Vegan Vegetarian: Progress

[This page is in the early stages of production: 3 February 2005]

This page is currently one of several exploring my choice of a vegan vegetarian lifestyle. Other pages give some background to being a vegan vegetarian, identify some of the principles that inform my choice of a vegan vegetarian lifestyle, and explore some of the practicalities involved in eating out. Further pages give information in support of the vegan vegetarian lifestyle, including an introduction to beers suitable for vegans, and a new list of beers suitable for vegans.

Becoming Vegan

This document was originally written solely for myself, in order to heighten my own awareness of what I eat, with a view to reducing my consumption of products derived from animals. It was first concluded on 30 October 1993. I revisited it on 6 October 1996, and added postscripts to each section. I find it hard to understand how I missed several categories from the 1993 document. On 3 February 2005, I added further postscripts.

Chicken’s eggs: 1993

We consume 6 eggs/week, domestically. Along with the obvious eggs of restaurant omelettes, and the 'hidden eggs' of cakes and other prepared foods, I eat at least 6 eggs/week. I rarely eat an egg simply cooked (boiled or fried), and often dislike omelettes and scrambled eggs unless they are heavily disguised with flavourings such as herbs and shoyu. I quite like quiche, provided that it is not too eggy in taste or texture. I very much like cakes and prepared foods which have `hidden eggs'. I can cut down initially by not eating eggs that are simply cooked (boiled or fried), omelettes or scrambled eggs. I can avoid quiches, but not cut them out completely. I rarely cook with eggs.

Chicken’s eggs: Postscript 1996

I eat no eggs under any circumstances. I gave up eating eggs very easily, and do not miss them in the slightest. It appals me that I used to eat eggs, and hate the smell of them. I consider the practice of vegetarians eating eggs to be highly questionable. In terms of problems, cakes are about the only egg-containing food category that I miss, completely avoiding them because of the hidden eggs. We have experimented using soya-based egg-replacer in cakes, but it works only poorly. Pancakes work reasonably without eggs (and see below regarding cow's milk), but their fat content is relatively high, making them undesirable for other reasons.

Cow's Milk: 1993

I drink a lot of cow's milk. I drink it neat, pour it into hot and cold drinks, and use it to prepare foods such as sauces. I am going to find it hard to cut down, and even harder to eliminate drinking and using cow's milk. I drink it neat when I want a cold drink that tastes wholesome. There is no substitute for milk. I take milk in hot drinks, although I have recently (past few months) begun to drink filter coffee without cow's milk. I cannot drink barleycup without. I drink tea without only very rarely. The only thing way to make hot tea palatable without cow's milk is sugar.

Cow's Milk: Postscript 1996

I drink no cow's milk under any circumstances. Contrary to my expectations, I found it easy to stop drinking cow's milk as a drink. I do not drink soya-milk as a drink, although Rice Dream is an expensive soya-milk-like alternative that I enjoy, but drink only rarely. I drink much more fruit juice than I used to, which is no bad thing. Not using cow's milk in drinks has been more problematic. Finding soya-milk unpalatable when poured into hot drinks, I have completely stopped drinking barleycup. I drink tea only first thing in the morning: with a whole lemon squeezed into a pint of tea. (Provided that the heat of the tea does not destroy it first, this is extra vitamin C.) Sometimes I drink herbal infusions, but not as often as I might. I occasionally drink instant coffee, but am not keen on it: the cow's milk used to make it palatable. However, I drink a lot of strong, quality ground coffee. Whilst I would not say that I am a coffee connoisseur, I know what varieties of coffee I like, and generally search them out. For a long while I would not have breakfast cereal because I did not like the taste of soya-milk. However, apple-juice sweetened soya-milk tastes fine, and so I eat breakfast cereal again, although not often. In terms of savoury cooking, unsweetened soya-milk is perfectly acceptable (e.g. in sauces and pancakes), and in this respect the transition from cow's milk to soya-milk was completely unproblematic. Sweet cooking is different. For sweet dishes only partially dependent on milk, soya-milk is fine. On the other hand, I require sweet dishes such as milk puddings to be very heavily flavoured to mask the taste of soya.

Dairy butter & margarine: Postscript 1996

I no longer eat dairy butter under any circumstances. I always check to ensure that vegetables have not been glazed, other than with vegetable oil. Cooking without butter is fine, and I use variously sunflower oil, olive oil, vegan margarine and vegetable ghee. Margarine from supermarkets is rarely vegan, including margarine described as vegetable margarine, and so I avoid margarine completely unless the margarine or the food is also stated as being vegan.. On bread and on crackers I use vegan margarine, the availability of which has increased greatly over the past few years, including dairy-free margarine at Sainsbury and Pure available at Tesco.

Dairy cheese: 1993

The situation regarding cheese is complex. For the time being, I intend to continue to buy cheese. However, most of the cheese that I buy has for a long time been animal-rennet free. Blue Stilton, Cheshire, Cheddar, Double Gloucester, Dolcelatte and Gorgonzola all come in animal-rennet free varieties. In addition, soft cheeses such as cottage cheese and mozzarella are generally animal-rennet free anyway. The exception to this rule is Parmesan, which appears not have an animal-rennet free variety. I should like to stop using Parmesan, but do not know with what to replace it. Had Durham, like Chester and York, a cheese shop, I could order a strong, mature vegetarian Cheddar which would serve as a substitute for Parmesan. However, Durham does not. Along a different route, I have been experimenting with tofu in pizza, and have found that, with care, it is perfectly possible to make an excellent vegan pizza, using tofu to keep the topping firm and moist. As Cauldron Foods now offer two flavoured varieties of tofu (smoked and marinated), in addition to the plain variety, as well as fancy tofu (called agé) which we occasionally buy from York, this looks like a good route to pursue. We tried tofu-based hard cheese, but were far from impressed, and thankful once it was used up.

Dairy cheese: Postscript 1996

I have stopped eating cheese in any form, and this includes (artificial) cheese flavourings. I do not regret having done so, although I miss the variety of flavours. The greatest problem is pizza in cafes/restaurants. I occasionally cook with a little soya cheese, but rarely buy it. Instead, my focus is on higher quality cooking, in order to achieve through the cooking process what cheese would have done with less care, and the use of garlic: I cook a mean 'thunder and lightening'. As a spread for bread and crackers, various tofu-based soft cheeses (Tofutti) are quite nice, and vegan patés made by Cauldron, Tartex and Granovita. Even nicer is a homemade black olive tapenade.

Dairy yoghurt and fromage frais: 1993

I eat a lot of yoghurt and fromage frais. Over the past 6 months I have reduced my consumption a little, but have found that my eating, particularly at breakfast time, is simply more chaotic. As with cow's milk, I am looking for a food that tastes and feels wholesome. Tofu products are, in the main, no real substitute. Sometimes I eat fruit, but it rarely feels sufficiently wholesome.

Dairy yoghurt and fromage frais: Postscript 1996

I have stopped eating these kinds of dessert. I now eat a dessert after a meal less commonly, which can be no bad thing for my weight. While in France during summer 1996, we came across several new brands of soya yoghurt which were fine. However, we have not seen them in Britain.

Dairy yoghurt and fromage frais: Postscript 1999

Both Sainsbury and Tesco now stock Provamel Yofu, an excellent soya yoghurt that comes in two varieties: plain and fruits of the forest

Dairy ice Cream and other desserts: 1993

I enjoy ice cream, and for several years have refused to eat non-vegetarian ice-cream. This limited me to Losely Farm, New England and Haagen Daas brands. More recently, a Swedish tofu product has appeared, which, although not up to the quality of any of the above, is vegan, and quite acceptable. Therefore, I have switched almost entirely. I also used to eat the Muller Rice products. As these have recently increasingly included gelatine, making them non-vegetarian, it has become harder work to buy varieties that are vegetarian. Several varieties of vegan sorbet have recently appeared, making the Muller Rice products less important as an alternative to yoghurt and ice cream.

Dairy ice cream and other desserts: Postscript 1996

The only ice cream that I eat is the vegan Swedish glace. This comes in three flavours: vanilla, chocolate and raspberry. I can cope.

Dairy ice cream and other desserts: Postscript 2002

While away from Durham recently, I tried the mocha ripple flavour Swedish glace. I am only thankful that it is not available in Durham, for it is unspeakably and indescribably good. My weight would increase so rapidly that a gravitational anomaly would be registered by over-orbiting satellites.

Honey: 1993

At present, I have no desire to give up eating honey. Although I like it, I eat it only rarely. My belief is that although the bees are undoubtedly exploited, their death is neither a direct nor an indirect part of honey production.

Honey: Postscript 1996

Largely as a desire to remain consistently vegan, I do not eat honey. As I wrote in 1993, I did not eat honey very often anyway, so giving up was not a loss. The only occasional inconvenience regards posher biscuits, fruit and nut bars and breakfast cereals. When I want a flavoured sweetener, I use maple syrup. (2002: at some point I discovered that commercial honey production involves the slaughter of entire hives every two or three years, so my 1993 belief was wrong.)

Food additives: Postscript 1996

I find it surprising that I did not have this category in the 1993 document. Huge numbers of substances added to processed foods are not vegan. Some are obvious, like milk, cheese or yoghurt; others take a little more thinking about, such as whey powder (which is often not even vegetarian); and others demand detailed knowledge, such as lecithin (often derived from egg albumen, unless stated as being of soya or other vegetable origin), E471, E472 and mono- and di-glycerides of fatty acids, which, whilst they can be of vegetable origin, are not even guaranteed vegetarian unless stated. It appears to be a rule that the likelihood of a processed food product being vegan is inversely proportional to the number of food additives. As a result, I now eat more uncooked food such as salads.

Toiletries: Postscript 2005

I have used only vegan-suitable toiletries since the mid-1990s:

o     Soap: Sainsbury’s; Co-op

o     Bubble-bath: Co-op

o     Hair shampoo and conditioner: Faith in Nature (independent health food stores); The Source (Sainsbury’s); Avalon (Sainsbury’s)

o     Toothpaste: (independent health food stores)

o     Deodorant: Co-op

Leather: 1993

I feel quite challenged about wearing leather shoes, a leather belt and using a leather money pouch. Whilst I do not feel horrified to have these things, because I am not ingesting them, I feel far from entirely comfortable, and their replacement with vegan alternatives, once they are worn out, is fairly high on my agenda.

Leather: Postscript 1996

I can barely believe that I wore leather. It must have been shortly after writing in 1993 that I bought my first pair of vegan shoes, and a vegan belt. I now buy nothing made of leather.

Silk: 1993

It came to my attention only fairly recently that silk involves the boiling of silk worms. Initially, I thought that it would have little to do with me, as I do not wear silk shirts. However, I do wear ties. A few weeks ago, when I bought some new ties, I refused to buy silk ties, and was able to buy perfectly acceptable polyester alternatives.

Silk: Postscript 2005

I have discovered that silk is also used in some cosmetics.

Wool: 1993

As with honey, I have no desire to give up wearing wool. Whilst I recognise that sheep are killed, I consider their slaughter the work of the dead animal eating industry, not of the clothing industry. I find it difficult to place wool and fur in the same clothing category. Maybe I am being a little naďve.

Wool: Postscript 1996

Wool is the one category of vegan lifestyle to which I have not (yet) adapted. I wear wool-mix trousers, a wool-mix suit, a tweed jacket and occasionally woollen pullovers. I am less naive about the slaughter of sheep as an inherent part of wool production: I understand that virtually all male lambs are murdered. However, unlike in 1993, I do now wish to give up wearing wool.

Wool: Postscript 2005

I have moved steadily away from wearing wool. My trousers are mixtures of polyester and cotton. I no longer wear a tweed jacket.

 p.g.h@btinternet.com