Does Going Veg Make Your Tastebuds Mutate?

Forkful of brussels sprouts halfway to mouth, I am stricken with the sudden, not entirely welcome epiphany that I am now an adult who voluntarily eats brussels sprouts. Brussels sprouts. The one vegetable I despised as a child who had to be reminded to share the green beans and broccoli. I’ve become one of them, those scary brussels-sprouts-loving-vegetarians that the rest of the world thinks have aberrant tastebuds. 

Naturally, I hopped on Google to find the answer to the question: does going veg screw with your tastebuds? There don’t seem to be many studies on this topic, and I can’t really answer it myself. I went vegetarian at an age when most people are transitioning to adult taste preferences anyway, so it’s hard to say whether I’m now more into spicy food, bitter greens, and mushrooms because I stopped eating meat or because I grew up, moved out, and discovered Ethiopian food. Probably a little of both. I have noticed that roast chicken no longer smells appetizing, though bacon is another story entirely.

What really prompted this post, however, was my recent experiment with kale chips. The idea is pretty basic. Tear kale up into pieces, toss with olive oil, salt, and spices, and bake at a low temp until crispy. The vegans from whom I got the idea have written gushing panegyrics to kale chips, including: “More addictive than potato chips,” and “like fries,” and “amazingly delicious.” I was skeptical, so I made my own. They were interesting. Texture not unlike desiccated autumn leaves (not that I’ve ever eaten one). Mostly salty, with a hint of roasted broccoli (not one of my favorite vegetables to roast), and a slightly bitter finish. Verdict: OK as a way to eat kale, but not life changing, and not even close to replacing my Kettle chips (chipotle barbecue flavor, please). And that’s to say nothing of the gastro-intestinal distress the kale chips caused me later. Don’t worry, I won’t subject you to details.

Without really meaning to, I’ve filed kale chips in the ‘foods only vegans could love’ mental category. There it is joined by anything in which tofu is used to substitute for cheese. Any dessert that calls for a significant quantity of beans. Anything raw and sprouted, but especially for breakfast. Wheatgrass or other dark green smoothies. (Note: I am not a ruminant.)  That’s where my ovo-lacto vegetarian tastebuds draw the line. If I went vegan, would these things start to taste good? The question, at present, is unanswerable.

While I’m certainly aware that plenty of vegan food is simply food without animal products, the fringier recipes definitely strike me as acquired tastes. What do you think? Have your taste preferences changed significantly since going veg?

Quick Summer Recipe: Cold Noodles

There must be a more elegant name for this, but ‘cold noodles’ is an exact translation of a simple summer supper I grew up with. On really hot days, when even our usually sepulchral house got unbearable by about 5pm, you’d find us slurping down deliciously cold, savory noodles for dinner. I think every Chinese family probably has a different version; this one is passed down from my grandmother. And like most family recipes, the proportions are to taste. I finally measured them out to give you an idea of how much of what ingredient, but you’ll probably want to tweak to your liking. Oh, and it’s vegan. And fast. And remarkably tasty. All good things!

Cold Noodles with Raw Vegetables & Savoury Peanut Sauce
Serves 3-4, can be doubled very easily

Sauce:
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tsp sesame oil (available at Asian supermarkets)
1 1/2 TB peanut butter (smooth or chunky)
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp sugar (optional)
dash of chili powder or chili oil (optional)

1/2 lb wheat noodles or spaghetti
vegetable oil to prevent noodles from sticking
1 large cucumber, shredded
1-2 carrots, shredded
handful of bean sprouts (optional)
toasted sesame seeds or chopped peanuts to top (optional)

1. Whisk all sauce ingredients together until smooth. Taste and adjust seasonings to liking. The flavors seem to improve when the sauce has a chance to sit for an hour or two, but you can use it immediately if necessary.

2. Next, boil a big pot of water and cook  noodles (or spaghetti — any type of thicker wheat noodle will do) according to directions. Drain, toss with oil to prevent sticking, and chill until cold. Freezer works if you’re hungry.

3. While noodles are boiling, shred the cucumber and carrot(s) and wash the bean sprouts.

To serve, pile noodles in bowl, layer on vegetables, pour on sauce to taste, and mix. Sprinkle sesame seeds or chopped peanuts on top, if you like a little extra crunch. I prefer not to mix the whole batch at this time because the leftovers taste better if you keep everything separate until you’re ready to eat. If you run out of sauce, it also tastes fine with a drizzle of soy sauce and sesame oil. Lazy is good.

Vegan Week Recap

It’s a day early, but I’m officially ending vegan week. Like a bad relationship, a promising start fizzled into something where  my vegan diet and I sat sullenly in the same room and stared at opposite walls. Up until  about Wednesday, things were great. I had fun trying out new recipes, enjoyed the moral clarity, didn’t miss dairy or eggs, and really thought this had long-term relationship potential.

Then on Thursday, I started to feel tired, headachey, and a little dizzy.  I wanted an omelet. Instead, I made and ate a nutritious vegan dinner, complete with barley, spinach, wild mushrooms, and whole wheat focaccia. I popped a vitamin, which I almost never do.  Friday: bleah. No energy, dragged myself to work, no appetite for my lunch (last night’s leftovers), so I ate a handful of berries. I got home with no energy (surprise!), didn’t want to cook, couldn’t think of anything I wanted to eat, didn’t have anything fast that I could eat. So I finished off the last 1″ of a bag of Fritos, had some almond soy milk, and ate a bowl of strawberries. I put on Ratatouille, which exacerbated my omelet craving. Finally, egged on by Kevin, I got up and made a perfect omelet, a golden crescent of gooey awesomeness, and ate it with new appreciation for the role eggs play in my wellbeing. 

I know I messed up on the last day, but I’m saddened to have to come to either of these two conclusions: 1) I don’t know enough/didn’t plan well enough to keep my body healthy on a vegan diet; or 2) veganism isn’t right for my body at this time.  The first is more probable, but the fact is that I did plan this week and ate lots of beans, vegetables, and whole grains. I spent more time planning my meals this week than I ever do as a vegetarian who eats eggs and modest amounts of dairy. And I ended up feeling pretty crappy. Maybe I should have eaten more tofu.

I don’t really know what I did wrong, but I do know that continuing would have made me feel worse. I tried on my tight jeans that were still in their super tight phase just after being washed. They felt distinctly looser than usual. As someone who isn’t even three digits soaking wet and fully dressed, I can only afford to lose so many pounds and stay healthy.

This week wasn’t a total loss. I found some fun new recipes and got over the assumption that vegan cooking was any different from regular cooking. I’m very open to trying more vegan recipes and incorporating more meals without eggs or dairy into my life. I learned that almond milk smells divine when warmed and will probably try baking with it at some point.  I feel a lot of gratitude for the egg-laying chickens that made my omelet possible and will make a renewed effort to get eggs only at the farm where I can visit the chickens and know that they’re well treated and happy. And in a little while, after I read up more on nutrition, I may try again.

But today, I’m having yogurt for breakfast.

Vegan Week + Almond Milk Pudding Recipe

Some of you know that I’m about halfway through my weeklong experiment of eating nothing but plant foods (and fungi). As an ethical vegetarian, I’ve sadly come to the conclusion that eating dairy isn’t morally consistent for me, and while I’m not ready to forswear it for life, I’m interested in seeing what life is like without it. Baby steps.

So far, vegan week has been pretty easy. It helps that I’m mildly lactose intolerant and dairy has always been more of a food flavoring than staple. The only times I’ve even really seen it as a dietary restriction has been with company, and only then with desserts. (I had to turn down bananas foster. Ouch.)

What have I been eating?

• Thick vegetable & kidney bean chili over crisp potato wedges
• Miso noodle soup with wild mushrooms, green onions, bok choy, and edamame
• Spicy pan fried noodles with basil
• Coconut peanut sauce dip with roti
• Bell pepper, new potato, and roast garlic pasta
• Farina with sliced white peaches, brown sugar, and almond milk
• Avocado and almond milk smoothies
• Stovetop popcorn with olive oil, sea salt, nutritional yeast, and a dash of garlic
• PB&J sandwiches

Last night I tried making pudding with almond milk, and I liked it so much that I thought I’d share. I was worried that it wouldn’t set well, but it totally did. And when warmed, almond milk has a marvelously fragrant aroma that makes it perfect in desserts and sweets. (Muffins? Hmm…) Anyway, this is the recipe for a creamy, mild pudding that could well pass for being dairy based:

Vegan Almond Pudding (2 small servings, can be doubled)

• 1 cup vanilla almond milk, separated
• 1 1/2 TB white sugar (more if you’re not using sweetened almond milk)
• pinch of salt
• 1 1/2 TB cornstarch
• 1/2 tsp rosewater OR vanilla OR almond extract
• cinnamon and/or slivered almonds to top

Pour 3/4 cup almond milk into heavy bottomed saucepan. Sprinke sugar and salt over liquid but do not stir. Bring to a boil over medium high. While waiting for milk to boil, mix remaining 1/4 cup almond milk with the cornstarch until fully dissolved. When milk has come to a boil, remove from heat, whisk in cold milk/cornstarch mixture, and return to heat (turn down to low). Stir constantly for 1-2 minutes, or until thickened.  Stir in flavoring. Pour into bowls, allow to cool, and refrigerate until set.  Top with a sprinkle of cinnamon and slivered almonds.

The Dairy Dilemma

I hate to say it, but I’ve come to the conclusion that eating dairy products isn’t really morally defensible. As an ethical vegetarian, I don’t have a problem with eggs; I think it is possible to have happy, free-range chickens laying unfertilized eggs. I don’t have a problem with using animals as long as they’re treated compassionately and fairly throughout their entire natural lives. (If only our bosses were so considerate!) 

However, I can tell you in one word why dairy products make me uneasy: veal. If Jonathan Safron Foer’s Eating Animals had one fault, it was that it completely bypassed the dairy industry. I suspect that he didn’t want to tackle them and have to give up dairy, too. I can’t remember where I first learned that the male calves dairy cows produce (and they have to keep having calves in order to keep producing milk) get turned into veal. That means that if you eat even small amounts of dairy, even grass-fed, organic, humanely treated dairy, you are supporting an industry that can’t operate without killing lots of young male calves. 

Yikes. I’m two steps removed from the process because I neither kill cows personally nor eat the resulting veal, but it still doesn’t sit well with my conscience. After all, I went vegetarian because I didn’t want to be responsible for the deaths of animals I could be friends with. (For more on this, see my earlier post, Ethical Omnivorism.) I’m just not seeing how you could get the dairy without the veal unless you can manage to have a few happy grass-eating cows that experience spontaneous lactation without pregnancy. Frequently. Good luck with that.

At the same time, I love good food and am a gustatory junkie. I had a look through my recipes today, and many of them call for modest but crucial amounts of dairy products (a touch of butter, a swirl of creme fraiche, a few Gorgonzola crumbles)  to taste wonderful and balanced and flavorful. The gross-out factor that deters me from meat just isn’t there with dairy products. And as a vegetarian, I also like being able to go out to eat every now and then with reasonable confidence that there will be something on the menu I can have. I’m well aware that these reasons (taste, habit, convenience, social acceptance) are exactly the same arguments that meateaters use to justify continuing to eat meat despite their uneasy consciences. I don’t like it. 

If I were a better person, this is the point at which I would give up my occasional but much cherished brie bowls, my mascarpone and cucumber sandwiches, my gorgonzola and pear salads. I don’t actually eat a lot of dairy, but I would certainly miss it if my only option were the alien gooiness of Daiya. I’ve started by cutting out dairy where it least hurts: the milk in my morning tea and smoothies (easily replaced by dairy free alternatives), the cheese in my scrambled eggs and hash browns, the sandwich fillings that can be subbed out for hummus, fake tuna, etc. I’m also looking for new, tasty recipes that don’t call for dairy to begin with. And finally, I’m starting to view dairy products as a treat, which they should be, since I’m mildly lactose intolerant anyway. 

I’m not trying to defend the morality of eating dairy. But I do think it’s important to be happy with the changes you make, and right now, cutting out all dairy is something that I would neither stick to nor be happy about. This is my present compromise. Maybe in another few years I’ll move another step closer to veganism.