Ask a Vegan

[Daniel]

 

I would argue, though with nothing more than my strong sense of common sense, if we were carnivores, we wouldn't need to cook the food.. We would be using our sharp claws and fangs to rip apart tendons and flesh with much gusto.. Instead, we have to create utensils, cook to soften, season with plants, all just to help the body digest this foreign substance.. And then of course we get all of the diseases that as a result of our bodies still not being able to properly process it all.. 

[small h]

6 minutes ago, Daniel said:

Instead, we have to create utensils, cook to soften, season with plants, all just to help the body digest this foreign substance

Well, we also have to do that with artichokes, eggplant, rice, etc. The point of Stone's post (I think) is that it's much easier for us to digest cooked food, so we spend less energy on it, and thus we need less food. That frees us up to spend the time we might have spent hunting and gathering on other things. Like Instagram.

[Daniel]

5 minutes ago, small h said:

Well, we also have to do that with artichokes, eggplant, rice, etc.

true that... Point taken. 

[Orik]

Raw unpeeled sunchoke carpaccio, decorated with raw beans (to suck on), unpeeled cactus pear for dessert. Food of the gods. 

[Stone]

Daniel - I certainly agree that we can all survive very well without meat.  There have been times when I switched to a plant based diet fir that reason - if I can live without killing, I should.  I eat meat got somewhat selfish reasons   I like it. It’s often easier. When I don’t eat meat I eat a lot of cheese a d nuts and I get even fatter.  (Although at the moment that’s a bad excuse.).  I tell myself that on the scale of things eating animals may be “bad,” but it’s not so bad. But, and I think I had a discussion about this with someone on egullet all those years ago, we all know that the meat industry is awful to animals.  And I certainly don’t limit my intake to humanely raised meats.  (We don’t have to kill all the livestock.   We can reduce the population through attrition.)

you’ve convinced me  now you have to come and cook dinner for us   

 

 

[Daniel]

35 minutes ago, Orik said:

Raw unpeeled sunchoke carpaccio, decorated with raw beans (to suck on), unpeeled cactus pear for dessert. Food of the gods. 

I actually served raw sunchokes the other day but, definitely peeled... 

[Daniel]

21 minutes ago, Stone said:

Daniel - I certainly agree that we can all survive very well without meat.  There have been times when I switched to a plant based diet fir that reason - if I can live without killing, I should.  I eat meat got somewhat selfish reasons   I like it. It’s often easier. When I don’t eat meat I eat a lot of cheese a d nuts and I get even fatter.  (Although at the moment that’s a bad excuse.).  I tell myself that on the scale of things eating animals may be “bad,” but it’s not so bad. But, and I think I had a discussion about this with someone on egullet all those years ago, we all know that the meat industry is awful to animals.  And I certainly don’t limit my intake to humanely raised meats.  (We don’t have to kill all the livestock.   We can reduce the population through attrition.)

you’ve convinced me  now you have to come and cook dinner for us   

 

 

I think I am vegan for 8 months or  so now, maybe less, i stopped caring or counting... But, yeh, if done properly and with gusto, a vegan diet is not necessarily going to help you lose weight.. I do zero exercise these days outside of sporadic weight training and drink like a sailor on shore leave.. I am sure my cholesterol has gotten better if it was bad, I don't go to doctors,  i go to emergency rooms.  but, yeh, I wasn't particularly over weight and I feel strong and just really healthy.  But, one would assume, if you are going to cut out meat for ethical reasons, dairy should be there too.     

but i was hoping to lose that last 11 pounds like I did the last time i was vegan except, i was running then and not drinking.  

[Stone]

Can you post more photos of what you’re eating?

[Daniel]

Is that a joke.  While I don’t post all my meals, I post a lot of them.  I only eat breakfast on weekends.   We now eat together as a family. So my new eating schedule is 11 AM and 7 PM. I prefer to eat at 9:30 or 10 but, as Ronald Reagan said, America starts at the dinner table. But I often eat some sort of sandwich I make normally a Panini.   Today I had a nimpossible whopper.  I often will just eat leftovers, if its really good:  I’d like to bring in things that can be microwaved.  
 

but there are a lot of scenarios that you can easily do.  You want egg, buy a bottle of Just Egg.  Croissants, donuts, pastry, Oatmeal, waffles, cereal, coffee, Bagel, yogurt, over night  oats, egg sandwiches, that all is enjoyable and comparable definitely at every normal place and maybe less at the best of the best.  breakfast is not my favorite so.   My usually go to breakfast is either some sort of Asian noodle soup, an everything bagel w/ tofu cream cheese and the egg and cheese at my place.  
 

lunch: ma po tofu, a noodle soup, Chana masala, some rice dish, lentils, dal, a soup and bread, peanut butter on some great rye. A panini, I sometimes make my own seitan grilled sandwich with violife cheese.  It’s comparable to shitty orange American.  Throw on some Mayo hot sauce, or mek a fake McRib, or have an impossible whopper or eat pistachios till I’m full.  I take cashews and roast them in my toaster over and season them.  Sichuan peanuts, Chinese sunflower seeds, smoked almonds. 
 

I don’t know, doesn’t seem to bad the more I write about it.  Lots of carbs and beans and vegetables.  Love to make a salad every night.  Make different dressings. 
 

 

 

 

[Stone]

Sorry, I don’t look at the dinner thread often. 
ok, I looked at the dinner thread. (You fancy people call it “supper”.)

can you start a vegan recipe thread?  Damn.  

[Daniel]

If you want recipes, you have to do what everyone else does.  Stand behind me with a scale and notebook and write it down. 😄  I’m getting better but, not for home cooking! 

[Wilfrid]

My wife has been a vegan for eleven years.

[Wilfrid]

Just Egg is really good, especially with some vegan cheese folded in. It's probably the best use of mung beans.

[voyager]

I'd like to point out (to Stone) that Southern European and Latin American lend themselves as well if not better than Asian to vegan diet.    Maybe just a difference in palate, but far easier for me.   Like the bean dish I posted a couple of days ago.    And still lots of opportunities for rice.

Also for Stone, the Sunday NYT generally has several excellent vegan recipes as a weekly prompt.

HERE is a good site for vegan dishes.

[mitchells]

Serious question for @Danieland I'm not trolling: How do you reconcile being a vegan for the reasons you mention and then selling meat and dairy in your stores?