What are your favourite vegan meals?

Jimm_Scope

It's once again Veganuary, January is a month where people are urged to try and limit their intake of meat and animal products and to try and switch to more vegan-based meals.

Vegan meals tend to be more environmentally friendly, cheaper and of course are animal-friendly in that they use no animal or animal-derived products.

I myself am not vegan, with my Crohn's I could never be vegan because my diet is restricted enough! But me and my partner have been trying to be more 'Flexitarian' by eating less meat and more vegan meals. We have concerns about the environment and about animal welfare that help us make this change.


So, what are your favourite vegan meals? 

Personally, me and my partner have perfected a vegan mac and cheese. She is American and has a big soft spot for mac and cheese. We've managed to make a very good replica of the cheese sauce using butternut squash and we often add fry off some vegan bacon lardons to add in. I dislike the vegan bacon as rashers, but as lardons they work really well.

How about your favourite vegan meal? Is it simply beans on toast? Perhaps you have a vegetable stir fry you really like? A lovely mushroom risotto? Anything that doesn't use meat or dairy essentially.

66Mustang

I like the idea of eating vegetable based food and find a lot of it is really tasty.

I find vegan food is often more creative as well. Meat is often just cooked and served, but vegans rarely just cook a piece of broccoli and say "there you go", they always seem to do something creative with it to try to make it more interesting.

What I don't really like the idea of, and this is just my preference, are things like vegan cheese or plant-based "meat". I am more than happy to have meat and dairy free meals but I wouldn't want to replace those things with imitations.

I think what I am saying is I would happily eat vegan food but if I fancied meat or dairy I'd have the real thing.

Jimm_Scope

I don't mind the imitations personally, but they rarely get close to the actual thing. As I said, the vegan bacon we use is an awful replacement if you try to use it like a full rasher of bacon. But as lardons it hits the spot really. 

Cheese is another difficult one, often doesn't come very close. I find it it's melted though, such as into a "cheese" sauce the difference isn't that noticeable. One thing to be said though is that they are very processed foods these vegan imitations. 

I wish I could eat lentils because daal is a lovely vegan meal, but I just can't with my Crohns.

In fact Indian cuisine is full of delicious vegan meals.

66Mustang

I find the a lot of meat free Japanese food, especially sushi, is really nice. Again I don't go for things like the "Xalmon", which I assume is imitation salmon. I like the veggie rolls. Also the cucumber sushi rolls - side from being tasty - are quite a nice palate cleanser between different pieces of fish sushi.

One thing I don't understand, but have no issue with as it tasted nice, is fish sushi with vegan mayonnaise drizzled on it. You've already broken the veganism by having salmon so why use vegan mayo? I am asking this from an ignorant point of view, perhaps eating fish but not eggs is a thing (either from choice or health requirements)?

Jimm_Scope

I guess it's just people trying to avoid using more animal products than necessary? Any lessening of the use of animal products can be better for the environment and the animal. For instance, I can't have dairy anyway, but the horrible stories and things I've witnessed of dairy farms would put me off it anyway. So even if I still eat meat (which I have to for my diet to be healthy), even just a lessening of using animal products is helpful.


I remember someone saying, if your goal is to lessen the impact on the environment. Getting 50% of people to eat 20% less meat or dairy is more effective than trying to get even 10% of people to stop eating meat or dairy entirely. And the former is much more likely to happen.

66Mustang

Yes all good points!

One thing I would say r.e. animal welfare, though, I am just thinking out loud and not committing to this argument as I have only just thought of it and don't really know whether it would stack up or not...

If instead of say a litre of cheap milk, you buy a litre of likely more expensive plant based milk, what about a third option which is buying a litre of high quality milk from a sustainable farm with high welfare standards. That way you get the real deal, the animals are treated well, and the environment doesn't suffer.

We have relatives buried in Norfolk and whenever we go to tend the grave we always have to stop by at this Suffolk farm (linked below)...

https://www.fenfarmdairy.co.uk/

A litre of milk there is about 60% more than what you'd pay in the supermarket, but if you have a quick browse of their site you'd see they are really fond of sustainability and animal welfare. And that's not to mention the main reason I personally buy the milk, which is that it is tastes amazing compared with cheap supermarket milk.

I appreciate you can't have dairy but assuming someone was shunning dairy for environmental or welfare reasons, maybe it would be a good option?

Sandy_123

I find a lot of vegan meals are heavily processed to imitate meat products, by look and taste. 
However I do lentil curries and plant based curries like spinach and potatoes, aubergines etc, chickpeas. I Prefer foods in their natural form. Veg soups are a good one.  

Jimm_Scope

Oh yes @Sandy_123! I love using sweet potato, carrots and parsnips in soups. Butternut squad too. They all make for quite tasty soups. One of my favourites is a sweet potato and parsnip curried soup.

@66Mustang Yes, I can see that as being similar. If you know what you're buying is treating the animals humanely. I buy plant milk because I actually can't drink cows milk at all as you mention, but it has the added benefit of not being from an animal for me. Pre-Covid the price wasn't all that bad. I could get a litre of oat milk from morrisons for about £1.10. Now it seems nearly everywhere the lower price is £2 a litre.

Same @woodbine, I will never be a vegan. But we are trying to vary our diet more, and limit consumption from animal products. I just read another article today about the pollution damage done to the River Wye in Herefordshire due to all the egg farms in the area.

Sandy_123

I love the soups @Jimm_Scope it's a great way to pack the veggies in, doesn't cost a lot either and can last a few days

Jimm_Scope

Should we have a day we all share our soup recipes? :P 

I can tell the story of the worst soup I ever made. My partner grew some blue potatoes last year, and we needed to use them up. I decided to check them in a soup. Worst cooking decision ever. The blue turned into a grey and it looked like gruel. 

No more using blue potatoes in soups for me! 

Soups are so versatile though, and can be so healthy. With a good crusty bread on the side too. 

WhatThe

I'm a soup fan especially seasonal root veg plus red lentils and short grain rice - big affairs colourful souper tasty and filling 

vikingqueen

    Am I the only one that thinks 'vegans don't eat meat but require food to look like it's come from a dead animal' What is this vegan bacon rashers and the such like 

WhatThe

No 

Sandy_123

I eat meat but love veggy foods and vegan foods that are not processed. I only tend to try eat foods in their natural form with the exception of sausages and bacon every now and then

vikingqueen

       My post was tongue in cheek and I was in no way picking on anyone, it was merely an observation

Jimm_Scope

While many vegans do not eat imitation food, I personally see nothing inherently wrong with imitation food. The issue many people take with meat is the ethical concerns regarding animal treatment and the environmental impact. If you can have something fairly similar without those concerns why is that a bad thing?

vikingqueen

    I give in, humor has no place here.

Jimm_Scope

I agree it can be amusing, I think I maybe took the comment the wrong way sorry. Online there is often a lot of very negative talk about vegan food, despite it being just as tasty.

My sister spent some time being fully vegan, she would often make vegan brownies and her friends loved them.... until they were told they were vegan. 

vikingqueen

          @Jimm_Scope    I was eating vegan food many years ago, long before it was 'trendy', One cousin vegetarian and one vegan so whenever I visited it was eat or starve! I can honestly say I enjoyed it all except the only milk that should go in tea is cows milk (sorry) 

Sandy_123

When I was at work one afternoon, I bought a few vegararian sausage rolls, I offered a few meat eaters one and they didn't know the difference, so I didn't say anything.

Jimm_Scope

There's a local bakery by me that does vegan sausage rolls and regular meat ones and I genuinely prefer the vegan ones. I'm not sure what the mixture is, but it definitely contains nuts and something else that gives it a nicer flavour. Like a nutty mushroom flavour almost, though the exact texture of the inside of a sausage roll.