What do vegans eat?

shandyclover

One of my vegetarian daughters has announced she's going vegan!

I have been cooking for the whole family with 2 vegetarian daughters anyways, so quite used to working around that, but because daughter who has decided to go vegan is 19 I have made it clear I will not be cooking seperate meals for her as to be honest trying to cook for 3 non veg, 2 veg and 1 vegan is a bit too much. While I won't be cooking for her I want to make sure we have foods in stock she can use to nourish herself. Can any resident vegans help me with ideas for reasonably priced ingredients and point me in the direction of simple recipes?

Alison_Funnell

No meat, fish, dairy, eggs, honey, are the basics.

Loads of good advice here http://www.vegansociety.com/

jamespir

seeds mostly and veg

Alison_Funnell

When I was vegan I used a lot of TVP (textured vegetable protein) so in a spag bol (egg freepasta) just cook some mince with a portion of the tomato sauce. Same with chilli, shepherdless pie is the same. You can get the dried chunks and granules - just rehydrate with some water, or frozen veggie mince. You can get all sorts of soya/rice milks, cheeses, yoghurts, ice creams etc.

Gettingtherequickly

About 18 months there was an eased introduction of family to a cousin who had been put up for adoption, we had no idea about her and bless her, there are alot of us to meet! Nightmare for a carnivore family who were not only meeting a new relative but is a vegan!

Luckily, my aunt is married to an Egyptian chef, so we had lots of Arabic food, but best comment of the night came from my brother when he was leaving "it was very nice to meet you even if there wasn't a bit of meat on the table!" She is used to us now

BitterAndTwisted

What would I be buying? TVP, tofu, peanut butter, nuts and seeds. Plus, either a vegan recipe book or a book-voucher so she can buy her own and figure out her meals and snacks for herself.

Edit: She's going to need Marmite in order to ensure a decent supply of vitamin B12. That's not always easily available in decent quantities on a strict vegan diet. She may be advised to do some simple research on human nutrition while she's at it, as this should give a good idea about the importance of food combining because some nutrients aren't easily absorbed by the body without the presence of others as well.

I suspect the novelty may wear off after three weeks to a month, max.

Justamum

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

Edit: She's going to need Marmite in order to ensure a decent supply of vitamin B12. That's not always easily available in decent quantities on a strict vegan diet. She may be advised to do some simple research on human nutrition while she's at it, as this should give a good idea about the importance of food combining because some nutrients aren't easily absorbed by the body without the presence of others as well.

Fortified soya milk has vitamin B12 in it - not the organic ones though. It is not necessary to worry about combining food within meals so long as a variety of food is eaten during the day.

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

I suspect the novelty may wear off after three weeks to a month, max.

Why?

Justamum

Alison_Funnell wrote: »

Loads of good advice here http://www.vegansociety.com/

This is definitely the best place to start.

daska

Justamum wrote: »

Why?

probably because she's not even vegetarian at the moment. most vegans (and ex-vegans cos I know more of them) that I know got there via vegetarianism and most didn't stick it for long so there's a good chance she won't.

BitterAndTwisted

Why?

Because I remember being nineteen myself. I recall being tediously idealistic and expected my family to be unquestioningly sympathetic if not fellow-travellers, most especially when it meant someone else was having to bust a gut to please me adn my latest fad rather than going to all the effort myself.

In my opinion being a healthy vegan demands some basic understanding of nutrition, skills in the kitchen, and sometimes forward-planning. Not all if these are necessarily traits and skills I would expect a busy 19 year-old to enjoy learning if they don't have them already.

I'd be willing to wager a fiver that it turns out to be a flash-in-the-pan

jpscloud

Purist vegans will not eat or use anything that has come from exploitation of animals - it's very hard to be this committed, though.

It's usually distinguished from vegetarianism in that dairy and eggs are excluded as well as meat.

When you consider that the dairy industry means the destruction of male calves at birth, and the breeding in of characteristics that increase milk production but also increase misery for the cows, aaaaaand the egg production industry destroys male chicks at hatching... if you're serious about not exploiting animals for food, veganism is definitely the ethical choice over vegetarianism.

I tried... and failed... I love meat I do what little bit I can now, such as sourcing welfare food when I can afford to, and I've now switched to soya instead of milk.

You can get a vegan alternative for most things (mayonnaise, "cheese" spread, etc.), and some great nut butters etc. in a good health food shop. On the whole they are very nice and you don't feel like you're giving anything up not having dairy. It's not the cheapest option but vegan food tends to be very filling.