Vegan Japanese Curry

A few weeks ago, we had the unfortunate experience of going out for dinner and inadvertently having a non-vegan meal.  If you're vegan, it's probably happened to you too.   Here's what happened in shorthand.  We were Old Town Pasadena on a Saturday night and went to Curry House for dinner.  We'd read reviews that their vegetarian curry was actually vegan, and I'd been craving some comfort food.  There were two or three options for us on the menu and I was very optimistic.  Jane was chatting with the waitress after we were done eating, and discovered that the curry sauce is made with chicken stock!  She explained to the waitress that chicken stock is not vegetarian, and we were offered a free drink, but still.  I was really bummed.  I'd really been enjoying my meal and was looking forward to going there again.  Obviously that's not going to happen!

Curry Mix

So, last night, Jane surprized me with homemade vegan Japanese curry.  She used the S&B - Golden Curry Sauce Mix (Medium Hot) and it was quite tasty, even better since it was made cruelty free.

Jane said the curry mix was easy to work with but a little bizarre.  It pops out of it's plastic tray and looks a bit like a green chocolate bar.  She promised me I'll get to see it next time she makes this dish.  Our curry consisted of tofu, onions, orange peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, and snap peas.

According to the World Cancer Research Fund (via New Scientist Magazine), lifestyle changes could cut cancer by 1/3 in developed countries and 1/4 in developing countries.

"People think that somehow cancer comes from heaven, or Darwin, or from their parent's genes, but that's not always the case," says Michael Marmot, chair of the WCRF panel that produced the report. "A third are caused by smoking, and approximately a third are related to diet and physical activity."

Cutting the risk of cancer by a third.  Sign me up.  So what are the WCRFs recommendations?  Nothing you haven't heard before, but they're always worth repeating.

1. Be as lean as possible without being underweight.  WCRF suggests shooting for the lower end of the normal range for your BMI.
2. Be physically active for at least 30 minutes per day.  The recommendation is actually 30 minutes of vigorous activity or 60 minutes of moderate activity.  (Note to self - that doesn't include time spent blogging!)
3. Limit consumption of energy-dense foods (high in fats and/or sugars, and/or low in fiber) and avoid sugary drinks.  In the olden days that would have been guaranteed if you were a vegan, but today there's a proliferation of vegan junk food and vegan processed foods out there, so make smart choices!
4. Eat more of a variety of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and pulses (legumes) such as beans.  "Basing our diets on plant foods (like vegetables, fruits, wholegrains, and pulses such as beans), which contain fibre and other nutrients, can reduce our risk of cancer."
   
5. Limit consumption of red meat (such as beef, pork and lamb) and avoid processed meats.  Obviously, this is not an issue for those of us eating vegan, but it's important info for our omnivorous family and friends.  The WCRF recommendation is to limit consumption of meats to 500g per week.
6. Limit alcoholic beverages to 2/day for men and 1/day for women.
7. Limit consumption of salty foods and foods processed with salt (sodium).  Our daily intake of salt should be less than 6g (2.4g sodium).  To determine how much salt a food contains, multiply the sodium content by 2.5.
8. Don't use supplements to protect against cancer.  WCRF recommends getting nutrients thru whole foods as opposed to eating a lower quality diet and supplementing.

So while the WCRF doesn't come out and recommend a vegan diet, they do stress basing a diet on fruits, veggies, whole grains, and legumes (pulses).   Easy enough to do when you are eating vegan.

Just as the vegan community had good press on the Today Show yesterday (see yesterday's blog post Vegan Firefighters On Today), we had bad press on the Tonight Show last week.

Comedian Tom Papa did a standup routine on the show.  Overall I found it rather humorous, but his wife should train him a bit better.  If she really is vegetarian as he mentions, she should have him praising the diet in public.

Below follows a brief transcript of his routine.  (I love the part about the billionaires.)

Here we are at the beginning of the next Great Depression.  Wow, I'm looking forward to it .  I'm so tired of all the old people, "we're the greatest generation, we survived the great de na na."

We can do it too, come on.  How easy is it to be poor.  It's fun, you don't have to get up early for work, you don't have to get up ever.  It's awesome.

How about these billionaires.  These billionaires are killing themselves. They're losing their money and they're killing themselves.  How insulting is this?  They'd rather die than live like us.  "You want me to eat at Applebee's - I don't think so."

I think it's good for us.  Simplify things.  We're gonna be fine.  We're America, we'll be fine.  It'll be nice.  Get joy out of the little things for a while.

Soup.  I love soup.  A nice chowder, a nice bisque.  Get a big stale piece of bread.  Gum it for weeks at a time.

I eat like that all the time.  My wife's a vegetarian.
We go to vegan restaurants.  Ever try that, you ever go to a vegan restaurant? Yeah, that's a bummer of a night.  Talk about the Great Depression.  You want to celebrate life you go to a steak house.  People are filled with joy.  Beer and wine, people slashing each other with knives.  Blood dripping off your chin.  Everybody's laughing, pounding on the tables.  Ha Ha Ha Ha.

You go to a vegan restaurant nobody's laughing, they're so weak they don't even have the breath.   Aaah.  They can't even lift the fake buffalo wing made of tofu and bark nuggets up to their mouths.

And there you have it, the stereotype of the weak, helpless vegan.

Anyway, if you'd like to check it out yourself, you can find the Tonight Show episode here.  It's chapter 5 if you don't feel like watching the entire episode.  It's episode 3717 and aired Friday, February 21st.

Jane's mom is great.  She's probably our biggest fan.  She's got our blog in her reader and has our feed on her homepage in the number one spot.  She's always touting us...  praising our blog to family and friends, and probably strangers as well.  (Hi mom!)  And more importantly, she's always sharing vegan tidbits she's seen on television.

This morning the Today Show had a segment on the The Engine 2 Diet (thanks again Mom).  It's great to see veganism represented on a national news/entertainment show.  Not only that but, Rip Esselstyn, firefighter and author of Engine 2 looks healthy and fit.  If a firefighter can thrive on a vegan diet, can't we all?

According to Essylstyn, " the most basic, profound, and powerful way to take care of your health on a day-to-day basis is to eat a healthy, plant-based diet."

If you missed the show, here's a link to the story about how The Engine 2 Diet was devised, which also includes a link to the video segment.