meat/carnism
Background: I come from a bengali family so my diet basically consisted of curry with various different meats (lamb, chicken, beef, duck, pigeon and sometimes fish) with some sides like potatos, lentils, flatbread etc. My parents have mostly moved away from meat due to their health but I feel like I’m only getting worse. My university advertises meat and non-vegan foods a lot so it feels impossible for me to switch/don’t know how to switch.
I really want to stop eating meat and sometimes I’m able to not eat meat for a couple days but it doesn’t last because I just give up whenever my parents cook something really nice or I’m eating with friends.
So how do I start a vegan diet and actually stick to it? Mostly looking for starter vegan foods that I can use to wean myself off from my carnism while studying at university.
You probably have a rice cooker, right? If not get one, a nice one like a zojirushi. There are loads upon loads of tasty vegan dishes you can look up that take effort, but if you just put rice + lentils + tofu in a rice cooker with some spices you end up with a pretty tasty and extremely cheap & filling staple meal with essentially no effort. Also nice is learning how to make a basic salad dressing out of olive oil, dijon mustard, and apple cider vinegar (just experiment until you find the quantity and proportions you like) then mix it with some greens from those salad greens boxes you can buy at the grocery store.
Also you won’t feel full for your first week or so not eating meat. I dealt with this by eating a shit ton of bread. This is 100% just your body being confused after getting a central meaty component in every meal though so you’ll adjust and start feeling full from eating vegan food.
Also you won’t feel full for your first week or so not eating meat.
Lots of legumes and water can also help compensate for this
[CW: for discussion of meat]
Start incorporating TVP into your meals, learn some good lentil recipes, work on transitioning your comfort foods and favourite recipes to being vegan.
Substitute products like vegan “meats” are great but they’re usually pretty pricey and tbh if you can make them a sometimes food rather than basing your diet around them it’s going to be better for you and your budget.
I like Bold Flavor Vegan and Chef Jana on YouTube - they’re a really good intersection between good recipes that generally do not require extremely elaborate methods or really obscure or expensive ingredients. Sauce Stache is… okay and he’s been improving on the last couple of years where it was really clickbait viewing-experience cooking where it’s like “iain’t makin’ that…”
Try to pitch low with your cooking and your recipes - you want to make your stuff easy and accessible for those low energy days or when you’re been extremely busy. Save the fancy stuff for if or when you feel like spreading your wings.
Also take a scientific approach to replacing animal products based on what purpose they serve in a recipe, don’t look for a 1:1:
Does ground meat add texture to the dish? Is it protein that you use it for? Does the saturated fat provide delicious mouthfeel and richness to the meal?
Once you understand the purpose(s) that an animal product serves a dish, you can replace those with other ingredients that serve as a good approximation.
For bacon, usually it’s saturated fat + smoky flavour + pork taste.
You can replace bacon in most recipes using non-virgin coconut oil, smoked paprika and/or liquid smoke, and vegan pork broth powder.
if a recipe uses butter to add richness and a little bit of sorta creaminess then a bit of cashew cream can replace it since you don’t need the cream for its other qualities, if that makes sense.
It’s really hard to say exactly what the path for you is because it’s really dependent upon your lifestyle and especially your food preferences - if your food is pretty culturally Thai then it’s going to be wildly different from if it’s culturally Greek or culturally American, y’know?
I started by finding recipes to replace things I was already eating, like scrambled eggs I’ve replaced with a tofu scramble. Sandwiches are super easy to modify and add more veggies instead of processed meat, and some of the vegan frozen stuff like meatballs and burgers make for easy meals instead of fast food. Using vegan cheese and butter, and switching to plant milk really made a difference for me. There’s so many options out there now, just gotta find what fits you best. It does help if you have access to a kitchen and whatnot, so these might not be valid options for some.
While some people are adverse to it, there’s a ton of meat substitutes that are very similar and scratch the same itch as their animal derived counterparts, I’m not sure what other countries it’s sold in but if you’re in the states most of Gardein’s products are excellent, I especially like the breaded chickn tenders and orange chickn. Curry is super easy to make vegan just by replacing the meat with tofu.
Eating out/with friends is always going to be difficult to be honest. It’s almost easier to just eat beforehand unless they’re picking the restaurant with you in mind.
As far as snacks or easy meals I enjoy just boiling a bag of frozen edamame and sprinkling on some salt. Hummus is also easy to make in large batches that can be eaten for several days.
Textured proteins have the textural feel of meat and when seasoned just right you won’t really notice. I really like jackfruit nuggets, where I live they’re way cheaper than meat ones and they scratch the nugget itch perfectly.
