Do you eat meat?

[sebby]

Being a vegan or vegetarian right now is like being a non-smoker half a century ago. Not a whole lot of fun, just a whole lot of frustration. That's about all I'll say.

[mightysparks]

My mum bought me a plant-based schnitzel to have at Christmas lunch, which was pretty good. Went and bought some more of it this morning for when I'm in a chicken-y mood. I also went to a health cafe recently and their plant-based chicken was the best non-chicken chicken I've had. Chicken is the only meat I miss, but this stuff looks and tastes just like chicken off the bone and more than satisfies all my chicken cravings.

My grandma got a nut loaf recipe off her 'vegan neighbours' that we made up for me on Christmas lunch. It's a little bland, but decent and filling. It was nice to be more included in the food this year, but even without it there is plenty of non-meat stuff to eat so I've never asked or expected them to go out of their way.

My vegan brownies were a hit with everyone. I got 'it just melts in your mouth' about five times lol. Everyone was surprised to learn they were vegan

Only had brief comments on my diet and no yelling or insults this year. Just assumptions that I don't know what I'm missing and that I must eat really plain, boring food. I'll take it as a win.

[kongs_speech]

My mum bought me a plant-based schnitzel to have at Christmas lunch, which was pretty good. Went and bought some more of it this morning for when I'm in a chicken-y mood. I also went to a health cafe recently and their plant-based chicken was the best non-chicken chicken I've had. Chicken is the only meat I miss, but this stuff looks and tastes just like chicken off the bone and more than satisfies all my chicken cravings.

My grandma got a nut loaf recipe off her 'vegan neighbours' that we made up for me on Christmas lunch. It's a little bland, but decent and filling. It was nice to be more included in the food this year, but even without it there is plenty of non-meat stuff to eat so I've never asked or expected them to go out of their way.

My vegan brownies were a hit with everyone. I got 'it just melts in your mouth' about five times lol. Everyone was surprised to learn they were vegan

Only had brief comments on my diet and no yelling or insults this year. Just assumptions that I don't know what I'm missing and that I must eat really plain, boring food. I'll take it as a win.

I googled "schnitzel" because I'm basic. Sounds cool. I'd be curious to try plant-based chicken. I didn't even know that existed. I thought Beyond KFC was just some goofy shit South Park made up. Do y'all have Beyond burgers over there? I've eaten one a few times at a moderate sit-down chain restaurant, and it's quite tasty. The only drawback is the elevated sodium levels, which I try to keep an eye on with my diet. I don't have problems with blood pressure or salt tolerance, but my dad does, and it's not something I want to develop. Fortunately, now that I know how to cook, I won't have to rely on TV dinners, so that's less sodium intake too.

I don't see any reason why a vegan brownie wouldn't be good. You guys can have chocolate, right? Plant-based milk seems like it would work as a substitute for dairy. Glad you had a nice holiday!

[blocho]

I googled "schnitzel" because I'm basic.

I had a lot of schnitzel growing up. It probably sounds a lot less exotic when you realize that it's just breaded fried chicken cutlets. The exact same thing as a milanesa.

[kongs_speech]

I googled "schnitzel" because I'm basic.

I had a lot of schnitzel growing up. It probably sounds a lot less exotic when you realize that it's just breaded fried chicken cutlets. The exact same thing as a milanesa.

We don't get a ton of schnitzel in northwest Florida, but I did used to love fried chicken. I don't eat much fried food of any kind nowadays. It's bad for my diabetes, and has become one of those things, along with donuts and sugary desserts, that I don't even miss anymore.

[mightysparks]

Well I’m vegetarian not vegan so I eat all the chocolate I want they just assume anything vegan tastes like lettuce or sand.

We do have beyond burgers here, although I’ve only really seen it at our favourite burger restaurant, Grill’d. But I usually get the garden goodness/veggie patty because I like it more and it’s not as ‘heavy’ as the beefy patty.

[kongs_speech]

Well I’m vegetarian not vegan so I eat all the chocolate I want they just assume anything vegan tastes like lettuce or sand.

We do have beyond burgers here, although I’ve only really seen it at our favourite burger restaurant, Grill’d. But I usually get the garden goodness/veggie patty because I like it more and it’s not as ‘heavy’ as the beefy patty.

I don't have much experience eating vegan cuisine, as there are very few such people around here, but I've seen Guy Fieri go to some meatless places on Triple D that looked pretty fucking tasty. I enjoy meat, but it's not something I care enough to require for every meal. Good food is good food, and you have to respect the creativity that goes into coming up with vegan substitutes that taste great while acceptably mimicking the textures of animal products.

[mjf314]

I've tried Gardein's Crispy Tenders (plant-based chicken nuggets) and they're good, but not very healthy, so I don't eat them regularly.

If you like burgers, I recommend black bean burgers. They're both healthier and tastier than Beyond Burgers (or any burgers that try to imitate meat).

Here's my favorite vegan brownie recipe: https://www.rhiansrecipes.com/vegan-bla ... ownies-gf/
They're WFPB, so you can safely eat them every day without feeling guilty.

[mightysparks]

These are mine: https://feastingonfruit.com/vegan-cosmi ... ipes-19152. I tried cooking dessert stuff with beans before and they’ve never turned out good.

[Lammetje]

There's no reason why chocolate should contain milk or any other animal-derived product. I buy a few different kinds of vegan chocolate and they're pretty good.

[mightysparks]

Overloaded with vegan treats. I was stocktaking a supermarket I don’t normally shop at and saw meat-free meat pies and a brand of vegan chocolate called Pico. Best thing about my job is getting the vegan sections so I can check out all the food lol. Went there today to buy them and also found these chick'n chunks that look verrrrry promising.

Also bought a few blocks of Pana Organic chocolate the other day; I’d had their small ones before which are amazing but hadn’t tried their regular block chocolate. Got this white hazelnut one which was really good. The Pico chocolate is also damn good. Tried a cheap brand of vegan chocolate and that one sucked but the expensive stuff is goooood.

[kongs_speech]

Overloaded with vegan treats. I was stocktaking a supermarket I don’t normally shop at and saw meat-free meat pies and a brand of vegan chocolate called Pico. Best thing about my job is getting the vegan sections so I can check out all the food lol. Went there today to buy them and also found these chick'n chunks that look verrrrry promising.

Also bought a few blocks of Pana Organic chocolate the other day; I’d had their small ones before which are amazing but hadn’t tried their regular block chocolate. Got this white hazelnut one which was really good. The Pico chocolate is also damn good. Tried a cheap brand of vegan chocolate and that one sucked but the expensive stuff is goooood.

Glad you got some cool stuff. I'm sure it tastes fine, but just the term "meat-free meat pie" is humorous. So it's just pie, then? What is in it?

Now that I know this is kind of more a thread for vegans, I won't go into details, but I will say that I've cooked a few meals now and it continues to go well. It feels good to be learning a new skill that's one of the most valuable things you can know how to do.

[mightysparks]

It’s actually called a ‘meatless pie’ I think but just meat pies are a big thing here so I was trying to emphasize that’s what it was trying to be it’s just like soy protein stuff but looks like beef mince.

I only learnt to cook in 2018 and I don’t know why I waited so long to learn (lazy and scared ). I love cooking now, well I like eating my cooking but not so much the cooking part. My boyfriend raves about my cooking to everyone and it feels good especially since a few years ago if I couldn’t microwave it I didn’t eat it lol

[kongs_speech]

It’s actually called a ‘meatless pie’ I think but just meat pies are a big thing here so I was trying to emphasize that’s what it was trying to be it’s just like soy protein stuff but looks like beef mince.

I only learnt to cook in 2018 and I don’t know why I waited so long to learn (lazy and scared ). I love cooking now, well I like eating my cooking but not so much the cooking part. My boyfriend raves about my cooking to everyone and it feels good especially since a few years ago if I couldn’t microwave it I didn’t eat it lol

Ah yeah, I bet that's not bad if it's seasoned well. Thanks for the clarification lol.

That's awesome that you've gotten so good at cooking. I hope to get there. My New Year's meal turned out very well, especially for a first time. My one mistake was that I sauteed some mushrooms and onions and forgot to add any salt, so while they had a nice flavor from the red wine, they were missing something. The vegetarian item was the thing I fucked up. Tomorrow, I'm going to learn how to make another major staple dish.

[mightysparks]

I've tried both the chick'n-y things over the last few days and they are so damn good. Chicken was my favourite food before I became a vegetarian and with these I have no reason to ever go back to it. I got Next Chick'n Chunks and Harvest Gourmet Chargrilled Strips (not vegan):

Spoiler

Both worth checking out if you come across them. I also made this Vegan Butter Chicken for dinner the other night and it was amazing: https://www.noracooks.com/vegan-butter-chicken/. I've struggled to find recipes with tofu that hide the 'soy' taste but this hides it completely and my boyfriend actually thought I'd used the chick'n instead of tofu.

[kongs_speech]

That's pretty neat. Glad you found something that works for ya! Butter chicken is one of my favorite dishes. I'd try a vegan version, because why not?

[xianjiro]

I've been pretty pleased with recent finds in non-dairy "cheese" and "butter", however the cost means they'll be used much more conservatively than I used to consume cheese.

[mightysparks]

I'm pretty excited to have found vegan bacon that doesn't suck. I've tried a few and usually they're slippery, slimy, soft horrible tasteless slugs of awfulness. I grabbed a pack of 'Next! Extra Crispy Bacon Style Strips' when I grabbed the chicken-y things and it's pretty good. It doesn't compare to real bacon, but we've been overcooking it until it's really crispy (says 3-4 mins on low, we've been doing 10 mins on high) and it's kind of similar to American bacon. It has a good crunch and a somewhat mild saltiness that makes it a pretty good bacon substitute.

So happy to have found a good chicken replacement and now bacon. Never been a huge fan of bacon but it's useful sometimes. Cheese is the only thing I'm still missing because every vegan cheese I've tried is tasteless trash.

[mjf314]

So happy to have found a good chicken replacement and now bacon. Never been a huge fan of bacon but it's useful sometimes. Cheese is the only thing I'm still missing because every vegan cheese I've tried is tasteless trash.

Have you tried making your own vegan cheese? There are lots of good recipes that use either nuts or tofu. If you tell me your favorite type of cheese, I'll try to find a recipe for you.

[mightysparks]

So happy to have found a good chicken replacement and now bacon. Never been a huge fan of bacon but it's useful sometimes. Cheese is the only thing I'm still missing because every vegan cheese I've tried is tasteless trash.

Have you tried making your own vegan cheese? There are lots of good recipes that use either nuts or tofu. If you tell me your favorite type of cheese, I'll try to find a recipe for you.

No, never even thought of making my own cheese. I love all cheese. Idk what my favourite is, but cheddar and feta are the most common ones I use.

[mjf314]

Here are some cheddar and feta recipes (I haven't tried them, so I don't know which ones are the best).

Cashew cheddar: https://lovingitvegan.com/vegan-cheddar-cheese/
Tofu cheddar: https://zardyplants.com/recipes/cheezes ... ar-cheese/

Tofu feta: https://avirtualvegan.com/vegan-feta-cheese/
Tofu feta: https://simpleveganblog.com/vegan-tofu-feta-cheese/
Tofu feta: https://zardyplants.com/recipes/vegan-feta-cheese/
Tofu+cashew feta: https://lovingitvegan.com/vegan-feta/
Tofu+cashew feta: https://www.alphafoodie.com/simple-vegan-feta-cheese/

[sebby]

I only buy vegan alternative products a few times a year but I recently bought cheese slices since they were heavily discounted. Made grilled cheese with them and they actually melted like cow cheese and tasted great too. It's been so long since I had cow cheese that maybe I don't remember exactly how it tastes, but this one was closer than any vegan alternative I remember trying. Off the top of my head I don't remember the brand, but the packaging across the line is minimalist, dark blue, and the name is something lazy and generic like vegan life foods. Worth checking out.

Edit: It's violife. Here's a link to the ones I tried. https://www.amazon.com/Violife-Just-Lik ... merReviews

[peeptoad]

Has anyone tried Nuggs?

[peeptoad]

I'll take that as a "no" on the nuggs.

I'm going to try out some of these in the near future since I'm already missing pizza (esp the ones w/o cheese since I still haven't found a brand of vegan cheese that I really like)-
https://www.onegreenplanet.org/tag/vegan-pizza-recipes/

Also, this remains one of my favorite recipes (though I have altered it over the many times I've made it) so thanks again for posting it , mightysparks.
Tahini + sweet potatoes =

This was dinner tonight: Mediterranean Baked Sweet Potatoes

We added spinach and feta, but original recipe is vegan, and it just kinda ended up tasting like a big yummy salad. Really easy to make and filling.

eta: I may try those violife "cheeses" though. Haven't had that brand yet...

[mightysparks]

I'll take that as a "no" on the nuggs.

I'm going to try out some of these in the near future since I'm already missing pizza (esp the ones w/o cheese since I still haven't found a brand of vegan cheese that I really like)-
https://www.onegreenplanet.org/tag/vegan-pizza-recipes/

Also, this remains one of my favorite recipes (though I have altered it over the many times I've made it) so thanks again for posting it , mightysparks.
Tahini + sweet potatoes =

This was dinner tonight: Mediterranean Baked Sweet Potatoes

We added spinach and feta, but original recipe is vegan, and it just kinda ended up tasting like a big yummy salad. Really easy to make and filling.

eta: I may try those violife "cheeses" though. Haven't had that brand yet...

Yea I love that recipe, in fact I’m eating it for dinner right now

Pretty sure I tried violife cheese but I didn’t like it.

[peeptoad]

Interesting. Keep us posted.

In 3 months my total cholesterol went down 74 pts, LDL down 51 pts. Good news. Now I go back on the experimentation wheel...

Still on the experimentation wheel and my doctor just canceled my March appt when I was supposed to get my labs rechecked. The COVID case counts are sky high here right now (and still no vaccine in sight in my state), so I think they are cancelling all non-critical dr visits.
The good news is I have been vegan since just after New Years (I slipped a little with dairy during the holidays) and so far I am feeling pretty great; and this is with way less sleep than I should be getting too. I'm having to hyper-focus on protein though, which is getting a little annoying, but it seems to be helping. Still eating lots of tree nuts, soy, tahini/sesame, and some other meat replacement items and I switched to a different type of vitamin/mineral supplement which may be helping. The only negative so far is that I am eating more gluten because of some of the meat alts and it's starting to give me stomach cramps... trying for every other day with the gluten, which cuts down on this.

[Lammetje]

Interesting. Keep us posted.

In 3 months my total cholesterol went down 74 pts, LDL down 51 pts. Good news. Now I go back on the experimentation wheel...

Still on the experimentation wheel and my doctor just canceled my March appt when I was supposed to get my labs rechecked. The COVID case counts are sky high here right now (and still no vaccine in sight in my state), so I think they are cancelling all non-critical dr visits.
The good news is I have been vegan since just after New Years (I slipped a little with dairy during the holidays) and so far I am feeling pretty great; and this is with way less sleep than I should be getting too. I'm having to hyper-focus on protein though, which is getting a little annoying, but it seems to be helping. Still eating lots of tree nuts, soy, tahini/sesame, and some other meat replacement items and I switched to a different type of vitamin/mineral supplement which may be helping. The only negative so far is that I am eating more gluten because of some of the meat alts and it's starting to give me stomach cramps... trying for every other day with the gluten, which cuts down on this.

Too bad that appointment got cancelled, but I'm happy to hear that you're plant-based and feeling great.

[Armoreska]

I still don't eat anything bigger than birds.

ah my mindset ~11 to 15 years ago

[Armoreska]

Aside from the admittedly mocking reference to corpses (because Armoreska is ridiculous in any thread and his politics nauseate me)

I have no problem with fascists as long as they they go to ruin Mars and leave us alone. It's tough that morality is subjective but what can you do, that's our life.
The centrists though are indeed

There are 3 directions for you: grow up, become conservative in defending your beliefs, listen to your dad and become even more conservative (ok i admit this is unlikely). Which one is for you? For now I'm sticking around to find out.

I don't feel the need to have a vegan safe space here (got a few on Telegram), though it's fine if someone else does. If I get tired of some conservo in some thread, there's a button to add them to the Cippenham club. Life is just an endless cycle of pain anyway.

The thread is indeed based on the question, but lately it's been used mostly for vegan stuff. Are you a prescriptivist or a descriptivist?

[xianjiro]

On vegan cheese alternatives: these have recently arrived at the local (regional, not national) "discount" grocery store and both times the stock has been pretty decimated (so they are moving). So far I've noticed Miyoko's and Daiya. (I also picked up a Daiya dairy/gluten free pizza, but had trouble cooking it.) So far I prefer Daiya both in taste and look. (Miyoko's has this grey quality that just looks a bit unappetizing.) I can't say I've had much luck with either though when making quesadillas or toasted cheese, but both mix quite well into something like refried beans.

I also shop at another national chain that generally has more options and though it's really expensive, I like Treeline's spreadable "cream" cheese with herbs. Makes a great pickle sandwich. I think Miyoko's cultured butter alternative is also my favorite taste wise and I try to steer clear of those that are made with palm oils.

It's really amazing how much better these faux-cheeses taste now compared to 10-15 years ago when most were soy based. While they certainly won't make up for superior cheeses like Stilton or a good brie, at least now I have something to enjoy and can do sandwiches again.

I'm not vegan, but since I stopped eating dairy, it's been a bit of a challenge to adjust my diet.

[Armoreska]

found in a movie today (3 checks)

I wonder if the more progressive of the carrion gobblers would patron such an establishment

[Armoreska]

one of the most enjoyable b movies and then they added the pro vegan argument (which is also on the Twilight Zone)

[peeptoad]

https://apnews.com/article/rhode-island ... e902f8747e
Damn. I was hoping this guy would remain a fugitive.

[Armoreska]

Now the other prisoners will at least know of the outside.
Maybe a mass breakout is in order.

[peeptoad]

[mightysparks]

Whenever I visit my family for the holidays, I have to deal with so many 'omg weird/boring vegetarian food', 'all vegetarians eat is lettuce', 'make sure you're getting enough protein', comments. Here's my boring vegetarian food making up about 86g protein from yesterday:



WHEN WILL THEY STOP. For Easter lunch this year my nan did get me vegan sausage rolls and nuggets, along with a leek and feta pie so it was nice that they're catering for me (though I'm happy to pick at the side dishes).

[peeptoad]

WHEN WILL THEY STOP.

This is probably a rhetorical question/statement, but I feel you. My immediate family is actually pretty good about it, but my friends (most of them anyway) are another breed altogether.

[Armoreska]

I saw Gunda on RT (opening in cinemas)
Some review excerpts are even mentioning animal exploitation (kinda sorta) even tho the movie is not really about that.

These movies need more checks

https://www.icheckmovies.com/lists/spec ... armoreska/

I was watching an interview with a vegan in Iran, and he said found out about veganism from The Dictator

[mightysparks]

A vegan junk food place in the city that we love advertised this last week:



We went out to try it a few nights ago. It's not bad, but the last third was a bit too sickly. My boyfriend liked it a bit more than I did. I thought they should've gone with cranberry sauce over the jam.

[Armoreska]

OMFS I just noticed that Dominion is an official check now (glanced at that image again)