Trend of the Month: Veganism

For the last few months I have almost and accidently gone vegan. Since we visited Thailand last year, I have not been interested in meat. Not sure if it was the copious amounts of chicken and pork that I seemed destined to eat at every meal while there, or the plethora of meat on a stick stalls at every street market. Nonetheless, since we came back, I have liked meat less and less, until it has almost been removed from my diet. I stopped eating dairy in an effort to lose a little weight (and clear up my rosacea), and apart from the very occasional inkling for eggs benedict, eggs simply remind me of my distaste for the Dukan diet (although, side note: the Dukan diet really does work). I don’t prescribe to the Vegan "label", (I have eaten fish, yogurt, butter, eggs and three tiny pieces of bacon during this time), but as veganism becomes more, dare I say “trendy” ... there are so many options for delicious, tasty, easy foods, that don’t use animal products. Once you try it, you will realise how taxing and heavy animal products are for your body (not to mention how taxing it is for the environment). And there are just a few reasons at the moment that make it worth thinking about: 

The recent Horsemeat Scandal – not one I totally understand. At the risk of being controversial, to me, if you eat animals, you eat animals (which sometimes I do!). Having not grown up on a farm, I don't see much difference between a horse and a cow, other than our perception that a horse is a pet, and a cow is a meal. The issue I have is that the ingredients were not labelled. Do yourself a favour and either a) don’t buy processed meat (or anything!) or b) give meat a miss altogether for a few days and see what happens. Read more about the scandal here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_meat_adulteration_scandal

My New Roots Raw Brownie. This brownie does not use butter, oil, sugar ... actually, none of the bad stuff. It’s totally delicious, totally choc-latey and totally easy to make (providing you have a good food processor ... this recipe got the better of one of my trusted appliances, and was a large reason that I invested in the industrial Magimix. Read more about the Magimix here.) And the best part – you can eat a lot of them without worrying about how fat they’ll make you. Butter fat = people fat. Vegan raw brownies = awesome.

http://mynewroots.org/site/2011/04/the-raw-brownie-2/

 
If those two reasons are not enough to convince you, then perhaps I need to leave it to JT; he’s bringing vegan back.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xy35qv_justin-timberlake-bring-it-on-down-2-veganville-veganshake-snl-3-9-13_music#.UUcsJ1eBWSq

GG Rating: Good for Buckwheat Believers because of the change of mindset required.