The Family that Vegans Together

Earlier this week, I checked The China Study out from the public library. Last night, when I got home from yoga, the first thing my husband said was, "After reading The China Study, I threw away the meat and cheese. No more animal products." Whee, I now have a vegan family.

This definitely offsets the vegan sadness I felt last month when I discovered that Food For Thought, Albany's one and only vegan café, was no more. I'd gone in intending to get a smoothie during lunch, only to discover that the café had morphed into a Little Anthony's pizzeria. Little Anthony's already had another location on Central Avenue, and Food For Thought was owned by the same family. In fact, when Food For Thought initially opened, someone who did a write up for the Happy Cow website insisted on referring to FFT as a "branch of Little Anthony's," while another simply wrote up that address as "Little Anthony's." And it came true, jinxers! No, FFT used to be a distinct, all-vegan café, with a menu that was quite different from what LA's has to offer. LA's, to its credit, offers vegan pizzas and calzones. But FFT offered much more. In any event, the guy who was working in there the day I found out this sad news told me that the café was just not making enough money to sustain itself. ::sob::

So now that my family is vegan, we have no place to eat. Well, we can get pizza from Little Anthony's, I guess, but we have no place that is 100% vegan and where we can be 100% confident that there will be no cross-contamination involving egg. That's a related issue. Boykat went to the allergist this week, who did a skin test that confirmed he's still allergic to egg, and the allergist said that he's unlikely to outgrow it. Complete avoidance of egg is the only way to go. Which, of course, having a vegan home supports.

Miscellaneous

Dkat made an awesome vegan pizza this past week, completely of his own invention. It was soooo good! He made a pizza sauce with veggies, spices, and tofu. Last night, he used his sauce recipe as a pasta sauce and we brought it to a vegetarian potluck. We are talking about hosting some potlucks of our own sometime.

Yesterday, my office closed to attend a funeral (husband of a co-worker passed away early Wednesday). I've only just started telling people that I'm off dairy and egg. A bunch of us from work were sitting together at the reception held after the burial, and someone asked me what I'd had from the buffet. I had put together a sandwich of lettuce, tomato, cukes, and a bit of baked ziti that, thankfully, was just pasta and red sauce. I mentioned that I was off dairy and egg, so no cheese. Naturally, someone asked where I was getting my calcium. This is kind of funny to me, considering that there are populations all over the world wherein people do no consume dairy, and we're really the only species that not only consumes the milk of another species, but does so throughout our lifespan. But anyway, I told her fortified soy milk, vitamins, and green leafy vegetables.

Another co-worker told me that she'd never be able to give up cheese. I told her that I used to feel the same way, but I am finding I don't miss it. This same co-worker asked me if I skip over baked goods if I know they have egg or dairy in them. I told her not only that, but I will skip over baked goods unless I know for a fact they they don't have egg or dairy in them. She sort of shook her head as if she were talking to a major head case. Then, to top things off? About 20 minutes later, she came to our table with a tray of cookies, offering them to each person there. And she offered them to me. Hello, what were we just talking about? ::boggle::

Though I can't harsh on her too much, I guess. Even Dkat, though he knows I'm veganning and he's supportive, will sometimes forget--like when he was in the hospital, he told me he'd had egg for breakfast and asked if I was jealous. This comes from our egg ban in our home, due to our son's egg allergy. Me: "No, I'm not eating egg anymore, remember?" "Oh, yeah." Same thing last night. He asked me if I'd had one of the [non-vegan] cookies. Nope. Still veganning. "Oh, yeah."

In related news, I have a pot of seitan cooling on the stove. I'm kind of excited since it's pretty easy to make. Will report on the results.

Odd and Ends

Dkat had to spend a couple of nights in the hospital this week. When asked if he had any dietary preferences, he said that he eats mostly vegetarian at home, was interested in becoming vegan someday, but didn't expect to be able to eat vegan while in the hospital. The nurse told him, "Oh, we can do vegan!" They gave fruit and nothing else! After that, he didn't try for vegan or vegetarian again.

Yesterday, I made another dish from Vegan with a Vengeance, the Breakfast Veggie Chorizo. It's meant to be used as a filling for breakfast burritos, and features Textured Vegetable Protein. It turned out really good and Dkat loved it.

We had a family walk to our neighborhood food coop today and picked up a bunch of great vegan staples, like nutritional yeast, flax meal, sunflower seeds, agave syrup, wheat gluten flour (to make our own seitan--see p. 157 of Vegan with a Vengeance), and others I've already forgotten. My confidence in my cooking skills has definitely been boosted.

Veganning Dream

I actually had a dream about the veganning. In the dream I had to attend a work-related dinner. The cook, I somehow knew, was vegan himself, but he provided an omni array of foods. Initially, I helped myself to a plate of pancakes, for some reason simply assuming they were vegan. But after taking a couple of bites, I realized that they probably had dairy and/or egg in them, and I decided to search for a vegan meal. One of my co-workers told me that she'd just had a delicious vegan entree. I asked her where it was, and she told me that another co-worker had the serving dish. I went over to where co-worker2 had been sitting, and I saw a serving dish next to hers. The entree looked delicious, and there was quite a lot left, but I felt I had to ask the co-worker before taking some. She was not there, so I tried to find her. After I'd been looking for her away from the table without finding her, I returned to the table and found her back at her seat. I asked her if I could have some of the vegan entree, and she told me that she'd eaten it all. I said something like, "Oh. That was the only thing here I could really eat because I'm vegan now." She said, "Really? I'm sorry."

A bit later, I found the chef, and I lamented that I was the only vegan there, yet others had eaten the vegan dish. He expressed regret, but told me, "Remember why you're doing this." And he gave me a carrot. An unwashed, unpeeled carrot. I thought this was pretty unhelpful, but I decided I'd find my own alternative. I put the carrot back in the refrigerator (somehow I was in the kitchen) and found a case of ripe mangoes. I took one and started to look for a knife so I could peel it. Suddenly, a co-worker (who was for some reason Judith Light, who plays Claire Meade on Ugly Betty, and I can assure you does not work with me) started to yell at me. She said, "You vegans talk about compassion for animals, but look at all the suffering you cause for your fellow human beings!" I asked her what on earth she could mean, and she went into a litany of people I'd frightened, to the point where someone called the police and I was nearly arrested (!). I'd apparently scared the bejebus out of the munchkins (this had become a Wizard-of-Oz themed party somehow), one of whom was a "new munchkin." I'd had no recollection of going into the angry tirade she was claiming I had perpetrated, and I told her that I had merely made some inquiries and had a very calm, quiet talk with the chef, but she contradicted me. Then I woke up. I felt the dream was sort of a caveat on how to present my veganning to others. Even if I don't think I'm being strident or judgmental, others might interpret what I say/do that way--they may be so reflexively defensive that they attribute to me motives and thoughts I do not harbor.

Funny thing--I'm already thinking of this annual holiday party my office participates in. We don't host the party, but we are always included, and it takes place at a restaurant that is not vegetarian friendly in the least. This past December, the only items that were vegetarian were the green salad and the bread. They were kind enough to prepare an alternate meal for me, which was a pasta dish--vegetarian but not vegan (I hadn't veganned yet). Assuming the party is in the same place this year (and it is likely), I am thinking I will need to call ahead or not go.

Skipped the lasagna last night

Last night, when I came home from work, my husband (I'll call him Dkat), said, "You don't have to have the lasagna. There are leftovers from last night." This doesn't sound so great on the face of it, but "leftovers" were a delicious tofu/veggie stirfry, so I was happy with that option. The only downside was there wasn't enough for me to bring in for lunch today. But that gives me an excuse to go to the vegan café I mentioned below.

Dkat is still off of coffee and determined to continue, though the withdrawal has made him more tired than usual. This morning he said he finally felt energetic. I've actually cut back from my usual copious amounts of coffee. If I go off of caffeine, it's going to have to be gradual!

I took option #1

I had the lasagna. It turns out I was mistaken about the cheese being one layer on top. It's pretty pervasive. And there are two different kinds.

::sigh::

See, I work M-F, 9-5 and my husband cares for our son and does the cooking. On weekends, we swap. I came home so hungry and I thought, "I hope he didn't make lasagna." And he had. He's had a really bad cold lately and had very little energy today, hence the "throw something in the oven" type option.

I didn't enjoy the lasagna. I used to love it, but it tasted too salty and heavy for me. And almost immediately I had a headache. I don't know if the lasagna is to blame or if it's coincidence (or maybe even psychosomatic). But I'm thinking I'll skip the lasagna next time it comes up. Maybe over the weekend I'll do a bunch of cooking so I have a backup plan.

How slowly am I veganning?

Although I conceived my veganning as a process that would unfold during this year--and I did not have a definite date in mind for when I'd be completely veganned, I've found myself actually consuming a fully vegan diet since the first of this month. And now I don't feel that I want to go back.

Here's my dilemma (and I feel kind of stupid even stressing over it). My husband buys a frozen veggie lasagna from BJ's, and we use it for those "too tired/busy to cook" days. He bought four packages of this lasagna yesterday. Now, he knows I'm transitioning, but as far as he knows, I'll still have the occasional dairy-having lasagna during my transition. I feel kind of bad about the prospect of telling him I won't anymore. So I guess I'm down to:

1. Have the lasagna
2. Have the lasagna, but remove the cheese layer (it's strictly on top)
3. Don't have the lasagna

I'm sort of leaning toward #3, with #2 as a back-up position. Not liking #1.

Oh, well, I'll figure it out.

My yoga instructor has a t-shirt that's all black, with a star in the middle and "vegan" in the middle of the star. I've sort of been thinking "I want to be able to wear that t-shirt!" Which would mean nixing the lasagna. (Oddly, I'm not even sure I'm interested in actually wearing a "vegan" shirt--only being able to. Or rather eligible.)

Veganning in 2008

I decided to make 2008 the year I transition from vegetarian to vegan. The egg part is the easiest, because my son is allergic--therefore we don't keep egg in the house anyway. Dairy is a bit more difficult, but so far, less than I thought.

I expect travel and restaurants to be somewhat more challenging. I have a business trip in April--I'll have to request vegan meals in advance. And pack snacks!