To ask vegans....

[Blaaaaaaaaah]

What you use to cook?
For background my sister-in-law is coming to stay this weekend. She is recently vegan due to environmental factors, which I’m happy to cater for.
My issue is that for my own political opinion we only use British produce, we live in an agricultural gold mine so this is honestly pretty easy and most of our food has travelled less than 10miles.
However pretty much all the vegan recipes I’ve come across use substitutes made from coconut, almond and soy oil/milks, all of which are using tons of air miles to get here.

So, if you are vegan for similar reasons please can you guide me in what to use to avoid these ingredients?

Does your SIL like curry? I do a curry with cauliflower, usually with boiled eggs but you could replace eggs with lentils.

Also, veg curry with a mix of frozen veg.

Do you not eat rice, beans, pulses, fruit, bread or pasta and just stick to brussels sprouts and leeks at this time of the year, OP? Or never add any herbs and spices to your fiod? I bet you eat loads of foods that are not/made from crops which have not been grown in Britain, as if you stuck to a British only diet it would be extremely limited, particularly at some times of the year.

Just have a bit more of think, eh, and stop being so hypocritical and deliberately finding fault.

For a start, I wouldn’t worry too much about it. The type of food you eat is much more important than where it comes from, so the environmental impact of British bred and raised beef, lamb and dairy is significantly higher than even the most environmentally unfriendly vegan foods (almond milk, avocados, soy etc). So even if you break your rule to purchase these things on this occasion, you won’t be doing as much environmental damage as eating a locally grown diet that includes meat or dairy.

I would personally focus on getting what she likes for this limited stay.

However, if the principe is still very important to you, just choose things that don’t require a lot of substitutes. Veggie stew with ‘cheesy’ (using nutritional yeast) dumplings, mushroom pasta, shepherdess pie using lentils instead of mince, baked potatoes with beans, vegetable curry and rice. There are endless options.

This company grows British pulses etc hodmedods.co.uk/

I don’t think the homegrown UK output of lentils and chick peas is very high!

Broad beans and peas are high in protein though.

Everything you would normally use for your meat based dish but without the meat or dairy.

Local mushrooms are a good substitute or a roasted seasoned cauliflower steak with your normal veg/potatoes

Op have you never had a glass of wine from another country or an olive or bought clothes that were made outside of the U.K.? Why are you being so critical of your relatives choice? . Just cook her something simple and ask her to bring some plant milk and snacks.

been thinking... my favourite is a spinach/kale and butternut/pumpkin curry; you can add beans and potatoes instead of rice if you like. It tastes extra special if you add a squeeze of lime and some garam masala on top.

for a desert, you could make an easy aquafaba (as mentioned) chocolate mousse, or try this for seasonal: www.hubbub.org.uk/pumpkin-and-coconut-cake?fbclid=IwAR27uCoclJc0GQUhCG6MOYjliSaxbLZ24ejdKkmKHYmzawD6vOr6IMoH-Tc (has dessicated coconut but it is very nice!) This is also a good site for other ideas.

Hope you both have a lovely time!

I think think cooking with coconut oil is a bit of a fancy fad - it works for some dishes but rapeseed, sunflower and other veg oil is just as vegan 🤷‍♀️ I’m not vegan but do love a lot of vegan dishes, I’ve never cooked with coconut oil. Coconut milk from a tin for some curries on occasion but not often.
But even if I did I don’t think it would make as much of a negative environmental impact as cooking meat - cows for example create a lot of methane gas and they need to eat too. I doubt all the animal feed is locally produced.

I use sunflower oil and oat milk. I sometimes use coconut milk in curries but that’s not a vegan thing, it’s a thing for Thai etc cuisine. I’ve never had coconut oil. I don’t use rapeseed oil even though it’s local because I hate the smell of oil rape growing in the fields.

Vegetarian spaghetti bolognese with lentils instead of mince is a firm favourite of mine!

I don’t believe for a second everything the OP uses is sourced locally or at a push from the U.K., it’s virtually impossible to do that unless you have an extremely restricted diet.

I am amazed thar your diet is sourced from a 10 mile radius. Bravo.

Coconut oil is a fad and a way of extracting money from the gullible (compare and contrast the prices of it in an organic supermarket and in a small family-run Indian/Pakistani grocers). I use mild olive oil for every recipe I make whether Indian, Middle Eastern, whatever.

Oat milk is overall more sustainable than almond or soy.

And as others have said, there's plenty of options for vegan cooking that don't need milk substitutes at all.

But unless you never buy anything that's come from overseas, your concern about food miles is a bit misplaced/partial anyway.

This was so obviously an anti vegan thread that didn’t work out. 😂

Indian food. Most of it is vegan. Possibly not the answer you are looking for. None of it uses avocados, soy milk etc and I use sunflower oil for cooking.

Why are you avoiding those ingredients?

If you have a guest coming to stay then you should cater for her. Ask her what she normally eats and get that in for her.

@themadcatparade

Everything you would normally use for your meat based dish but without the meat or dairy.

Local mushrooms are a good substitute or a roasted seasoned cauliflower steak with your normal veg/potatoes

I dont think she eats meat 🤔

Well what oil/vegetables/pulses/beans do you usually use? Use those?

If you have loads of pumpkins, then make a pumpkin curry and be done with it.

No slaughtered animals is the main thing.

Mashed potatoes made with olive oil is divine(yet fattening)
Pumpkin, sweet potato, butternut squash with spices or cinnamon and ginger make a fantastic soup.

@GirlWithAGuitar It’s such a shame you’ve read the thread that way.
There’s some amazing recipes been given so thank you so much everyone else. I’ve found it so interesting finding some alternatives to the meals I make regularly anyway. I know it may seem hard to understand how self sufficient we’ve been able to become (yes I did say ‘most’ and not all) but we’re incredibly lucky where we live. I’m under no illusion that our way of life would be viable for most and thanks for the help with finding lots of scrummy food that will suit us both.