Chapter 1. The Vegan Revolution

Cook some dim sum topped off with hoisin sauce and your friends will think you’re a talented Chinese food chef. Perhaps even a connoisseur. But when you create a vegan meal, you are literally changing the world. Call it gastronomical activism at the tip of your fork. Just by eating vegan, you become an eco-activist and, within a week or two, a healthier person. Veganism is not just a diet, and not just the food on your plate: it is an active stance against environmental inefficiencies, a boycott against animal cruelty, and a method of preventive medicine. Yes, all that comes just from trading in milk and meat for mushrooms and marinara. One small bite for you is one giant leap toward a healthier planet and a healthier body.

What Are Vegan Foods?

If you’re used to eating eggs for breakfast and steak for dinner, you may be wondering, what’s left? Rest assured that with a little ingenuity, a plant-centered diet will bring more color, spice, and variety to your plate than ever before.

As a matter of habit, most people reach for the same few foods day after day, but all that stops now! A nearly infinite array of grains, herbs, fruits, vegetables, beans, and legumes from around the world is at your fingertips. There are dozens of varieties of beans alone—navy, cannellini, kidney beans, black beans—and many other pulses, such as chickpeas and lentils, each with its own distinct flavors and textures. There’s no need to ever ask “What do vegans eat?” It’s simpler to question what vegans don’t eat, as the list is much shorter!

Instead of packaged and processed foods, vegans eat mostly whole foods (fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts, grains) and dairy- and egg-free versions of traditional favorites (cheeseless pizza, bean burritos minus the cheese) flavored with herbs and spices from around the world. Vegans today can savor hundreds of vegan substitute products, including nondairy cream cheese, “beef” jerky, and vegan white chocolate.

Can I eat . . . ? Of course you can ! Vegans can eat anything, but choose not to eat certain foods. When thinking about what to include and exclude in your diet, consider your reasons and values for choosing a vegan diet. Does eating a particular food align or conflict with these values? Whatever your diet may be, stick with your personal values and goals rather than dictionary definitions.

Whatever comfort food you crave has a vegan version. There are dozens of brands of the more common substitutes, such as soy milk and vegan meats and cheeses, each with their own texture and taste. Some will fool even the most ardent wrangler, and others, well, won’t. You’ll also find ways to duplicate many of your favorite comfort foods in this book, without eggs and dairy.

Why Eat Vegan?

Ask 100 vegans why they pass on animal foods and you may get 100 different answers. Animal suffering, environmental waste, and personal health usually top the list. But global poverty, food safety and sanitation, or food allergies are valid reasons to reduce reliance on animal foods. People of Western faiths may cite the biblical order for “stewardship” over creation, while others commit to the Eastern spiritual principle of ahimsa , that is, nonviolence and harmlessness . Call it the vegan Hippocratic oath.

So then, what’s the harm with eating eggs and dairy?

For the Animals

Concerns over animal suffering understandably lead to a vegetarian diet, but the suffering and killing of animals in dairy and egg production inspires many well-intentioned vegetarians who learn of such practices to quickly go vegan.

Gone are the days of Old MacDonald’s happily mooing dairy cows and clucking chickens. Today’s cows are relentlessly milked by machines, not cheery, freckle-faced men in overalls. Females must be kept constantly pregnant in order to lactate, but the dairy industry has little use for their male offspring. Sent to slaughter at a few months old for veal, male calves are just leftovers, the collateral damage of dairy production. When her ability to produce milk naturally slows at five or six years of age (think of it as a sort of cow menopause), a dairy cow’s final destination is the slaughterhouse.

Egg-laying hens are tightly packed into filthy cages, stacked floor to ceiling in huge warehouses, called CAFO’s, or Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, within the industry. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recommends that workers only enter when suited up with goggles and respirators, as the air is hazardously putrid with feces. Here, chickens struggle for space to move and air to breathe. Imagine sharing a portable toilet all summer long with three of your closest friends for a spatial approximation. Under these circumstances, deaths from dehydration and suffocation are common. To avoid pecking conflicts, baby chicks have their beaks sliced off at birth, and the industry has discovered that although a hen’s egg-laying ability eventually slows, it can be kick-started through “forced molting,” which involves weeks of starvation.

Such are the lives of animals used for industrialized food production. Not a pleasant life. It’s no wonder that more and more people are refusing to support these practices, voting with their stomachs and pocketbooks in favor of tofu scramble over eggs from tortured hens.

Despite marketing ploys, eggs labeled “free-range” or “cage-free” are no better for your health or the environment than regular eggs, and they’re not much better for the chickens. With little regulation, “free-range” hens may still never once see sunlight and still suffer debeaking, and when productivity wanes, they end up in the same place as conventional hens. There’s simply no such thing as a “free-range” slaughterhouse.

For many vegans, inspired by philosophers Jeremy Bentham and Peter Singer, the atrocities of food production are a concern, but dominance, use, and exploitation of some creatures (animals) by another (humans) is the real underlying issue. Agree or disagree, the words of novelist, feminist, and vegan Alice Walker summarize this sentiment: “The animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humans any more than black people were made for white, or women created for men.” This is the idea of animal rights; that animals may lead their own lives, completely unencumbered by humans.

Many social justice activists, including notable heroes Coretta Scott King and Cesar Chavez, reject animal exploitation as a logical extension of their belief in equality. In the words of Albert Einstein , they have “widened the circle of compassion” to include all victims of oppression and injustice—animals and humans alike.

Some concerned human rights and civil rights activists eat vegan to boycott the sweatshop treatment of slaughterhouse workers, many of whom are illegal immigrants exploited by big businesses to do the dirtiest work. Without basic protections, illegal workers don’t object when USDA and OSHA safety violations inevitably occur, and, without health insurance, they are a cheap source of labor that can be ignored when injured performing their dangerous duties.

For the Earth

Modern food production is no friend to local environments, as anyone who has lived near a large death factory can tell you. Neighbors of industrialized farms are constantly complaining of the air and water pollution caused by the concentrated waste of these poor animals. And the larger global environment suffers as well. Everyone from environmental groups to the United Nations agrees that animal agriculture is one of the single largest contributors to global warming and environmental devastation. Because exponentially more water, energy, land, and resources are needed to raise and feed animals than to support a plant-based diet, one simply can’t call oneself an environmentalist while still consuming animal products.

The problem of disposing of the waste produced by the approximately 10 billion animals raised for food in the United States is minor in comparison to the very real threat of global climate change. The UN estimates that 20 percent of all greenhouse gases come from the food animal industry; much more than is caused by private jets, SUVs, and all forms of transport worldwide combined. Red meat and dairy are the biggest culprits, closely followed by pigs, chickens, and egg production.

Just one individual switching from a meat-based to a plant-based diet reduces carbon emissions by about one and a half tons a year. That’s more than eating locally grown food and trading in your SUV for a hybrid.

With an increasing global population, land and water availability is a concern. More than three-fourths of all agricultural land in the United States is used not to grow food for humans, but rather feed for farm animals or as grazing land. This is a shameful waste of resources that could be redistributed to alleviate hunger worldwide. Yet it’s still not enough to feed the selfish American desire for meat. Clear-cutting for grazing land has claimed hundreds of millions of forest acres in the United States, and South American rain forests are now losing timber to provide wealthier nations with imported beef.

A single half-ton cow consumes thousands of pounds of grain, soy, or corn over its short lifetime, yet produces only a few hundred hamburgers. Water used to grow that grain (about half of all water used in the United States goes toward raising animals) and the chemicals and herbicides used to quicken its growth are just more environmental casualties of an animal-based diet. Raising animals for food is a tragically inefficient squandering of water, food, land, chemical fertilizers, and energy.

For Personal and Global Health

Along with humane and environmental concerns, personal health is a strong motivator to eat vegan. From significantly reduced rates of hypertension, arterial hardening, stroke, type 2 diabetes, obesity, heart disease, and several types of cancer (prostate and breast cancer being the best documented), a plant-based diet helps prevent the vast majority of life-threatening diseases that plague modernity.

Medical research and the American Dietetic Association affirm that a plant-based diet prevents many ailments, helps reverse some, and eases the symptoms of others. Veganism isn’t a bulletproof vest in protecting against these killers, but it just may be the best bet.

Hormone use is a major concern in much of the world, though the American public and lawmakers are less aware of the dangers. In quest of the almighty dollar, U.S. dairy cows are fed a tasty-sounding drug called “recombinant bovine growth hormone” (rBGH), which increases milk production up to 20 percent. Because this powerful hormone ends up in consumers’ stomachs, Japan, Australia, Canada, and the European Union have banned the use of rBGH, and the EU bans the import of American beef because of it. Medical studies implicate these hormones in the connection between diet and cancer, particularly breast, prostate, and testicular cancers. The unnatural and unsanitary conditions of production are increasingly convincing the health conscious to reduce their animal-based food consumption, not only to avoid these hormones, but also to avoid exposure to E. coli and the other common pathogens originating in animal feces and contaminating animal products.

The number of children afflicted with one or more food sensitivities has inexplicably grown in recent years, though some people theorize this may be related to the increasing number of unnatural hormones and additives in commonly consumed foods. Trigger foods are more easily avoided on a whole-foods diet, and eating vegan or mostly vegan makes this easier. Some food allergy sufferers have even reported the reversal of their sensitivities on a healthy plant-based diet.

Whatever your reasons for exploring the vegan lifestyle, keep them in mind when confronted with the inevitable naysayers, and remember that they are your reasons alone. Others may have different motivating factors. Committing yourself 100 percent to your goals will help you in the face of adversity when your deer-hunting uncle cackles at your Thanksgiving tofu turkey.

Vegan Nutrition

Despite a national obsession with protein, most Americans eat much more than recommended, and deficiency in vegans is rare. Professional body-builders and pregnant women aside, most vegans easily meet their daily requirement of protein (and most omnivores exceed it exponentially), but beware of your zinc, vitamin D, iron, and calcium intake, and foremost, vitamin B 12 .

If you are pregnant, you’ll need to plan adequately to obtain all the nutrients you need—not just protein—and have likely already consulted with your doctor about this. If not, please do. And, as most bodybuilders already know, the timing of protein consumption coupled with the stress of lifts is more important than whether that protein is plant or animal based.

Though not readily supplied by a vegan diet, vitamin D is easily obtained from sunlight. Step outside for a few minutes a day and you’re set for vitamin D. Make sure your vegan kids do the same. If you happen to be a vegan living in Antarctica or the Arctic circle, best to rely on a supplement or fortified foods, such as fortified orange juice or soy milk.

Similarly, many soy foods are fortified with calcium, another important nutrient for dairy-free folks, and broccoli, tofu, tahini, almonds, and dark leafy greens provide a good natural source. But to build strong bones, you need exercise as well as calcium, so vegan or not, diet is only half the equation.

When it comes to iron, most vegans and vegetarians actually get more than omnivores, but to be on the safe side, lentils, chickpeas, tahini, and once again, those dark leafy greens like spinach and kale are good vegan sources.

Before you pour that glass of orange juice or soy milk, shake it up! The calcium in these drinks tends to settle to the bottom of the carton, so to get the best bone-boosting effect, shake before you drink. If you’re a heavy smoker or coffee drinker, consider taking a supplement, as these inhibit absorption of several nutrients.

Noticing a pattern? Dark leafy green vegetables are one of the most nutrient-rich foods on the planet. Find ways to include kale, spinach, or other greens in your diet by snipping them into pasta sauces and casseroles, or include a few spinach leaves along with your other salad greens.

Fish oils and fish such as salmon are often touted as a source of healthy omega-3 fatty acids, but vegetarians and vegans can obtain these from flaxseeds and flax oil, as well as walnuts or hempseeds.

Flaxseed oil is rich in omega-3s, and has a sweet and nutty flavor. Never use flax as a cooking oil, however, as the heat destroys the healthy fats and creates unhealthy free radicals. Instead, add a teaspoonful of flax oil to your favorite salad dressing, or drizzle over already cooked dishes for your daily omega-3s. Look for a brand that is cold-pressed and stored chilled to keep it fresh.

Vitamin B 12 cannot reliably be obtained from vegan foods. Deficiencies of this important nutrient are admittedly rare, and, if you’re eating vegan meals only occasionally, you don’t need to worry. Vegetarians will absorb B 12 from food sources, but long-term vegans, and pregnant and breastfeeding women, in particular, need a reliable source. Take a supplement and eat fortified foods, such as nutritional yeast. Because the body needs very little B 12 , and it can be stored for years, some people claim a supplement is not needed, or suggest that omnivores are more likely to be deficient in a variety of nutrients, and thus the B 12 issue for vegans is grossly overblown. While this last argument may be true, the bottom line, according to most experts, is to take a supplement. Better safe than sorry.

The Truth about Protein

In 1971 Frances Moore Lappé wrote a book that revolutionized the relationship thousands of Americans had with their plates, effectively launching vegetarianism into the public consciousness. Diet for a Small Planet continues to be a widely read and cited book today. Much to the chagrin of generations of vegetarians, however, it was the beginning of a myth still often retold, including by some nutritionists who ought to know better. This is the myth of “protein combining,” or the idea that plant sources provide “incomplete” proteins while meats provide “complete” proteins.

Lappé theorized that in order to digest all nine of the essential amino acids that the human body needs to build protein, vegetarians needed to combine foods so as to consume each essential amino acid in one sitting. Whole grains needed to be consumed at the same time as nuts, for example.

The truth is, by eating a variety of foods, you’ll have nothing to worry about. Although you do need a full range of amino acids, and plant-based foods contain varying amounts of the essentials, Lappé’s error was to assume these nine essentials needed to be consumed at the same meal. Nutritionists, including the American Dietetic Association and the USDA, have since refuted this claim, and even Lappe herself revised her stance in later editions of the book. Your body will store and combine proteins on its own. Just so this point is not missed: protein combining is a complete myth.

Quinoa, soy, and hempseeds are vegan powerhouses when it comes to protein, as they contain the highest amount of all nine essential amino acids. Hempseeds are also high in omega-3 and omega-6 essential fatty acids.

If, however, you tend to go weeks eating nothing but bananas and soda, you’ll quickly find yourself deficient in more than just protein. But eat a relatively healthy diet and you’ll be just fine. From the American Dietetic Association: “Plant sources of protein alone can provide adequate amounts of the essential and nonessential amino acids, assuming that dietary protein sources from plants are reasonably varied.”

Vegan Health Advantages

While B 12 is a genuine concern, the health advantages of a plant-based diet are endless. The average vegan gets twice as much fiber as most omnivores. A vegan diet is naturally cholesterol free, and is almost guaranteed to lead to marked decreases in cholesterol levels in just two weeks. If lowering your cholesterol naturally is one of your goals, test your levels before and again a few weeks into a vegan diet, and gamble with your skeptical friends, just for fun.

But this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Blood pressure, too, is shown to decrease drastically in a short period of time on a plant-based diet. High blood pressure is rarely a concern for vegans, and making the switch can decrease your blood pressure in less than two months. No need to give up salt as conventional wisdom dictates—just get rid of the meat and dairy!

As an added bonus for men (and for women too, really), it’s possible that vegans really do make better lovers. High blood pressure, high cholesterol, and particularly the decreased blood flow associated with blocked arteries are common causes leading to erectile dysfunction, and vegans certainly have fewer instances of these symptoms. Sure, a little purple pill can help out for the night, but a vegan diet can help forever!

The fountain of youth may not flow with water after all—it may be full of fruits and veggies.

You do need to eat a balanced diet in order to reap these benefits. After all, French fries and potato chips are animal free, but that doesn’t make them healthy. When it comes to vegan nutrition, variety is key. Make sure your protein sources are varied, rather than from just one food group. Eat a rainbow of fruits and veggies, and include green leafy vegetables as often as possible.

But the health benefits of reduced animal consumption go beyond your blood pressure and your bedroom; it’s a global concern.

The powerful cocktail of hormones and antibiotics pumped into cows and chickens by today’s food industry ends up right back in local water supplies and affects everyone, even vegans. All these antibiotics, combined with the cramped conditions of modern farms, lead to dangerous new drug-resistant pathogens and bacterial strains. Swine flu, bird flu, SARS, and mad-cow disease are all traced back to intense animal agriculture practices. Because of our rapidly shrinking planet, the “butterfly effect” is a very real phenomenon: a pig in Mexico sneezed, and a child in Bangkok died.

Getting Started

There’s no need to toss out all your old cookbooks and family recipes, as many of them can provide inspiration for fabulous vegan meals after a few minor tweaks, of course. Most recipes for cookies, muffins, and cakes can be made with nondairy milk, vegan margarine, and a commercial egg replacer. For recipes calling for honey, try an equivalent amount of agave nectar, which is equally lovely in tea and drizzled over vegan pancakes. Store-bought mock ground beef is surprisingly tasty, and TVP granules provide a meaty texture in dishes like tacos or chili.

Take a look at some of your favorite meals. Like spaghetti with meatballs? Try a vegetable marinara instead, grab some ready-made vegetarian meatballs from your grocery store, or try the recipe on page 164. Try your favorite chicken noodle soup recipe without the chicken, and omit the beef from your Chinese beef and broccoli, or use seitan as a beef substitute instead. Often, it’s the spices, flavors, and textures that make a meal satisfying and nostalgic, not the actual meat.

Cooking for omnivores? If your family still insists on eating a bit of meat, no need to cook two separate meals. Prepare a bit of meat separately, and add it into a portion of an otherwise vegan soup, pasta, or casserole.

For the novice chef, restaurants can offer a tasty introduction to new foods. Check your phonebook or the Internet for vegetarian and vegan restaurants in your area. Thai and Chinese restaurants serve up vegan curries and stir-fries, many with an array of mock meats. As a general rule, ethnic restaurants including Mexican (just hold the cheese), Indian, and Middle Eastern offer more options for vegetarians and vegans than American chains and diners, which may offer little more than a veggie burger as an afterthought.

Creating Amazing Meals

When eating at restaurants, the flavors often come from an overdose of salt, fat, and sometimes MSG. But when cooking at home, you’re better off enhancing your foods with flavors that come from nature.

One flavor enhancer unique to vegan cuisine is the almighty nutritional yeast. It’s a yellowish powder universally loved by vegans for its nutty and cheesy taste and ability to add that je ne sais quoi to just about any savory dish.

Watch out for brewer’s yeast, which many well-meaning people insist is the same as nutritional yeast. It’s not. Depending on where you live, nutritional yeast may be called “savory yeast flakes” or “nutritional food yeast,” but brewer’s yeast is something altogether different.

Most chefs agree that sea salt has a superior taste to table salt. Once you’ve tried sea salt, you’ll never go back to regular refined salt, and the trace minerals in sea salt are an added bonus. Similarly, freshly cracked black pepper is always best. Use vegetable broth instead of water whenever possible, stock up on vegetarian bouillon or powdered vegetable broth, and don’t be afraid to use it with a heavy hand in stir-fries, soups, gravies, and casseroles—just about anything savory or spicy.

Fresh herbs and spices are an obvious choice for adding flavor, but their true power comes in their variety and combination. No matter how many spices are on your spice rack, there’s always room for one or two more! Most of the spices called for in this book are commonly found, but don’t let that limit you. Add garam masala to Indian dishes and smoked Spanish paprika to paellas. Same with fresh herbs. If you can find them, add lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves to your Thai curries!

One or two gourmet or unusual ingredients can add pizzazz to an otherwise standard dish. A salad drizzled with champagne vinegar and avocado oil trumps regular vinaigrette any day, and a meatless pasta salad enhanced with sun-dried tomatoes, dried blueberries, or artichoke hearts, for example, is more exciting than a pasta salad with ordinary grilled chicken. The difference between a simple meal versus a culinary affair to remember may be just a handful of wasabi-coated macadamia nuts.

Got a big bunch of basil? Make your fresh herbs last longer by giving them a quick rinse. Then, wrap your lightly damp herbs in a paper towel. Place the paper towel in a ziplock bag and store in your refrigerator’s crisper. They’ll keep about ten days this way.

Vegan Machines and Coddled Cooks

The equipment and utensils needed in a vegan kitchen vary little from what any other home cook might need. A blender and food processor are essential. Rather than working up a sweat grating carrots, a food processor will do the trick in ten seconds. Quality chopping knives and a cutting board are standard for any cook, as are a large skillet or sauté pan, a stock pot for soups, and some oven basics, such as a casserole dish and a baking pan. With these few items, you’ll be prepared to create almost all of the recipes in this book.

Get rid of your microwave, and force yourself to heat and eat healthier foods, rather than packaged meals. Leftovers are just as easy to reheat stovetop or in the oven. In a healthy whole-foods kitchen, the only thing a microwave is good for is lightly cooking vegetables. But a steamer basket and some water is almost as quick.

A few convenient luxuries can enliven your whole-foods vegan kitchen. Though not an essential, a rice steamer means one less pot on the stove to worry about. After adding liquid and just about any grain (not just rice), you can walk away without worry.

The difference between one stock pot and another is minimal (both the $10 one and the $50 one boil water equally), but splurge for a quality piece when purchasing a nonstick pan. It’s essential for making vegan crepes and comes in handy for pancakes and French toast. But the real value of a nonstick pan is in reducing the oil needed to sauté veggies or scramble tofu. If lowering dietary fat is a concern, shop for a quality nonstick pan.

To slash the fat in the many vegan recipes that call for sautéing onions, garlic, or veggies in oil, use half oil and half vegetable broth; soy sauce; or even cooking wine, sherry, or another liquid. Some chefs call this technique “steam-frying.”

For feeding a large family or baking in quantity, a soy-milk maker is a cost cutter in the long run. Unless the label says “unsweetened,” store-bought soy milk is packed with sugar, so homemade is better for you as well. Making soy milk is a bit of an effort by hand, but with a machine, it’s a snap. If you’re feeding a large family, it’s a convenient investment.

Shopping Tips

Health-food stores and gourmet grocers stock vegan specialty goods, but these days, even most regular chain supermarkets carry mock meats and dairy substitutes. Some stores have a separate “natural foods” aisle, while others stock the veggie burgers with the other frozen foods. Most health-food stores and co-ops are happy to place special orders, so don’t be afraid to ask.

Browse farmers’ markets and farm stands for good deals and environmental karma and seek out ethnic and import grocers for hidden treasures. Kosher stores stock enough dairy substitutes to fill a vegan’s dreams; Asian grocery stores are a paradise of exotic meatless “meats,” sauces, and spices; and Middle Eastern and Mexican grocers supply unusual ingredients and flavors.

Insiders know that the Seventh Day Adventist religion has a long history of vegetarianism and even their own brand of veggie “meats.” Check out Adventist book supply stores for a bounty of veggie hams, fish, and sausages if you’re lucky enough to have one in your area!

Do I need to read labels to make sure I’m buying animal-free foods? By avoiding foods that contain trace amounts of animal by-products, you’re sending a message to companies to use non-animal sources. Then again, standing in supermarket aisles meticulously reading labels may seem wacky and obsessive, rather than healthy and compassionate, the latter being the more exemplary image for vegans to cultivate. Your choice.

If you live in Manhattan, you’ll find vegan foods on literally every corner, but even if you reside in the middle of Mayberry, you can still enjoy a tasty and nutritious vegan diet based on the bounty of grains, beans, fruits, and vegetables that are available anywhere on the planet.

But seriously. Find some nutritional yeast. That stuff is good.