Post Punk Kitchen Forum

Last time I went to Lego Land I was not vegan, but I was thinking of taking the kids this week. If I can't have apple fries I just don't see the point.

I think you're a special case, haha! The rainbows aren't necessarily a vegan thing so much as a 'CQ is the world's fairy godparent' thing?

Smuggle in food! Seriously. I worked the salad bar at Fun Town Market (10 years ago but I'm guessing it's still about the same) and it's pathetic. All the mixed salads have mayo, the fresh veggies are old, and the salad dressings are nasty cheapo junk. Also the hygiene at that place was horrendous (they would prepare salad stuff on a counter where there had been raw meat/fish, along with never cleaning ANYTHING ever) and they treated the employees terribly.

I'm not sure if this 'peeve' has been talked about yet, but I wonder if any one can relate with me!

My husband and I have noticed that a lot more of our friends and acquaintances are going vegan (which is awesome). But they are going vegan for only health reasons. They are turning to veganism as a diet. Don't get me wrong, I think it's awesome what they're doing. But the other week, we had a friend in town for a business conference and had him over for a meal. He and his wife have gone vegan at home (for health) but when he was away for a week he 'vacationed' and ate all the meat he wanted. He was totally cool with it and explained that he was just on a vegan break while away.

And then I keep hearing about people who try being vegan for a month or two and give up because as a diet it didn't work for them, they were too hungry, yada yada yada.

My husband and I are vegan for LIFE. It's not just a trend or a diet, it's our lifestyle. We do it because we feel convicted about the environment and animal welfare. It's an added bonus that we are both healthier and have lost weight. But because it's our lifestyle, we don't 'cheat' for a meal and get a burger. We don't go away on vacation and eat whatever we want, you know?

Again, I think it's AWESOME veganism is becoming more mainstream and people are realizing it's a better way to live life. It just gets on my nerves when people treat it as a mere diet. For my husband and I, it's sooo much more than that.

Anyone else get annoyed? Or am I just being a pretentious brat? :)

Oddly, for me, it's the smell of butter. I don't know why, but I can't stand it. It's crazy because I used to LOVE butter and slathered it on everything. It's amazing how our bodies change and adapt.

I would love to shiitake unicorn sparkles! Maybe I'm not vegan enough yet...

I get this. Happy that people are consuming less animal products, but frustrated that they're using the word "vegan," because it's not really accurate. Of course, we'd never give those people a hard time, but yeah... kind of annoying.

My pet peeve is that vegans have to be ambassadors for veganism in the face of so much omni prejudice about the
"judgey vegans." I've met so many more judgey omnis!

I definitely don't think you're pretentious, but I think its pretty daunting to ask anyone starting out to commit to vegan for life. Whenever friends ask me for help transitioning to veganism, I'll always ask them what they feel comfortable doing and let them lead the conversation. I give them an email with the PPK, Fat-free Vegan, and Vegan RD (love her!) and encourage them to come back to me with any help they might need. I think Kathy Freston's "lean into veganism" works really well for people. Its much more difficult to think "I am never going to eat a steak again ever" than it is to to say Oh I'm doing Meatless Mondays or Vegan until 6pm (tm Bittman) and slowly add in more plant based diets. And one of my friends transitioning now is doing so only for ethical reasons, but its still hard for her. Anything that cuts out animal products is a step in the right direction, and hopefully people can build good habits that help them stick with it.

That said, my husband was vegan for about 9 months, and then went on a vacation from veganism when we went to Morocco (where I ate amazing vegan food) and has never gone back to it (its been 2 years). Grrrr.

Yes, I totally get what you're saying! And I really don't ever want to be a judgey vegan. And you're right, whatever small step (ie-meatless Mondays) people take to eat less meat is always a good thing. And I do need to remember that everyone comes to veganism in their own way and in their own time. I was a vegetarian for over 2 years before I gave up my ice cream :-)

I think part of my annoyance comes from just finding out Zoey Deschenal is not longer vegan due to dietary reasons. I know it's old news, but I was like, come on Zooooooey!!! Ugh.

We ended up not staying super long at Legoland anyway because it started really raining. I do have to say that there's one place near the entrance that is a coffee shop with some surprising stuff - fresh fruit cups (strawberries!), Wholesoy soy yogurt (!!!), cereals (didn't have one, not sure if they're vegan) and little things of Silk, bagels and french bread (again, didn't verify veganity and somebody in front of me bought ALL THE BAGELS >:/ ). So at least breakfast seems possible?

The sterilizing the silverware because PROTEIN thing confused me as well.

Ugh vegan celebs are the worst. They appear out of nowhere, make a ton of hopeful pronouncements, raise awareness and we all get excited that this might be the shift that makes veganism seem accessible and normal, and then they quit, sending a message that even someone living in L.A./N.Y.C. with a staff of people and millions of dollars can't possibly stay vegan and enjoy baked goods and normal comfort food.

Heck any one of us could have kept Natalie Portman in vegan baked goods.

I agree and I prefer to be open about the challenges that someone may feel when first going vegan or even being vegan through health issues when there are a lot of uneducated medical professionals out there. When I went vegan, I went vegan for 6 weeks. I told myself I could do anything for 6 weeks and it just happened to be nearly 6 years. The first year was bumpy, especially when we went on a trip to a remote part of the world after only being vegan for a little over a month. If someone wants to be vegan at home but not vegan when out/on business travel, I have no issue with that personally because business trips can be challenging and eating out can be challenging especially for new vegans. The alternative might be them not being vegan at all. So overall, I'm all for more vegan meals.

I agree with that, but I dislike the language like "cheating". Or maybe it's more about people giving me non-vegan food gifts and giving me a wink, "I won't tell if you cheat!" People can do what they want, and more vegan food is better, but like, I'm not going to "cheat" on my "diet."

Ugh, yes! Because it's not just a 'diet' for me!

Dudes, this just reminded me of this crazy thing this guy I worked with asked me:

him: If you were to pick one kind of meat to eat, to go back to, what would it be?
me: None of them! That's like asking me which of my friends I would eat first! I care about all of them enough to never do such a thing.

He was totally dumbfounded.

Why is it so hard to distinguish between veganism and strict vegetarianism when even strict vegetarians know that vegans also avoid leather, wool, cruel cosmetics, zoos, therefore that veganism is not merely a diet?

Also, while we're at it, we need to distinguish between veganism and melo-vegetarianism. I hate that I have to ask in (nominally) vegan restaurants if anything contains honey.



I loathe the smell of butter, cookies and veggies smelling of butter. It smells like cows. That wouldn't be a problem for me as a vegan if that horrible butter aroma wasn't added to all margarines in the market.

BTW, I really don't consider any animals food. They are edible, but so are dogs, and most westerners don't consider dogs food.

Seriously. I just got an otherwise awesome cookbook that regularly describes recipes containing honey as vegan. It's not even a vegetarian cookbook, so I imagine that the number of actual vegans buying it might be lower than the average cookbook I buy, so now probably all sorts of people are thinking we eat honey, which really peas me off, because...we don't. So many people don't understand the honey thing, and I have been served food with honey in it that was described as vegan in local restaurants (found out after the fact...should have asked, but there didn't seem a reason for sweetener...?) and just...ugh!

That is a brilliant response!

yeah i hate this one. it's like people are trying to trick you into saying you secretly long for a steak.
i dont have a secret meat i am just dying to eat on a "cheat" day when no one is looking.

there's no such thing as cheating if it's not a diet.

it's like saying to someone else "gee dont you ever wish you could just eat a fatty little tender baby"

ill take my tofu thanks!

I first went vegan (after being vegetarian for about 12 years) by having one vegan week per month. The first few months, I was really craving cheese by the end of the week. After a few months, the craving was a lot weaker, and after about six months, I realized at the end of the week that I wasn't craving cheese at all, so I thought, "OK, let's see if I can make it through another week without the craving," and it's been about five years now.

Well, let's be honest, who doesn't?

If I was going to 'cheat' with any meat, it would be babymeat.

Absolutely. In fact, seeing as it's NYE tomorrow, I figure we'll celebrate big by ringing in 2013 with a little braised baby! (Tofulish, I'll be expecting that "Leels on Wheels" delivery around 6pm, yes??)

Ooooooh! We get a cheat night!!! Count me in for a baby thigh!

Does it have a bag of giblets inside? Someone make a Punk Rock Baby Gravy!

Hospital food. I ended up in hospital last week and they actually had no food at all to offer me. After a while they managed to put together a plate with a couple of lettuce leaves on it...but that's it. They kept trying to give me cheesecake, no, I do not eat cheesecake, it's cheese! I medically can't eat dairy too so it's not like they can scoff at that. It'd be understandable (crappy, but understandable) if they just couldn't be arsed to do something vegan but...since I have medical reasons too...you'd think they'd at least make an effort! I lived off a pack of sweets my mum brought in for me :p