Sorry today’s MIM is a little late, usually I do all my blogging at the weekend, but I spend all Saturday out with my gentleman friend and Sunday at the London Vegan Festival, so am a bit behind.

Today’s Mystery Ingredient Monday is brought to you by…

Carmine (Cochineal)

Animal, vegetable or mineral? Carmine or Cochineal is [...]]]> Greetings fellow travellers,

Sorry today’s MIM is a little late, usually I do all my blogging at the weekend, but I spend all Saturday out with my gentleman friend and Sunday at the London Vegan Festival, so am a bit behind.

Today’s Mystery Ingredient Monday is brought to you by…

Carmine (Cochineal)

Animal, vegetable or mineral? Carmine or Cochineal is extracted from the crushed carcasses of the female Dactylopius coccus, a cactus-feeding insect native to central America. Animal.

Commonly found in: Sweets, cakes, and icing where it is used as a colouring. In the EU, it is also listed as E120.

What is it? Uh, squished bugs

Why do manufacturers use it? Artificial versions of red food colourings such as Allura Red have been linked to hyperactivity in children. And it makes mediocre food look pretty.

Alternatives? There are artificial food colourings, but if you can avoid these at all, you are probably doing yourself a huge favour. We are overstimulated as is. Beetroot is often used as a pink colourant in all sorts of products, ok so it lacks the true red of Cochineal but has the advantage of being natural and plant-based.

More mystery ingredients next week.

~ Quirky Vegan

A silly song which answers the perpetual question of the uninitiated when they learn you are a vegan.

As found on Earth Muffin.

Happy Friday!

~ Quirky Vegan

So you’ve done it, you’ve come over to the dark side. You’ve said goodbye to animal products, you wear pleather, and now you’re fully signed up to vegan life.

Is there a special handshake or something? An initiation ceremony? A doctrine?

Mmmm, no. You might like to join the Vegan Sociey or an animal advocacy organisation [...]]]> Greetings fellow travellers,

So you’ve done it, you’ve come over to the dark side. You’ve said goodbye to animal products, you wear pleather, and now you’re fully signed up to vegan life.

Is there a special handshake or something? An initiation ceremony? A doctrine?

Mmmm, no. You might like to join the Vegan Sociey or an animal advocacy organisation like Viva! That’s about it. You’ve made this huge decision become a conscientious objector to cruelty and now you’re pretty much on your own. Well I’m here. I’m cheering for you!

But I’m also here to hold your hand through those baby steps of being a vegan newbie. And I’ll let you into a secret. It’s the secret of the most difficult thing about being a vegan. It’s got nothing to do with protein or calcium or B12 or anything like that.

Here it is:

The most difficult thing about being vegan is how other people react to it and how you handle those reactions.

Firstly, you can’t do anything about how people react. There is a whole cultural and sociological code of behaviours and you have just snipped a little hole in that and stepped outside. It’s like you’re outside the matrix. You don’t compute. You challenge. You threaten. Without doing anything. Simply by not doing something that everyone else is doing. Don’t worry, that’s a good thing.

Be prepared to hear the same remarks over and over when your veganism comes up. You will come up against some hostility, some praise, but mostly lot of ignorance. I am not saying that to belittle anyone, it is still a fact that in the UK at least, less than 1% of the population is estimated to be vegan, so can you really blame people for thinking it’s a bit “out there”?

Secondly, you can do a lot for the vegan movement by how you react to questions about your lifestyle. It might be that your friends and family think it is just a phase. If you live with your parents, you could come up against conflicts, especially if they are concerned that you are not eating healthily. You might have friends who make a big deal over eating meat in front of you, saying how delicious it is (ask them to give it a rest and if they continue to act like fools, then do you really want to be friends with them?). You might also have friends who never even thought that veganism was anything to do with them but now they know a vegan are questioning their assumptions.

Continue to educate yourself about vegan issues. Vegan Freaks is a great place to start. Answer questions succinctly and try not to get too mad with your friends when they appear to hear what you are saying – and then order the bacon panini anyway! Incidentally, meal times are not a great time to discuss vegan issues (unless you’re all eating vegan food!), so try and postpone the conversation if it comes up when you’re eating.

Rome wasn’t built in a day, keep planting seeds and nurturing those kernels of wisdom and see what grows.

Try not to lecture or preach to your entourage. If you need a platform to vent your vegan angst, keep a journal or a blog, or chat to a vegan pal about it. No vegan friends? Get on Facebook or Twitter and join some vegan groups. Join Vegan Forum. Get online, find out if there is anything locally. If we can get something going in the back of beyond there is hope for you!

It’s great to have you here.

~ Quirky Vegan

P.S. Maybe we should have some sort of initiation ceremony? I’ll get back to you on that one!

Today’s Mystery Ingredient Monday is brought to you by:

Nutritional Yeast Flakes

Animal vegetable or mineral? These fall into the vegetable category and are therefore vegan. Hooray!

What are they used in? You can sprinkle nutritional yeast flakes into soup or on top of veggie bolognaise for a cheesy, nutty taste.

What kind of nutritional value do [...]]]> Greetings fellow travellers,

Today’s Mystery Ingredient Monday is brought to you by:

Nutritional Yeast Flakes

Animal vegetable or mineral? These fall into the vegetable category and are therefore vegan. Hooray!

What are they used in? You can sprinkle nutritional yeast flakes into soup or on top of veggie bolognaise for a cheesy, nutty taste.

What kind of nutritional value do they provide? A good source of B vitamins and well as phosphorus, magnesium and folic acid. If you are trying to conceive, a high folic acid intake is important as it lowers the chances of neural tube defects.

Cashew nut and red pepper spread.

Soak 100g of cashew nuts overnight. Drain and blend with half a red pepper and 1 tablespoon of nutrititional yeast. Spread on bread and enjoy!

~ Quirky Vegan

An intriguing commentary popped up in the Times Online this week, in an article called I’ve no beef with part time vegetarians. Ultimately each person much decide what is acceptable for themself, but the entire article for me folded on the following statement:

A much-neglected downside of not eating meat is the presumptuousness and [...]]]> Greetings fellow travellers,

An intriguing commentary popped up in the Times Online this week, in an article called I’ve no beef with part time vegetarians. Ultimately each person much decide what is acceptable for themself, but the entire article for me folded on the following statement:

A much-neglected downside of not eating meat is the presumptuousness and rudeness of expecting people to cook entirely different meals for you at your behest. Frankly, sometimes an animal sacrifice — and, for that matter, your principles and global warming — are a worthwhile price to pay for politeness.

Whoa, hold on a minute. You can always offer to take your own food. You can always eat beforehand. You can make people aware of what you eat without being rude and demanding about it. And to state that slaughter of innocent animals and the destruction of the planet is a worthwhile price to pay for politeness (read: conformity to social norms) – is completely ludicrous. I hope that the writer had his tongue in his cheek when writing this, but suspect he was serious.

There are so many stereotypes out there about vegans. We’re either saints living in selfless self denial for the animals, or terrorists, or anti-social bores. Of course there are vegans who are these things, just as there are people with these tendancies in the general population. And since, statistically, there are so few of us, not that many people know many vegans, so these sort of sterotypes stick.

But the times they are a changing, I’m sure of it

~ Quirky Vegan

Greetings fellow travellers,

I saw this on My Face is on Fire and it gave me a good old chuckle. A vegan? Some kind of alien?!

Enjoy!

~ Quirky Vegan

P.S. Do you know what a vegan is? Click here for the answer!

Last week I had a break from work. I had some holidays to use and since I couldn’t afford to go anywhere I stayed home. Most of the week the weather was nice, but on the day where it rained incessantly, I decided to turn my hand to some vegan baking.

This flapjack is [...]]]> Greetings fellow travellers,

Last week I had a break from work. I had some holidays to use and since I couldn’t afford to go anywhere I stayed home. Most of the week the weather was nice, but on the day where it rained incessantly, I decided to turn my hand to some vegan baking.

This flapjack is based on a traditional Quirky Mum recipe that I have played about with and added a few goodies to. It contains raisins (chewy and nice and high in iron) and omega 3 and 6 thanks to the addition of the yummy seeds. It’s not exactly slimming due to the syrup and sugar, but I have played about with using as little as possible.

Ingredients:

100g/4oz dairy-free margarine
75g/3oz demerara sugar
3 tbsp golden syrup
50g/2oz omega seed mix (mix of pumpkin, sunflower, and sesame seeds)
75g/3oz raisins
200g/8oz porridge oats

In a large pan, melt together the margarine, sugar and syrup. Remove from heat. Stir in the dry ingredients. Press mix into shallow, greased tray and cook for 15-20 minutes at 180C/350F.

Remove from the oven, leave to cool and mark into squares.

Ideal served with a nice cup of tea or coffee.

~ Quirky Vegan

In the first of a new series, I’m going to share with you some of the mystery ingredients which find their way into food and other consumer products and have a look at whether they are animal, vegetable or mineral. For animal products which vegans avoid, alternatives will be given.

Today’s Mystery Ingredient Monday [...]]]> Greetings fellow travellers,

In the first of a new series, I’m going to share with you some of the mystery ingredients which find their way into food and other consumer products and have a look at whether they are animal, vegetable or mineral. For animal products which vegans avoid, alternatives will be given.

Today’s Mystery Ingredient Monday has been brought to you by:

Gelatine (US: Gelatin)

Commonly found in: jelly, jello, chewy sweets. Also in photgraphic film (strange, but true).

What is it? It is a colourless, chewy substance derived from the boiled skin, bones and tendons of animals during the rendering process. Kosher gelatin isn’t necessarily vegan. Don’t assume that Kosher gelatine is vegan (although all the vegan alternatives are Kosher).

Why do manufacturers use it? Because it is cheap and plentiful due to the huge number of animals slaughtered daily

Alternatives? Vegan alternatives to gelatine include agar agar, carrageen and guar gum. These and products containing them are available from health food stores, and increasingly, supermarkets. Oh, and of course digital cameras don’t use film ;o)

Peace,

~ Quirky Vegan

Today it’s my birthday. I’m in my prime, don’t you know? And the Quirky Family are coming over to celebrate with me, which is an opportunity for me to demonstrate how delicious vegan food can be. And to bake a cake, cos we all love cake.

Ingredients:

175g/6oz plain flour

50g/2oz cocoa powder

1tsp baking [...]]]> Greetings Fellow Travellers,

Today it’s my birthday. I’m in my prime, don’t you know? And the Quirky Family are coming over to celebrate with me, which is an opportunity for me to demonstrate how delicious vegan food can be. And to bake a cake, cos we all love cake.

Ingredients:

175g/6oz plain flour

50g/2oz cocoa powder

1tsp baking powder

1tsp bicarbonate of soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

350ml/12 fl.oz unsweetened soya milk

125ml/4 fl.oz rapeseed oil

1tsp vanilla extract

250g/8oz sugar

Fresh strawberries for decoration.

Sift together the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, combine the wet ingredients and then gradually blend into the dry until you have a nice smooth batter. Pour the batter into a greased 20cm/8in cake tin (the sort with a bottom which pushes out are the best).

Bake at 180C/350F for 45-55 minutes. The cake is done when a cocktail stick or knife comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

Chocolate ganache icing

175ml/6 fl.oz soy cream

100g/4 oz vegan margarine

250g/10 oz vegan chocolate

Melt together the chocolate and margarine in a bain marie (bowl over the top of a pan of boiling water). When melted, remove from heat and add the soy cream. Use to cover the cake. Decorate as desired.

Enjoy your cake. Cake is good.

~ Quirky Vegan

I choose to follow a vegan lifestyle because I think that it is the right thing to do. It is an ethical and practical choice, and makes sense to me. I feel that this way of life is a way of practising what I preach (not that I preach, oh no).

For [...]]]> Greetings Fellow Travellers,

I choose to follow a vegan lifestyle because I think that it is the right thing to do. It is an ethical and practical choice, and makes sense to me. I feel that this way of life is a way of practising what I preach (not that I preach, oh no).

For animals.

I am not an animal person. I say that with no bad feelings. I wish them no harm, just let them get on with their lives and I will get on with mine. Letting them get on with their lives means not inflicting cruelty and harm upon them. Killing them, separating them from their young and forcing them to exist in cramped, unsanitary conditions would be an example of this.

For the environment

Animal agriculture is killing the environment. Excessive nitrates end up in the water supply through manure. The rainforest is destroyed to make way for beef cattle. The hooves of the animals impact the soil and contribute to desertification. Farmed animals which are non-native species threaten the biodiversity of the environment.

Carbon emissions

You’ve probably heard about the methane emissions of all these cows, so I won’t go into that. But have you thought about the fuel used to transport animals and the grain needed to feed them? How about transporting the “food” they produce? Refrigeration is important to keep meat and milk fresh. What about the electricity which has to be used to power all the refrigerated trucks and supermarket fridges?

Health

Animals are routinely fed antibiotics into their feed. Intensive farming has proved to be a breeding ground for superbugs and resistant bacteria. Not to mention that at the centre of every major food poisoning incident in the UK in the last 20 years, animal products have been to blame. Salmonella , listeria or E-coli anyone? No takers?

Health

Aside from possible food poisoning, meat and animal products are not necessary for good human health either. Protein is not an issue, and a balanced vegan diet provides all the nutrients that a person needs. It makes sense to me not to consume them when there are so many other delicious foods out there.

Food and water shortages

Animal agriculture is extremely wasteful. It is estimated that about 80% of the UK’s arable land is used to produce animal feed. During the 1984 famine in Ethiopia, the country was still exporting grain to the west to feed cattle. Large amounts of water are also needed to feed animals, and also to irrigate the crops which are grown for this purpose. A huge diversion of resources which could be going to feed people directly.

For my own peace of mind

Maybe this might sound selfish to some, but this article is about why I choose to follow a vegan lifestyle. I like to look at my plate of yummy food and know that nobody was harmed in producing it. That no calves were separated from their mothers to produce it. That no chickens had to endure their short lives lame and wading around in their own excrement. That no blood was spilt. Knowing that makes me feel good.

~ Quirky Vegan