It's always exciting for us when Vegan and Mainstream collide.  On Tuesday, February 5th Annie & Dan Shannon will be on the TODAY Show (NBC 7am - 11am -- not sure of their time slot). Why is this exciting? Annie and Dan have a new cookbook out, Betty Goes Vegan: 500 Classic Recipes for the Modern Family.  Here's a chance for mainstream American to see that we vegans actually eat real food. 

So if you're looking to get a little vegan injection in with your morning news, set your TVs or DVRs to tune to TODAY on Tuesday 2/5.

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Jane and I were out and about today and popped in to an ad hoc cooking class. The teacher was presenting different summer recipes and one of them sounded very interesting. After the class was over we chatted with the teacher for a few moments. After a few references to different meats we could incorporate into the recipes she had presented we told her we were vegan. Her first question, "Do you eat fish?" Then she suggested various ingredients we could add to certain recipes to "spice them up" -- including Worchestershire sauce, which contains ANCHOVIES! (Note: she didn't know, nor did she suggest searching for vegan Worchestershire sauce.)

This woman then went on to mention that she would be presenting a vegetarian cooking class later in the summer, and suggested we sign up. Now I understand that not everyone knows the definition of "vegan" -- I mean really, there's even debate about it within the vegan community. But if you are promoting yourself as a cooking instructor, especially one who is going to teach a class on vegetarian fare, should you have an understanding of what vegetarian means? And shouldn't you have a vague understanding of what the ingredients are in the products you are promoting?

Oh, and did I forget to mention that this woman is also a caterer?

Anyway, the point of this post is to remind everyone, ourselves included, that you don't always know what you're getting when you don't prepare your own food.

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If you're new to the vegan thing, or considering switching to a vegan diet, the idea of replacing dairy can be quite daunting.  In reality, replacing milk isn't an issue.  There are a wide variety of replacements that are conveniently available in almost any supermarket.  In addition to that, you can go ahead and make your own nut and oat milks.  (Jane makes almond milk religiously.)  However, soy and tree nuts can be allergens for some people, so if you have questions,  check with your doctor or nutritionist.

We've pretty much tried them all over the time we've been vegan, and here's how we typically use the various vegan milk products.

• Almond milk -  We have a Soyabella Milk Maker, and Jane uses that to make our almond milk.  I use that as the base for my morning shake, and she uses it for hot cereals, in her baking, and some soups.
• Hazelnut milk - Jane likes to use hazelnut milk in the same manner as almond milk.  My mom likes it in her coffee, and we've used it to make chocolate milk (yum).
• Soy milk -You can find this milk replacement anywhere.  And there are a wide variety of flavors available, from coffee to green tea, to eggnog at the holidays.  We've found they vary greatly in taste and mouth-feel, so we'd suggest buying a few different brands and having your own taste test.  Our personal preference is the Silk brand ever since they reformulated it to be more creamy.  You can also make your own.  We find it to be a bit on the  "beany" side, but Jane makes it occasionally and uses for savory dishes.  Don't forget to hang on to the bean remains, also called okara.  You can use it in cooking or baking or in soups to give your dish an extra protein punch.
• Oat Milk - We love this for our hot cereals and soups.  It has a very creamy texture.
• Hemp Milk -  I really enjoy the taste and texture of hemp milk, but it's the most pricey of all the milk alternatives (here at least) and so we tend not to buy it all that often.
• Coconut Milk - We buy the light version in cans at our local Trader Joe's and Jane uses it to prepare thai dishes and in some baking.  The full fat version is pretty high in calories.  So Delicious has also come out with milk, sold in cartons on the supermarket shelves.  Since we love their yogurt ($$$$)  and ice creams we were very excited when this product came out.  However, neither of us really cared for it as a milk.
• Rice milk - The least nutritious of all the milk-alternatives, we tend to stay away from rice milk, although we do buy some on occasion and sprinkle it with cinnamon to make our own Horchata.  It's a good snack.

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So there is this fun little vegan questionnaire going around, you may have already seen it.  It comes to us via an email from Janine in England (she has no blog).  Anyway, it's below.  Feel free to submit your answers on your own blogs.  It's a fun way to get to know each other a little better.

1. Favorite non-dairy milk?
Actually, I have three:

1. Home-made almond milk -  Jane whips up a batch using our  Soyabella Milk Maker every four or five days. I use this in our breakfast shake and Jane uses it for almost all of her cooking/baking endeavors.
2. For cereal, I like WestSoys Plain Light - it's closest to the old fat free cow's milk I used to drink BV (before vegan).
3. Silk Light Chocolate - I like this as a snack.  I'm totally addicted!

2. What are the top 3 dishes/recipes you are planning to cook?
I don't do any of the cooking... but Jane's certainly got 3 recipes on the back burner that I can't wait to try.  Susan's Okara Crab Cakes and her Seitan baked in Sweet and Sour Orange Sauce.  And a whole bunch of new recipes Jane is planning on debuting for Thanksgiving this year.

3. Topping of choice for popcorn?
I have never been a huge fan of flavored popcorn.  I prefer the regular buttered and salted variety.  So it's Earth Balance for me!

4. Most disastrous recipe/meal failure?
The worst thing Jane has made for us as vegans has been Veganomicon's Mac & Cheese.   I know plenty of you enjoy it, but we both took one bite and then Jane threw out the panful (something she NEVER does).  It was such a disaster that we have avoided all mac and cheese recipes

5. Favorite pickled item?
There is a wonderful Japanese pickled cucumber condiment we get sometimes.  I can't remember what it's called, but I know they use a bit of sugar in the brine too.

6. How do you organize your recipes?
I don't understand how Jane has the books organized, but she knows where each one lives.  She's also got a ton of recipes online organized by things like: appetizers, breads, soups, breakfast, lunch, dinner, desserts, cakes, cookies, and FAVORITES

7. Compost, trash, or garbage disposal?
How about recycling?   I compost all our kitchen scraps.  And we're lucky, we can co-mingle all our recyclables, including all plastics, which are picked up weekly.

8. If you were stranded on an island and could only bring 3 foods...what would they be (don't worry about how you'll cook them)?
Turkish Lentil Stew, Strawberries (really ripe, fresh from the farmer's market) or Cherimoya, and almost any bread.

 

9. Fondest food memory from your childhood?
My mother made hamburgers for dinner one night; they were rocks (my mom was and still is a HORRIBLE cook).  When my parents weren't looking, my brother grabbed our burgers and threw them out the third floor window.  When my parents went out that night, my brother ordered us a pizza.  He was 6 years older than me, and I thought he was sooo cool.

10. Favorite vegan ice cream?
So Delicious - Chocolate Brownie Almond

11. Most loved kitchen appliance?
Again, I defer to Jane.... It's her Kitchen Aid Mixer.

12. Spice/herb you would die without?
Savory: Cumin // Sweet: Cinnamon

13. Cookbook you have owned for the longest time?
Joy of Cooking, and we still use it!

14. Favorite flavor of jam/jelly?
Blackberry.

15. Favorite vegan recipe to serve to an omni friend?
Tofu chocolate mousse.  People cannot believe that it is vegan.

16. Seitan, tofu, or tempeh?
Seitan by far.  But tofu is the easiest.

17. Favorite meal to cook (or time of day to cook)?
Jane likes to cook in the afternoon.

18. What is sitting on top of your refrigerator?
Because we have such a tiny kitchen, we have a ton of stuff on top of our fridge.  The toaster oven lives there, along with whatever cold cereals we are eating at the moment, tea bags, two bottles of liquor, and the local phone books (what are those?).  I'm probably forgetting something!

19. Name 3 items in your freezer without looking.
That's easy.  Morningstar's Grillers Vegan, frozen fruit (blueberries, blackberries, and cherries) for our breakfast shake, and Trader Joe's Chocolate non-dairy dessert (our vegan ice cream).

20. What's on your grocery list?
Phyllo dough, Field Roast sausages, and tofu.

21. Favorite grocery store?
Trader Joe's.  They are starting to carry more and more vegan products, and their prices are usually much better than what we get elsewhere.

22. Name a recipe you'd love to veganize, but haven't yet.
Macaroni and cheese!

23. Food blog you read the most (besides Isa's because I know you check it everyday). Or maybe the top 3?
Fat Free Vegan - Susan has the best recipes!

Seitan is My Motor - Mihl also has a great blog.  Jane has had good results with her baked goods.

Bitten - Mark Bittman's blog for the NY Times.

24. Favorite vegan candy/chocolate?
Jane's chocolate truffles.

25. Most extravagant food item purchased lately?
Soy milk powder.  Jane uses it in icing.  It was around $14 for a canister.  Sheesh!

26. Ingredients you are scared to work with?
Jane bought something called annatto for a recipe she can no longer find.  It's been sitting in the cupboard for about 4 months now.

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Today is our two year vegan-versary.   Over the past two years we've learned a lot about the positive health benefits of a vegan diet, about the benefits of being vegan on the environment, and about the horrific conditions in which livestock spend their entire lives.  And while we may not be "perfect" vegans, we have found our stride and are quite confident that we will be vegan for the rest of our lives.

When we first went vegan, we experienced a considerable amount of trepidation.  Would we be able to do this?  Would we miss meat and dairy?  Would we be any healthier?  Would we be able to eat out again?  I've blogged about many of these experiences, and you've shared your own with us, and on your blogs as well.  I think most of us have found the transition to veganism to be far less painful, and much more rewarding than we could have anticipated.

The most unanticipated thing though, is our shift in thinking.  There is no way we would be able to go back to a meat-centered diet.  We went vegan for our health, we're staying vegan because we cannot conceive of eating meat again after learning how that meat is produced.  (And some of you can say you told me so!)

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As I mentioned, Jane's mom was here for a visit recently. While she was here, she mostly ate vegan.  But she couldn't give up milk for her coffee.  She tried, but she wasn't enamored with the soy milk or almond milk alternatives we had for her.  When she left, we had a bit of milk leftover that she hadn't consumed.  In the interest of "science" I decided to try it and see if it still tasted great to me.  Remember, we really loved cow's milk.  Not only did it taste weird to me.  I would have to say I didn't like it at all.  I know plenty of people who are omnivores who don't like milk, but I used to drink it all the time.

I found it very interesting that after two years I've grown to actually dislike something I used to love.  How quickly our tastes can change.  It makes me wonder how I would react to a meat-based meal?   Would it taste odd to me?  Would it be bad?  Not that I'm planning on experimenting here.

But what is even more exciting to me is that I can now say, in all honesty, that you can easily learn to adapt to a vegan diet.  And after a few short months, eating vegan will be the norm.

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So, we haven't been around much lately.  I'm sure you all know how it goes.  Work, life, etc.  No, we haven't become omnivores in our absence.  We are both still very much vegan and loving it.

Jane's mom was here for a visit.  She's such a good sport.  She ate vegan for all but two of her meals, and one of those was an accident because the Thai restaurant delivered the wrong food to our house, so it would have been thrown away.  Also she had cow's milk in her morning coffee.  She tried the almond milk Jane makes every few days, but thought it was too thin.  I can't really blame her.  It took us a long time to "get over" milk.  We didn't try soy creamer (just didn't think of it), but will during her next visit.

One of her favorite things was the Seitan Scaloppini we blogged about back in February.  It's one of my favorite too.  And I would recommend you all try it.  Just remember, it is not a weekday meal.  It takes a bit of prep work!  She also really loved Shojin, where she was fussed over and made to feel very welcome.  It was a very pleasant visit.  I don't think Jane's mom plans on going vegan, but she is willing to eat that way all the time, provided someone else does the food prep.   Actually, I know she eats vegetarian often.  I just think the idea of learning to cook new things is something she no longer has any interest in.

While we were on our unscheduled blogging hiatus we noticed this bizareness... you could buy your Easter ham at our local grocery store for $0.77 per pound, but green beans were $0.99 / pound!  This seems way out of whack if you think about it.  We often complain that you can get a beef burrito at Taco Bell for $0.79, but a bean burrito - no cheese please - costs $0.99!  Seems wrong to us.  (Yes, I know plenty about food industry subsidies.)  But I think this ham thing wins the prize for the most obvious price support.

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Last week Jane and I were in New York.  We were not there to play, but rather to attend the funeral of one of Jane's aunts.  As with most of these events, it was bittersweet, a somber affair, but it was pleasant to see the rest of the family.

After the funeral, there was a luncheon scheduled at a banquet hall in a far suburb of Manhattan.  We were all offered a choice of prime rib, chicken, or salmon.  Of course, we were the crazy fruit and nut people from California who eat no meat.  When the waitress came over to take our beverage order, I discreetly called her over and asked if she could accomodate us with some kind of vegetable plate or salad.  Imagine my surprize when she asked me if we were vegetarian or vegan.  We were in an area that has zero vegan restaurants, zero vegetarian restaurants, and very few vegan options in the grocery store.  Our waitress was not a twenty-something young college student whom you might expect to have a vague idea of what veganism means, nor was she a "hippie."  She was an average 40-something female, living in a non-vegan-friendly environment.  And we didn't have to explain, in detail, what we did not want in our food!

We were given a heaping plate of pasta with a marinara sauce and a heaping plate of beans and carrots which had been sauteed in olive oil and garlic.  The food was only mediocre, but we ate most of what we had been served simply because we were so excited to have been given something we could eat!

Of course, our meal was commented on at the table.  Some of our readers seem to take exception to this kind of thing.  We didn't mind at all.  No one was openly disparaging; they all appeared curious.  When asked if it was difficult to change to a vegan diet, Jane phrased her response quite eloquently.  She commented that it was just like starting any new eating regime.  It takes a bit of effort to get into the swing of things, but once you know what you're doing, it's pretty much effortless.  We didn't proselytize, it's not our style, nor was it the time for that type of behavior, but we did answer the questions that were asked of us.  And to Jane's cousin who commented, "You eat the food of my food," we responded, "Yes, and by doing so we're helping to save the planet for your children," which allowed us to segue into some of the environmental benefits of eating vegan.

Afterwards, when we were expressing our gratitute to our waitress, she informed us that she ate vegan as often as she could, and was excited that we'd made that special request so she could also share in our meal (the staff apparently gets to eat the same food as the guests).  She's not a vegan, but likes to eat vegan as often as possible.

I guess the point I'm trying to get across in this post is that even when you least expect it, there may be the opportunity to find vegan food.

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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.

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Jane and I were talking about the demographics of vegans the other day.  When we go out to eat here in the Los Angeles area, we're always a bit surprized at the number of males in the restaurants we frequent.  It's not that men can't be vegan, but we seem to know many more women who are veg*n. Poking around the internet I found the following facts on veganism and thought I'd share them with you all.

Vegan demographics
Most likely to be female and under 35.

Gender:	Vegans	UK Vegans	USA Vegans
Male	33%	36%	22%
Female	67%	64%	78%

Age:	Vegans	UK Vegans	USA Vegans
16-24	21%	14%	36%
25-34	40%	39%	44%
35-44	25%	32%	11%
45-54	10%	11%	7%
55+	4%	4%	2%

Why vegan?
87% of people are vegan for ethical/moral reasons.

	Vegans	UK Vegans	USA Vegans
Dietary/health	11%	9%	19%
Ethical/moral	87%	90%	77%
Spiritual/religious	2%	1%	4%

When did you become vegan?
78% of vegans went vegan between the ages of 16 and 34, with 52% between the ages of 16 and 24. The average (mean) age for turning vegan is 24.1, although the most frequent ages are 19, 20 and 21. US vegans generally turned vegan younger (mean age 22.4) than UK vegans (mean age 24.9).

	Vegans	UK Vegans	USA Vegans
<15	10%	7%	17%
16-24	52%	51%	52%
25-34	26%	29%	21%
35-44	8%	9%	6%
45-54	3%	3%	3%
55+	1%	1%	1%

Source:  The Vegan Profile

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