The Vegan Quiche

[LentilAsAnything]

Hi

Thought I'd start a thread for the vegans and wannabe vegans.
Anyone here!?

Old thread here.

I cooked the tadka dal from scratch, I just didn't have any fresh garlic so used purée. It was just so irritating!

I think I'm looking out for:

Milk
Cheese
Gelatine
Butter/Buttermilk
Eggs
E120
Palm oil.
Honey
Beeswax

They are the main ones I look for.

I've just looked on google and found this list on the PETA website and this on the Vegan Society website.

I've been really diligent with checking ingredients so I'm annoyed I've slipped up!

Does everyone else abide by the 'may contain' or 'may contain traces of'. Sometimes, I think they are just trying to cover themselves

I have chronic rhinitis and if giving up dairy cures it then ill never look back!

My main focus is going up butter and cheese as I don't have milk or eggs anyway. I also need to be a lot more diligent on my label checking!

Cantaloupe I must admit that I generally ignore "may contain traces of" as I also think that, in most cases, manufacturers are just covering themselves! However, I do find the lists of allergenic ingredients (contains milk, wheat, etc.) very useful as it saves me browsing through the whole list of ingredients - these seem to be quite quite common in the UK now, but unfortunately not where we live. Products generally aren't even labelled as being suitable for vegetarians.

The whole ingredients thing is a minefield. I thought that Lidl's margarine was suitable for vegans until I googled lecithin and discovered it can come from all kinds of sources, including dairy. I then switched to Aldi's margarine, which seemed to be OK until I googled and found out that the vitamin D in it comes from sheep's wool. Aargh!

Ironing Yes, we can get Alpro here - it's my favourite brand of soya milk, but I still don't like it in coffee! I remember you suggesting a while back that I try out milk from the chiller cabinet rather than long-life milk; I must try and track some down.

Yay! Vegan thread!!

I've been vegan for ~15 years, only one in a family of meat eaters and married to a meat eater with a veggie 2yo.

Tau, another chubby vegan here, my new year's resolution is to lose weight .

Fave books are vegan with a vengeance by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and the voluptuous vegan. Terre a Terre cookbook good if you want to show off!

Hello Kat!

How easy is it being vegan with a meat eating/vegetarian family?

Thanks, Linzer

Yes, I like the allergens list. I still look through the ingredients to check for any nasties!

It's amazing how many foods are vegan safe. I really thought it would be a lot more limiting than it is.

Hurrah, this thread is getting busy.

Day 12 here and feeling great. However also out for pub lunch at weekend and thinking what to have. Huge menu but nothing actually vegan, there is veggie bean burritos though. If I ask them to hold the sour cream, that should be ok shouldn't it? (they don't come with cheese).

I am also eating lots more fruit and veg too. Including the delicious banana cake recipe linked to below - thank you again.

Milk in garlic puree, blooming heck! Off to check purees....

Today's happy mistake: if you hugely overcook brown rice so it goes mushy and add pesto, it tastes like avocado.

Other than homemade, can anyone suggest some vegan biscuits? Family down this weekend and I want to avoid the inquisition as much as poss, so trying to look 'normal'.

Hi BumPop.

I'm feeling great too, lots more fruit veg and pulses. I haven't even missed any non-vegan food.

Good luck with the pub lunch.

Yes, the garlic purée was annoying.

Have you bought vegan pesto? As most contain gran padano/parmesan cheese.

I thought 'party rings' were vegan, happy to be or reacted if I'm wrong though.

That is irritating, Cantaloupe. Darn animal products get into so many things. Seemingly unnecessarily so too.
Please keep us posted re if the rhinitis clears up.

Linzer, it is indeed hard to be sure with some ingredients. I prefer to buy things that are labelled vegan. Though I did buy something labelled vegan in Germany once only to read the ingredients at home to discover isn't had honey in it!

IMO, the chilled Alpro is much better than the long-life.

Welcome, Kat, thank you for joining. Lovely go have you here.

Glad you are feeling so good, Bum. I immediately felt better once I gave up dairy. It was amazing. I also felt better when I gave up gluten, just lighter and cleaner. I really should get on that.

Sainsburys and CoOp are good at labelling things vegan, haven't bought biscuits in a while though. They are sooooo easy to make. Oreos are vegan! Some brands of Bourbons. Oh, and chocolate chip HobNobs! Yes, it is true! And normal HobNobs, but why have normal when you can have chocolate chip! Last I checked, Party Rings were not vegan. Shame, I used to love those, and sure DS will too. They may make them vegan one day, as demand increases: Oreos didn't used to be vegan in the UK (they have been vegan in Australia and the USA for ages).

Hi Cantaloupe! We find it quite easy tbh. If we eat together (both work in quite stressy jobs) then we have things that you can easily do variants of ie a vegan curry sauce (Anila's are amazing) and have one pot with Tofu and one with meat then share everything else, or vegan pasta sauce that you can add meat to for DH and cheese to for DD.

I'm lucky in that my DH really gets it and is incredibly supportive!

Bum I looked into vegan biscuits a while back and it's basically as Ironing says. DD1 got a huge selection of bourbons for Christmas (all different makes) and as far I can tell, they're all vegan - although some did contain palm oil. Apparently dark chocolate hobnobs used to be vegan but aren't any more, which is highly annoying as they're my biscuit of choice! I keep meaning to try chocolate chip hobnobs, although I've heard they aren't quite as chocolatey.

Ironing I'm not sure how it compares with Germany (probably slightly behind!) but labelling here is very behind UK standards. Things are improving slowly and a few supermarkets have introduced vegan/vegetarian ranges, but otherwise you rarely see anything labelled as suitable for vegetarians, let alone vegans.

My DH is also very supportive, although he was a bit when I first announced I was going to try and become a vegan. It's only really since we moved to Austria that he's started eating more meat; I blame all the barbecues (and it's such a meat-based culture here)!

Oops, sorry. I was sure I had read that party rings were vegan. Sorry!

Has anyone been to Vegfest before? I've missed it for the past few years so I really want to go this year. and sample lots of veggie food

Kat that's good. My DH is very supportive, checks food for me and even bought me a vegan cook book at Christmas. He isn't willing to convert yet, but I'm hoping he will soon.

Me again!

I was watching the news the other day and they were discussing the government plans to put images on cigarette packaging of the a age it does to your body.

What do you think old happen if they put images on food based on where it had come from?

For example: Milk an accurate picture of the dairy cows, rather than the "happy cow in the field" image. Eggs & the reality of battery farms. The reality of a slaughterhouse.

Do you think it would in tease vegan ism/vegetarianism? I think most people are very detached from the reality if what they are eating. They may know that the meat industry is horrific but dont think about that when they are doing their food shopping. A clear picture would show the part they are playing. It may also push people into purchasing higher welfare animal products if they didn't want to give up meat.

I know it's not going to happen, obviously!

*damage that it does

*increase veganism/vegetarianism

OMG, chic chip hobs nobs are amazing!

Kat, how do you feel though, about being with someone who obviously knows about veganism, yet still chooses to exploit animals, and cause great suffering to them? To me, if someone 'really gets it', they too would be vegan. That sounds a bit attacky, sorry, it is a genuine question.

That is a shame about the labelling, Linzer, but I am sure they will catch up, and fast. Things used to be like that here, and veganism has absolutely exploded in recent years. I am sure it is just a matter of time, and the more they know there is demand, supply will follow. I used to write to companies asking if such and such was vegan, could they label it so if it was, etc, and lots of vegans did the same. I am sure we had an impact.

Cantaloupe, I have been to the veg fest in Brighton. Think it was vegfest. Maybe it was just a vegan festival! Not been to the Bristol one. I have been to loads in London when I used to live there.

I know of activists who do exactly that, cantaloupe - they stick images of the dairy industry on cartons of milk at the supermarket, or pictures of animals in slaughterhouses on slabs of flesh. But yes, I think if the govt did the same for dairy and meat, some people would change their thinking. Not all, for I post various things on Fb re veganism and many remain meat- and dairy-eaters, despite knowing. Sadly, many people just do not care. Same for smoking. There warnings are there on the packets, and people just don't care.

Chocolate HobNobs are currently on offer in Sainsburys. Just did my online shop, and resisted!

Yes, most of Vegfest is vegan produce. I'm really looking forward to stocking up!

Really? I wasn't aware of any activists who did that. I think it would be a fascinating psychology experiment. I would love to watch people's reactions. I'll suggest it to Channel4!

It's sad that when faced with the reality some people wouldn't change, but it would just be interesting to see the reactions of those who choose to turn a blind eye.

Don't worry OhTheIroning I didn't take it as attacky at all, it's a valid question and one I often struggle with.

TBH we've talked about it a lot and he fundamentally believes that animals are not as important/intelligent as humans and should therefore should be viewed as a food source pragmatically, which is obviously at odds with my beliefs. He doesn't believe in the unnecessary suffering of animals and will only eat things that he believes have been treated well (which, given that we live fairly rurally isn't hard). He is consistent in that he fully admits that it they are living sensing creatures but will butcher things himself so that he's not shying away from what he's eating (iyswim?).

I love him very much and respect that he is entitled to his own opinion and I think I can accept his differences because he is consistent within his own belief system and is so supportive of mine. Tbh I find someone like this with a self consistent set of values easier to deal with than (for example) people who say they're veggie but eat fish .

Sorry, not sure if that's coming across very clearly, am shattered!

Just found this thread, hello everyone. I have been vegan for 3 years and live in Glasgow with 5 dcs (2 youngest are veggie not vegan - compromise with my DH). DH and older DCs are mainly veggie in that I don't cook or buy meat or fish at home but they'll have it when they're out and about.

Hi Carovioletfizz :)

I was talking about Veganuary with some work colleagues today - it got them thinking (I think) about where stuff (namely milk) comes from and how. They asked if I was going to continue and my only answer was 'I can't unlearn what I now know'.

Sorry for not being online much, am making an effort to cut back. But nice to have this thread.

Thanks for the answer, Kat. How are you approaching raising your children? Will they be raised vegan from the start?

Welcome, caro. We are in Dundee.

Chaotic, that is exactly it. Once you know, you can't ever pretend you don't know the truth about those industries. I could never ever go back to being a meat- and dairy- eater. Well done!

Hello all!
The more information I read on the food industry,the more I am questioning many food choices.
I am still very much learning,and at the moment I am really mainly looking to add some vegan meals,as a starting point.
I'm hoping to learn,so I shall be lurking around a bit!

Hi, TBW. Welcome aboard!
Can I help at all? I have a collection of boards on Pinterest with ideas for vegan food, a separate board for animal rights info/the truth about where our food comes and the health benefits of veganism. If these would be helpful, let me know and I can PM them to you.

Ooh OhTheIroning would you mind sharing those with me?

OhTheIroning, that'd be brilliant! Thank you.

Hi TBW. I was an on/off vegetarian until 1st Jan 2014 when I decided to go vegan so am on the learning curve myself :)

How's it going MyLife ? Is it hard/easy ?