This article immediately annoyed me with this bit:
“Her favourite cuisines are “Japanese, because although they use fish sauce, it can be subbed out, and they use a lot of tofu; Vietnamese food is incredible, because a lot of people follow a plant-based diet. If you go to a Vietnamese grocery store, you can find loads of substitutes.””
What???
Stupid articles aside, I have never done veganuary. I do go overboard with the food and drink in December but go back to just being sensible in moderation in January. I don’t like sticking to strict regimes - they stress me out.
Plant milks, supplements, protein powders…yup, sounds like just what your body needs. How about moving away from processed, industrial junk and eating real food? Your body might thank you for it.
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Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot, cooking and eating in northwest England)
4
As someone who exclusively consumes plant milks, I can vehemently assure you that consuming dairy milk is absolutely not better for me. (I don’t even drink the sweetened ones…so oatmeal and water. Hooboy that’s somw radical right there.)
I take the supplements recommended by my doctor because not taking them is a one way ticket to a prescription that I may not ever be able to stop taking.
And protein powders? Please enlighten me as to how ground up pumpkin seeds are going to kill me. There are days that I have neither the time nor the appetite for a huge breakfast. Flax, hemp hearts, and ground pumpkin seeds fix that gap.
Most plant milks have a lot more in them than oats and water. Good for you that you know the difference.
Supplements because you cannot fulfill your biological needs through a necessary diet or body malfunction are a tremendous help. Voluntarily depriving your body of various foods so that you need to rely on the poorly regulated supplement industry is short sighted.
Ground up seeds and nuts for protein are great. Commercial protein powders are poorly regulated and can do more harm than good. Look in shopping carts at the grocery store. How many nuts and seeds do you see in comparison to industrial products?
Most Asian countries with some Buddhist traditions will have a good range of vegan options. But to be a MasterChef finalist and say stuff like: “…Japanese, because although they use fish sauce, it can be subbed out, and they use a lot of tofu; Vietnamese food is incredible, because a lot of people follow a plant-based diet.” If you’re going to be quoted in a national/international media outlet, say something a bit more useful.
Maybe I’m a complete idjit but in my limited experience in Asia and my restaurant experience around the world, I’ve not found Asian foods to be uniquely fantastic for plant-based eating. There are places that specialise or rather, offer that option in my area (a Southern Indian place and one Vietnamese place in my city) but I’m on a constant fight against finding pork in my food so I do look for places with vegetarian/vegan options.
As for Veganuary, the only thing I like about it is that there are more options and deals for me (Lidl is already setting up its discounts). I don’t follow it because I’m already largely plant-based across the year so the challenge is just for challenge’s sake and who needs that when faced with the end of a festive season and all the lights whilst the darkness remains until March?
I come from an Indian background and because of the religious traditions in the country, you can find plant based dishes ranging from ok vegetarian to extreme vegetarian (for practising Jains who eschew any vegetables pulled from the ground as that is perpetrating violence and effectively terminating the plant). Veganism is not a big thing in India because dairy is very much a part of Hindu identity. But it is very easy to replace dairy elements in Indian recipes. Of all Asian countries, I would argue India has the widest range of plant based eating options without having to resort to mock meats/meat substitutes like tofu.
I spend a lot of time in Vietnam, not just as a tourist but for work, spending time with regular everyday Vietnamese working people eating their regular day to day food. One of my colleagues, who also travels from the UK to work there for periods of time, is vegetarian. I can tell this MasterChef person that my vegetarian colleague struggles a lot more in Vietnam than he does in the UK to follow a plant based diet. There are more and more vegetarian and vegan restaurants opening in Hanoi but the locals tell me these are mainly to accommodate the increasing numbers of tourists from India, Europe and the Middle East who have dietary restrictions which means they don’t eat the Vietnamese mainstays of pork, beef and of course not much halal there either.
How about moving away from processed, industrial junk and eating real food? Your body might thank you for it.
