The starting point. Le point de départ.

Veganism is the moral baseline, the starting point, of the abolitionist animal rights movement. The main purpose of this blog is to explore animal issues from the perspective of the emerging abolitionist movement.

2007-11-12

Vegan food is awesome

Unfortunately, since there are relatively few vegans, other people seem to have this impression that it's really difficult to be vegan, that it must take a lot of willpower and that you have to be willing to deprive yourself of "good food". Part of the reason for this impression is no doubt because we often see our non-vegan family and friends in situations where we have no control over the food being served, and so all too often end up with a plate of iceberg lettuce and mushy tomatoes or something similarly unappetizing- and unsatisfying-looking in front of us. But those of us who are vegan know that these impressions really couldn't be further from the truth - vegan food is not only good for non-human animals and for our health, but is amazingly delicious. Not to mention the fact that you can re-create a vegan version of just about any dish you liked as a non-vegan - it may not taste exactly the same, this is true, but your taste buds change when you haven't eaten animal products for a while, so that a good "substitute" recipe is just as satisfying as the original. Actually, more so, knowing that no one was harmed to make it. Opposing the property status of animals simply by eating really freaking delicious food; what could be better??

In that vein, I thought I would share a few photos of meals that I've made recently.
This is a vegan version of one of my favourite staple meals from before I was vegan - french toast grilled cheese sandwiches with maple syrup (*someone* that I live with seems to think that this is disgusting, but I'm sure other french-canadians will understand the maple syrup thing!) The french toast soaking liquid has a chickpea flour base. The cheese is also homemade, based on the block uncheese recipes in The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook.
Red lentil dal (red lentils, onions, cumin, fennel, mustard seeds, turmeric, chili flakes, garlic, sea salt, cilantro), and greens (spinach, collards, onions, cumin, coriander, dry mustard, ginger, cayenne, garlic, sea salt, lemon juice, coconut) over brown rice. The samosas were store bought.
Vegan tourtière, based on a recipe that was given to me a couple of years ago by Gaia of Live it Up Vegan!, with roasted, curried brussels sprouts and mashed acorn squash.

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at PhotobucketSpelt crust pizza with a nutritional yeast /chickpea flour cheese sauce (also based on what I remember from a recipe in The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook), asparagus, mushrooms, onions, artichokes, and sundried tomatoes.
Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at PhotobucketSweet potato, white potato, collard greens, and chickpea curry, garnished with cilantro and served over mahogany rice. Very very loosely based on Dino's dry-cooked garbanzo recipe from Alternative Vegan.
And now for dessert - I've been on a pie-making kick lately. Here is a vegan banana cream pie. The baseline "recipe" I use for all my cream pies contains silken tofu and agar, among other things.
Raspberry pie made with raspberries from my parents' backyard. Their berries are in season from late August until late October, which from what I hear is unusual, but there you go, they have an unusual variety of raspberry plant.

And finally, two pies that I made for Canadian Thanksgiving back in October - a chocolate hazelnut pie, and a pumpkin pie.
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