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.

@MyDcAreMarvel

What animal does pasta come from

That study is flawed because it includes people who are 'nearly vegetarian' too.
If you're mostly vegetarian because of economic reasons I would imagine it means you have very little access to any kind of varied diet so to include them in an argument that a vegetarian diet is unhealthy is a bit unfair.

OP do fuck off.

I think though Speakout that there are parallels because the scale of intensive farming is causing damage to the planet in the same way that the unchecked manufacture of disposable packaging/landfill was doing (or still is doing, despite the recycling culture).

I just remember back in the day that we all thought recycling was nuts and the people at work putting up posters were hippy loons. They were right of course and we all now support recycling. I just wonder if that will become the case with vegans.

At the moment eating meat is still the norm. We all accept it unquestionably. It's what we do. I think that attitudes will change because ultimately we have no choice. This generation is the one that's going to start making those changes.

Ok I've just read through that study and it isn't the one I thought it was.

The point still stands though, people who are vegetarian because they don't have economic access to meat are hardly going to be able to make sure they have a varied and well rounded diet. So to point at them and say 'look vegetarians are unhealthy' is a bit unfair as it's poverty that is unhealthy.

I have a 17 yo DD. I her peer group of girls she know well ( 30-40) only one is vegan. While my DD has no issue with that ( in fact this girl is one of her closest friends and I cook for her) the view amongst her peers is that she is a it weird.

It's unusual for young people to have such outdated ideas. Does your DD challenge them at all or just she just go along with the crowd?

PovertyPain

Chips are vegan, and while I may be a meat eater I can’t recall the last time I ate “frozen animal piece”

Can we perhaps not judge each other and we might get somewhere?

OP you can cater for vegans in the same way you cater for everyone else...by making food that doesn’t contain meat or dairy. It’s quite simple - the vast majority of foods are not animal products. Make recipes that are predominantly vegan then have a couple of meat products if you want. There is no reason why an omnivore can’t go for one meal without eating meat or dairy.

When I went vegan over 20 years ago, I had to start cooking everything from scratch, and much of what I cooked/still cook involves recipes from all over the world, so I'd argue we do like food.

I ended up using spices and techniques I never heard of before and it opened my eyes to just how much good global food is vegan. There is no need for 'fake meat' or cheese.

I've always been told I'm easy to cater for, as I'll eat anything just as long as not from an animal. Eating out is usually fine, especially if going to Indian/Chinese etc. There's always something edible anywhere- even if it is just chips and ketchup!

Some of us just wouldn't be able to enjoy food that had animals in it, knowing the issues around it. It's not that we don't like food, it's just there is a line that cannot be crossed. I just couldn't- the idea of it ...bleurgh

So YABVVVVVVVVU

However. Those people who are vegan, sugar free, gluten free soya free fucking joy free. THEY don't like food.

I’ve really cut down on my meat intake. Not cut out yet but we have a few vegan meals a week.

I did a vegan curry feast for my family - including DDad who is a real carnivore and he LOVED it.

It’s interesting to think that the best meat is marinaded for hours in herbs and spices to taste of just that... herbs and spices. Not meat IYSWIM.

I stopped eating meat and dairy this year and have actually (unfortunately) gained weight because I've found a world of delicious natural foods and "alternatives"to animal products. I have even started eating fish sometimes to make my dieting a bit more convenient.
I love food. What I don't love is the heavy reliance of retailers on animal products in food which makes it difficult to eat out without looking like someone with an eating disorder.

You know that veganism is a protected characteristic under UK legislation, don’t you?

You should be a careful with the anti-veganism, just in the same way you wouldn’t infer anything about someone’s character due to their age, sexuality, religion or race.

The person comparing not catering for vegans to not catering for those with allergies is ridiculous!! Unless vegans get seriously ill/die if they accidentally ate a piece of meat/egg/some honey/cheese....

So your criteria for whether you'll cater to suit a friend's diet is a grudging 'I suppose I'll leave the peanuts out if there's a chance they might kill you'? What a martyr you are!

I don't think you can generalise re whether s specific diet is healthy or unhealthy based on whether they eat animal products or not. There are people with good or bad diets in all categories. Veganism takes more planning as it's harder to get balanced vegan food everywhere but there's so much more choice of prepared food than there was. Pret does a fair bit of vegan food now. I really need to get better at tofu. When I eat it out I love it but I'm crap at cooking it.

Vegans eat most food confused unless you eat predominantly animals

But they don't, do they? That's the point. They exclude a huge range of food that is not animals.

But they don't, do they? That's the point. They exclude a huge range of food that is not animals.

What they exclude is any food that either contains animal products or exploits animals (e.g. honey). What is the "huge range of food" that isn't covered by this?

The post I was replying to said that vegans eat most food. They don't.
A huge range of food contains milk, butter, eggs, cream, honey, gelatine, other animal derived products.
You can't claim that it doesn't.

I'm veggie but my lot aren't. Quite often we will have a nice mean then comment that it's vegan - not be design just because that's the way it is.

The meat eater is the easiest and most boring to cook for - boil the spuds, steam the veg, griddle/fry/roast the carcass.

Veggie curries, risottos, stir fries and pasta dishes are often accidentally vegan (and delicious).

I don't like vegan cheese or some of the palm oil or soy laden vegan junk foods that some vegan people like to go on about, (Oreos, Jammie dodgers, soy / palm oil margarine, jus rol pastries etc). But then you obviously don't have to eat those to be vegan.

Jammie dodgers aren't vegan anymore, they changed the recipe...

Most people eat some vegan meals. Vegetable soups and bread. Baked potatoes with baked beans, chips and salad, lots of salads, pasta in a tomato sauce, vegetable curry. All are normal vegan foods.

The problem here is in food production, surely?

A lot of food that contains animal-derived products doesn't need to. However, as a by-product of the meat industry, it presumably makes economic sense to include those things (things like milk powder in crisps, and gelatine in sweets).

A lot of food that is produced is wasted. A lot of land and water goes into meat production, so if more people could find vegan choices then land could be used more productively for other things, resulting in less erosion, less water wastage and lowering air pollution (don't get me started on cows farting).

A lot of restaurants seem to have absolutely no bloody idea of how to prepare a meal that does not centre around meat or cheese. This is ignorance.

I know 2 vegans:

One who definitely does like food and cooks a lot - she eats a very high plant diet as that's what she liked to eat anyway as a veggie - not a huge change for her. Her food is interesting and tasty

Vegan 2 does not like food. I've never met anyone else who can basically live off plain carbs. I worked with her for years. She never even picked up a piece of fruit.
She would bring in food for parties that she had made, they were hardly edible - she would tell you that you couldn't tell the difference to normal vegan food. You really could.
I even ate out with her at vegan/vegetarian places and all she could do was criticise your veggie choices but never seemed to even enjoy what she was eating at all.
She spent every moment trying to convert you to a vegan diet as well.

It would probably taste better than all that vegan shit actually.

I'm a meat eater, but you have to be really, really simple or a goady fker to think that vegan is some kind of "special" food.
Chips?
Beans on toast?
curry and rice?
Nachos?

Educate yourself. There's a whole world of food out there. Alternatively stick to your meat and two veg bubble, or beige crap, and never deviate. I know which I'd prefer.

Jammie dodgers aren't vegan anymore, they changed the recipe...

Ah thanks - not on my radar as I think they're fucking gross .

The post I was replying to said that vegans eat most food. They don't.
A huge range of food contains milk, butter, eggs, cream, honey, gelatine, other animal derived products.

There's alternatives to milk, soya, almond, rice, coconut for example.
There's lots of foods out there that doesn't have any of the things you've mentioned in, unless you mean you're relying on ready meals. Then they're in absolutely bloody EVERYTHING.