Happy World Vegan Day!

Today is World Vegan Day! I thought it would be appropriate to blog about how and why I turned vegan. Veganism isn't just about diet and the food we eat (or don't), it's also a way of life, having an impact on the clothes we wear, the toiletries/cosmetics that we use, cleaning products, furniture, basically everything!

As this is a food blog, and I mainly went vegan due to food reasons, my post is mainly about food aspects of veganism.

(I apologise in advance about the length of this post!)

I turned vegan back in April 2006. I was 19 at the time. Its sort of a very long winded story about why I turned vegan when I did. I had been aware of veganism from an early age, my sister turned vegan for a short time (about 2 years) when I was in late Primary, early Secondary school. I wasn't fully aware of the cruelty to animals and the (mostly negative) health effects a non-vegan diet produced, I was just happy to eat my milky ways in ignorance.
My next real encounter was when I went to Lourdes in 2005. I remember being on the Eurostar in first class (fancy.....not) with my very extended family. I was sat with my dad's cousin's wife (extended!....I'll just call her my aunt for ease) and her son and another 2nd cousin who was also young. We were given a meal and the choices were either salmon or sausage*. My dad, who was at a different table and a vegetarian for about 20ish years was given a cheese sandwich because the travel agency had messed up his meal order. I remember saying to my aunt that it was shocking and if Michael (another of my dad's cousin's partners) was with us he'd only be able to have the bread as hes vegan. My aunt's reply was sort of weird. She said something along the lines of "yes but being a vegan is very unhealthy.....especially for women". I remember being a bit surprised, what did she mean especially for women? I then thought it couldn't really be true as my sister had been vegan for over 2 years and was very healthy in that time; and although I didn't know Michael very well, he always seemed healthy to me.

Once I was home from Lourdes I looked up veganism on the internet and thought about it a lot. I went to Leeds Festival later that summer, and never being a fan of burger vans I decided to try and be vegan for that weekend**. I remember going to a vegan burger stall and having THE BEST BURGER EVER. I basically lived off their food, sadly I don't remember the name of the stall, but I would remember the sign if I saw it. They had amazing houmous with their burger too, I used to think I hated houmous, so thank you!
Once I got home I looked into veganism even more.
If I'm honest I probably would have turned vegan a lot sooner if I had had enough self-confidence. Growing up I was very shy and always really bad with confrontation, so I thought it would be easier to stay as I was, and learn more about the health benefits and other arguments for veganism, rather than face the questions and remarks such as "what do you eat?!", "why?!", "you're so unhealthy!!"***

In 2006, while researching veganism even more, I came across Earthlings. I remember staying up late to watch the video on google. I was horrified. I decided to go vegan, but to ease myself into it, I told myself I'd give myself a week before announcing to all. If that week proved to be too hard and I went back to my old eating habits, at least I'd not look like a failure! To be honest the week was really easy. I couldn't eat anything for about 2 days after the film as I was just so disgusted.
In the mean time my dad got a bad bug and had to stay in bed for 3 days. This was significant at the time because he was a smoker. Once he was well enough to get out of bed he realised he didn't need to smoke. I remember saying to my dad that if he gave up smoking I would turn vegan (as long as he turned vegan with me). He agreed and we've been vegan ever since!
As my dad was vegetarian for ages before turning vegan I think he struggled with cheese at first. I went from a meat eater to a vegan literally overnight, so I didn't struggle with cheese****. I found it so easy to make the switch! Granted I wasn't really a big meat eater, I've never even had a steak before, but I didn't really miss anything. I didn't even get much hostility from people when I told them I was vegan.
Yeah some family think we're crazy, but they've mainly accepted it now*****.
I do still get the odd "oh so you just live on lettuce" remark, but I know how to handle it.
The best book I have read with advice on how to reply to the questions and negative remarks is 'Vegan Freak: Being Vegan in a Non-Vegan World' by Bob and Jenna Torres. The majority of their food references were things you probably couldn't get anywhere other than America/Canada, but that's probably changed a lot now as veganism has become more global and is a much bigger community in the 5 years I've been involved in it.

To be honest, the main reason why I turned vegan was for the health benefits. There are many books, websites and so on, listing the benefits (my favourite being The China Studyok when my prescriptions were free (due to being a child), but once I turned 19 and had to pay I knew I'd never be able to afford it. I started searching ways to improve my asthma. They all said give up dairy. Since turning vegan I dropped the 4 different inhales down to zero in less than a year. To be honest it was probably quicker, but I was obviously a bit nervous in case it was a fluke.
The more research I've done the more I've discovered that dairy is not healthy for humans - and why would it be, it's made for baby cows! I remember finding the change in my health amazing at the time. The only time I had milk was a little bit on my cereal. I never drank tea or coffee, so never had milk then. I never ate cheese. Obviously milk products are in so many foods we don't realise. But the fact is one drop of cow's milk is too much.

Even though I turned vegan mainly due to health benefits, I can't see any reason not to be vegan. It's helping to end cruelty to animals - which in my opinion is needless suffering. It's healthier. It's cheaper. It's better for the environment. Theres' a lovely worldwide community.
If you would like to know more about veganism, please check out The Vegan Society. You can also comment if you would like any help or advice with turning vegan - I'd be more than happy to help you if I can :)

Happy world vegan day!


*I chose the sausage in case anyone wanted to know.
**Only with stall bought food, as I had brought along cereal bars which had milk in.
***My sister faced all of these and more on a lot of occasions.
****I hated cheese, but weirdly I now love vegan cheese (except Sheese, I'm sorry but I don't like you).
*****My Grandma does ask us "are you still doing that diet", as if we're going to stop, but that's ok tbh.

Food Waste: Eating the Inedible. (Part 1)

As an Anthropologist (ha), I have always been fascinated by what people deem to be suitable as edible food and what they consider inedible. I have read many fasicnating articles on topics relating to food we eat and food we neglect. As part of my blog I am going to do several posts on the different aspects of this topic.
For me, inedible food means anything that isn't vegan. That means items which are (or contain) meat, fish, dairy, eggs, honey, and any by products, etc.
This post is going to focus on our seemingly ever increasing throw away culture, how I am doing my bit to curb that, and hopefully to encourage and inspire you to do yours.

For years food has had "best before", "sell buy" and "use by dates" on their labels. In my opinion we've all gone a bit insane when it comes to food waste. Every year the UK apparently wastes 8.3million tonnes of food. I think the figure is probably higher. Its shocking.
Yes I am guilty of wasting food, we all are, but I try my best to reduce my waste as much as possible. The best way to do this (apart from the obvious of buying less food) is to use your iniciative rather than go off food dates. So many people see something has past its "best before" date and imediately chuck it. Why?!
The only date anyone should pay attention to on food labels is the "use by" date.
To be honest, "use by" doesn't come up much for me, as these tend to be more on meat, dairy, fish and other "foods"* I don't buy.
"Sell by" is literally only for the shop/supermarket, as it's a guide for them to sell the product by so it's still at it's "best".
"Best before" is the most obscure of the lot. This basically means the food is at it's best, before the date which is shown. Once we reach or pass the date of the best before it doesn't mean the food is off! It's pretty obvious when food is off as mould starts to show, and/or it's smelly/stale. Buying food very close to, or on it's "best before" date is fine, just eat it quicker than a longer "life" product.

For me, the best time to go shopping for food is on an evening. I love** running straight to the reduced sections of the supermarkets, and know exactly where they are for each bit (fruit & veg, fridge, tins, etc) in all my local supermarkets. I turn into a bit of a crazy person running around the asiles looking for yellow reduced stickers. It's amazing finding food that you love at such a reduced cost. 90% of the time I go food shopping more than half my basket/trolley will be reduced. Granted this often means its a bit hit and miss with what I buy, and I sometimes have to do more shops, but it's totally worth it due to the food you find! Also, the majority of the reduced food is going off the "sell by" date, so it's fine to keep or eat for even longer than though.
I honestly don't think I would have survived living in London for three years without my thrifty food shopping skills. I get this quality from my mam who is an avid bargain hunter. Now I am back home I am usually the one who's relied on for finding the cheap food as I'm an expert swooper.

Here are some examples of the bargains waiting to be found:

20p for organic, on the vine tomatoes. These were AMAZING! I bought two packs and they lasted at least a week!

Here I managed to get my favourite peas at a whopping 90% discount! They only lasted a few hours as I ate them for my tea after buying haha!

I'm not really a fan of rocket, so this was purely a purchase for my mam. 5p is amazing though!

One of my best finds recently was some leeks. I had a bit of a bad tummy and really fancied some tomato soup for tea. I nipped into my local Tesco at about 8.30pm on a weeknight, as they sell tomato soup without cream (yey!). As always, I did my little swoop by the reduced section and I found a three pack of leeks. I had to buy them:

TEN PENCE!!! I hadn't had leeks for ages as they are always so expensive. They lasted us a good two weeks and we still just as fresh! I was amazed!
I bought my soup happy, and also got from french stick bread for 20p each (I bought brown and white). They were still soft in the middle too! Perfect.


A few days later I set on my mission to making leek and potato soup.
This was the first time I had ever made this soup, so I sort of made up the recipe. My dad says I can't call it a recipe as I just "throw random amounts in" rather than waste time meassuring, but heck it tasted amazing!

I chopped up one leek and a handful of shallots (we had no onions!). I fried them for a couple of minutes in some fry light. I also pealed and chopped a handful of new potatoes. Boiled them in water for about 5 mins.
Next I made some veg stock and poured it into a pan with the potato cubes, and leeks and shallots. I added some salt and black pepper and cooked for about 25 (ish) minutes.***

Once the potatoes were soft enough I took it off the heat. Once cooled I blended my soup with a hand blender. Then I heated up and served.
This served me and my parents, but we had fairly large bowls!

Over the next few weeks**** I am hoping to post in more detail about food waste and eating the inedible.
This post is ending, some what abruptly now, as it is well past my bedtime.
Enjoy!


* In my opinion these things are not food!
** I know I'm really sad.
*** Can you tell I'm not a fan of recipes?!
**** Probably months.

The Laziest Vegans Food Swap.

I have always loved food shopping, but since I turned vegan I have loved it even more.
I know it's sad but I get really excited when I find new foods I can eat, or when foods I couldn't eat are modified so I can eat them.
When I go on holiday (which is rare these days due to lack of funds) it's always a bit of a challenge to see if I can eat a lot of things/what they are etc. However there is nothing more exciting than finding vegan foods which I can't get at home. Yes it can be a bit heartbreaking to find the best treat ever and only be able to have a holiday fling with it, but that's the luck of the draw.

One place which I have yet to visit and would love to purely for the vegan food is the USA. Their vegan store website alone makes me drool at all the possibilities. When I lived in London I took full advantage of the American selection of food available at places like Whole Foods and Planet Organic, but it wasn't enough!
I love reading the Laziest Vegans food blog, and "like" them on facebook. I nearly jumped for joy when John posted a discussion thread about a food swap and agreed to swap internationally with me.
We decided to send each other a "lucky dip" package of non-perishable foods (it'd be stupid to send each other vegan cheese etc, even though that's what I'm dying to try!) up to the value of $20 (that's about £13, but I ended up rounding it up to £15 worth).
I got to work collecting my favourite packaged goodies and off I went to the post office.

My parcel arrived on Monday! Really impressed with how quick it got to me, and even more impressed with what was inside!

MARSHMALLOWS!

The were all Sweet & Sara products which I've always wanted to try!

These are "Pumpkin Spice" Marshmallows. If I'm honest I was a bit put off by the label as I really dislike cinnamon and nutmeg spices, but I gave them a try. They are nicer than I though. The actual marshmallows are an amazing consistency and really sweet. The flavouring isn't too strong but I can only have about 2 in a row without being overpowered by cinnamon (yuck!) Obviously I only dislike the flavour due to personal preference as the marshmallow is good. I have passed these onto my dad (who is also vegan) and he's loving them! He loves nutmeg and cinnamon so it's a perfect match.

Next up are Toasted Coconut Marshmallows. I LOVE these! Again they're the same consistency of the previous marshmallows (basically Sweet & Sara have perfected the art of vegan marshmallows) but they are covered in toasted coconut. I've recently become a bit obsessed with coconuts, using coconut body lotion and shower gel and eating chocolate coconut bars (yet I still don't like coconut water), so these are just great!
I've let my dad try one, but I'm keeping these!

Next are the limited edition (I'm assuming!) Halloween editions. I've not ate these yet, but I can tell they will be amazing!

Peanut Butter Smores. I will have to share some of this with my dad has he also loves peanut butter. Again I've not tried this yet. Apart from trying to make these treats last I'm also trying to stick to my diet to keep on track for my birthday in a couple of weeks. The temptation is so great! I'll probably have this either later today or tomorrow so will get back to you on the taste but I'm sure it will be amazing!

Last but certainly not least is a Rice Crispy Treat. I LOVE THESE! I made a vegan Easter egg shaped rice crispy treat at Easter time, and was the first time I'd had one since turning vegan. I can't wait to try this! But as it's probably going to be my favourite item I'm saving it for last (best till last and all that).


Overall I'm really pleased with my food swap.
Hopefully John will have his now (or very soon) and enjoys his goodies - can't wait to hear what he thinks. I'm definitely up for more swaps, so if anyone is interested please let me know :)

An Introduction to the Anthropology of Food.

Hello and welcome to my long overdue food blog!

Anthropology is all about culture. Looking at our own culture, looking at other people's cultures, looking at how culture is passed on and changed, looking at how culture is preserved, and so on.
The one thing every human has to do is eat. Therefore eating, and food in general, is a big part of all cultures. As an ex-Anthropology student and all round (vegan) food lover, studying culture through food habits and consumption seems second nature to me.

Let me introduce myself and what I hope to achieve from this blog. 

My name is Emily and I'm 24 years old. I turned vegan when I was 19 after a long and thoughtful process. (I will go more into how and why I became a vegan in a later post).

I have recently graduated from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) with a degree in Social Anthropology (I say recently, I graduated in July 2010, but I'm clinging onto “recently” for as long as possible!). I learned so much in my three years at SOAS and met some wonderful people. Some of my favourite and most memorable modules were “Ethnography of a selected region: Japan” and “Anthropology of gender”. However one of the main reasons I chose SOAS was for their “Anthropology of Food” option. I was gutted I had to wait until my third and final year before I could take the course, but also so pleased I had too once I got there. I feel like I've learned the most from anthropology of food and for a long time I wondered what I would do with my knowledge and how I would be able to expand on it without doing a masters (that won't be able to happen any time soon. Sigh)

This blog is a way for me to keep my learning process going, and also something you will enjoy reading and find useful for whatever reason.

The idea for this blog was a bit of a mistake. My friend Billie moved to Berlin recently and during the last phone conversation we had before she moved we discussed her keeping a blog. She said she would probably keep a food blog to which I replied “that's an amazing idea, I've always wanted to do one!” That made me think “hang on, why I haven't I started a food blog before?” 

Now there are many vegan food blogs, and I enjoy reading most of them, but this blog isn't here as a typical vegan food blog. I won't post often of “hey look at the new vegan food I have found!” Even though I like to read those posts I can't really be bothered doing that. (I might upload these kinds of posts occasionally, but they won't be often).

A lot of the time I feel like maybe people are just posting so they can be the first to reveal what new food is on the block before anyone else does for some uber-cool-points or something. I'm not about that.

This blog is (hopefully) going to be more about the anthropology of food from a vegan perspective. I have never come across a blog like that. If you have then great, link me in the comments, but what I have planned is (hopefully) going to be something different. I'm not doing this blog to be “unique” or “cool” I'm just doing it to actually use the mountains of food knowledge I have and stop it being a useless waste.

I will hopefully feature topics such as: food waste, health, food 'restrictions', fair trade, organic, industrialization, agriculture, body issues, cleanliness, food as a form of culture, food as a form of language, food as a form of memory and many more.

I will also be adding some “typical” vegan food blog features, such as recipes and the occasional reviews. I am also currently involved in a vegan food swap with John from the Laziest Vegans so I will post about that.

I hope you enjoy my blog. Feel free to comment if you agree/disagree with what is being featured, or tell me if you like/dislike my posts, I will try to offer more of what you enjoy, but there will hopefully be a bit of everything.