Veganuary

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Marc Meakin
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Veganuary

Post by Marc Meakin »

I know we are at three weeks into the month.
I was curious how many of us are doing this or are already vegan.
Although i have been veggie for a year its my love of cheese and eggs that stop me going vegan.
I am only a veggie because of all the wonderful meat substitutes.
Favourites include :Richmond vegan sausages
Quorn tikka masala
Greggs vegan steak bake.

What are your favourites?
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Gavin Chipper
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Re: Veganuary

Post by Gavin Chipper »

I've been vegetarian for years but have never quite made it to vegan. This year I started using oat milk on my cereal though so that's a step closer.

Veganuary doesn't really work though because people still have chocolate / other non-vegan stuff left over from Christmas on 1st January.
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Matt Morrison
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Re: Veganuary

Post by Matt Morrison »

I've always thought that Gevin. I suppose the benefits of synching up with "new year new me" attitudes far outweigh the fact people might have a small stockpile of chocolate left over for Christmas. Perhaps that even gives people something to look forward to for February 1st.

But yeah, vegan for quite a few years now.

Even my brother has done veganuary the last two years and he loves his meat and cheese.
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Re: Veganuary

Post by Marc Meakin »

Am I alone in being a vegetarian with little love of most vegetables.
I am always looking for tofu and quorn bases dishes as opposed to pure vegetable based dishes.
I dont mind lentils and chick peas but my list of no go vegetables is long.
Most green veg except peas endame beans and spinach as in seaweed you get from chinese restaurants.
Beetrot
Parsnips
Swede
Cauliflower
Celery
Marrow
Corgette
Artichokes
Asparagus
Aubergenes
Celeriac

I have been duped by a Marks and Spencer veggie curry that had cauliflower but i didnt taste it but i couldnt finish it
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Ian Volante
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Re: Veganuary

Post by Ian Volante »

Nah, I just like eggs and chicken too much, although I only eat meat maybe once or twice a week and I do think oat milk works quite well on the rare occasions I drink coffee.

If I lived alone, I'd probably mostly eat vast amounts of veg and gravy and not a lot else.
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Callum Todd
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Re: Veganuary

Post by Callum Todd »

Some of the meat substitutes that are imitations of popular meat products taste nice but I mostly avoid them, or just treat them as occasional 'treats' like chocolate/sweets as they're processed and expensive.

Some things are more meat alternatives than substitutes though and these can be exciting to try if you've not had them before. Some of these, like tofu, are still processed but less so than a frozen 'meatless' steak bake or whatever.

Another thing that is fun to experiment with is using veg you may be familiar with as an accompaniment to a meat dish and see what it would be like as the main part of the meal. So instead of a few brocoli florets with your chicken, a roast brocoli head can be a good base for a meal. Stuffed roast peppers instead of a few slices of pepper in the side. Same with butternut squash.

My two most common meals that I make almost weekly are shepherd's pie and lasagne. Instead of a pack of mince I use a tin each of black beans and red kidney beans. Gamechanger.
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Jon O'Neill
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Re: Veganuary

Post by Jon O'Neill »

Saddest thread on the forum this.
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Re: Veganuary

Post by Tom S »

Never been vegan, but have been veggie since I was about 10/11. I think in the current climate, with the options available, I could do Veganuary given that there seems to be more choice nowadays, though I'm slightly hesitant to try vegan cheese and milk alternatives though.
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Re: Veganuary

Post by Marc Meakin »

Jon O'Neill wrote: Mon Jan 25, 2021 3:13 pm Saddest thread on the forum this.
Sad, how?
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Re: Veganuary

Post by Jon O'Neill »

Marc Meakin wrote: Mon Jan 25, 2021 3:47 pm
Jon O'Neill wrote: Mon Jan 25, 2021 3:13 pm Saddest thread on the forum this.
Sad, how?
Callum Todd wrote: Mon Jan 25, 2021 2:41 pm a roast brocoli head can be a good base for a meal
I now realise that I didn't really need to get involved though... apologies. I'll take my leave.
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Rhys Benjamin
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Re: Veganuary

Post by Rhys Benjamin »

Gavin Chipper wrote: Fri Jan 22, 2021 3:21 pm Veganuary doesn't really work though because people still have chocolate / other non-vegan stuff left over from Christmas on 1st January.
See also: dry January. No champagne at midnight on 1 Jan for you!
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Callum Todd
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Re: Veganuary

Post by Callum Todd »

Jon O'Neill wrote: Mon Jan 25, 2021 4:04 pm
Marc Meakin wrote: Mon Jan 25, 2021 3:47 pm
Jon O'Neill wrote: Mon Jan 25, 2021 3:13 pm Saddest thread on the forum this.
Sad, how?
Callum Todd wrote: Mon Jan 25, 2021 2:41 pm a roast brocoli head can be a good base for a meal
I now realise that I didn't really need to get involved though... apologies. I'll take my leave.
:lol: fair play. I've been roasted like a broccoli head there. See also: this
Mark Deeks wrote:Callum Todd looks like a young Ted Bundy.
Jonathan Willis
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Re: Veganuary

Post by Jonathan Willis »

Callum Todd wrote: Mon Jan 25, 2021 2:41 pm Some of the meat substitutes that are imitations of popular meat products taste nice but I mostly avoid them, or just treat them as occasional 'treats' like chocolate/sweets as they're processed and expensive.

Some things are more meat alternatives than substitutes though and these can be exciting to try if you've not had them before. Some of these, like tofu, are still processed but less so than a frozen 'meatless' steak bake or whatever.

Another thing that is fun to experiment with is using veg you may be familiar with as an accompaniment to a meat dish and see what it would be like as the main part of the meal. So instead of a few brocoli florets with your chicken, a roast brocoli head can be a good base for a meal. Stuffed roast peppers instead of a few slices of pepper in the side. Same with butternut squash.

My two most common meals that I make almost weekly are shepherd's pie and lasagne. Instead of a pack of mince I use a tin each of black beans and red kidney beans. Gamechanger.
My wife is a vegan, i like chicken too much to go vegan!
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Thomas Carey
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Re: Veganuary

Post by Thomas Carey »

Ian Volante wrote: Mon Jan 25, 2021 1:36 pm Nah, I just like eggs and chicken too much, although I only eat meat maybe once or twice a week and I do think oat milk works quite well on the rare occasions I drink coffee.

If I lived alone, I'd probably mostly eat vast amounts of veg and gravy and not a lot else.
I'm kind of similar to this, except without the liking chicken bit. Chicken on its own is probably the blandest food there is, it's good with a lot of sauce/spices but then you're basically tasting those things. But honestly, I'm not mad about meat, I'd be happy going without for the rest of my life. I fucking love veg and agree with what Callum said about veg meals. Most of the meals I have nowadays contain little or no meat just because it's expensive and me and my mum (who I still live with yay me) are both perfectly happy without it. We'll occasionally get meat if it's reduced to almost nothing at Morrison's or whatever but we don't really go out of our way to buy it.

The main reason I'm not a vegetarian/vegan is, and I know this sounds shitty, the convenience. For me, the two qualities that improve a meal are variety and quantity. Quantity is self explanatory, but variety is the important one. I'm not saying I like stuff that obviously clashes like savoury/sweet in the same bite or whatever but I like as many different flavours as possible in a meal. This is the main reason why I fucking love buffets - there's so much different stuff on offer so I get a little bit of everything, and I can get as much as I want (and do, as people who've seen me at co events' buffets will know. Got to get your money's worth too). I'm incredibly lucky that there isn't a food I don't like, and as far as I know I don't have any allergies - it's very nice to just be able to pick something up from a buffet or whatever without having to ask if it contains xyz or err on the side of caution - and that's why I'm not vegetarian.

I was veggie from 2008-2013, but stopped partly for the reasons outlined above, since it was becoming a minor pain, but mostly because at the time I lived with my mum, brother and dad. My mum was essentially having to cook three different meals every time - my brother was a very picky eater, my dad was one of those people who 'needed' meat with everything and I was vegetarian - so I stopped to make it easier for her. Soon afterwards, my dad fucked off and my brother gradually got less picky with his food (until he himself went veggie a few years later) so things eased off. i'm all for stuff like oat milk, and I'll probably try and buy that kind of stuff (as well as continuing to get very little meat) when I finally move out (although it is expensive, which worries me a bit) because, yeah, the dairy industry is pretty awful. Similarly, I'll probably do Veganuary once when I have my life together, just to say I have. But the idea of restricting myself and having to meticulously check every meal for traces of meat products (my vegetarian aunt recently posted a picture of some potatoes she'd bought which were roasted in goose fat) sounds like a massive ballache I could do without the stress of - especially since the majority of my meat consumption isn't at home. (Sure, in a restaurant the veggie/vegan options are clearly marked and I could say something like 'I won't order the meat options' - although I often don'tanyway, because a) veggie meals are often cheaper and b) meat is just kind of boring? Like, I really don't get the hype about steak, because it's one flavour all the way through (and not a particularly interesting one imo) - a lot of meat dishes which are just one big slab of meat with a couple of tiny sides taste a lot worse than a dish with lots of different stuff going on - to me, anyway).

That's enough rambling. TL;DR - meat is massively overrated and I rarely eat it, but I'm not going to officially go veggie/vegan because I really appreciate the convenience of eating food without checking what exactly's in it.
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Re: Veganuary

Post by Gavin Chipper »

Callum Todd wrote: Mon Jan 25, 2021 4:12 pm
Jon O'Neill wrote: Mon Jan 25, 2021 4:04 pm
Marc Meakin wrote: Mon Jan 25, 2021 3:47 pm

Sad, how?
Callum Todd wrote: Mon Jan 25, 2021 2:41 pm a roast brocoli head can be a good base for a meal
I now realise that I didn't really need to get involved though... apologies. I'll take my leave.
:lol: fair play. I've been roasted like a broccoli head there. See also: this
Just remember this guy is a fucking pollopescatarian.
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Re: Veganuary

Post by Jonathan Willis »

Gavin Chipper wrote: Mon Jan 25, 2021 5:06 pm
Callum Todd wrote: Mon Jan 25, 2021 4:12 pm
Jon O'Neill wrote: Mon Jan 25, 2021 4:04 pm



I now realise that I didn't really need to get involved though... apologies. I'll take my leave.
:lol: fair play. I've been roasted like a broccoli head there. See also: this
Just remember this guy is a fucking pollopescatarian.
Still don't know what a pollopescatarian is
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Callum Todd
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Re: Veganuary

Post by Callum Todd »

I would guess it means someone who eats chicken (pollo) and fish (pesc) but not other meats. I struggled more with the meaning of "this guy" as at first I thought Gavin was referring to Immortal Technique but I guess he actually meant Jono. Easy to mix those two up.
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L'oisleatch McGraw
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Re: Veganuary

Post by L'oisleatch McGraw »

Thomas Carey wrote: Mon Jan 25, 2021 4:50 pm The main reason I'm not a vegetarian/vegan is, and I know this sounds shitty, the convenience.
Was going through this thread silently eye-rolling, till I saw this clanger.
No-one ever has to apologise for not being vegan. The opposite, ...maybe, if e.g. it makes hosting a dinner party more awkward than it ought be be.
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