Vegan Foodies: Great Recipes and Great Activism

I’ve never had a very high opinion of the foodie movement. To me it’s no great coincidence that foodie (sort of) rhymes with snooty.

Sure, I like food that tastes good. But I can’t help being turned off by an extreme and expensive obsession with luxurious foods in a world where 2 billion people don’t have access to clean water and another billion don't get enough calories. Who cares if your goat cheese is handcrafted or your guindilla peppers were cooked in the Basque tradition? Shouldn’t we just be happy to have enough?

And, I admit it—I don’t trust most foodies to make ethical decisions about food. Foodie-ism tends to be about pleasure, not making the world a better place. If paté foie gras is on the menu, you can bet it’s at a restaurant catering to foodies. After all, it is foodie guru Anthony Bourdain who said:

“ To me, life without veal stock, pork fat, sausage, organ meat, demi-glace, or even stinky cheese is a life not worth living. Vegetarians are the enemy of everything good and decent in the human spirit, and an affront to all I stand for, the pure enjoyment of food.”

So for a long time, I’ve believed that foodie-ism is antithetical to ethical eating. But a bunch of new vegan cooks and bloggers are changing my mind. They are people who are dedicated to ethical meals that taste exceptional. Fabulous, fresh, well-prepared food that pleases the palate and saves animals—it’s not a bad thing.

While these recipes may not represent everyday cooking for vegans (there are some definite time issues here!) they show the world that dishes containing no animal products can be divinely gourmet and extraordinary. These cooks put an attractive and appealing face on vegan diets, and that is good activism for animals.

Here are just a few of the blogs that are creating a welcome new image for vegan fare. (The suggestions came from some of the wonderful vegan tweeps over at twitter.com. As usual, I don’t know what I would do without them!)

Veganyumyum

Have Cake, Will Travel

Post Punk Kitchen

Vegan Menu

And, for those who don’t have time to whip up gourmet fare but just want to know where to find it, check out veggiething for ideas about some of the best vegan foods on restaurant menus.

Help Animals With Healthful and Practical Vegan Diets

I take some flak for my stance on raw foods and low-fat-vegan diets. But that’s okay; I stand by my opinion that neither is a good idea. I’m bothered as a dietitian because I don’t think these diets are the most healthful way to eat. But it bugs me way more as an activist since I don’t think either approach helps animals. In fact, I think it hurts them.

If our goal is to put an end to the inhumane treatment on factory farms, we need to encourage as many people as possible to embrace vegan diets. To do that, we need to show them that this way of eating is healthful and practical and appealing. Promoting additional restrictions that have no known health advantage—like eating all raw or eating very-low-fat—simply creates an image of vegan diets that makes them look more difficult and less appealing.

Studies of consumer behavior show that time, convenience and taste are huge factors in people’s food choices. As activists, we need to define vegan diets in ways that address those concerns. Both raw foods diets and very-low-fat diets embrace certain all-or-nothing food concepts that simply do not resonate with most Americans. Trust me on this: After 20-plus years of nutrition counseling, I can promise that it is easier to attract people to a vegan diet if we assure them that they can use some convenience foods at home and have the occasional meal at Taco Bell. And, we need to let them know that they aren’t going to make or break their health if they eat an Oreo cookie.

Benefits of very-low-fat vegan diets are based on some good research from the early 1990s. But more recent research has shed light on the fact that restricting all fats is not necessary for good health and probably not advisable. Choosing healthful fats like olive and canola oil is just as good—and most likely better—than shunning all fats.

Raw foods are based on a few scientific principles that are shaky at best. There is no reason to believe they are any more healthful than a plain old vegan diet, consisting of both cooked and raw foods. And in some ways they are less healthful.

I am downright depressed when I see the amount of attention that both raw foods and fat-restricted diets receive these days. Especially when I see vegan activists embracing or promoting them. Needlessly restrictive diets like these are not a part of the all-important effort to create an image for vegan diets that is positive and mainstream. And that’s why promoting these practices hurts farm animals.

The Best Vegan Dinner: No Cooking Skills Required

Okay, I’m no food photographer. But when I plated up this dinner last night, I was so impressed with myself that I had to take a quick photo. It’s not just that this meal is fabulously healthy, delicious, and pretty. It’s that it took me all of 10 minutes to pull it together.

Granted, the grains were leftovers. But if I hadn’t had those, I would have substituted something quick-cooking, like quinoa, or maybe just a nice slice of toasted grainy bread.

I started with a veggie patty made by Don Lee Farms and sold at some Costco stores. It’s not frozen but is fresh chopped veggies and grains, and it doesn’t pretend to be meat. (I have nothing against veggie burgers that pretend to be meat, but this is a lovely change of pace.)

I gave it a quick zap in the microwave oven while I steamed some gorgeous golden cauliflower for just 5 minutes. (This was way more expensive than regular white cauliflower and tastes the same, but I couldn’t resist it.)

I had some leftover cooked Brown Rice Medley from Trader Joe’s, which is a combination of brown rice, black barley and daikon radish seeds. I also had a little bit of leftover Israeli couscous, so I mixed the two together, tossed in some sunflower seeds and gave it a drizzle of olive oil and lemon juice to create an impromptu grain salad. Add a few slices of tomatoes and cubes of avocado and just like that—it’s dinner fit for a vegan king.

When you keep a few convenience foods on hand, and make smart use of leftovers, it truly is easy to pull together wonderful vegan meals in minutes.

(In the interest of full disclosure, I confess that I slipped the lettuce cup beneath the grains only when I decided to take a photo; I’m not usually so fancy.)

Outside the Vegan Comfort Zone

I treasure my wonderful group of vegan friends and colleagues, people I know both on and off the internet. They provide a sanity-saving little oasis for me in this non-vegan world. They are also a source of information and inspiration, which I think helps me to be a more effective activist.

Wouldn’t it be great to live in a world where everyone shared our vegan values and goals? Where you could always find vegan food on the table and didn’t have to watch other people eating meat? How great would it be if no one made fun of your diet and lifestyle and not one person ever asked where you get your protein? This question came up a few weeks ago on Twitter: If you could live in a community where everyone was vegan, would you do it?

Unfortunately, for us ethical vegans, it’s just not an option. If we surround ourselves only with others who think the way we do, there isn’t much chance to be a voice for change.

My local animal shelter is one example. I love my volunteer time there and I get to connect with others in my community who care about animals. A few of us are vegan; most are not even vegetarian. Some of them will never make the connection between the animals we call pets and the animals we call food. But they are more receptive to discussions about factory farming than most other groups, and it’s good that there are some vegans on hand to get those discussions going.

I also belong to several online communities that are devoted to some shared interest—discussions about books, antiques, or various cultural issues. In some of these groups, I know I am the only vegan. It’s not always easy or comfortable. How many posts can you read about Thanksgiving menus—all including some poor dead turkey—without tearing your hair out?

But in addition to our mutual interests, I’m glad to be part of those groups for another reason. I suspect that a lot of these people don’t have much contact with vegans. They think we are from Mars. I like to believe that in some small way I am making the case that a vegan diet (and lifestyle) is not just for radicals living on the fringe of society.

I want people to know that someone who is just like them—who watches TV, eats too many potato chips, reads novels, goes to baseball games, collects antiques—can also be vegan and an animal rights activist. I’m not so much hoping to cultivate a positive image for veganism as I am trying to promote a normal image.

If we are not out in the world, and in touch with the culture of the world, we are missing opportunities to let people know that vegan diets are for everyone, and they can fit any lifestyle.

Getting Enough Zinc on Vegan Diets

It’s safe to say that we have more questions than answers about zinc in vegan diets. This mineral is found in a wide range of plant foods, and many studies show that vegans have intakes on a par with omnivores.

But other evidence suggests that vegans fall short. In addition, zinc absorption from plant foods can be low. In fact, the percent of zinc absorbed from different meals varies dramatically—from around 8 to 32 percent.

Because of the absorption issue, some experts suggest that vegetarians could need as much as 50 percent more zinc in their diet than omnivores.

There is no evidence that vegans suffer from overt zinc deficiency. But zinc is needed by the body for more than 50 different enzymes—which means that a lot of physiological processes depend on zinc. And since zinc status is hard to measure, there are concerns that some people could have a chronic marginal deficiency that goes undetected and has subtle effects.

I’m in favor of a conservative and cautious approach since there is no down side to consuming a few extra milligrams of zinc. Using the 50% factor, recommended daily intakes of zinc would be 16.5 milligrams for men and 12 mg for women. While no single plant food (other than those that are fortified) is high in zinc, a diet based on a variety of whole foods can meet needs.

1 milligram of zinc is provided by:

1 tablespoon of nuts, seeds or nut/seed butters

¼ to ½ cup cooked beans

1 tablespoon wheat germ

1 cup cooked grain

2 slices of bread

2 cups cooked leafy green vegetables

Check the nutrition labels on vegetarian meat analogs, since some of these are fairly high in zinc. Fortified cereals are also very high.

Finally, by using some cooking practices that boost zinc absorption, you won't need to consume quite as much zinc.

Here are a few ways to enhance absorption of zinc:

Toast nuts and seeds before using them.

Choose fermented foods like sourdough bread and tempeh.

Choose foods that are leavened with yeast—breads—over crackers and plain grains.

Eat some sprouted legumes and seeds.

Soak grains before cooking them.

Follow Your Heart to Great Vegan Cheese and Mayonnaise

I love products that help make vegan diets effortless. Lately, I’ve become a devoted fan of the Follow Your Heart company, which makes it especially easy to whip up many of the foods I love—homemade pizza, traditional potato salad, and mac ‘n cheese. I’ve been using their Vegenaise for several years. It’s a huge leap forward in taste and texture from the tofu mayonnaise products of the past. In fact, it tastes more like real mayonnaise—the old-fashioned homemade kind—than commercial mayonnaise does.

More recently, I’ve discovered their Vegan Gourmet line of dairy substitutes. I recently used the sour cream and cream cheese substitutes in place of my usual favorite Tofutti brand for my favorite mushroom strudel recipe and was very happy with the results. The sour cream has a nice kind of tangy flavor that makes it perfect on top of black beans or burritos, too.

And while, I’m not a huge fan of most brands of vegan cheese, I really love the Vegan Gourmet cheese alternatives, which come in Cheddar, Monterey jack, mozzarella, and nacho flavors. And as the labels proudly boast, they melt! Admittedly, “melt” might be somewhat of an overstatement for what this cheese does. But it softens enough when heated that you can mix it into pasta or scrambled tofu and get a very nice cheesy kind of consistency.

None of these products are particularly low in fat—which is actually part of the reason for their success in vegan cooking. Their higher fat content provides some of the creaminess that is important for some recipes. I find all of the Follow Your Heart products at my local food co-op, and have seen some of them appearing in more mainstream grocery stores, too. You can check their website to locate stores that carry them.