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!

Ragged..you so right re subs. You a proper veggie and i bet your food tastes amazing. My parents had friends in their 90s who were similar. It was a pleasure to eat their salads although i do remember being hungry afterwards and having an extra meal when we returned from seeing them etc. (sorry i could never be veggie).

I still eat meat BTW, but I buy it from a local butcher. All the meat they sell is local, free range and not factory farmed.

Vegan dishes are fab, as long as they're not trying to be meat-based dishes. I agree that substitutes are yuck (although I do like chickpea cutlets).

A bit at the vegan evangelist though. Evangelicals are always dull and suspect.

mileend
No definately not. Its shocking the amount of produce which you would assume to be vegan but isnt.
Oh whatever, you eat mostly vegan food. Sure you do.

You talk rubbish- what foods would I be "shocked" at?

Apart from duck, rabbit, dairy cows, egg laying hens?

Duck? The ones I eat were flying around wild and were then shot. Ditto the rabbits. Dairy cows are of variable degrees of welfare concern. Egg laying hens ditto.

Oh dear. I'm a vegan but I'm a quiet one - not at all shouty or evangelical.

I eat pasta/curries/salads/tagines/ chips and beans /falafels/stir fries. The list goes on.

Unfortunately Im not even very thin. Infact a bit dumpy.

Im very normal - Im hoping Im giving veganism a good name.

The shouty ones do give us a bit of a bad name.

You talk rubbish
Rude. No need for that is there? At what point have I been talking rubbish

Heres 25 www.theflamingvegan.com/view-post/25-Things-You-May-Have-Thought-Were-Vegan

the ones I eat
Oh sorry myricales, I wasn't aware that we were concentrating soley on the food you eat as apposed to the general conditions of animals reared for food across the UK.

But those foods are all mostly vegan.
Even those who eat meat everyday are consuming much of their calories from "vegan" sources, and I include things like marshmallows.

Marshmallows like the diet of an omnivore is mostly vegan.

I think veganism is really for the affected classes.

Duck? The ones I eat were flying around wild and were then shot

Hope they weren't out hunting for food to take back to eight cute little ducklings. #justsaying

I thought marshmallows usually contained egg white and gelatine.

the general conditions of animals reared for food across the UK.

Is battery duck farming a thing? Is battery rabbit farming a thing?

I think veganism is really for the affected classes.

You take that back!

I'm extremely affected and not a vegan. The cheek!

I have a vegan SIL. She is an evangelical vegan, who cooks food which I understand other vegans rave about. Bland mush, lacking in both flavour and textural contrast. I did once ask her why, if veganism is so healthy, she was taking so many vitamin supplements. It didn't go down well.

So, respect to people who deprive themselves of good food for the sake of ethics. But please stop trying to convince us that the substitutes taste the same. They have the wrong flavour and texture both. I can make a pretty good vegan tagine... but the version with lamb in it is way better.

Is battery duck farming a thing? Is battery rabbit farming a thing?
Rabbits
www.ciwf.org.uk/farm-animals/rabbits/welfare-issues/
Ducks
factoryfarming.org.uk/ducks.html

So, respect to people who deprive themselves of good food for the sake of ethics. But please stop trying to convince us that the substitutes taste the same
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I get eggs from my neighbours chickens ( in live in central London also!), and rabbit, venison and duck from my uncles land. He isn't a farmer, but has lots of animals living happily on his land. I don't think it's harmful killing say 20 rabbits a year out of the 1000s around. They have no idea they are to be food until killed so aren't distressed or unhappy bunnys

Well, you learn something every day.

I only ever buy rabbit and duck from my local game dealer, so my hands are clean (indeed, I can't think of any occasion I've seen rabbit for sale anywhere else: it's hardly a supermarket staple).

I can't think of any occasion I've seen rabbit for sale anywhere else: it's hardly a supermarket staple
Someones clearly buying it or there wouldnt be battery farms dedicated to it.

my hands are clean
Assuming you never eat meat from restaurants, take aways, etc as you don't know where its sourced? And dairy products and eggs, you dont care about the welfare of those animals involved in their production?

Mile - virtually all meat or dairy can be bought on mass or locally in the uk. Or you can buy farmed eggs or keep own chickens with everything in between. You can get mass milk, or goat milk from a family small holding. You can choose to be vegan, but you also have many options to consume dairy or meat or fish in a sustainable uncruel way

Someones clearly buying it or there wouldnt be battery farms dedicated to it.

Pet food? Dunno: it's not sold as anything other than exotic game in the UK.

Assuming you never eat meat from restaurants, take aways, etc

I'm usually fairly careful about sourcing for snobby foodie reasons. And, ironically, I often eat out in vegan restaurants :-)

And dairy products and eggs, you dont care about the welfare of those animals involved in their production?

I buy free range eggs, and I buy traceable milk from a single farm that I've visited. Next?

You can get mass milk, or goat milk from a family small holding
Im not disputing that. The fact is that the vast majority of people dont go down to their local family farm for milk eggs and butter* which is why cruel practices involved in the factory farming of these products are in so much demand.

• I suppose its ok if the animal derived products in yogurts, cheese, etc are factory farmed, or is the local farmer providing those too?

Free range eggs from farms like these m.youtube.com/watch?v=ozym6POFfOU myricales ?

Gobblers Lets be clear. Taste is not always a matter of opinion. You aren't paying any attention to what I actually said, you're arguing the wrog point.

An analogy. If I give you a glass of water and you tell me it tastes just like wine....its just your opinion. However, your sensation of taste is WRONG. There is something AMISS. Water DOES NOT taste like WINE. It is not subjective. An apple does not taste like a fish if you say it does. It might be right to you, but it would still be objectively wrong

Seitan does not taste like steak. You might think it does, but this would be erroneous. Seriously, you can't understand this? You're confusing subjective wih objective.

Some people think homeopathy works. They are wrong.
Some people think angels talk to them. Wrong!
Some people are utterly sure that crystals under your pillow cure cancer. Wrong.

If you're color blind you might think green is red. It's still actually green though, no matter what your subjective thoughts on it.

The subjective opinion does not replace accepted objective fact.