shoe is made of leather or if my bath wash was tested on animals, but once again, this got easier with time and I love knowing that my dollars are going to companies and products that are in line with my values.

    4) What was your favorite meal to make when you first went vegan?
    Saffron-spiked Morrocon Stew, Chana Masala, and Pumpkin Curry from the Vegan Table. (Actually , I still LOVE making these.) The flavors are complex and amazing. I also just loved/still love making things that people can't believe are vegan, like mac n' cheese, desserts, savory pear/fig/sage tarts. Anything that can challenge the myth of "bland" vegan food!

    5) what are YOUR standby meals - for anytime of day - when you just don't know what else to make?
    My stand-by meal, even before going vegan, was a good ol' PB&J w/B (Peanut butter and jelly with banana slices). It can be made in 5 minutes, consumed in less, and has the salty, sweet, satisfactory 500 calories I need to get me through my work day. Other standbys: Blueberry smoothies, Cereal with Almond milk, Oatmeal with walnuts/raisins, Pad Thai, BBQ Tofu Sandwiches with Avocado (so good), Pasta with field roast sausage and some veggies (Penne Arrabiata), Garlic and Greens Soup.... and the list goes on...

    6) If you were going to add something to a Vegan 101 class, what would it be?
    Required Reading: The China Study, Food Revolution.
    Required Watching: Earthlings, Forks Over Knives, Fowl Play, The Cove
    Required Listening: Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's free podcast: Vegetarian Food for Thought.
    Recommended: SporkOnline.com membership for 6 months.

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  8. Very recently started my Vegan journey. First thing I noticed was a change in my skin. It feels and looks smoother. Breakouts stopped and itching went away. What a relief!

    Don't miss much yet because I'm enjoying trying new things.

    101 suggestion: a complete list of must-have items for the pantry. I finally have everything in-house to put together a recipe. It took several runs to the store.

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  9. What was the biggest change for you when you went vegan?
    - I kind of drew a big, fat blank when I first went vegan. I knew what I definitely did NOT want to eat, but I had no idea what was left! I was just 19 when I leaped into veganism (after being a pretty unhealthy vegetarian for 8 years prior), so I was clueless. It took learning how to cook to get my health back on track. Also, eating in restaurants was a nightmare in those early years. I'm much more savvy now.

    What foods did you eat at first?
    - Ugh, SO MANY MOCK MEATS. Veggie burgers, veggie dogs, Amy's frozen meals, pasta with plain red sauce. It was bad.

    What did you miss, if anything?
    - ice cream (at the time, all of the soy substitutes were GROSS). But more than any food, I just missed the CONVENIENCE of being vegetarian.

    What was your favorite meal to make when you first went vegan - what are YOUR standby meals - for anytime of day - when you just don't know what else to make?
    - stir fries and curries are my go-to hot meals. Otherwise, big green salads or raw veggies with hummus are pretty frequent lighter meals.

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  10. What was the biggest change for you when you went vegan? Eating out at restaurants. At first I wasn't very comfortable asking about ingredients and such when dining out.

    What foods did you eat at first? I relied to heavily on pre-packaged meals like Amy's frozen foods and veggie patties. Sometimes I would just have cereal for dinner. It took me a little while to get the hang of cooking good food.

    What did you miss, if anything? Cheese, cheese, and cheese. I was vegetarian for more than 10 years before going vegan, and I ate way too much cheese as a vegetarian.

    What was your favorite meal to make when you first went vegan? Sandwiches. Usually veggie sandwiches with tempeh or tofu and hummus spread.

    What are YOUR standby meals - for anytime of day - when you just don't know what else to make? I still like sandwiches as a standby meal, but I like fancier sandwiches with things like avocado spread, bruschetta, artichoke dip, homemade seitan, romaine lettuce or spinach, good bread, etc. Pasta dishes are always a quick meal for a weeknight, too.

    If you were going to add something to a Vegan 101 class, what would it be? How to find vegan bread in stores! I used to spend way too much time reading labels on mainstream loaf bread brands in grocery stores before I figured out that the vegan bread is hiding in the aisles of natural food stores (with much shorter ingredient labels).

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  11. this is so interesting! the themes are showing themselves...restaurants are tough, everyone eats a lot of pasta, misses cheese & many of us love the new farm cookbook. thanks everyone who wrote, it's fun to think back to the beginning, no matter if it's recent or long, long ago. it's also very helpful to me!

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  12. What was the biggest change for you when you went vegan?
    Convenience and impulse. Not being able to grab anything, anywhere. In the long run it's great, but it took some planning and getting used to.

    What foods did you eat at first?
    Faux meats and omni subs, which made the transition easier. I wasted a lot of time trying to make my food look like it used to!

    What did you miss, if anything?
    Alfredo. Pizza (Daiya changed that). Tuna sammies when I was pregnant.

    What was your favorite meal to make when you first went vegan
    Anything with Soyrizo! I was obsessed. Pretty much all the pre-made, packaged crap. I wanted to try it all. Yeesh

    - what are YOUR standby meals - for anytime of day - when you just don't know what else to make?
    GREEN SMOOTHIE!!!

    If you were going to add something to a Vegan 101 class, what would it be?
    A section on good, whole foods/homemade vegan protein, ie instructions how not to become a carbitarian! =D

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