Bits and Blurbs in the Media

I've fallen out of the habit of commenting on articles of less significance --albeit still of interest to some vegans -- that pop up in mainstream media from time to time. I'll try to be a bit more vigilant and throw out the occasional find. Today's, for instance:


An article in Maine's The Portland Press Herald today contained a lot of information about vegan and vegan-friendly eateries in Portland and elsewhere in Maine. I was surprised to see them leave out Belfast's vegetarian/organic and vegan-friendly Chase's Daily, as well as the deli at the Belfast Food Co-op. Although I never got around to blogging about them, I visited both (the Co-op repeatedly so) while vacationing in the Belfast and Searsport area along the Maine coast a few years ago and really enjoyed both places.

Although it seems to be put forth more and more often as a given in mainstream media, it's still unfortunate that the article equates "becoming vegan" with eating "a totally plant-based diet" and adopting a new "dietary style". Veganism is, of course, much more than a diet.

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The Evansville Courier Press featured an article in which a local chef was asked how he would handle catering a large party with vegan appetizers. It's a mostly positive article but for a guy who stresses the need to "think outside the box", it seems that many of the appetizers are just traditionally animal product based ones for which he uses commercial processed substitutes -- vegan mayo or sour cream, for instance. It's true, though, that there are tons of readily-available, easy to use and tasty substitutes that can be had for most animal products these days and that most of them can be shuffled in to whip up snacks quickly. However, he makes it evident that he's not yet experimented the most recent and popular cheese substitutes like Daiya or Follow Your Heart when he mistakenly asserts that "vegan cheese does not melt". Still, it's always nice to see a positive article stressing that preparing delicious food without animal-based ingredients isn't difficult.

I Know You Miss...

Bring up the issue of using meat analogues (or "mock" meats) on any vegan forum and you have my guarantee that the responses you will obtain will be quite varied; a few may even end up being of surprising intensity. Some love them and incorporate them readily into their regular meals, while other vegans feel pretty wigged out by what can sometimes be their fairly realistic taste and texture. Some view them as convenient, particularly when serving meals to non-vegans who are accustomed to having meals revolve around animal flesh; others view them as a reminder of the fact that most of society views meals as necessarily revolving around animal flesh. Some will even go so far as to express outright disapproval of their consumption. Some, on the other hand, address it with a bit more levity.

Whole Foods

My own journey towards veganism was long and slow, starting out with a vegetarian diet (too) many years ago which involved basic whole foods from the start. When I first decided to stop eating meat back in university, even tofu was something you could pretty much only find in bulk in a bin at a health food store. Most of the books on vegetarianism available to me were old natural foods cookbooks from the 60s and 70s I managed to find in secondhand bookstores (think Recipes for a Small Planet, for instance); they obviously predated what's become the mainstreaming of processed vegan foods. Instead of calling for a tube of Gimme Lean, a "meat" loaf recipe was more likely to call for mashed soybeans, nuts and vegetables. Burger recipes often consisted of beans, whole grains and grated vegetables instead of anything intended to in any way replicate the taste or texture of beef. I learned to cook from scratch in this manner and most of my cooking didn't involve trying to mimic animal products.

An Expanding Niche Market

Times have changed, though. At some point, soy dogs started to pop up everywhere, along with a growing variety of hamburger-like veggie burgers. Soy-based deli slices -- mock pepperoni, salami, smoked "turkey" and so on -- began to show up in ordinary supermarkets. The more time passed, it seemed, the wider the variety of options which became available -- and the more realistic those options became. Living with a non-vegetarian at the time whose mantra was "If you cook it, I'll gladly eat it!" but who himself tended to lean towards convenience when needing to forage in the kitchen, I started to include some analogues on our shopping lists. I tried some of them out of sheer curiosity and ended up using some semi-regularly for convenience or variety. I'll admit that first tube of Gimme Lean! I bought after years of not having had animal products really wigged me out, although I quickly got used to it, knowing that it was plant-based.

Say "Cheeze"!

Processed fake cheese products have also increased in variety and improved tremendously in taste and texture. I remember the first time I had soy slices before going vegan and how they invariably seemed to contain casein and to smell like old sneakers. Perhaps because of this, most discussions of satisfying "cheese" cravings on the vegetarian and vegan message boards I frequented at the time involved recipes for nutritional yeast sauces or discussions of Joanne Stepaniak cookbooks, which included recipe for soy, nut or nutritional yeast "cheeses" of wide-ranging flavour and consistency. Today we have any number of completely vegan-friendly cheese analogues available, including Teese, Sheese, Follow Your Heart's Vegan Gourmet line and the latest (and it seems most popular) addition, Daiya.

At first only available in selected US restaurants or by mail order, Daiya has ended up in health food stores across North America and is now, too, becoming available in regular supermarkets. When it was first introduced in one chain's store in my tiny city, the 2-3 dozen packages of cheddar and mozzarella Daiya were sold out within a few days. Aside from being completely vegan, Daiya is also soy-free and has that rare trait that cheese substitute manufacturers have tried in vain to reproduce for years -- it's stretchy like dairy cheese.

The cheese substitutes have been an occasional indulgence for me. I've most often picked them up when I've had non-vegan house-guests, although I do wholeheartedly appreciate a good plate of nachos topped with gooey Nacho Vegan Gourmet or Daiya Cheddar Style Shreds. Although I'm generally quite thrilled with topping pizza with sweet potatoes or hummus and a mixture of tasty and tangy vegetables (see photo below on the left), sometimes it's nice to indulge in some Daiya Mozzarella Style Shreds just for kicks (see photo below on the right). Unlike many meat analogues, which are often fortified with any number of additional vitamins and minerals, cheese "subs" are often bereft of any notable nutritional value and on top of their being processed foods, are also rather junk-y foods..










Assumptions

Not being a heavy or frequent consumer of meat or cheese substitutes, I've never really thought about how their consumption could appear on the outside looking in. At least I didn't until I had a conversation with a non-vegan friend one day about my experimentation with Daiya when a local health food store first began to carry it. I mentioned pizza and she brought up that she'd had friends over the previous weekend for pizza and movies. She told me that she'd mentioned to one of her guests how I would have loved to have been there, but that it would have been "cruel" for me, since I "missed cheese pizza" and had told her once, many many years ago, how I used to love Italian sausage on my pizza. She told me that she figured that it would have been tempting for me. I asked why she'd think that and she said that I was "obviously excited about finding substitutes to satisfy my cravings".

I sat back at that point and then mentioned to her that after many years of not eating meat and years of not eating cheese that I craved neither. I told her that I now associate animal products with the animals from whom they're taken and that this involves being aware of how that comes to happen -- something I completely reject on both intellectual and visceral levels. I pointed out that during most of my transition to veganism, I'd settled into making dishes which didn't really involve trying to substitute animal products. "Yeah, but you're obviously excited about Daiya for a reason," she said. I wasn't, though. At least I wasn't for the reasons she was assuming.

Substitutes have generally been items I've used to offer up to non-vegans to make plant-based foods feel more familiar to them. Daiya was (and is) just a fun plant-based ingredient for me to use to make dishes I used to make. It's just one of several plant-based options for me and since most of my cooking over the years has involved -- and still involves -- focusing on whole foods, processed substitutes aren't things upon which I rely at all. But after that conversation, I was left wondering how it appears on the outside looking in and what, if anything, I needed to do to address that. The truth is that I don't crave animal flesh and that the idea of deliberately consuming animal products is repugnant to me. I recognize analogues for what they are. They may provide some sense of familiarity, but without exploitation -- which is what I reject. I don't "miss" eating animal products, but I wonder if my sometimes consuming analogies is sending out a different message to non-vegan friends and family members. Could this be one more thing that needs to be lumped in when educating non-vegans about veganism?

Hot Noodle Soup on Xmas Day

My non-vegan guest is a huge fan of chicken noodle soup, whether his mother's or from a can. While he was squeezing in a nap after our simple veggie burger lunch, I made the following no-fail easy noodle soup, adapted from one in Dorothy R. Bates' TVP Cookbook. This stuff always reminds me of the lazy Sunday lunches when I was a kid, when Mom would pop open a can of Campbell's soup or pouch of Lipton's and serve it up with grilled cheese sandwiches.

Noodle Soup

What you need:

1 medium to large onion (red or yellow), diced
2 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
6 cups water
1 cup TVP granules
2 cups noodles of your choice, broken
1 vegetable bouillon cube
salt (if any) to taste
1 Tbs dried parsley
1/3 cup good quality nutritional yeast (I prefer Red Star)

Whatcha do:

Heat olive oil in a medium-sized pan and add diced onion. Cook until onion has softened and just started to brown.

Add the water, noodles, TVP and break the bouillon cube into it. Stir well and bring to a quick boil, then reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer until noodles are on the verge of being perfect (around 10-15 minutes or maybe less depending on size of noodles you're using). Mix in parsley and when noodles are perfect, stir in the nutritional yeast until it's dissolved.

Ladle into hot bowls and top with a pinch of dried or fresh parsley for garnish. Serves 4-6.

Veganism in the News

I read a disappointing piece about veganism this morning on the North Jersey website ("It's vegan, but is it healthful?"). Writer Jeanine Stein found a couple to profile in her article about the unhealthiness of plant-based diets. The couple consists of one self-labeled vegan and a fish-eating non-vegan who doesn't eat dairy, eggs or other animal flesh. Stein basically found the vegan naysayers pot of gold in their kitchen, writing that

a lack of time and planning has cornered the couple into relying on fast-food burritos, protein bars and potato chips. They cook few dinners at home, and Watson’s diet is dangerously low in protein and calcium. Neither gets all the vitamins and minerals needed; even some of the processed vegan foods they favor are low in essential nutrients.

The vegan of the two claims to have gone vegan for environmental reasons and is described as a die-hard reader of labels who only checks labels for animal ingredients (i.e. obviously not for nutritional information). When the writer Stein raids their fridge, she finds little produce, but mostly processed foods (albeit, some of it enriched garbage) -- lots of meat and cheese substitutes, soy mayo, some buns and almond milk. Making an assumption that too many non-vegans make that specific plant-based substitutes are also supposed to substitute the exact nutritional value of their animal-based counterparts, she paraphrases a registered dietitian as noting the low protein content of the almond milk and the low calcium content of the cheese.

What's not mentioned is that the meat substitutes in their fridge are very likely very high in protein (check the side of one of a package of some of the stuff and you'll see what I mean). Also, Stein goes on to describe the contents of the couple's cupboard, which include "high-protein pretzels, plus cans of green beans, lentils, garbanzos" -- all high-protein items, thus making the dietitian's fear mongering about the vegan's possible protein deficiency thanks to her almond milks and cheese substitute seem even more pointless.

A token mention is made of a kitchen garden in which the couple grows some lettuce, tomatoes and herbs, but the truth is that they're not eating anything vaguely resembling a healthy variety of nutrient-dense fruits and vegetables. Along with the aforementioned potato chips, the vegan's favourite daytime snacks are listed as crackers and cookies. And where the dietitian could step up and address this lack of fruits and vegetables in the couple's diet, the focus is left on the protein shortcomings of the almond milk and cheese substitute and it's then pointed out that vegan's diet is also potentially very low in calcium. Considering that a cup of the almond milk in their fridge ordinarily contains 25-30% of the recommended daily value of calcium and that a cup of those chickpeas in their cupboard would provide 8-10%, would it have been so hard to mention that adding a cup of kale or spinach a day to that would add another 22-24% and that a cup of calcium fortified cereal could provide 10-100% while a cup of calcium-fortified orange juice could easily provide 25-30%? Yet, the dietitian suggests supplements, adding that "B-12 and iron supplements might be in order as well".

It's unfortunate that the article will be interpreted by most readers as illustrating shortcomings in a plant-based diet, when it's really an article about people who eat poorly. The focus is kept on the potential deficiencies arising from not consuming animal-based products, and no mention is made of the serious deficiencies that could arise from not consuming fruits and vegetables, which the couple examined in the article are obviously not doing in any sort of healthy way. It's also unfortunate that instead of recommending animal-free options for the couple, the dietitian falls back on pill-popping. Worse, though, as far as I'm concerned, is that the writer presented a horribly lopsided piece dealing with nutritional inadequacies in a plant-based diet without balancing it out with a look at a vegan doing it right.

DIY Animal-Free Shampoo

A fair bit of this blog's focus in its first few years was anti-consumerist in nature. Tips on how to wean yourself off the sort of materialistic self-indulgences were always qualified in some way with an emphasis on using methods free of animal exploitation, of course, but my intended message was as much about living a more simple, affordable and sustainable life as it was about being vegan. The important thing is that these aren't mutually exclusive. Veganism can be expensive, depending on how reliant you choose to be on commercial products to substitute the commercial products you used previously. The thing is, though, that it's easy to cut costs by making things from scratch. Often, using this approach also means living the sort of life that's more gentle on the planet's resources -- the resources upon which all other animals (human or non-human) also rely. Even if pinching pennies isn't a motivating factor for you, think of how all of kinds of simple little changes in how you consume could add up and make a difference.

Cleaning products and personal care products are sometimes highly toxic, often overly-packaged and unless you specifically choose ones that are designated as vegan, invariably end up using animal ingredients and involve heavy animal testing. Also, unless you select products that are organic or where the emphasis is placed on using natural ingredients that are mostly plant-derived, your products, regardless of being animal free, will still contain harsh chemicals which are no better for your own body than for the environment. So what's a penny-pinching and environmentally conscious vegan to do? Experiment with making your own stuff. For instance, you can start with one particular product, like shampoo.

This Instructables post on DIY shampoo is actually one of my favourites. It describes a whopping ten different ways to make your own shampoo, catering each to individual preferences or needs. Starting off with a basic recipe, the author of the instructable moves on to provide variations to stimulate, quench, soothe, de-flake, shine or rejuvenate your hair. She throws in one variation for the sake of its amazing smell (coconut and vanilla!) and one for a dry shampoo. Her final -- "No 'Poo" -- is one of the most basic recipes imaginable, using baking soda, water and apple cider vinegar. Please note that the author isn't vegan and that these recipes are mostly "accidentally" animal-free, except the last one, where she mentions the option of adding honey. Please leave the honey for the bees and while you're at it, check out a better variation of a "No Poo" recipe here at the Big Raw & Vegan Blog.

For those with hair prone to appearing greasy near the roots, do what my old Hungarian roommate in university used to do and apply a little bit of cornstarch to the roots, lightly rubbing it into your hair and then combing it out well with a fine-tooth comb. The cornstarch absorbs the grease and anything else stuck to your hair thanks to the grease. The important thing to remember when using this method is that it can be messy (so do it over a sink) and that you should start with the least amount of corn starch you can, adding more as you need it; otherwise, you'll end up with a lot of white powder in your hair and... will have to wash it! Well-dried arrowroot can apparently serve the same purpose (and pose the same problems if you go to heavy on it).On the other hand, for a moisturizing "shampoo", I've found several references online to taking a ripe avocado, mashing it with just enough baking soda to make a paste, then rubbing that into your hair and massaging your scalp well. Rinse it out well when done and your hair will supposedly be left very soft.

For more DIY shampoo recipes, a few Google searches will bring up hundreds, many of them similar variations on the ones I've mentioned or to which I've linked. All it takes is a little trial and error until you find the one that's right for you, which is what you'd do shopping around for a new store-bought shampoo, anyway. In this case, however, you don't have to plunk down $7-12 to test something out since many of the ingredients you need you can find at home or buy in smaller quantities.

If you have a favourite recipe for homemade shampoo, please share it below. If you try any of the ones I've mentioned, do please leave a comment to let me know how it went. Expect a My Face Is on Fire post on homemade hair conditioner over the next few days and in the interim, if there are any other products for which you'd like some DIY suggestions, just drop me a line.

How to Make Your Own Soy Milk

I found a number of recipes for homemade soy milk online, most with only slight variations. Many of them called for the use of a soy milk making contraption, however, which I'm guessing that most people don't have on hand. I neither have one, nor do I intend to get one--I've got too many electric kitchen gadgets as it is, and want to scale back on what I already have and use. I found a number of videos, as well, using the same. I ended up finding this one below on YouTube and really liked it. It shows how easy it is to make soy milk from scratch using nothing but the most basic kitchen tools, a blender and your stove (or other source of cooking heat).

Given the relative ease with which most people can find soy milk in stores these days, the idea of making it yourself may not seem that appealing. The cost-saving benefit is worth noting: Dried organic soy beans are cheaper to use and you will indeed save money making it yourself--up to half or more of what you'd pay for the commercial soy milk. When you make it yourself, you get to flavour it however you like it. Also, remember the energy and resources wasted during the manufacturing of commercial soy milk and of its packaging, and of where that packaging often ends up even if it may be recyclable. Another thing I've been noticing is that the availability of organic soy milk seems to declining somewhat, with brands like Silk switching from organic to beans that are almost certainly genetically modified, and then sometimes even reintroducing organic versions at higher prices.

So do indeed use organic beans and give this recipe a try. Save that soy pulp (also called "okara"), since it's incredibly nutritious and there are innumerable recipes available on the internet, particularly Asian recipes, in which you can use it. Enjoy!