To ask what the point of Veganuary is?

[MadToBeMe]

Because it appears to be a load of people rushing out to buy fake processed junk rather than rethinking their eating habits.

It just strikes me that veganism is a life choice to avoid certain foods and products. Are all these faux vegans still wearing their leather shoes, eating avocados and almonds?

I’ve seen threads asking about buying ‘vegan food’. Err, fruit, veg, pulses, nuts, grains...when in reality I think they want the answer to be pulled pork made from soya and 20 different chemicals.

Can't people try something new, even in a cack handed way at the same time as other people to, ye know, give them advice and support and stuff?
Not really harming anyone, is it?

Have you heard of silage?

Yes - it's one of the supplementary foods I was referring to. It's also made using land that could invariably be turned over to crops if demand for livestock dropped.

It's also made using land that could invariably be turned over to crops if demand for livestock dropped. What crops do you suggest? How do you propose the land be fertilised?

I'm not vegan but eat lots of vegan meals. I eat NO vegan processed food. Look at deliciously Ella's recipes. All made with fruit, veg, nuts pulses etc. No processed gunk.

The point of it is to encourage people to try to be a vegan !! I'm vege but I'm doing Veganuary to basically see if I can do it ... I want to learn without the commitment if I have what it takes ..pretty simple to be honest 🙄

Whatsnewwithyou well said

So many woefully ignorant comments on this thread

Many interesting insights alongside many defensive posts.

I think one big obstacle to the suggestion of Veganuary to a lot of omnivores is that it's not switching one diet for a completely different one to try it out for a month but rather it's eating a lot of the same things as you already do, but having to give up some of them.

It might be a silly analogy, but if you were going to Bordeaux for a month and vowing to only speak French for the whole time, to really immerse yourself in the culture, that sounds a really exciting challenge. Whereas eating vegan for a month is like the equivalent of staying right where you are and speaking English as normal - only you're not allowed to use any adjectives.

Many vegans see theirs as a richer, healthier lifestyle, where the carefully-considered decision to eschew easy go-to unhealthy/unethical meat and dairy options gives you a real impetus to branch out and explore all kinds of delicious new plant/fruit-based options that you never would have bothered or even thought to do before.

However, as PPs have said, if you're just doing it for a pre-planned month only, to join the latest trendy bandwagon (still feeling a bit bloated after Decembeef), instead of revolutionising your paradigm; for the vast majority, it's just going to be a case of buying Linda McCartney sausages instead of normal ones and endless microwave rice - and counting down the days until 1st Februdairy.

Hi OP, I’m doing veganuary so I have more tasty plant based meals in my repertoire. Already eat things like lentil/sweet potato shepherds pie, mushroom ragu, veggie soups, vegan chilli w loads of different beans, and would like different options using more pulses and nuts. Never fancied a meat substitute before and don’t intend to start now. HTH.

Sounds fab @Wondering333.

Have you tried butternut, chickpea and spinach curry? Absolutely delicious. Also love a lentil bolognese.

I make a lentil and mushroom bolognese that’s so good my meat-eating DH prefers it to the mince one (and spag bol is his favourite meal).

It’s interesting to see how many people are making comments about soy, as though it’s vegans and vegetarians driving demand for it. Anecdotally, I don’t know many veggies or vegans who rely on soy as a significant part of their diet, and factually the vast majority of it is produced to feed animals not humans.

Like I’ve said upthread, no diet is automatically ethical. But if you’re pointing out the unethical aspects of veganism and claiming it’s just as bad as an omnivorous diet, that’s a false equivalence. All diets can be made more ethical by consuming local, seasonal produce which is free from pesticides and comes from sustainable sources, but if your diet contains meat and dairy it’s inevitably going to be more detrimental to the environment, and more exploitative of animals and natural resources, than a diet which doesn’t contain these things.

I completely accept that a meat-eater who only consumes small amounts of local, sustainably reared, grass-fed meat and consumes only organic, seasonal, local fruit and veg could have a diet with less overall environmental impact than a junk food vegan who eats large amounts of processed foods, palm oil, soy, and imported, inorganic fruit and veg. But these are extreme examples which aren’t reflective of rhe norm. The norm is that omnivorous diets have a much larger, and unsustainable, envonmental impact.

Can you pm me the recipe please pachyderm

Curious to see if people have stuck with it and plan to continue?