To say that vegans can't really like food?

[DrRisotto]

I mean they don't eat most food so most cooking shows and recipe books are pointless for them. Going out for meals a chore. Birthdays, celebrations, dates... so much of is centred around food which they have to deny themselves and pick around.

I have nothing against vegans and everyone has the absolute right to eat what they want. But trying to cater for a vegan along with other guests is bloody hard work.

Reckon I'll get roasted for this.

Lordy this is painful. Not all examples are the same, you know.

Does anyone here know how English works?

Peanut butter means a peanut spread that is reminiscent of and spreads like butter.

So why does vegan cheese not mean a vegan foodstuff reminiscent of cheese? Will you accept nut cheese, coconut cheese or vegetable cheese? Is the descriptor ‘vegan’ not specific enough for you?

It seems we just fundamentally disagree, which is fine, but you want to argue your view based on logic that isn’t following through.

Nut cheese is entirely different as a descriptor than vegan cheese.

Please explain how it is ‘entirely different’, and also why salad cream
and Easter eggs are acceptable but vegan cheese is not. How about vegetarian burger? That’s quite a common, accepted phrase, no one thinks it’s a burger made out of vegans.

*burger made out of vegetarians

DH is vegan.

Last night we had onion, cumin and potato samosas,

spicy aubergine and tomatos followed by spinach tarka dhal with pappadums and mango chutney.

It was dreadfully restrictive and boring. [joke]

It was bloody marvellous.

Actually I think veggie burger is the accepted phrase, as its a burger (the shape) made out of vegetables.

I've already explained all this, I can't help you if you don't understand it.

Lordy this is painful.
Yes it is

Vegan butter is acceptable as it's obvious what it is, a butter like spread made out of vegan ingredients.
Similar to a vegetarian burger (as not all are made of vegetables anyway)

Thanks, you’ve given me a good laugh. Sweet that you think you were trying to help us understand

Gary.

Thanks to the poster who posted the peta menu options at chain restaurants. Really interesting!

You know what, I would have thought the same 6 months ago, but ds became vegan and we started trying it out a few times a week so that we could all it the same thing. The food is generally quicker to cook and prepare and tastes lovely. I reckon we do 6 out of 7 days completely vegan. There's not much I can't veganise, but if I am stuck, Linda McCartney usually helps out with a ready made option!!!! :-)

I am also finding eating out a lot easier than I thought I would. Most restaurants offer a vegan option now, and some offer lots of options. I can't go fully vegan as I'm too fond of cheese and eggs, but I do it about 70% of the week.

Sorry, not having a go at anyone, but just laughing at the stereotypes around vegans as hippy, sandal wearing bohemians.

DH has been vegan for as long as I have known him. He's a pin-stripe suited Tory-leaning banker in his late 50s. He's vegan for the animal-rights issues. He never discusses it, and I would hazard a guess that alot of our friends don't even know. We have bbqs etc and he just eats around the meat or puts on portobello mushrooms. If I cook a dinner party I usually put all the dishes in the centre of the table and he eats what he wants.

Funnily enough, DS aged 8 really can't tolerate most meats. He has alot of texture issues around food, and it's always the meat part of a meal that horrifies him or makes him gag.

I go back and forth on it. Cook mostly vegetarian at home but DH adores roasted veg, so I will cook some roast chicken for me and DH has roasted squash, cauliflower, potatoes, onions, stuffing etc etc etc.

it's always the meat part of a meal that horrifies him or makes him gag.

That's quite interesting that your son has this issue and your OH is a vegan.

DH is low-key about the vegan bit, so it's not down to any proselytising, and DS is developmentally delayed, so he has not yet understood properly where meat comes from I think.

But, I do find it interesting. DS says meat tastes 'dead'. Funny about that! But fair enough I say, and it is clearly something deep and instinctive with DS so I tend to leave the meat out for him as well as DH. Several years back when I was first pg I bought a few really good books about feeling veg*n children,and we now have some fabulous recipes in our repertoire. So it works out for us pretty well.

Actually, I am thinking about my language here... I say i 'leave the meat out for DH and DS'. Yet actually, what really happens is that I cook for them and add meat in for me. And not always either.

Different emphasis. That's interesting now I think about it. I am assuming that meat is the norm, whereas actually it isn't in my family.

[random musings]

Tonight for instance we are having a three bean chilli and rice and I was going to add dairy sour cream for me and cheese. Dh was going to just have guacamole and salsa. Might not bother with the dairy stuff for me now. Makes not alot of difference to the taste, and will save me a trip to Aldi.

When my BIL became vegan I just panicked thinking "I CANT THINK OF ANYTHING TO GIVE YOU!" But it actually not that hard, there's loads they can eat.

In my (probably contraversial) opinion, vegans either don't really like food or absolutely love food. It is very easy to be a 'boring' vegan, but to eat exciting food you do need to put in a bit of thought, research, etc. Unless you have someone to do that for you - in which case you can be in the middle of spectrum I suppose.

puddingpen I agree. But isn't that the same for omivores and vegetarians too?

My niece (34) is vegan and she survives on cold beans eaten from the tin, sweets and chips.

She has a diagnosed iron and B12 deficiency.

But then many omnivores eat crap too.

But I think a crap diet of an omnivore is marginally better than the crap diet of a vegan.

My dd has become a vegetarian so I have to by default.She has always eaten a varied diet so no problems there.She has a few friends who are vegetarian and one vegan but like the majority of of kids in her age group(14-15) they do not like thing like pulses,beans or many veg.they live on pizza and pasta...
We live fairly rurally and restaurants idea of vegetarian food seem to revolve around butternut s,sweet. Poatoes and cheese.
I don't think young people are going to change things around,maybe in cities but learning to cook from scratch is necessary for a healthy vegan or vegetarian diet and that is something a lot of people still don't do.

I haven't heard about vegan/vegetarian diets helping menopause symptoms.This is definitely not my experience!

@hothead to be healthy, you should cook from scratch whether a vegan or not. The rise in obesity and cholesterol levels show that meat eaters (i.e. the majority of the population) aren't exactly very healthy right now. There are a lot of people eating processed crap, whether it's animal-based or not.

My point is that many people have lost their cooking skills so also cannot pass these on to their children so you have kids eating meat/dairy free processed crap.
Cooking quick meals is also a challenge when you mean more than beans on toast.

Late to this but am a Vegan (pretty new but strict vegetarian for most of my life) and I love food and (even if I say so myself) am a really adventurous cook and my food is healthy, varied and delicious (most of the time). DC & DP are pescetarian but will often eat Vegan meals just because it's easy. Like SecretSmellies I do enjoy the MN stereotypes of Vegans, I definitely am not any of them.

Never use Vegan 'cheese' though.