Do most people think vegan food is utter shit? It's not!

[Ennuid]

And that we all just eat still eat pasta, salads and that vile tofu (yuk!) they used to make in the 90's?

I've been vegan for 15 years and let me tell you there isn't anything these days that you will miss in terms of taste or texture, the ''fake'' stuff is amazing and just as good, if not better than the real thing (not to mention much healthier). I mean meat, chicken, fish, cheese, melty cheese, ice cream, milk, yogurt, salami, pate, mayo, spreads, hot dogs, burgers, pizza, even eggs... literally anything you can imagine! Ask me anything you'd like to replace and I can come up with at least 2-3 great vegan alternatives.So may EU and US companies make really good stuff and the chinese fake meats are different but equally amazing. Every largish city will have at least a few veggie/vegan restaurants and stores (I have personal experience of Brighton, Edinburgh and Norwich).

The best thing you can do is visit one of the vegan fairs where you can get lots of free samples and see everything in one place. There seems to be a vegan fair just about everywhere in the UK nowadays (quite surreal since 5 years ago there were maybe 5 or so?) , here's a schedule for 2015: [edited by MN to remove possibly spammy address, we're sure MNers are smart enough to Google if needs be] .

There's even a new all vegan supermarket chain spreading all over Europe. Vegan is the new organic, baby!

Why does anyone want vegan meat or cheese? If you miss meat or cheese, then just eat meat or cheese.
I'll never get the point
Err because you like the taste of cheese but can't enjoy it when you know an animal has spent its whole life in agony just so you can eat real cheese?

All of these fake meat products are ridiculously processed. We should be striving to eat less processed food, not more
This x1000. Quorn or any vegan subs or replacements. Despite my above comment I dont actually eat any replacements because of this. Also you never truly know what goes into heavily processed foods.

and OP actually YABU. Being a vegan sucks, I should know, I am one. It makes everything more difficult and makes impromptu meals out almost always 'basic salad' or 'mushroom risottto.' I dont miss meat a huge amount but I do miss dairy, specifically cheese and cream/cream based products.

That being said, the benefits far outweigh the negatives. My diet is much healthier than when I was non-vegan. I get satisfaction from knowing I am a strong person for not faltering my diet even when I find it incredibly hard. I like knowing I feel strongly enough about a cause to change my life in a major way to support my principles. I like that I am not contributing to the curelty, pain and suffering factory farmed animals suffer their entire lifetimes. For me that is so much more gratifying than eating a bit of steak or whatever.

Can I ask how you vegan folks eat out? I struggle sometimes to find veggie meals, let alone dairy-free ones.

I know they're veggie and not vegan but quorn 'chicken' nuggets are very tasty.

I love vegan food ( and steak), but would never eat those crappy meat substitute things. Fruit/ veg/ beans/ lentils/ nuts all great though. There's lots of great vegan food restaurants in London. Most lebenese vibe or Indian

I agree with eating out, I'm really struggling since I can't have dairy. I'm getting really fed up with Jacket Potato and beans with no butter!

I agree with eating out, I'm really struggling since I can't have dairy

Plenty of vegan Indian places in most cities.

Why do vegan/vegetarians think anyone but themselves is interested in what they are eating.

Bacon sandwiches, big juicy rib eye steak or soft poached egg on a salad with salmon or crispy chicken skin.

It's not for me.

I've been vegan for 15 years and let me tell you there isn't anything these days that you will miss in terms of taste or texture, the ''fake'' stuff is amazing and just as good, if not better than the real thing

This is simply your opinion. Why are you stating it as fact?

If it's 15 years since you've tasted the 'real thing', that doesn't fill me with confidence in your opinions.

Fried pig flesh and skin, cooked cows body on the bone, hen period on salad, fish flesh, oh wait you did the chicken skin thing yourself

Still, it's not for me.

Mileend I would never start a thread about being a vegan, but I do sometimes get drawn in when I read comments that are misleading - being a Vegan doesn't suck for everyone. It doesn't make everything more difficult for everyone and it certainly doesn't make impromptu meals out almost always 'basic salad' or 'mushroom risottto' - not least because you really can't trust a risotto from a non veggie/vegan restaurant, it will probably have been made with chidken stock and may involve dairy.

I'm sorry that it sucks for you. But it doesn't have to suck, and it doesn't suck for everyone.

I like meat. I like cheese. I like milk. I LOVE pork scratchings.

I'll pass, thank you.

Prawns. Sea bass. Trout. Mackerel. Battered haddock. Spicy fried chicken breast on a roll.

clutterbugs - I don't think anyone is interested in what I'm eating unless (a) they ask (which does happen) or (b) they start a thread about it on MN (which happens too frequently for my liking!) Even then I realise that the thread starters aren't interested in me but in some kind of super-vegan who represents all of us (as if such a person could exist!)

Noone's saying it has to be for you, GobblersKnob

pumpkin well, Quorn isn't vegan...

You learn something new everyday.

It still gives me the dry boak though.

I LOVE pork scratchings

Not a delicacy I have ever sampled. It sounds vaguely ... Dickensian.

I have the feeling this thread is going to turn into carnivores recipe exchange corner.

Ok first off I work in hospitality. I know mushroom risotto is always the go to vegan option because its simple and easy to make. Restaurants arent going to offer a risotto made with animal stock or dairy products to someone who has made them aware theyre vegan. So tell me, what do you eat when you go to an impromptu meal out in a regular restaurant?

How is me saying being a vegan sucks any more misleading than the op saying how great being vegan is??

See, Gobbler, this is why veggies are various sorts are so tedious. You've convinced yourself of the horrors of carnivore diets, and assume that they only reason we haven't is because we don't know where beef, eggs or indeed salmon come from (the idea that we will recoil from salmon if we knew it was "fish flesh" is charming, if a little odd).

Some years ago I had a very tedious dinner with a vegetarian who was convinced that the killed argument after "meat is dead flesh" is "you only eat it because it comes nicely packaged". They simply couldn't compute that I'd actually recently plucked, drawn and butchered some game birds, so was well aware of how the meat was produced.

Pheasant. Yum. Mind out for the shotgun pellets. I know exactly where my steak comes from. Yum.

I have had fake meat substitutes years ago on holiday in Thailand with my vegan former friend. It was delicious. I have tried loads of vegan food since then. Most of it was vile, and didn't taste just as good as meat and dairy, I'm afraid. My friend used to say the same thing,and get very aggressive about her veganism, lecturing me if I had milk in my tea. I know all about animal cruelty and aspects of the farming and dairy industry. I also got very ill on a vegetarian diet. Its not for me. I do my best to have freerange meat, dairy and eggs where possible.All the pontificating in the world won't make me go vegan.

No I don't Myricales, not at all. Just tired of people pushing the idea that meat is so great when they eat it, I find that pretty tedious. You love pheasant and steak that's great, good for you. I see it as something very different, don't see why we can't both exist, but no, the meat eaters always seem to want to get the upper hand, listing all the delicious meats, how they are killed, wanting people to know just how aware they are, almost as though, I don' t know they had something to prove or something......

It's just an odd response, op posted about being vegan, people pile in ooooooohh bacon, steak, chicken, fish, why?

Enjoy your meat, that's fine, but no need to list it, I remember it well from when I used to eat it, you don't need to remind me.

It's just an odd response, op posted about being vegan, people pile in ooooooohh bacon, steak, chicken, fish, why?

Because the OP said Ask me anything you'd like to replace and I can come up with at least 2-3 great vegan alternatives

Mileend I never said I agreed with the OP in fact I disagreed with him (pretty sure it's a him because of another thread). I have never eaten risotto out except in one place in London where they clearly state there is a vegan version of their normal risotto (it's what I end up having at a posh Xmas lunch I get invited to every year in connection with my profession which is always held in the same not very good restaurant. I've NEVER been offered mushroom risotto as a 'go to' vegan option anywhere else. Ever. Not in the UK, not in Europe, not in the US, not in the far east, not in Australia. I'm amazed anyone would think it was a go to option. That's roast vegetables, reliably, all the world over). I don't tend to eat impromtu meals in regular restaurants. But I wouldn't do that if I wasn't a vegan either, I have better things to spend my money on than impromptu meals (and worse (as in, less enjoyable) but more vital things too). I don't actually know anyone who goes for an 'impromptu meal' - certainly not working parents with busy lives. Young people maybe. I used to go for impromptu meals when I was young and I used to eat Indian if I wasn't going to a veggie restaurant. Indian or Thai/malaysian. I wouldn't go somewhere that didn't actually have a proper vegetarian menu and when I was young (so, >20 years ago) those were the best sort of places to go and they were also the most prevalent restaurants apart from, you know, steak houses, around. Oh, and mexican. Fajitas. I love Fajitas. I remember one 'impromptu meal' at a lovely mexican place. Happy days.

Nobody said vegan was for Madamcastaflore but it was okay for her to list the meats she enjoys and say vegan was not for her.

But not for me to say that meat isn't for me?

I think you missed the bit in the OP where she invited people to post what meat/dairy products they enjoyed and she would provide alternatives.