The L-Plate Vegan

Exotic Veg

If you find yourself cooking the same old veg day in, day out, why not take a trip down to your nearest supermarket and see what other vegetable delights grace their shelves? Waitrose stock many unusual-looking veg (many of them organic) including okra, mooli, kohl rabi and artichoke. No, we don’t know what to do with them either, but we have fun trying! For inspiration, why not get a copy of Vegan Caribbean Cookery, available from Viva! or consult the Viva! Books for Life catalogue (available free from Viva! – call 0117 944 1000 or order books online at www.viva.org.uk) – and you too could be making Chilled Mange-Tout & Vodka Soup in no time. Or visit your local ethnic food shops and see what they have to offer – we guarantee you’ll find something there you’d never heard of before and the owners may give you some tips.

Eating Out

Until recently, eating out was a total nightmare for vegans – you could have a jacket potato (no butter) with baked beans and the only choice was to take it or leave it. Things have improved since then, but there’s still a long way to go. Your average pub, café or restaurant will not usually advertise that their food is vegan, but most will have a vegetarian menu which contains at least one vegan option. Questions that may cross your lips are ‘is it bound with eggs?’, ‘does it contain any milk or cream?’, ‘could you leave the mayonnaise off?’, and ‘can I see the packet?!’. You may also want to ask what the chips are fried in. Also, don’t be afraid to ask the chef to make you something specific. If you want to be sure that there will be food available, phone in advance and ask them what they can do for you.

Indian restaurants are extremely easy to find vegan food in – try several of the ‘side dishes’ with rice and breads – this is the best way to eat Indian anyway. Good Chinese restaurants have a large vegetarian selection and most are vegan as the Chinese don’t cook with any dairy (watch out for eggs though). You may find monk’s style vegetables, tofu with cashew nuts and veg or broccoli cooked with garlic are on the vegan menu but if your local is behind the times, stir-fried veg is usually a safe option. Jazz it up with some crispy seaweed and a veggie spring roll. Thai and Japanese restaurants also have extraordinary and delicious vegan choices (again they have no tradition of using dairy); and Lebanese eateries have a wide array of vegan options.

Pizza Express’s pizza base is vegan. Just say no to the cheese and ask them to use extra tomato sauce, and if you smile sweetly, they’ll usually pile the toppings on as well. Other companies may well produce vegan pizzas – just watch out that there’s no milk or milk proteins in the base.

Of course, the one way to avoid difficulties is to go to a vegetarian restaurant – that way you can be sure that you get a choice of vegan meals, and that the money you pay goes to a more ethical establishment!

If you’re on the move, it’s not always so easy to eat out. Service stations and train stations are falling behind when it comes to providing meals, but the airlines are at least making an effort. Book your vegan meal well in advance and each time you speak to someone from the airline ask them to confirm it. (Airlines are alarmingly incompetent at passing on bookings for vegetarian and vegan meals.) When you’re on board with your tummy rumbling, you’ll be thankful that you did keep pestering them.

As for the rail companies, if you can’t find any vegan food, fill in a complaints form. This way they will eventually get the message, although it won’t ease the hunger pangs at the time. Upper Crust do sell bagels with spinach & humous, but when travelling, it’s usually best to take a packed lunch, just in case you find yourself in a vegan-free zone.

Motorway service stations can usually provide something, even if it is only beans and mushrooms with a baked potato – however, it’s often expensive and not particularly imaginative. Again, fill out a customer-feedback report and let them know what you want.

If you seem to spend your time travelling, and are always on the look-out for vegan food in foreign destinations, check out the cruelty-free travel guides available from Viva!. You could be munching your way happily from the Lake District to New York and back.

Patés and Packed Lunch Ideas

You don’t have to stick with Marmite and limp lettuce sarnies any more. Try the Tartex range of patés with these fab fillings: Mushroom paté with alfalfa and red pepper; Herb paté with raw mushrooms and sweetcorn; Red & Green Pepper paté with salad and crisps. Also try Granovita yeast or tofu patés. Both the Granovita yeast ones are suitable for vegans – choose from Wild Mushroom or Provençal Herb flavour. The Tomato tofu paté is vegan too and you could try them with the above sandwich ideas or make up some of your own!

There are lots of other vegan patés which are also excellent as starters with slithers of toast, such as Redwood’s Cheatin Provençal Paté (with vegetables, olive oil, tomatoes and sunflower seeds), George Skoulikas’ Olive & Almond, Archichoke and Sundried Tomato patés, and Cauldron Foods’ patés in Aromatic Herb & Soya Bean, Spreadable Mushroom & Soya, and Chickpea & Black Olive flavours. Now for some more sandwich suggestions:

• hummus (chickpea and garlic dip) with olives or watercress
• vegan sausages with tomato salsa, or mustard (or both!)
• Falafel (chickpea patties) with salad and hummus
• Scheese with fruit chutneys, pickles, mustard or salad
• Cheatin’ ham with whole grain mustard and salad
• Redwood’s Vegi-Deli Spicy Chilli Style Slices with salad
• Tofutti creamy smooth ‘cheese’ with watercress and cherry tomatoes
• Impulse Smoky Slices with lettuce, tomato and mayo
• Roasted red pepper, baby spinach and mayo
• Plamil Chocolate Spread (in Organic Chocolate, Orange and Crunchy Nut flavours) with banana or even peanut butter

Use different types of bread – olive bread, pitta pockets, soft wraps, french sticks and bagels for a change from the usual white loaf. Or forget the bread and try crackers instead – Somerfield Poppy & Sesame Seed Thins are yummy with hummus. Cold pizza makes a change from sarnies and you can make a great mess eating it – add plenty of your favourite toppings, and forget about the cheese!

Add dips and sauces to your packed lunch to dunk your crisps or salad veg in. There are usually little tubs of salads to be found in your local supermarket’s deli section too – try the three bean salad or pasta salad. And of course add your yoghurts or vegan cake, fruit, nuts and a drink, and you have a feast fit for… well, a vegan.

Breakfast Ideas

Strangely enough, a common question you will be asked as a vegan is ‘what do you eat for breakfast?’. Rest assured, whatever your taste first thing in the morning, a vegan breakfast is a great way to start the day. Not all breakfast cereals are vegan, mainly because some of the vitamins are animal-derived or because they contain honey. But Weetabix, Ready Brek, Quaker’s Puffed Wheat and Doves Farm or Kellogg’s Cornflakes are all okay. Many of the supermarkets own brands are vegan too, such as Co-op Perfect Choice, Safeway Choc Teddies, Tesco Malt Wheats, Waitrose Puffed Wheat and Iceland Golden Puffs. Check out the muesli too, as you’re bound to find a honey-free one – there’s a great choice available these days. Cover with hot/cold soya milk or soya yoghurt, or add fresh fruit and nuts for extra flavour and vitamins too.

Toast is always a morning favourite – quick and easy, it’s generally vegan. Use a vegan margarine, then your favourite spread – peanut, cashew or almond nut butter, yeast extract (Marmite etc), jam, marmalade or Bio Chocoreale, a delicious chocolate spread from Holland (available from health food shops).

If you need a good fry-up to get you going in the morning, being vegan is no problem! Fry up some Redwood’s Vegetarian Rashers, veggie sausages, tomatoes, potatoes (Bird’s Eye Waffles or Safeway Mini Waffles make a good alternative), mushrooms and onions. Add beans and a few slices of toast for a meal that should keep you going right through to bedtime! (Don’t forget scrambled tofu instead of eggs – see page 16.)

Drinks

Most soft drinks are vegan, although a few contain animal-based ingredients. In soft drinks, watch out for colourings, as cochineal (E120 – a dye made from insects) can occasionally be used. Avoid sugar-free cordials as these contain lanolin. Also, some apple juice may be clarified with gelatine (jelly obtained from boiling bits of animals – grusome!), so you may want to write to the company to verify their policy.

Provamel soya milk shakes are available from health food shops in strawberry, chocolate or banana flavours, but you can make your own from any of the flavours of Crusha syrup. For even creamier shakes, add a tablespoon (or two!) of Tofutti ice-cream and whizz in the blender.

Many wines have been ‘fined’ using one of a whole range of nasty bits: blood, bone marrow, chitin, egg albumen, fish oil, gelatine, milk casein. You cannot always tell from the bottle which have been fined this way and which have been fined using animal-friendly methods.

Some supermarkets including Tesco and the Co-op stock wines that are either labelled as suitable for vegans or carry the Vegan Society logo. The Animal Free Shopper lists many options or check out the Viva! Wine Club, which has a range of wines from all over the world (as well as vegan beers and ciders), so you can order directly from us. Viva! also runs an introductory offer of a mixed case, so you can sample a selection. (Call Viva! on 0117 944 1000, Mon-Fri, for a free wine catalogue.)

Beers may also have been cleared with isinglass (obtained from the air sacs of freshwater fish). Keg, canned and some bottled beers are usually okay, but to be on the safe side, it’s best to get a copy of The Animal Free Shopper. You could also select from the organic range on offer at Vintage Roots such as the Bucher Organic Pilsner or Pinkus Amber Beer. Unfortunately, all Guinness, Bass (except Grolsch and the bottled Staropraman) and Scottish & Newcastle beers (except Becks) are off the list, although Carlsberg’s Holsten Pils is vegan.

But here’s the good news – most spirits are fine (except Campari is a no-no because cochineal is used for colouring and Warninks contains eggs). And if you’re a sophisticated-sort make sure your glacé cherry trimming isn’t made with cochineal. Apart from that, vegans have a free choice. Make mine a double!

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