Veganism as a Diet

Today I bought a sandwich.

I bought at Synopsis Cafe, a small place on Cornell's campus located in the new Weill Hall. They offer overpriced (what isn't these days) panini, flatbread, and deli sandwiches, along with some pretty awesome smoothies.

So I bought a sandwich there.

I'm a vegetarian. This often limits my options as to what to get. Even in Ithaca, there are times when as a vegetarian, I often can only order one thing on the menu. Here, there were three things I could order if I didn't want to string together a deli sandwich.

One was the Veggie Delight sandwich; had I seen this one first I would have gotten it. It was a smörgåsbord (I never knew this word was Swedish; awesome) of vegetables including roasted bells, mushrooms, tomatoes, and more, served with gouda. Instead I aimed for the Vegan sandwich. This sandwich had a choice of seitan, tofu kan, or hummus for a protein (I picked the seitan; should have picked the hummus), and... Tomatoes, sprouts, guacamole, and cucumbers. Mine was mysteriously devoid of tomatoes.

Now.

If they had all these vegetables... WHY weren't they in the "vegan" sandwich?

Here's the thing I've noticed about vegan options. The world is starting to get used to vegetarians. Many a restaurant (except maybe McDonald's) knows how to make a good, tasty vegetarian meal. Just throw some vegetables together, add some tofu, and BAM instant vegetarian meal.

But when it comes to vegan options, things get a little weird. Because even though you can offer the exact same thing minus the cheese or milk, instead the meal is devoid of most veggies as well.

Why didn't the vegan sandwich have some peppers? Or some tomatoes? It was a really disappointing sandwich, let me tell you. The seitan was THIN, man, I could barely taste it. I should have made a deli sandwich. It would have been more satisfying and probably cheaper too

Speaking of the deli, apparently "cucumber" is a "luxury side". I laughed.

But anyway.

What is the issue people have with vegan meals? It seems that most people still have the idea that, without meat or eggs or cheese or milk, that meals are "boring". That they must have no taste, no flavour. Never mind that most people have to spice their meat before they can eat it, or that their eggs may often be served with pepper or ketchup, or that some of the most popular cheese have pepper in them. Basically, despite the fact that most people don't like meat that doesn't have some kick, they think that meals without said bland meat must be gross.

The fact of the matter is, they aren't. Hell, vegan meals are quite easy to make from scratch. Most of my meals start off as vegan -- I take some vegetable oil, I saute some vegetables in them, and then I toss it with pasta. It isn't until I add the cheese that it becomes vegetarian.

So why is it so hard for people to offer delicious, vegan choices? I think it's just a stereotype. People don't mean to offer bland choices, but in their minds, that's what vegan is -- bland, tasteless, boring. And full of tofu

The truth is far from that. Oh sure, when I started off as a vegetarian, I stuck with a lot of processed tofu and vegetarian products. Some of these I still eat, just because they're quick and easy. But processed soy products can be some of the worst ways to get good food and nutrition. Veggie burgers tend to be pretty damn gross. I don't know what they put in those things, but ugh.

Cornell also has this really fun habit of making bad tofu. Like, "Who thought BBQ was a good idea" type of tofu. I was stunned the other day when I went to the dining hall and had tofu that had just the right amount of tenderness and an okay flavour. It's like they hired a real vegetarian cook or something.

I personally have my own thoughts on how to make good vegetarian/vegan meals, and it doesn't involve using things like sprouts or even preprocessed tofu. It involves things like this:

Fresh Vegetables

Want a meal to start off right? Skip the canned and precooked vegetables. Fresh vegetables may not be cheap, but that didn't stop me from buying some fresh broccoli, fresh garlic, fresh onions, fresh tomatoes. If you can't afford fresh, frozen is cheaper, but still good and with flavour. Avoid canned.

Frying or microwaving your vegetables is a sure way to ruin them. Try sautéing them in a light, flavoured vegetable oil. A single hot pepper with some garlic can flavour the oil without needing things like basil or cayenne, though they help if you can afford them. Steaming vegetables is also great, especially for broccoli, which gets an amazing colour and flavour without needing anything but some water to boil.

Want a sandwich? Fresh is best. Homegrown is even better. Homegrown tomatoes have more flavour than you can ever get at a supermarket and will do well in a sandwich with a light vinagrette or some mozzarella for the vegetarians. Match it with spinach, dark lettuces (skip iceberg, it's gross), or roasted peppers. Try with hummus or seitan.

Simple Tofu

Forget the tofu burgers, the tofu sausage. The best way to make tofu is to just buy a carton of it and flavour it yourself. This not difficult. Bake tofu with some ketchup and soy sauce; it tastes amazing. Crumple it in with your veggie stir fry. Throw it in soup. Tofu does best when complemented with other things, not by itself. Marinating it overnight also will do wonders. If you don't mind it bland, it can work in salads and sandwiches too.

Rice and Beans

There's a reason these guys are a staple in many cultures. Black beans and rice make a great dish with tortillas. Jasmine rice goes well with dumplings or chickpeas. A bean blend served with vegetables is really great if done right (Cornell fails most of the time with it.). Or put them in a soup!

REAL FOOD

SERIOUSLY. Buy dry pasta instead of canned. Make a meal instead of a TV dinner. USE REAL FOOD. Your meals will be bigger, better, faster and more delicious.

And I'd better post this before I forget about it. Again.

Tschuess.