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AIBU?

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Original poster

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

296 replies

Ennuid · 09/06/2015 12:56

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!

OP posts:
morage · 09/06/2015 19:36

I have tried to be vegan. There is nothing to replace fish and no fake egg tastes nothing like real eggs. But you can have lots of delicious food.

mileend2bermondsey · 09/06/2015 19:37

I think even those who love meat will still eat mostly vegan food
No definately not. Its shocking the amount of produce which you would assume to be vegan but isnt.

munkysea · 09/06/2015 19:45

Non-vegans think vegan food is shit because the vegan food they see available at mainstream restaurants is largely crap. Unless you go to a vegan/veggie restaurant or an Indian (and the Indian does not use ghee)

Branleuse · 09/06/2015 19:58

i could do vegan more easily if i stayed at home, never went to eat out, and never went on holiday. Can barely even do veggie when I go to france without it being a complete ballache, let alone vegan.

I dont think vegan substitutes are bad at all. I think theyre really acceptable these days, and do replace what i can, but can never seem to keep to it full time.

Narvinectralonum · 09/06/2015 19:59

Pumpkin Grin I know. But she seemed so...invested... in proclaiming how shit being a vegan is. And I'd just read that fake thread in relationships. Shock so I was seeing fakery round every corner. I'm sure she is a vegan. Just not a happy one. :(

keeptothewhiteline · 09/06/2015 20:01

No definately not. Its shocking the amount of produce which you would assume to be vegan but isnt.

Only if you eat a lot of processed food. I know exactly what is in my food.

mileend2bermondsey · 09/06/2015 20:05

Oh whatever, you eat mostly vegan food. Sure you do.

Narvinectralonum · 09/06/2015 20:07

It is a restrictive diet of courses t is. But it doesn't require a lot of effort. It requires less effort than most diets. Because you have less choice (although I still find the amount of choice I have bewildering). It's not effort to eat something you don't want to eat. The problem is, I guess, if you still want to eat the stuff you aren't eating. In which case you might as well eat it. It's no more effort to buy a vegan soup from Pret or the vegan porridge than it is to buy the non vegan. It's no more effort to buy Pure than it is to buy flora or anchor. It might be more expensive. But that's the only difference. Fresh veg are fresh veg, ditto fruit. It might be more effort to bake vegan cakes than non vegan but the solution to that is not not bake cakes. Which is less effort. Grin

mileend2bermondsey · 09/06/2015 20:08

I'm sure she is a vegan. Just not a happy one

Im unhappy that my diet is really restrictive and feels at time repetitive. But I am very happy that it means I dont require for any animals to spend their lifetime in pain and inhumane conditions. And that far outweighs any unhappiness I have about lack of diversity.

londonrach · 09/06/2015 20:09

Lol. I do feel sorry for people who miss one of greatest pleasures of life....fresh fish (serious how can you not enjoy fresh trout) or meat but their choice to miss this pleasure. For those saying tofu etc taste the same as their meat eating friends havent complained their friends are being kind. There is a huge difference in taste... Each to their own.

BeenWondering · 09/06/2015 20:11

Good grief! This thread has grown arms and legs and is now running about on the loose!

morage · 09/06/2015 20:11

Most replacements aren't that great. But you can make great food that is vegan.

mileend2bermondsey · 09/06/2015 20:15

I do feel sorry for people who miss one of greatest pleasures of life....fresh fish.....or meat
I do feel sorry for people who lack the compassion to not want to eat a sentient being that has spent its whole life in torturous conditions just for their eating pleasure, if where doing being incredibly patronising sorry, empathy for each other.

Myricales · 09/06/2015 20:20

I do feel sorry for people who lack the compassion to not want to eat a sentient being that has spent its whole life in torturous conditions

Yeah, I know neither the North Sea nor our great estates aren't what they were, but I really can't see how you can make that argument for fish. Or game. Or most beef (there is relatively little factory-farmed beef in the UK). Or lamb, which is almost entirely field raised and Welsh lamb is effectively free range. In fact, aside from low-quality pork and low-quality chicken, I'm not sure your argument works at all.

And the "sentient" part is bollocks. Vegans won't eat mussels or oysters, and there is no workable definition of sentient which includes bivalves.

Myricales · 09/06/2015 20:21

I dont require for any animals to spend their lifetime in pain and inhumane conditions

It's trivially easy to avoid meat for which that is the case.

GobblersKnob · 09/06/2015 20:26

Honey, take it up with physics and biology, not me. Seitan is one substance, a cow is another. They are not indistinguishable. If you'd like to believe this is just my opinion, knock yourself out. I'm pretty sure a poll would agree with me, but you think whatever you like.

Please don't call me honey, it's extremely patronizing.

Just one more time, it doesn't have to be just your opinion it is an opinion that could be held by 5 million people, but listen closely; it would still be just an opinion, but it is not mine, it is not many other people's and, and this is the crux -> it is certainly not fact. A question of taste cannot be fact. I could think apples taste like coal and I would be right, to me they do, do you see?

I won't engage with you any more on this, you are one of the most frustrating posters I have ever come across and I have been here a long time.

londonrach · 09/06/2015 20:27

My local butcher has his own cows and pigs....honestly the meat is amazing and the animals have a very good life. If he didnt sell the meat the cows and pigs would not exist full stop! As for fish i really dont understand how anyone can not enjoy fish taken straight from the sea to the plate. If the fisherman didnt sell the fish some ports would die. I grow up next to the sea. Welsh lamb is one of tastest meats ever...with mint sauce. No air miles unlike some veg which is sent miles from where its grown...

GobblersKnob · 09/06/2015 20:28

I do feel sorry for people who miss one of greatest pleasures of life....fresh fish.....or meat

Don't waste your pity, cooked flesh from a living, feeling creature is utterly repulsive.

And the "sentient" part is bollocks. Vegans won't eat mussels or oysters, and there is no workable definition of sentient which includes bivalves

Lots of vegans do actually.

mileend2bermondsey · 09/06/2015 20:32

In fact, aside from low-quality pork and low-quality chicken, I'm not sure your argument works at all
Apart from duck, rabbit, dairy cows, egg laying hens?

Oh so were just ignoring the method of killing, live transport, impact on the environment, etc? Okay...

Want2bSupermum · 09/06/2015 20:35

I'm on a restricted diet due to my health and its vegan minus oil and salt. I have 5 weeks left and sadly the diet has made a huge improvement to my health.

There are lots of vegan options on menus if you look closely. As a parent I go out a lot with DH and don't know what restaurant I'm going to. I find something like a salad and ask for no meat or dressing. As a vegan who can eat oil and salt I would be in clover! There is always at least one soup, always 2-3 apps and I can figure out a main no problem. Fruit plate for dessert. Job done.

No need to do fake products and I hate tofu with a passion. Just can't do it.

londonrach · 09/06/2015 20:39

Live transport. Ok..local butcher (farm shop) takes cow or pig all of one shed down from where their live from being born. Ive seen these pigs and cows they roam across fields with their parents to such an age, then go to groups of similar age.

ragged · 09/06/2015 20:42

My tuppence is: If you think eating meat is wrong in principle, then so is eating meat substitutes because you're participating in a culture that promotes the glories of meat and potentially (if you're like my MIL) sees meat as something that is supposed to be the centrepiece of the meal.

So I still can't make sense of 'meat substitutes'.

Never met a cheese substitute that was truly nice, either.

I was vegetarian for 17 yrs. One of the nicest things about not being veggie is that I have such a huge amount of choice in what I get to eat. I don't even like much meat, but not having to think hard to avoid it, hooray! Freedom.

Bunbaker · 09/06/2015 20:46

For those who claim to hate tofu, have you tried crispy fried tofu? The first time I tried it was at Yo Sushi as a crispy tofu salad with a miso dressing and it was lush. Sadly Yo Sushi don't make it any more. I bought some crispy fried tofu at a Chinese supermarket recently and served it with a katsu curry sauce. You didn't need to be vegan or vegetarian to enjoy it.

Where can I find seitan BTW? A Chinese supermarket?

TheRealMaryMillington · 09/06/2015 20:50

I am heading veganwards again
(factory farming makes me angry/miserable)
I cannot swear on my life that I will never ever eat another prawn however, though I haven't wanted to for the last few months.
I make delicious food
It is not easy to eat out and it is harder work and more time consuming to shop and cook vegan food with sufficient variety

TheRealMaryMillington · 09/06/2015 20:54

Violife vegan cheese (made from coconuts) is totally freaking amazing and the mozzarella means vegan pizza is possible.

I don't eat a lot of substitute meats apart from the odd vegan sausage to be sociable on bangers and mash night.