I’m allowed one vice… right?

Since I decided to go vegan, I haven’t once regretted my decision. I feel healthy and strong. I’ve lost a few kilos and have a lot more energy. I don’t miss the sluggish feeling you get after eating meat or the tummy aches from too much dairy. Overall I feel lighter, both physically and psychologically.

Being vegan is normal for me now. I don’t even really think about it – I guess it has become a habit. I certainly don’t feel deprived or that I’m missing out on anything. I actually feel as though I have gained something from it all: a feeling of peace. I’m proud of myself for doing something that not only benefits my health, but also benefits animals and the environment.

Despite this, I still have one vice I need to address: Pepsi Max. I’m not sure I’m actually addicted to it, but I find myself buying a 600ml bottle from the convenience store across the road from my work two or three times a week. Ahhh, the sweet, fizzy, syrupy goodness. There’s nothing better to wash down mushroom and tofu sushi!

Part of me feels I should be allowed this one vice – after all, I don’t smoke, drink alcohol or do drugs. I go to ‘booty camp’ exercise sessions twice a week and walk 25 minutes home from work every weekday. I eat well – heaps of water, lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, no dairy or meat, and very little in the way of deep-fried or sugary food. Surely I’m allowed to have one indulgence?

The other part of me knows how terrible diet soft drinks are for you – they’re processed, are full of chemicals and are linked to health problems – and I feel I should be able to conquer my cola cravings. I’m sure if I found out that Pepsi Max wasn’t vegan, I would force myself to give it up. After all, I used to love Cadbury Crème Eggs, and I managed to get through Easter without having even one!

At this stage I’m not ready to give it up altogether, but I’m trying to cut down by drinking water or juice instead. Do I need to just bite the bullet and give it up altogether? Your thoughts would be appreciated!

The Best Lentil Stew

This yummy stew is Paul’s absolute favourite. It comes from Alicia Silverstone’s “The Kind Diet”, which is one of the best books I have read for the beginner vegan. She explains the philosophy behind veganism in a really easy to read way and leaves you inspired to give it a try.

1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried basil
2 tbs olive oil
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 large onions, cut into chunks
2 celery stalks, diced
1 carrot, sliced
1 potato, cut into chunks (I sometimes use sweet potato instead)
1/4 cup shoyu (a type of Japanese soy sauce, available at Asian grocers or health food stores)
5 cups vegetable broth/stock
3 tomatoes, cored and cut into chunks (I just use a 400g tin of diced tomatoes)
1 1/2 cups brown lentils (or green), rinsed
2 slices of your favourite bread, cubed
Extra-virgin olive oil

Combine the garlic powder, paprika, salt, cumin, oregano and basil in a small bowl.

Heat the oil in a large soup pot (you’ll be adding a lot of liquid later, so make sure it’s big enough) over medium-high heat, and add the garlic, onion, celery, carrot and potato.

Stir in half the seasoning mix and the shoyu. Cook, stirring frequently, for 7 minutes or until the onions are tender.

Add 5 cups of water, the broth/stock, tomatoes and the lentils. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat and simmer with the lid askew for 30 minutes.

Add the remaining seasoning mix and cook for another 20 minutes or until the lentils are soft.

Meanwhile, pan roast the cubed bread in a dry fry pan or skillet until nice and toasted.

Ladle stew into bowls, and garnish with croutons and a drizzle of olive oil. I sometimes sprinkle with chopped parsley too.

Props to Paulie

My blog wouldn’t be complete without a shout-out to my partner Paul, and an acknowledgement of his support and acceptance of my choice to become vegan. He has been a wonderful friend and cheerleader throughout my journey so far.

When I first told Paul I wanted to be a vegan, he was a little surprised, but understood my motivation. I knew that he supported me even though he was unlikely to follow in my footsteps. After all, this is the man whose favourite meal comes courtesy of the Italian restaurant down the road: prosciutto and salami pizza with anchovies and lashings of cheese.

One of the first vegan dishes I made was a lentil stew out of Alicia Silverstone’s “The Kind Diet”. I had some reservations about serving it to Paul, but it was a resounding success – he loved it and now requests it for dinner at least once a week. I try to cook a variety of meals from the vegan cookbooks I have accumulated, and the vast majority of them get the thumbs up.

At first Paul teased me about my choice, asking me if I wanted to get some chicken when we walked past the local butchery and drooling over advertising for a steak meal as we drove past the pub. However, once he could see this wasn’t a phase, he said he would support me by trying to avoid eating meat for a month. I was astounded - he made this offer without my prompting, and to be honest, I thought there was no way he could go vegetarian for a whole month. He did have a few “lapses” – he ate some salami that was in the fridge, which we both agreed was better for him to eat than to throw out, and he had a chicken parmigiana at the pub with his workmates – but overall, he ate very little meat compared to his normal diet. At the beginning of the month of no meat, I thought he’d never be able to survive. Now, when he eats meat, he complains about tummy aches. And I won’t even try to describe the “gas leaks” that occur afterwards.

Now days he eats very little meat – we don’t cook it at home, so he really only has the opportunity to eat it when we go out for lunch or dinner. Because I no longer buy eggs or cheese, he doesn’t eat those either, although he still buys cow’s milk to have on his cereal.

Paul is by no means vegan, and I wouldn’t even say he’s vegetarian. I’d probably classify him as a “flexitarian” – someone who seeks to reduce the amount of meat they eat without eliminating it altogether. At the end of the day, he hasn’t been a hindrance to my veganism – he happily eats the vegan meals I prepare and gladly accompanies me to restaurants with vegan options. In moments of weakness, when all I can think of is cheeseburgers and chocolate milkshakes, he tells me he is proud of me and reminds me why I’m doing this. He supports my decision 100%. What more could I ask?

Brown Fried Rice

Yum yum! Delicious AND nutritious!

This recipe comes courtesy of the Biggest Loser Australia. I have modified it slightly to be vegan. It’s delicious – I was really surprised how yummy the tofu was done this way.

1 tsp olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tbls ginger, grated (optional – I don’t like ginger that much so I left it out)
2 tbls coriander stem, chopped
1 cup celery, diced
1 red capsicum, diced
1 cup green beans, chopped (or frozen peas)
1 zucchini, chopped
1 cup carrots
1 cup firm tofu, cubed
1 tbls shoyu or soy sauce
2 cups of cooked brown rice
4 spring onions, sliced on the diagonal
1 cup coriander and mint leaves, chopped
1 long red chilli, chopped (optional)
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp white pepper

Heat the olive oil in a wok or large skillet then add the onion, garlic, ginger, coriander root and stir-fry for a minute. Toss in all the vegies and tofu and sauté until almost soft. Now add the shoyu or soy sauce and stir. Next add the rice and stir to combine. Finish with the spring onions, herbs, chili, sesame oil and pepper. Serve hot or room temperature.

So what DO you eat?

As I’m starting to tell more people about my decision to go vegan, the questions are coming thick and fast (see my previous post for more on this). One of the questions I am asked repeatedly is “so what do you eat?” I think they think it’s all just lettuce leaves and carrot sticks.

I have fallen into a bit of a routine with my food now - I have found vegan options that I like, and by George, I’m sticking to them! I’m still trying new recipes from cookbooks and the internet, and will put up my favourites on this blog at some stage.

In the meantime, here’s what I eat in a typical day:

Breakfast

I’ve never really been one for cereal and cold milk, so breakfasts haven’t really changed for me since I became vegan. I usually have a green smoothie made with banana, frozen berries, fresh spinach leaves and/or kale, spirulina powder, and a touch of agave syrup for sweetness. I often also have a piece of whole grain toast, with organic peanut butter (just ground peanuts – none of the artificial additives and preservatives they put in the processed stuff!) and sometimes berry jam.

I know oats are good for me but I’ve avoided them in the past because of the bland flavour. I think I’ll try them again when winter comes, but add fruit and raw sugar or agave syrup to pep it up.

If I get hungry between breakfast and lunch, I’ll munch on some fresh fruit or raw almonds. I also usually have two or three cups of green tea a day.

Lunch

During the working week, I most often buy my lunch from one of the cafes in the area. My favourite lunch is sushi – I’ll get an avocado roll, a tofu and mushroom roll, some pickled ginger and some soy sauce, and munch away in contented bliss. Otherwise, I’ll go to a ‘make your own’ bar and make a yummy salad or a sandwich with whole grain bread, avocado, relish, hummus, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, beetroot, mushrooms, grated carrot, chopped spring onion, peppers and grilled eggplant. Mmmmm, delicious!

The other day I tried the Chinese place across the road from my office building for the first time. I had a vegetarian stir fry, which was mixed vegetables and tofu in garlic sauce, served with steamed rice. It was tasty but not an everyday sort of meal – I’m pretty sure the garlic sauce was out of a bottle.

Dinner

Paul and I share the dinner responsibilities, and more often than not, I’ll do the more substantial meals and he’ll do the ‘easy’ ones. Paul’s specialities include pizza (no meat or cheese on mine), pasta with Napoli sauce, and vegan burgers. I tend to make meals using chickpeas, beans and lentils, such as stews and curries.  I also love making Mexican wraps with refried beans, and risotto using tinned tomatoes and vegetable based stock. As winter approaches I will start making more soups, including a hearty minestrone that’s one of my mum’s specialities, and a yummy creamy broccoli soup I found in a vegan cookbook.

Paul has an aversion to salads, so as much as I love eating them, I tend to make them just for myself to be eaten along side the rest of a meal.

If I’m feeling peckish after dinner and want dessert or some evening nosh, I’ll have some fresh or dried fruit, air-popped popcorn, or some homemade vegan ice cream (made by blending ripe bananas, raw cocoa powder, maple syrup and a dash of vanilla, and then freezing until solid).

Far from what I expected, eating vegan has been a delicious and nutritious experience so far. In fact, I’m probably eating a wider variety of food and experimenting more in the kitchen than I ever have before. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to eat some ice cream…

Am I really a vegan?

I don’t really feel like a vegan. Even though I’m not eating any meat, eggs, dairy or honey, for some reason I still don’t identify as a “real vegan”.

Veganism generally goes beyond just what you eat to making changes to your entire lifestyle – eliminating any personal or household items that used animal by-products in their creation. People have started asking me questions about the changes I have made – whether I have thrown out my leather shoes or whether I would wear a wool jumper in winter – and I’m not really sure what to say. I haven’t thrown any of my clothes out and I don’t plan to, because it just seems like a waste. I guess in the future I will be more aware when I buy clothes or shoes, but I haven’t really started to think about how (and if) eating vegan will extend to the rest of my lifestyle.

I think I also don’t feel like a true vegan because I don’t fit my own connotations of what sort of person a vegan is. I’ve had more than one person tell me that the vegans they know are gaunt and pale, although I suspect that (if this is true and not just their own stereotypes) it probably has more to do with an unbalanced diet due to laziness than a lack of meat and animal products. I also don’t fit the stereotype of a vegan as a pot-smoking, dreadlock-wearing, tree-hugging hippie – I don’t do drugs and I don’t have dreadlocks, although I guess I’m a bit of a greenie at heart…

So it still feels weird to say I’m a vegan. It’s easier at the moment to say I don’t eat meat or dairy. At some level, I don’t feel I can truly claim to be part of something that I haven’t fully integrated into my life (in terms of the lifestyle changes that vegans typically make). At another, I don’t want to have to deal with other people’s (and my own) stereotypes of what being a vegan means. I will keep you posted on how, and if, this changes.

Vegan Spag Bol

According to Paul, “you wouldn’t even know it doesn’t have meat in it!”

1 cup TVP
1 cup boiling water
3 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 stick of celery, diced
1 carrot, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
Fresh black pepper, ground
½ tsp salt
400g can diced tomatoes
3 tbsp tomato paste
1 cup passata
1 tsp dried Italian herbs
Fresh basil and/or flat-leaf parsley
Spaghetti

1. Soak the TVP in the boiling water for 5 minutes with a pinch of salt. Rinse in cold water in a colander, and then squeeze the liquid out using your hands. Set aside.
2. Fry the onion, carrot and celery in olive oil for 5 minutes, or until the onion is soft and translucent. Add garlic. The mixture will go watery, so wait until it’s a bit drier before grinding in fresh black pepper.
3. Add the TVP and salt.
4. Add the tinned tomatoes, tomato paste, pasatta and dried herbs. Stir and simmer for 15 – 20 minutes.
5. In the meantime, cook the spaghetti in boiling, salted water according to the instructions on the pack.
6. Add chopped fresh basil and/or parsley to the bolognaise sauce just before serving. If the sauce is too thick, you can mix in some of the cooking water from the spaghetti before you drain it.
7. Vegan spag bol is good with faux parmesan cheese sprinkled on top. Just use a blender or food processor to grind ¼ c nutritional yeast flakes with ¼ cup toasted sesame seeds and ¼ tsp salt until completely milled.

Braving restaurants

When I first decided to eat vegan, I thought the hardest part would be finding meat-free things to eat in a meat lover’s world. I didn’t worry about what I would make to eat at home – a lot of my favourite recipes could easily to adapted to fit my new diet, I’ve bought three vegan cook books (so far) to give me ideas and inspiration, and the internet holds recipes for more beautiful vegan meals than I could ever dream of making. It’s eating out that I worried about.

Paul and I love our food. We eat out or get takeaways at least once a week. We live in New Farm, which is well-known for its cafes and restaurants – the Brisbane Eatability website lists 37 in our suburb, and that’s not even including Fortitude Valley, Teneriffe, the CBD, or the other inner-city suburbs which are a short drive away. We have a veritable smorgasbord of options at our finger tips – Persian, Thai, Indian, Nepalese, Italian, Indonesian and Modern Australia restaurants are on the street below our apartment. Needless to say, we love taking advantage of our inner-city lifestyle and the eating choices that are available to us.

In general, restaurants cater for meat-eaters, not herbivores. “Ethnic food” seems to have more vegetarian options, but sometimes it can be difficult to find yummy sounding vegetarian meals at other restaurants. Finding vegan options is even harder. Meat-free menu options often still include cheese, eggs or cream.

So when I decided to embark on veganism, I wasn’t sure how things would go when we were eating out. I thought I would have to make do with a side salad and some chips – not exactly tasty, filling or nutritionally balanced. However, I am very happy to report I’ve already had some successes in the few weeks I’ve been eating vegan.

The first was at the local Indian restaurant where Paul and I eat once or twice a month. We decided to order a takeaway, so I went straight to the vegetarian section of the menu. I knew my die-hard favourite, Mattar Paneer (cottage cheese cubes in tomato and pea sauce), was off the menu, as were all the other vegetarian dishes with “cheese” or “creamy” in their description. I thought my best bet would be the dhal or the spinach curry.

When I rang up to order, I asked for the vegetable dhal and the spinach curry, but asked if they could be made without cream. The lovely woman on the phone said “Just no cream, or would you like them to be vegan?”

I nearly fell over. I was being offered vegan food! And she was asking me as though it was normal, as if people asked for vegan versions all the time. For someone who had thought eating out would now be an insurmountable challenge, it felt like I was being offered a moment of hope.

And they were delicious! The spinach curry in particular was spicy (but not too much), filling and flavoursome. Paired with steamed rice and butter-free naan bread, I was in heaven.

A week later, we went to a Turkish restaurant in South Bank with Paul and my sister Gila. I was able to eat the Turkish bread we ordered as an entree, along with hummus and a spicy tomato dip. Unfortunately all the other dips on offer – including avocado, babaganoush and beetroot – were made with yoghurt, so I looked on with longing as Paul and Gila “mmm”ed and “yummmm”ed their way through the breads. My main, an eggplant meze platter which included my favourite imam bayaldi, was 100 percent vegan and totally delicious.

So far, it hasn’t been as hard as I thought. The trick, I think, is to go somewhere with a decent vegetarian section on the menu, then ask for your dish to be made without any dairy. I’m feeling much more optimistic about maintaining the inner-city lifestyle that Paul and I love so much, while still sticking to the vegan diet I’ve chosen.

Becoming vegan

I have made a big decision. It’s one that will not only have an impact on the way I live now, but on the way I live for the rest of my life. It’s long term and will affect me every single day. It’s as huge as buying a house, or getting married, or having children. Supermarket shopping, going to restaurants and eating at my parents’ house will never be the same again. I have decided to go vegan.

Eliminating meat and dairy from my diet hit me as a logical progression to make about a month ago. I’ve flirted with vegetarianism on and off over the years – in fact, I was a vegetarian for a good part of my late teens and early 20s, before the smell of McDonalds got the better of me one day and I just couldn’t resist a cheeseburger. As it was, up until my big revelation, I generally only ate red meat once or twice a fortnight and hadn’t eaten pork in about 10 years.

When people questioned why I asked for no bacon with my big brekkie or avoided the sausage rolls at morning tea, I could use the excuse of being bought up Jewish – never mind that my parents are about as kosher as the Pope. For some reason, religion seemed like a good justification; as if the fact I just didn’t want to eat pork wasn’t enough for others or for myself. I didn’t enjoy eating pork enough to justify it when I’d heard the horror stories about the conditions farmed pigs are kept in and the way they are treated, particularly when they are apparently as intelligent as dogs. I’d also had a couple of bad run ins with pork – food poisoning from a ham sandwich and a particularly disturbing incident involving pig bristles in a pasta cabonara – so avoiding pork had been easy. There were always plenty of alternatives on the menu and I found it didn’t limit my eating all that much.

I’d always been a bit uncomfortable with the fact that meat is actually dead animal flesh. I tried not to think about it, and avoided meat with bones in it to avoid any reminders of what was really entering my mouth. My parents think I always wanted the breast from a roast chicken because I’m a bit of a princess and it’s the best cut of meat. In reality, it’s because it’s the bit that doesn’t come on a bone to remind you it once belonged to a living, breathing, squawking animal.

The last straw came when I was still thinking about becoming a vegan, but had yet to work out the logistics. Could I really not eat meat or dairy products for the rest of my life? How could I live without Cadbury Creme Eggs? How would my partner Paul handle the transition? What would I cook for dinner? What would I eat in restaurants? And could I just make an exception for Cadbury Creme Eggs?

One of my friends sent me a link on Facebook to PETA’s website. Even though I knew it wouldn’t be pretty, I started watching a video on the site, obviously carefully orchestrated to shock and upset. It started off with Sir Paul McCartney talking about being a vegetarian. When he said “if abattoirs had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarian”, I should have known something bad was about to happen. The next shot – a cow hanging by its legs, its throat slit, dripping blood into a big bathtub, but still mooing and moving and trying to get down – was all I could take. I turned the video off and burst into tears, feeling like my world had shattered and my guts were being ripped out through my mouth.

How could I have such a strong reaction to that image and still eat meat? How could I sit down to a steak dinner with that poor dying cow forever scorched in my mind? Simple answer: I couldn’t. That was the moment that I decided to go vegan.

Choosing to eliminate dairy as well as meat was a big step. Vegetarianism is one thing, veganism is another. Not even going into ethics, there are a whole lot of health issues that led me to this decision. I’ve always thought it was a bit weird that humans continue to drink milk beyond childhood. Sure, it’s crucial to early development, and we all know that breast is best – but milk is essentially a growth food for infants. Why do we drink it once we’re fully grown? We are the only species in the world that drinks milk from a species different to our own. We’re simply not designed to digest the milk of other animals. No wonder so many people are lactose intolerant.

There’s also a raft of health issues that can come from ingesting dairy – it’s high in fat, causes allergies, is pumped full of hormones and has even been linked to cancer. And I could go on about the negative effects on the planet that the greenhouse gases produced by dairy cows create.

I know the argument for calcium, but there are plenty of other ways to get it – chickpeas, silverbeet, almonds and sesame seeds all have more calcium per gram than butter or milk. I quite happily eat hummus and chomp on raw almonds for a snack already, so bringing a bit more of these foods into my diet wouldn’t be a huge stretch.

An added advantage to veganism is, of course, weight loss. Without all that butter, milk, cream, cheese, yoghurt and eggs, and the junk food they go in to – think ice cream, chocolate, cakes and biscuits – it’s likely that I’ll drop a few kilos along the way. It’s not my reason for doing this, but it’s a nice bonus. After years of weight fluctuations, I’m hoping my body will settle at the size it’s meant to be.

This blog is intended to be a repository for my thoughts and experiences as I enter the brave new world of veganism. I don’t expect my journey to be perfect – I might even succumb to a Cadbury Creme Egg during Easter – but I want to share it with others in the hope that they will both support me in my journey and be entertained and educated by my thoughts.