How It All Vegan!: Irresistible Recipes for an Animal-Free Diet (3 page)

Introduction

HOW WE BOTH VEGAN

We vegan in the early 1990s, when we were both lazy vegetarians who occasionally used and consumed animal products. We decided to make the transition to veganism because of our belief in a simple, but important, value: we love and respect animals and the earth. Once we chose to give up eating all animal products, we discovered, with just a little imagination and some good advice, how easy it was to go vegan.

We all choose veganism for different reasons. Maybe it’s a fervent belief in animal rights. Perhaps it’s a desire to try a healthier diet. Whatever the reason, you can be vegan and still eat wonderful food. And as this book demonstrates, veganism is not something to be afraid of. There is a popular belief that by removing animal products from one’s diet, food will become necessarily boring, a life of dining on grass and shrubs. But let us assure you: vegan food is fabulous food, full of flavour and all the nutrients you need.

In the winter of 1996 we came up with the idea of collecting our vegan recipes in a zine-style cookbook that we could share with our families and friends. We slaved over the computer, spending countless hours typing and organizing our recipes, putting great love and care into our project. We printed and bound the books ourselves and went about giving them away as gifts and selling them where we could for cost. This little book then began to snowball, selling like vegan hotcakes wherever we went. Then a light bulb went on: Let’s go legit! So we shopped for a publisher and the rest is history.

All the old tried-and-true recipes from our first book are here, as well as a bunch of new ones, and some tips and tricks to living vegan. If you’re a curious first-timer, we hope this book will ease your transition to the vegan way. And if you’re a full-fledged vegan warrior, you’ll probably be pleasantly surprised by some recipes you’ve never tried before.

Being vegan starts with an open mind. Once you’ve given these recipes a try, we hope you will adapt them to suit your own individual palate. Just add your own imagination and stir!

We’ve made these recipes relatively simple to prepare. There are just a few things that you should have that will make your life easier:

• A good kitchen environment. Cooking should be a pleasure!

• The correct ingredients. There’s nothing worse than discovering you don’t have everything you need in the middle of preparing a recipe.

• A food processor. Your food processor is your best friend. There are models for as little as $40, but you get what you pay for. If you don’t have a food processor, a blender will do. But if you can afford one, it’s a tool you will use forever.

• The proper equipment. Every kitchen should have:
food processor or blender
measuring cups and spoons
mixing bowls (small, medium, and large)
mixing spoons
a good knife or two
vegetable peeler
stock pot, sauce pans, steamer
cookie sheet, loaf pan, 9x13 baking pan, muffin tins, lasagna pan
cooling rack
grater
sifter
whisk
potato masher
colander
rolling pin
wax paper
timer
a good imagination!

Remember, your equipment doesn’t have to be brand new or expensive; most of the utensils can be found second-hand – reduce, reuse, and recycle! Once you’ve assembled your ingredients and your utensils, try one recipe at a time – and don’t forget to compost!

We’d love to hear from you. You can write to us c/o Arsenal Pulp Press, or check out our website:
www.govegan.net

So make some tea, get out your apron, and let’s get cooking. And always remember – you are what you eat!

— SARAH & TANYA

HOW SARAH VEGAN

I have an extraordinarily strong connection to the kitchen – the warmth, the smells, the sounds. No matter whose house I’m in, I always find myself gravitating to this room. I love looking in people’s refrigerators, seeing what kind of spices they have, their canned goods, their cooking utensils. A kitchen is a perfect reflection of its owner. You know immediately if they enjoy food, or if they just eat to keep from being hungry. A well-stocked kitchen is a thing of beauty, so if you catch me looking in your cupboards, I’m not snooping . . . I’m just trying to get to know you better.

Why am I vegan? I get that question a lot. My journey into the world of veganism has been a life-long adventure. I was born and raised a vegetarian in Regina, Saskatchewan. My mother believed in the old adage, “You are what you eat,” and she raised my little brother and me accordingly. Growing up vegetarian in a prairie town wasn’t always easy. There was a tiny health food store called Ina’s that was in the basement of a woman’s house. I loved going there to visit; I was intrigued by all the different items and it always smelled so exotic. When my mum died, my father continued to raise us as vegetarians. I recently asked my dad why he didn’t start serving us meat after she died, since he has always been a meat lover. He told me that as a little girl I was always sickened by the thought of eating meat. We ate dairy and eggs, but animal flesh didn’t touch my lips until I was about thirteen years old.

My friends were always trying to get me to try meat. I think I was the only vegetarian in school and I didn’t really have a clear reason as to why. It made me feel like a weirdo, an outcast, but the thought of eating meat made me feel sick to my stomach, which pretty much kept me from experimenting. One summer I was camping with my friend Shana and her family. We ended up getting lost on Jan Lake in the fog and had to spend the night on an island in a lean-to her brother Adam built. The next morning there was nothing to eat but a huge stick of pepperoni. Being super-hungry, I took the plunge. It was my first taste of meat. It wasn’t so bad. I actually enjoyed how salty it was, and it didn’t look anything like an animal, so I managed to get it down.

As a teenager I dabbled in meat occasionally. My stepmum made a mean almond chicken; when I ate it, I’d close my eyes and pretend that it wasn’t meat. Or I’d cram down her burgers before my brain would tell my stomach I was eating dead flesh. But after a few bites, I would have to stop. I think I’ve always felt that eating animals is wrong.

I moved out of my parents’ house at seventeen and was on my own for the first time. I couldn’t afford anything but Japanese noodles and ketchup. Back then, my roommate Corri and I would spend all of our money on cigarettes, punk shows, beer, and rent. If there was anything left over, we’d buy some food. It seems insane to me now that food was so low on my list of priorities. For a long time, I had a very strange relationship with food. For example, I couldn’t eat vegetables that had veins (such as tomatoes or lettuce) and I had no idea how to cook. I lived off noodles and packaged food for years. The crappy food was part of an even crappier lifestyle, and eventually my health deteriorated.

I moved from Regina to Victoria, B.C. in late 1988. I wanted a fresh start, to reinvent myself a little. I found two cookbooks at a garage sale that my mum used to use, Laurel’s Kitchen and Diet For a Small Planet. Slowly I learned how to cook the foods my mum used to make me. I began to really enjoy spending time in the kitchen. I would bake bread every Sunday; while sitting in the quiet of my kitchen waiting for my bread to rise, I would write letters and hang out with my cats. The time I spent in that kitchen on Bay Street was amazing. It was a metamorphosis of sorts. I started buying more cookbooks, became interested in environmental issues, and started stepping away from conventional cleaners and products that were tested on animals.

I would still occasionally dabble in bacon and sandwich meat. Mostly because I’m a saltaholic, and the fact that these products didn’t look like anything that used to be alive. It wasn’t until I got my first pet that my ideals and beliefs started to really form. I never had a pet growing up (except for a couple of guppies that I accidentally killed and two gerbils who I’m convinced committed suicide). I received Chelvin the cat as a birthday present and soon his brother Black Bumps came to live with us as well. We moved to a new house and with the house came another cat, Riley. After Riley came Sir Douglas Fort. These cats – my experience with them – has changed my life forever. They aren’t pets to me anymore; they are part of my family and have taught me more about animals and their rights to a happy life than any book, movie, or conversation ever has.

My appreciation of animals and their emotions has made me a better person. Some people may want to call it anthropomorphism; I call it a wake-up call. When Chelvin died, his brother B.B. was devastated. He would circle the spot where Chelvin’s body had been, and would lay in my bed and cry; he wouldn’t eat for over a week. It broke my heart. It was then that I realized that these fuzzy little creatures feel emotions like we do.

At the same time my health began to deteriorate. I was still a vegetarian and I believed strongly in animal rights, but was still wearing leather and eating dairy and eggs. I became so ill I couldn’t work, could barely function, and was bedridden for over a month. Finally, after seeing more than ten doctors and enduring numerous horrible tests, I was finally diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome. I was so weak I could barely feed myself, and relied heavily on my friends for help. I started reading every book on CFS I could and decided that a vegan life-style would be the best for me. I got allergy tests, and cut out all sugars, caffeine, alcohol, and animal products.

I started paying attention to my body. Listening to what it needed. When I’m tired, I rest. When I’m hungry, I eat. My health is not yet up to 100 percent, but I’m getting close. When I think back to how sick I was eight years ago, and the strides I have made in my lifestyle, I am so thankful for all of the support from my friends and family. I think my illness is symptomatic of what happens to a lot of people: we spend too much time ignoring our bodies and pushing ourselves to do more than we are capable of. Our culture teaches us that it is okay to overload on chemicals and waste. We slowly poison ourselves, and eventually our bodies give up.

So . . . why vegan? Out of respect for my mum, my cats, and myself. To be healthy again, and to encourage my family, friends, and community to be healthy, too. I also feel that, for me, using and consuming animal products is wrong. This is my choice, my journey. I am choosing to be the best person I can be, and for me it starts with living vegan and being as environmentally responsible as I can.

There are so many events that have brought me to this point. One of them is my best friend Tanya. Through the nine-plus years that we’ve been friends, we’ve somehow seemed to be always on the same page. We’ve lost friends, and made new ones; we’ve lived together, lived in different cities, and lived through many demented experiences together. While there have been many changes in my life, the one constant has been Tanya. She took care of me when I was sick, held my hand when I’ve been scared, and stood side by side with me while we cooked. I couldn’t ask for a better friend.

This book reveals just part of what I enjoy about living vegan. I hope that with this book, you will discover how to use your imagination when it comes to cooking and eating – to open your mind, to listen to your tastebuds, and to share what you learn with your loved ones. Food, friends, and family: there is nothing I like better!

—Sarah

HOW TANYA VEGAN

I grew up in a household where it was believed that “meat is the fuel that keep bodies healthy and strong.” My father was an adamant meat-eater; he loved the stuff. Throughout my formative years, he would always say to me, “We have to eat at least two servings of meat daily.” I never questioned this; I had no reason to because I didn’t know any different.

Once when I was eleven, I remember going out for burgers with my family and being disgusted with the amount of vegetables piled on top of my all-beef patty. “If I wanted a salad, I would have ordered one,” I said to my fellow diners. They all laughed. Meat – I used to love the stuff.

It wasn’t until years later that I began to cultivate my own ideas and beliefs surrounding food. Leasa, my best friend in high school, introduced me to the idea of vegetarianism. She had come back from a family vacation to California, and while driving along the beautiful California coastline, they had passed by a slaughterhouse. The stench emanating from it disgusted her so much that she refrained from eating animals from that day forward. Her passion and convictions intrigued me, but while I was interested in her ideas, I still thought in order to be healthy, I had to eat meat at least twice daily.

Leasa and I moved into our first apartment together after finishing high school. Our interests at the time were in punk rock shows and booze, which is what we spent most of our money on. We bought food from our local 7-11, and ate out in restaurants a lot. We didn’t care what we ate, just as long as it was cheap and plentiful. Meat started to become less and less important to me, and after a while, I gave up eating meat for good. That’s when I started to call myself a vegetarian.

I maintained my vegetarian lifestyle for about five years until I decided that veganism was the path for me. This transition didn’t take place overnight; it was definitely a slow process. I refrained from calling myself an outright vegan for a while, until I was sure I made the right decision. Turning vegan was a much harder transition than becoming vegetarian because there were so many unanswered questions. For example, if I didn’t drink milk, where I would get my calcium? And what about iron and protein? Not only that, but I also had to convince my family and friends that my new lifestyle was a healthy one, and that I wouldn’t suffer for my choices.