Vegan Food is Boring and Bland… Vegans and Foodies?!

When we hear the word “vegan,” many of us often tend to associate it with salads, raw leaves, etc., which are considered boring, bland food. We think that vegans follow a strict diet with lack of variety and options. We assume that vegan food tastes bad. In this article, I will go over the fundamentals of vegan food. Hopefully, it will help to see vegan food in new light and in the correct perspective.

Vegan Food Myth No. 1: Vegan food is not tasty

I have heard people say, “I don’t like the taste of vegan food.” This makes me wonder – who doesn’t like pani puri, bhel puri, or most of the other chaats? Who doesn’t like samosa, potato chips, vadai, idli and sambhar, dosa and chutney, or pakoda? Who doesn’t like bread and jam or noodles? These are yummy foods that all of us like to eat and most variations of each are already vegan!

Apart from that, vegan versions of many non-vegan foods are now available. If you think you would miss cheese or ice-cream, there is ‘vegan’ cheese and ‘vegan’ ice-cream available today. Big companies are slowly including vegan options in their list of offerings and menus, and they ensure that the vegan version tastes just like the non-vegan one.

When some people say, “I could never go vegan,” they actually mean they are hesitant to give up all the “tasty” food they are used to eating. When people say non-vegan food is tasty, have you considered where the taste comes from? Well, it is the vegan ingredients that impart the taste to any non-vegan food! Meat, if not for the herbs and onions, would be plain dead animal flesh that would taste horrible. And ice-cream, if not for cocoa or vanilla beans, would be plain mammary secretion. Many people dislike the taste of non-vegan milk and it is a natural instinct in humans to do so.

Therefore, the yumminess of any food is from vegan ingredients. And, avoiding the non-vegan ingredient from the food would only take away the cruelty and torture, not the taste. Moreover, we need to ask ourselves: does 15 minutes of taste, which is a sensory pleasure, justify subjecting billions of sentient animals to a life of abuse and gruesome death, thereafter?

Vegan Food Myth No. 2: Vegan food is boring and bland

Many people assume that vegan food is boring because they think that it consists of unusual, weird ingredients. What most of us are not aware of, is the magic that we can do with the “boring” and “bland” vegan ingredients. Did you know, a bit of magic can turn sweet potatoes into chocolate brownies, cashew nuts into ricotta cheese, zucchini into lasagna, jackfruit into mock meat, peanuts into curd, bananas into ice-cream, chickpea water into whipped cream – the list is endless! It really is magical. It is amazing how we are able to create something that is absolutely tasty from the “ordinary” plant-based ingredients.

How do we perform the magic, you ask?

Well, just go to the internet, type the word “vegan,” followed by the name of your favorite food (say, ice-cream or biriyani or anything). And then type “recipe.” That’s the magical spell. I guarantee you that there will be lots of videos and articles that will help you with making your favorite dish. There are also recipe books available, which you can take help from.

How to Make Magic with Vegan Ingredients – Replace and Create!

In any dish that uses cow’s milk, we can easily replace it with almond milk or coconut milk. In place of curd, we can use peanut curd. Tofu instead of paneer, and cashew cheeze instead of dairy cheese. And when you make such dishes where you replace a non-vegan ingredient with a vegan one, I bet that no one will be able to tell the difference. The vegan version will have a taste familiar to you.

Once we get the hang of the magic, we can formulate our own recipes based on what ingredients we have, what we like to eat, the amount of time we have, and how much effort we want to put in. Many vegan recipes don’t call for much effort. For example, just throwing in random fruits and vegetables into a blender will give us refreshing smoothies that are not just yummy, but healthy as well. Besides, we are just one google search away from discovering these easy recipes.

Replacing few ingredients and learning a few new recipes is a rather small change in our lifestyles. But it makes a huge difference to the animals. They are forced to live a sad and horrible life and die a painful death only because of us. We are the ones creating the demand for the products that are obtained from the torture and death of sentient, innocent animals. When we look at this small change in our lifestyles as an inconvenience, it is necessary that we consider that it is more inconvenient being crammed in a cage, abused, and killed. This is happening to animals every second. Because of us.

Vegan Food Fact: Vegan Food is Delicious with a Huge Variety

Going vegan can be fun and exciting. Many of us worry that when we turn vegan, we will have to give up a lot of dishes and our diet would become restrictive, bland, and boring. But in reality, being vegan actually opens us up to a lot of new dishes that never figured before in our experience. And people start enjoying food after turning vegan because of the variety of options. So, being vegan is nowhere close to restrictive and the food is far from bland or boring.

The longer we eat vegan food, the more our palate will open up and we will really start to appreciate the true flavors that nature has to offer. For any non-vegan preparation, there are recipes for the vegan version for sure. There are recipes for vegan pizzas, vegan burgers, vegan sweets, vegan raita, vegan coffee, vegan cakes, vegan chocolates, vegan biriyani… You name it and there is a recipe.

Summary: Vegans can be Foodies!

Being vegan is very easy, especially in this day and age. As I said before, all it takes is a bit of magic to whip up your favorite dish. And do remember that there is no need for you to compromise on your taste. I wouldn’t be surprised if you start loving how vegan food tastes. So, are you ready to do some magic?

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About the author, Manasa

“I’m a vegan activist and an engineering student. I went vegan after understanding that nothing justifies subjecting animals to abuse. I’m sure together we can create a vegan world where animals are cared for and looked at as individuals. I have authored a book titled ‘Larry the House Lizard’ and I enjoy drawing and painting. You can check out my illustrations and contact me on Instagram @maan_artwork.”

Cover Image: Collage of photos from the Sunday Vegan Brunch of BeAnimal Journey Hostel, Bangalore