The cost of going vegan
Sometimes I get it in my mind that if I am going to cut out meat and dairy that the meal I am preparing should be extremely cheap to make. Right?
Wrong.
There are always lots of things to factor in, especially in our current food climate. Moreover, if one is to be vegan or vegetarian (or flexitarian in this particular case), one must pay attention to the national value of his/her food, otherwise he/she will run into some problems. (Lack of b12, iron, protein, etc etc etc). And that, my friends, is sometimes weird... and expensive.
Suddenly, something that sounded easy (vegan cooking) became extremely complicated.
I am not a vegan. But recently, I have been flirting with it a little bit. Actually, it pinterest's fault. Really, all that site does is lead me down the rabbit hole of blogs. My Google Reader has doubled in size since I started using pinterest.
The problem with this is that I run into some recipes that sound good, but when I look at the recipe, am really confused by all these vegan ingredients I have no idea how to pronounce let alone what they are and why I am putting them in food. I am sure there is a reason. I am just ignorant as to what that is exactly. (Nutritional yeast)?
And speaking of cost, certain vegan friendly/health friendly ingredients are not cheap. (i.e. the quinoa aka guanaco I recently bought that I am now stuck with since I found it to be fairly weird).
For a supper last week, I made these white bean and sweet potato cakes. (They were pretty average. They didn't have a lot of flavor, which was very disappointing since I love sweet potatoes). This recipe called for thahini. (I actually know what this is. don't worry). And I thought, I'll get some so then I will not have an excuse not to make hummus on a semi-regular basis. Okay. So I went to Dillon's.
.jpg)
That small jar was 11 bucks.
I only needed 1 tablespoon.
yep.
This is why people eat hot dogs and cheetos. (Well, maybe not the only reason to eat cheetos. Dang. They are delicious).
This is frustrating to me. One of the reasons why I really want to get my master's in food studies (at Chatham University) is so I can work with organizations that are trying to make healthy and environmental friendly choices realistic to the poor. Right now, veganism, vegetarianism, and even just eating healthy seems to be a privilege of the elite.
But until then, I will keep trying out all these recipes when it seems plausible. I might even buy some nutritional yeast.
Regardless, the moral of this story is this: I am going to make a ton of hummus now, and that, dear ones, is always a good choice.
Wrong.
There are always lots of things to factor in, especially in our current food climate. Moreover, if one is to be vegan or vegetarian (or flexitarian in this particular case), one must pay attention to the national value of his/her food, otherwise he/she will run into some problems. (Lack of b12, iron, protein, etc etc etc). And that, my friends, is sometimes weird... and expensive.
Suddenly, something that sounded easy (vegan cooking) became extremely complicated.
I am not a vegan. But recently, I have been flirting with it a little bit. Actually, it pinterest's fault. Really, all that site does is lead me down the rabbit hole of blogs. My Google Reader has doubled in size since I started using pinterest.
The problem with this is that I run into some recipes that sound good, but when I look at the recipe, am really confused by all these vegan ingredients I have no idea how to pronounce let alone what they are and why I am putting them in food. I am sure there is a reason. I am just ignorant as to what that is exactly. (Nutritional yeast)?
And speaking of cost, certain vegan friendly/health friendly ingredients are not cheap. (i.e. the quinoa aka guanaco I recently bought that I am now stuck with since I found it to be fairly weird).
For a supper last week, I made these white bean and sweet potato cakes. (They were pretty average. They didn't have a lot of flavor, which was very disappointing since I love sweet potatoes). This recipe called for thahini. (I actually know what this is. don't worry). And I thought, I'll get some so then I will not have an excuse not to make hummus on a semi-regular basis. Okay. So I went to Dillon's.
.jpg)
That small jar was 11 bucks.
I only needed 1 tablespoon.
yep.
This is why people eat hot dogs and cheetos. (Well, maybe not the only reason to eat cheetos. Dang. They are delicious).
This is frustrating to me. One of the reasons why I really want to get my master's in food studies (at Chatham University) is so I can work with organizations that are trying to make healthy and environmental friendly choices realistic to the poor. Right now, veganism, vegetarianism, and even just eating healthy seems to be a privilege of the elite.
But until then, I will keep trying out all these recipes when it seems plausible. I might even buy some nutritional yeast.
Regardless, the moral of this story is this: I am going to make a ton of hummus now, and that, dear ones, is always a good choice.
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