October 14, 2015 - Written by: Alison Graham

‘Why Are You Vegan?’

‘Why are you vegan?’

Over the past two years, I’ve had plenty of practice at answering this question. It is commonly preceded by me explaining what a vegan is – someone who does not eat dairy, meat, eggs or honey; who does not wear leather, wool or silk; who avoids exploitation of animals as far as possible.

The short version, convenient to deploy in everyday conversation, is ‘it’s better for animals, the planet as a whole and for people’.

The long answer begins with horse meat and, happily, has no ending. In 2013, many headlines focused on the discovery that food products in supermarkets labelled as beef in fact contained horse meat. It wasn’t simply the contamination and food safety issues that convinced me, however. Rather, I laughed it off at first.

My initial thought was ‘well, either way I’m eating an animal. What’s the difference?’. This rapidly evolved into ‘I’m eating a once living, feeling animal’, then ‘I’m not going to eat animals anymore’.

Finally, my thoughts were clear: ‘I’m not going to exploit animals anymore.’

(Image via)

Many of the vegans I know have found that there is a particular jolt, a spark to which they can trace their veganism back to.

Whilst the vital moment takes many different forms (for some, it is watching a documentary or seeing animals for sale at a market), it centres on a connection being made.

A connection implies that there is something disconnected, and that couldn’t be truer. There’s a phrase commonly used to describe this gap in both our thinking and our actions – the animal-meat disconnect.

This can best be explained as the separation of who was (a living being) and what is (a meal containing meat); it’s why a person can coo over lambs in spring time and sit down to a lamb dinner. Who’d have thought my epiphany would stem from tabloid headlines about frozen burgers? Not particularly glamorous or heroic, I know.

The other most-asked question is: ‘Do you miss anything?’

I’ll give you the long version of the answer again. Becoming a vegan is one of the best decisions I’ve ever made and my only regret is not making the change sooner.

There was a weight, of guilt and my own contradictory choices, hanging over me that has lifted. It took becoming vegan both to acknowledge this burden, and to shake it off.

What I have now, in place of all the things I don’t do now, is difficult to describe. To represent it as something I ‘have’ would be a distortion. Rather, it is something I feel: a new-found lightness, permeating my day-to-day living – far more fulfilling than omelettes.

A lot of people worry that they will be losing an important something when becoming vegan – delicious food. I can say with absolute confidence that this is not true; some of the tastiest meals I’ve ever had have been vegan.

I’ve found that a plant-based diet is most enjoyable once you find the balance between constantly imitating non-vegan foods and purposefully avoiding anything that resembles meat or dairy.

These recipes are all straightforward and adapted from non-vegan recipes. The ingredients can be found in supermarkets, rather than specialist shops, making them a great starting point for the newly vegan or those who just want to give plant-based food a try. I hope you enjoy them, and that they serve as a starting point in considering your relationship with animals and the world around you as a whole.

Vegetable Chowder
Serves 2

Ingredients:
1/2 cup pepper
1/2 cup chopped onions
Olive oil
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup diced celery
1 cup diced carrot
1 cup diced broccoli
3 cups vegetable stock
1/2 cup plain flour
2 cups plant milk
1tbsp chopped parsley

Fry the pepper and onions in olive oil until tender

Pour the vegetable stock into a saucepan. Add the celery, cauliflower, carrot and broccoli. Bring this to a boil.

Reduce heat and cover the saucepan. Simmer the mixture until the vegetables are tender; this should take about 20 minutes.

Mix the flour and milk together in a bowl, until smooth. Pour this mixture into the pan and stir well.

Bring the soup to a boil and cook and stir for 2 minutes. Add the parsley.

You can select the plant milk depending on the taste you would like. Adding coconut milk makes the chowder very creamy and fragrant, whereas oat milk gives a heartier taste and using soya milk puts the focus on the vegetable flavours.

Potato & Onion Flan
Serves 4

Ingredients:
Olive oil
750ml almond milk
2 cloves of garlic
1 small bunch of rosemary
1000g potatoes
1/2 a small onion

Preheat oven to 180°C/160°C fan/Gas mark 4. Grease an approximately 20cm x 20cm baking dish with the olive oil

Crush the garlic cloves and chop the rosemary. Mix these with the almond milk, in a saucepan. Warm the saucepan over a medium heat until simmering, then remove from the heat and set aside.

Peel and slice the potato thinly. Chop the onion into slices. Layer the onion and potato in the baking tray.

Strain the infused milk, then pour it over the potato and onion. Cover the baking dish with a sheet of aluminium foil.

Bake this for 45 minutes, then remove it from the oven and throw away the foil. Return the dish to the oven and bake for another 20 minutes until golden on top.

Remove the flan from the oven and let it stand for 5 minutes, before you serve it.

This can work as a side dish to something like nut roast, or it can function as a main meal, if you add roasted peppers.

Banana Bread
Serves 6

Ingredients:
100g brown sugar
75g vegetable oil
3 bananas
225g flour
3 teaspoon baking powder
3 teaspoons cinnamon

Mix the sugar, vegetable oil and bananas in a large bowl. Make sure you mash the bananas well, so that there are no lumps.

Thoroughly combine the flour, baking powder and cinnamon in a separate bowl, then add this to the banana mixture.

Grease a loaf-shaped tin with vegetable oil-based spread.

Bake the bread at 220°C/200°C in a fan oven/Gas Mark 7. The bread is cooked once a skewer or fork inserted comes out clean.

There are plenty of toppings which are really tasty with this. Maple syrup with almonds is one of my favourites, as is peanut butter. A simple topping of royal icing is also delicious.

Bon appetit!

If you enjoyed this post, why not check out ‘I am what I am’?