Veggie, heading for vegan...but

[Sonolanona]

I'm veggie, and haven't drunk milk for over 30 years. I've made the switch to vegan 'cheese' ..not perfect, but ok, and I can manage it for most cooking needs.
But... I've had a boiled egg and toast for breakfast every day since I was 3 and I'm 56 now! Always free range (my family have chickens on a smallholding) but I am really struggling to make that last switch because , well, breakfast has always been an egg, and use eggs in cooking.

How do I ditch the egg?!

Just eat the egg!

What are your reasons for wanting to be fully vegan? It sounds like your present setup is more ethical and low carbon than many of the vegan replacements.
But if you really want to, try a vegan omelette recipe? I had a delicious tofu omelette in a cafe
once.
You can buy egg replacements for cooking.

Why do you have to have a label?

Why can't you be a vegetarian who eats mainly vegan?

I'm a carnivore but eat vegetarian occasionally, vegan occasionally. I don't announce it to everyone.

I’m interested to know why you have decided to ditch the egg? I have the same diet as you, no meat or dairy. From an ethical perspective , as someone who works in agriculture I can’t see much wrong with a free range egg from a small holding. You’re doing amazing to have already avoided the dairy!

Yes, this is what puts me off eggs. Someone called eggs that when I was at school and I can’t put it out of my mind.

I am vegetarian.

I have managed to cut all meat, fish and dairy but I still use organic honey and eggs for cooking.

I make sure I buy only free range to try to mitigate that.

I still own leather bags and shoes. I am happy to try to switch to vegan versions but the cost is often prohibitive.

Basically I do as much as I can but don't put myself under pressure to be perfect...

If they eat eggs they are NOT vegans

If you want to be VEGAN it's not just down to what you eat its also about what you wear so unless you are going to do it all its pointless dropping eggs tbh

This is the vegan board, where it’s ok to ask for ideas about a vegan diet. Pretty simple really.

And yet here you are, on the vegan board, announcing it to everyone. 🧐

If you want to go vegan, you just have to do it OP. Find other breakfasts that you like. There’s lots of difference scrambled tofu recipes and overnight oats recipes online which are nice.

This

lucysfriendlyfoods.com/

In terms of baking this website is fabulous and the vegan cake recipe is delicious and easy.

www.thebuddhistchef.com/recipe/vegan-pancakes/

This is the best pancake recipe I found too

I have had to manage a severe egg allergy in my DS so we eventually found recipes that worked for everyone and everything eggless- it's odd as once you get used to it if you have one pancake made with eggs it's all you can taste.

Breakfast I would suggest you try gradually to reduce one day a week, 2 days a week etc if that's what you choose to do.

Depends where the chickens come from- what happened to the males. And if they are rescues their egg laying has dropped too much to be profitable or consistent anyway.

That’s not even considering the ethics of breeding an animal selectively bred to go through the painful process and strain on the body of laying 250/300 eggs per year whilst their wild counterparts lay 15 to 20 per year. There are massive health problems for chickens associated with this.

You don't actually have to give yourself a label. Or follow rules about your food. It should be your choice.

I have stopped saying that I am a vegan. I say that I eat a vegan diet most of the time. I eat fully vegan at home and will always have a vegan option eating out, if there is one.

Meat, fish, poultry and obvious eggs I couldn't bring myself to eat. But when DH's 95 year old friend made sponge cake with egg and whipped cream, I ate it. And I will probably have to eat cheese in dishes in holiday soon.

So, for you, it depends on why you want to be vegan. If your chickens have space and a normal life, it doesn't sound like they are suffering and the eggs are there anyway.

If you want an alternative you could try a tofu scramble. My sister makes it with a Bosh recipe and Bonsan sell it ready made. Or you could have avocado toast instead.

As a vegan of almost 10 years I would say stick with what you’re doing.

Anyway to help OP- scrambled tofu would probably be the best substitute- you can also buy vegan boiled eggs but they are expensive, maybe for a treat https://www.sinlessfood.co.uk/products/vegan-boiled-egg?variant=47573941715272&currency=GBP&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw3NyxBhBmEiwAyofDYRwMMNakf172LKH7GVL1MywvUwR6YnAIbH--zsGnPB_GYdo8T_PC1BoCFPEQAvD_BwE

Chickens bred to lay eggs are never killed for their meat. Free range shop bought eggs are from birds that will not end up on the table.

Post WW2, poultry keepers have bred chickens into two very different types. The first, layers, have been bred to convert almost all food into egg production. They lay up to twice as many eggs a year as hens used to. They put on no muscle mass - they are almost literally feathers, skin and bone. The most they can be used for after death is pet food or stock.

The second type, broilers, have been bred to pile on meat. They reach adult size in six to eight weeks rather than six months. These are the birds you buy at the shop.

Why do you want to ditch the egg? You’ve had it everyday for a lot of years so why do you need to drop it? Is it just so you can label yourself vegan, health reasons or have your morals changed? Could you not just say you’re a vegetarian (not that you should even worry about a label) and carry on eating eggs if you enjoy them? I’m assuming you enjoy eating eggs otherwise it wouldn’t be such a dilemma for you
edited to add chickens are going to lay eggs whether you eat them or not so it’s a waste to just bin them

I love scrambled tofu type things myself.

perhaps one thing you might find helpful is connect to your reasons for edging towards veganism and why you feel eating your morning egg is in conflict with that. Maybe ultimately it isn’t in the context or maybe you feel a sense of inconsistency? What is it about eating eggs that feels off to you (if it does, I mean you are asking so I assume on some level it does)?

Lots of pps not realising that this is the Vegan Board 🙄

so after they stop laying eggs or aren’t laying enough anymore, I know some are advertised looking for rescue homes, but what happens to the rest if they aren’t slaughtered? I get that there’s no meat on them but surely they aren’t all rescued? (Wish they were)

Also I’m a vegetarian, have been my whole life and the amount of people, especially in recent years when there are more vegans, that presume I’m a vegan. I get questioned so many times as to what I eat. People don’t actually seem to know the difference so what label you give yourself really shouldn’t matter at all

You don't need to label your diet. You're eating eggs from happy hens. That's fine.
I know people who don't eat meat or fish, but if some meat would have been wasted (thrown in the bin) they'd happily eat it.
If it's about morals or your impact on the world, focus on that, rather than a binary label.

Well there's always beans on toast.

Vegan is a whole lifestyle, not a meal. If I ate a "vegan" meal I wouldn't call it that. I'd say I ate a plant based meal. I quite often eat plant based meals but do so wearing leather shoes, or a wool jumper.

I'm not a vegan, but I do understand what veganism is. I can't believe the comments on here about "vegans" who eat free range eggs.

DS2 ate a completely plant based diet for a while as a teenager, for health reasons. He never said he was vegan, as he was OK about leather shoes etc.