Great Non-annoying Vegan/Veg Website

August 10, 2011 4:31 PM

There are excellent recipes on this website. I've been forced to get healthy and stumbled upon this website. I know there are those that are annoyed by vegans. What I like about this site is it is vegan/vegetarian focused without being preachy. The recipes are delicious. I've gone from a diet of gas station food, corn nuts and fast food to eating (and cooking) things I've never imagined. I thought maybe some of you might find it interesting. Let me know if you do. Can you be a carnivore and co-exist with vegan eating in your diet?
posted by zenhues (55 comments total)

Welcome back to Mefi, Sir. Let me be the first one to shake the hands of an ur-mefite.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 4:43 PM on August 10, 2011

Look dude, I had aneurysms burst in my head. I don't have a spleen or gall bladder. I have two brain tumors. It has been a busy nine years. I'm trying to get involved and figured this would be a safe way to dip my toes in.

But yea, maybe it is a bit lame to rocket out of the gates nine years later with this.
posted by zenhues at 4:44 PM on August 10, 2011 [38 favorites]

Oh, wow. That lentil-mushroom pate looks pretty good.
posted by Partario at 4:45 PM on August 10, 2011 [2 favorites]

This is a perfectly fine post. Thanks for sharing it.
posted by Roger Dodger at 4:45 PM on August 10, 2011

This post is actually more interesting to me as metafilterhistory than as recipes; the tone is completely MeFi '02 in such a spectacular way. zenhues, where you been?

Also, that walnut-mushroom paté looks pretty key. The recipe's here.
posted by Greg Nog at 4:45 PM on August 10, 2011 [8 favorites]

I've never had Corn Nuts. The blog isn't that bad, though. Kinda thin.
posted by Horselover Phattie at 4:46 PM on August 10, 2011

Those recipes do look delicious. Sadly they (like many vegetarian or vegan recipes) require a food processor. *sigh* I wish the food processor fairy would leave one under my pillow...
posted by lekvar at 4:47 PM on August 10, 2011 [1 favorite]

> Can you be a carnivore and co-exist with vegan eating in your diet?

My wife and I just went camping for a week with my family, all of whom are dedicated carnivores (we're lapsed vegetarians, although almost of the meals we cook and eat ourselves are meat-free). The first time we made a vegetarian meal for them we made the mistake of announcing beforehand that it was Vegetarian (But You'll Like It Anyway), and as a result they were suspicious and everyone but my father (who will eat and enjoy virtually anything, or at least make a good-faith effort to do so) had already decided they weren't going to like it before they sat down. When we made dinner during the camping trip we just told them we were going to make "pasta" and "salad" without getting into the specifics and no-one even noticed that there was no meat (there was cheese in the pasta and served on the side, which may have softened the blow) until the meal (which everyone enjoyed) was almost over.

Of course, the rest of the week was All BBQ All The Time, so maybe everyone was ready for a few veggies...
posted by The Card Cheat at 4:47 PM on August 10, 2011

Welcome back! Thanks for this post as site looks great.

As a recent carnivore (until Jan. 1) this year, yes of course you can be one yet have room for vegan/vegetarian dishes or meals or days in your diet.

Speaking of good sites for people who like a tasty vegetarian option, check out EatingWell.com.
posted by bearwife at 4:48 PM on August 10, 2011

I wish the food processor fairy would leave one under my pillow...

No, you hope the foor processor fairy will leave you a gift certificate under your pillow, or else leave the food processor on your counter or other space which isn't under your head while you sleep.

The crick in your neck resulting from waking up with a food processor under your pillow would require medical attention.
posted by hippybear at 4:49 PM on August 10, 2011 [8 favorites]

Can you be a carnivore and co-exist with vegan eating in your diet? I think the answer to this is a resounding YES. After all, it would be a weird sort of human that was categorically unable to eat vegetables without meat.

Personally, I'm always happy for even one more recipe of things that I can eat. It's always tricky to find reliable sources. Thank you!
posted by stoneweaver at 4:51 PM on August 10, 2011

The crick in your neck resulting from waking up with a food processor under your pillow would require medical attention.

And think of what might happen if it was plugged in! That is even worse than putting your hand in a bowl of warm water while you sleep!
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:53 PM on August 10, 2011 [2 favorites]

Can you be a carnivore and co-exist with vegan eating in your diet?

I recently started dating a wonderful girl who was vegan. I was a little worried about that, especially given how much I love eating and eating out and sharing food, but was still willing to give it a shot.

It only lasted a few weeks.... because my enthusiasm for delicious (and as ethical and non-processed as possible) food was infectious. I never tried to get her to eat animal based delicious things, but it just sort of happened. She still eats vegan when she's on her own, but the communal enjoyment of food was too strong of an influence to resist. Of course she doesn't claim to be vegan any more, which eliminates my ability to call her the "Best vegan ever" when she makes me bacon, but that's an acceptable loss.
posted by flaterik at 4:55 PM on August 10, 2011

I smell something fishy, which is weird because there is no fish at all in the blog.

While my skepticism is most likely unfounded it seems odd to me that someone would leave the site for so long and then come back to promote a random food blog with a single link.

If I am wrong then I apologize and welcome you back.
posted by Felex at 4:55 PM on August 10, 2011

I love finding new food blogs about vegan/vegetarian eating. My absolute faves are Everybody Likes Sandwiches (which does have meat on occasion, but Jeannette makes tasty non-meat meals), The Tolerant Vegan (which is more vegan baking, but whatevs), and The Gluttonous Vegan (which is the sweetest Welsh girl living in London; seriously, she's a peach).

So thank you for coming out of your hidey-hole and posting this!
posted by Kitteh at 4:59 PM on August 10, 2011 [2 favorites]

Felex, did you read the thread before you commented?

Look dude, I had aneurysms burst in my head. I don't have a spleen or gall bladder. I have two brain tumors. It has been a busy nine years. I'm trying to get involved and figured this would be a safe way to dip my toes in.

But yea, maybe it is a bit lame to rocket out of the gates nine years later with this.
posted by oneirodynia at 5:01 PM on August 10, 2011

Thanks for the welcome back Felix. I have to admit--you are on to me.

Step 1. Secretly back a vegetarian website
Step 2. Post to metafilter after 9 year absence
Step 3.?????
Step 4. PROFIT

I'm just trying to get my online presence back.
posted by zenhues at 5:02 PM on August 10, 2011 [29 favorites]

Great site, thank you so much for posting. I always want to go vegetarian but have a hard time getting into the culture of it to find recipes and tips.

Welcome back.
posted by the young rope-rider at 5:05 PM on August 10, 2011

I'm thinking that, given this post references a vegan web site, Felex and Buddhainabucket are NOT going to find the appropriate sauce for the feet they've stuck in their mouth. :)

Welcome back zenhues...
posted by tomswift at 5:07 PM on August 10, 2011

sometimes, like this, i am embarrassed to be a mefite. Meh. ↲ thank you for the post, been looking for things for my dad and mom to try
posted by infini at 5:08 PM on August 10, 2011

But yea, maybe it is a bit lame to rocket out of the gates nine years later with this.

Not a great big deal, zenhues, and it seems like a neat site and a totally fine thing to link to. Your post framing is kind of overly chatty, more like a blog post than a mefi post to some extent, is the main thing that's catching a few folks offguard, in part because it's a bit sore-thumb but in part because we have recurring problems with driveby spammers who read a bit off when they post about whatever they're promoting.

So for general peace-in-the-valley reasons all around it'd be good to get away from that sort of chatty/bloggy framing bit going forward. Beyond that, no worries and welcome back.

If everybody could run more with the discuss-the-link-or-not thing, that'd be keen. Metatalk exists if you need to get meta.
posted by cortex at 5:11 PM on August 10, 2011 [1 favorite]

You've got the snark down perfect, zenhues - welcome back.

I'm in favor of delicious, delicious posts like this.
posted by rtha at 5:11 PM on August 10, 2011

excellent recipes, indeed! I've got a serious hankering for tapenade, now. thanks to Kitteh, too...this is a brilliant resource.
posted by squasha at 5:18 PM on August 10, 2011 [1 favorite]

You're asking the wrong vegan coexistence question.
posted by charlie don't surf at 5:19 PM on August 10, 2011

oh, yeah...welcome back, zenhues...hope the dietary changes make life sans spleen or gallbladder a little easier.
posted by squasha at 5:20 PM on August 10, 2011

squasha, I've made Naomi's excellent Szechuan noodles. They were fantastic with a bottle of white!
posted by Kitteh at 5:25 PM on August 10, 2011 [2 favorites]

Which recipes have you made from that site? Someone offer the blogger some food photo tips, because it all looks brownish to me.
posted by Ideefixe at 5:25 PM on August 10, 2011

Yeah, photographing food is tricky. All the pics on my food blog veered between "wow, how did I do that? It looks awesome!" to "Why did I decide that was the best one?" My iPhone camera makes everything look sweet so I no longer use my digital one.
posted by Kitteh at 5:28 PM on August 10, 2011

I, for one, hope you get all the medical biz sorted out -- be well!
posted by thinkpiece at 6:02 PM on August 10, 2011

My wife made the tempeh riblets and the veggie burgers.I liked the both. The key for me is to make not try and kid myself that I'm eating a hamburger or ribs. If I just view it as something I'm eating I'm fine. Tonight I'm giving the wonton soup a shot.

I'm still a carnivore, just trying to get the garbage out of my diet.
posted by zenhues at 6:02 PM on August 10, 2011

I recently came across VeggieBelly, which looks quite promising. She does like spinach and mushrooms rather more than I do (which is not at all), but it's the sort of food that appeals to me, whereas something like the Post Punk Kitchen, while it has good recipes, a lot of it is stuff that isn't in my culinary frame of reference. (Though Veganomicon is far and away the best cookbook I own.)
posted by hoyland at 6:02 PM on August 10, 2011

This makes me hungry--thanks. And welcome back.
posted by donovan at 6:03 PM on August 10, 2011

Your post framing is kind of overly chatty, more like a blog post than a mefi post to some extent

I can remember a MetaFilter where this was a good thing. Then, one day, it became normal to write everything like y2karl:

But those sad, droopy sandwiches bow down in the presence of this vegan Mushroom Walnut Pate. It has a meaty, umami taste that’s incredibly rich, considering it has no animal products in it and is mostly lentils and vegetables. Lentils and walnuts are packed with protein and fiber, so this sandwich will keep you full and energized all afternoon. It takes about an hour to make, but you’ll have plenty for sandwiches, snacks, and creative leftovers all week. But it probably won’t last that long.

Missives from the Vegan Frontier: A Controversial Story, Tersely Presented, With A Blockquote
posted by obiwanwasabi at 6:15 PM on August 10, 2011 [5 favorites]

Why must it be one extreme or the other? Eat absolute frozen processed crap, or vegan? We are omnivores, eat a balanced diet in moderation.
posted by karmiolz at 6:35 PM on August 10, 2011 [1 favorite]

Dang--splenectomy, cholecystectomy, aneurysms and tumors... wow, you HAVE been busy. Welcome back, hope you can stick around, and that your days of being a warrior in the halls of medicine are over for a while!

And thanks for the entirely tasty post. Food is always good and we can all stand to eat our veggies.
posted by kinnakeet at 7:20 PM on August 10, 2011 [1 favorite]

Personally I wish we, in the western world, would stop talking about vegans and vegetarians and just start eating less meat. And a duck once a month.
posted by TheTingTangTong at 7:32 PM on August 10, 2011

Can you be a carnivore and co-exist with vegan eating in your diet?

This year I have been experimenting with only cooking vegetarian food (can't do vegan; I love dairy way way too much). This effectively translates to eating vegetarian all the time but friday nights and saturdays. Vegan is too hard for me. Dairy + Eggs gives you a lot of nutriotional/vitamin trump cards. And they're delicious.

It can be done quite easily, and the regular weekend meat top-up reduces any cravings I might have. But you do have to plan a little more carefully - it's more challenging to make something out of nothing quickly without meat to hang a meal off. When I've been tired, or working longer hours it can be challenging; also my partner's reluctance for a few vegetables and my experiments with seitan (I'm quite an excellent cook; it's really okay!) has made it discouraging at times.

But then, I think about how many vegetables/grains/arable farm land goes into making one kilo of meat, and I think about the articles I've read this year on animal intelligence, and sustainable seafood, and antibiotics in meat (thankfully Australia is relatively okay for this), and I think that the quotidian difficulties in my life are really not so bad, and that an hour's convenience for me probably isn't worth a life, even if it's a small life.
posted by smoke at 8:43 PM on August 10, 2011 [1 favorite]

Evolutionary speaking, the longer human have been eating something the better adapted we are to it. So, we handle meat and vegetables well (hunter & gatherer), but have a harder time with cows milk and wheat (lactose and gluten intolerance) which are more recent (agriculture). The newer a food is, the more of a problem it is, 7-11 food is very new indeed.

But wait, when you were 8 years old you could eat *anything*, you could thrive for a week on dried KoolAid and poprocks. Yet an 80 year old prefers tea, prunes and chicken broth. This is no accident. Evolutionary theory says we are best adapted to our environment when young, and least so when old. Aging is the progressive decline in adaptedness. An 8 year old falls down all day long, an 80 year old falls once and may never get back up. Likewise older/sicker people prefer foods we are better adapted to, while younger/healthier people can get away with eating food we are less adapted too. The foods we are better adapted to are the ones we have been eating the longest ie. paleolithic diet. This means organic vegetables, berries, sea food, grass raised meat, nuts. It does not include grains or dairy or sugar and of course processes food.
posted by stbalbach at 8:58 PM on August 10, 2011 [2 favorites]

If eating dairy is maladaptive, how did lactose tolerance past infanthood evolve more than once in different populations?
posted by the young rope-rider at 10:30 PM on August 10, 2011 [1 favorite]

I was about to make a comment about how I regularly have people over for dinner and have vegan options, but this week's dinner party was a bit vegan-unfriendly. I can't resist making refried beans without using some sort of pork.

That said, *yes*, I definitely can be carnivorous and eat vegan food. In particular I find Indian food delicious, and surprisingly not hard to make: look for a cookbook from Madhur Jaffrey and you won't go wrong.

I started eating vegetarian food on a regular basis because the chef in the corporate cafe at the company I worked at insisted on having a delicious vegetarian option every day. It turns out I think he's much better at vegetarian food than meat (although that chicken curry was pretty awesome...) Anybody who is a "carnivore" at the expense of eating the occasional vegan meal is missing out.
posted by grae at 10:34 PM on August 10, 2011

The longer I live alone, the more vegetarian meals I cook. Meat is now something that I only have at restaurants or friends' houses. What happened? I don't enjoy handling it, can not be guaranteed to use it on time, not let it freezer burn, finish the leftovers before they get dry, and frankly had other things I wanted to spend my money on.

I will never be a vegetarian, and I will never be a vegan, but I do make a lot of meals that fall in these categories and even inflict them on other people ("wow there was no meat in that!" no kidding, dude.).

Thank you for more recipes to fiddle around with. Who knew radishes and such could be so good?
posted by whatzit at 3:08 AM on August 11, 2011

I bookmarked it. I spent about 2 years as a pretty stict vegetarian as a result of a bet concerning cigarettes, (she lost) but have been omnivorous for a long time, now. I do aspire towards less meat in my diet overall, and the main stumbling block 3 days out of 5 is just my lack of creativity and raw ideas in the kitchen.

Thanks, and welcome back! One of my best friends had an aneurism about 6 years ago, and spent a good while (weeks) in a coma. It hasn't been an easy road back for him. I'm glad you're on the mend.
posted by Devils Rancher at 4:27 AM on August 11, 2011

Every time I've had a vegetarian at my house for a meal I've always prepared a vegetarian option for them. I've never been to a vegetarian's house and had a meat dish prepared for me.
posted by joannemullen at 5:23 AM on August 11, 2011

As if there is a single human on earth who eats NOTHING but meat out of some sort of dietary necessity, or ethical or religious belief. Why be willfully obtuse?
posted by Devils Rancher at 6:30 AM on August 11, 2011 [5 favorites]

I spent enough time as a vegan to know that a vegan diet of corn/soy/wheat/refined sugar is going to make me feel just as bad as a crappy omnivorous diet. As an ex-vegan, I still enjoy vegan food sometimes, particularly when it's a choice between vegan food and factory-farmed animal products. I also admittedly like some of it and there are some good recipes out there that have mainly good ingredients. I really like, for example, the book The Ice Dream Cookbook, which is a recipe book dedicated to coconut milk ice cream made with stevia and a hint of honey. When I'm in the mood to indulge I head over to Vegan Culinary Crusade or Golubka. But to be honest when I eat vegan I typically eat simple meals of fruit, vegetables, and nuts. I figure I'll be having a juicy grass-fed steak sometime so I don't need to worry about complete proteins :P
posted by melissam at 7:50 AM on August 11, 2011

Every time I've had a vegetarian at my house for a meal I've always prepared a vegetarian option for them. I've never been to a vegetarian's house and had a meat dish prepared for me.

That is just shockingly, horribly rude. You should clearly dump those friends, who obviously think so little of you that they won't even feed you properly! Terrible! /hamburger. Or veggie burger, whichever.
posted by rtha at 8:39 AM on August 11, 2011

> I've never been to a vegetarian's house and had a meat dish prepared for me.

This is actually because they don't want you to come back.
posted by Horselover Phattie at 8:49 AM on August 11, 2011 [3 favorites]

joannemullen: Every time I've had a vegetarian at my house for a meal I've always prepared a vegetarian option for them. I've never been to a vegetarian's house and had a meat dish prepared for me.

It's like coffee: you make it strong black because people can always add whatever they want; they can't take things out and they can't make it any stronger.

Next time you go to a vegetarian's house and you want meat for dinner, bring along a big bag of beef jerky. When they serve you a lovely bowl of gazpacho or some delicious water crackers and red chili relish, you just crack open that bag and dump some beef on there. Viola! You'll be hailed as the next Julia Child.
posted by introp at 9:00 AM on August 11, 2011 [1 favorite]

And to wit - you make your friends a vegetarian dish because they don't eat meat, and I applaud that. My friends do the same for me. They, and you, on the other hand presumably are able to and do eat food prepared without animals. I also would guess that preparing a vegetarian dish is not abhorrent to you, but the opposite might very well be for your friends.
posted by tr33hggr at 11:02 AM on August 11, 2011 [5 favorites]

If eating dairy is maladaptive, how did lactose tolerance past infanthood evolve more than once in different populations?

Turn that around and ask why so many people can eat dairy (non-human) in childhood but become intolerant later in life. Younger people are better adapted to their environment ie. omnivorous than can eat a wide range of foods. Older people are less adapted to the environment (per evolutionary theory) thus better suited to foods that have the longest history of being eaten (hunter gatherer).
posted by stbalbach at 11:24 AM on August 11, 2011

No, it's not because younger people are better adapted--it's because humans, like all mammals, originally evolved to drink milk for a certain amount of time and then give it up. We (well, some of us) then evolved the ability to continue to digest lactose into adulthood. This genetic mutation is so adaptive that it has sprung up and become prevalent independently, more than once, in different human populations.

Eating dairy, if we can digest it, is good for us.
posted by the young rope-rider at 3:40 PM on August 11, 2011 [1 favorite]

Every time I've had a vegetarian at my house for a meal I've always prepared a vegetarian option for them. I've never been to a vegetarian's house and had a meat dish prepared for me.

This is pretty ignorant. So what you are telling me, is that you eat nothing but meat? Meat and meat only? And that the meatless foods that were prepared at your friend's house, you were unable to eat? Am I getting this right?
posted by MaryDellamorte at 6:26 PM on August 11, 2011 [1 favorite]

joannemullen: "Every time I've had a vegetarian at my house for a meal I've always prepared a vegetarian option for them. I've never been to a vegetarian's house and had a meat dish prepared for me."

You don't actually *want* me to cook a meat dish for you. I've never cooked a meat dish before. I can produce all sorts of very, very tasty vegetarian dishes, but I doubt you want to be the recipient of my first experiments in cooking meat.
posted by gingerbeer at 9:24 PM on August 11, 2011 [1 favorite]

Imho, you're all feeding the wrong handle
posted by infini at 4:54 AM on August 12, 2011

Everytime I see the word ;umami', I want to pronounce it like this.
posted by mippy at 1:30 PM on August 12, 2011 [1 favorite]