On the road to be more Vegan

[elusivek]

As I've mentioned before, I'm trying to consciously choose a more plant-based diet... I don't think it will be possible for me to turn outright vegan, as I don't control my meals. But where I have the choice, I'll choose non-meat options.

Today, as I was being directed to a table in the coffee shop, some table had ordered a Spag Bol and it smelled delicious. The Spag Bol at my company coffee shop is really good. I guess they actually use steak meat to grind into the ground meat, the Spag Bol actually tastes like a nice piece of grilled steak. Yum. But, I had decided I would avoid beef whenever I am in charge of my own lunch! What to do!?

They had a Spag Bol made with Impossible Beef (plant-based thing). The tomato sauce tasted okay. They did not serve this with cheese. Taste-wise, it wasn't satisfying at all :-( But I guess it's a sacrifice one has to make if one has decided to do that. It HAS been years since I last had the company's Spag Bol, and I didn't die. So I don't really need Spag Bol in my life. It was only triggered by the next table's order.

However, I have to let it be known that the Impossible Burger on the menu is actually very good. So, I think it's the recipe, or the lack of cheese. I dunno.

On the topic of Veganism, my friend has booked us a table to try a Vegan Buffet Dinner on 26-February, so I'll check that out and see what they will be serving.

Comments

[memphis-kid.livejournal.com]

i remember years ago an indian friend took me to a lunch time buffet. the food is all vegetarian and i really liked it. the interesting thing about that place is you eat what you want and you pay what you want. its for charity

[mymimikyu.livejournal.com]

Good luck! I'm a weird ethical-foodie in that hasn't had red meat or birds in maybe 15 years? And I HATE most of these new fangled vegan meats... they taste waaaaaay to much like my hazy memories of the real thing! I don't miss red meat at all, though I still eat some sea foods occasionally.

[amw.livejournal.com]

It is very interesting when you give up eating cheese just how much food did not taste very delicious without cheese. I don't know if Macau is the same, but here in North America they put cheese on EVERYTHING. Like, does not matter if it is sandwich, salad, noodles, rice, it always has cheese. And if you leave the cheese off, then the food tastes very bland. I think this is because in the "cheap" end of western cuisine they use cheese to add salt, fat and umami, and they do not know how to add these flavors without using cheese to do it. (Ironically to use oil and soy sauce would be cheaper.)

I will say, i visited Italy for a short while and tried very hard to find vegan food over there. It was successful, but it was very much leaning on more Mediterranean style, like Greece, Middle East or North Africa... Bread with olive oil, pickled vegetables (antipasti), certain pesto (not all, since some of it has cheese inside) and other nut based sauces, noodles with tomatoes and mushrooms... There are ways they can build a lot of flavor in that cuisine without using cheese, but it seems when Italian cuisine got exported to other countries (especially UK and America) it became more simple and bland and leaned on the cheese to add flavor.

All that said, there is some vegan cheese which is okay. It will probably never be as delicious as a really high quality flavorful cheese, but definitely it has become good enough to substitute for "cheap" cheese like they put on a pizza or a sandwich. I think it is only a matter of time till restaurants that already give a plant-based bolognese will also use this plant-based cheese for the topping.