When I went vegan in 2007, I was both excited and overwhelmed. There was a whole new world of foods to explore, and there were also a lot of people on the internet shouting about the One Right Way to Eat.
But there is no one right way — there’s only the way that feels right for you, based on your taste, budget, access, nutrition needs, and lifestyle, and that can only be figured out through trial and error.
I’m not here to offer you the one right way. Instead, I’ll share my approach to eating, which made the switch to plant-based easy for me.
Is my diet the healthiest? Nope. I love greasy (plant-based) burgers and french fries, but I try to eat those foods in moderation. Is it the most eco-friendly? Still no. I love takeout, too, despite the unnecessary plastic.
The two tenets of my approach are as follows:
- Eat your favorite foods — plant-based style
- Aim to balance convenience and health.
COOK YOUR FAVORITE FOODS
Almost any dish can be “veganized,” though there are some caveats to recreating your favorite meat and dairy-based dishes: There’s no convincing vegetarian steak; the plant-based bacon market leaves something to be desired; and I’m still waiting for a
stretchy, gooey vegan cheese.
But for most animal products, there’s a good plant-based alternative to be had. (And not every meal should center on an animal-free imitation of meat, dairy, and eggs, anyway.)
To illustrate this point, I’ll walk you through what I might cook in a typical week.
Breakfast:
Granola with soy milk and peanut butter, a fruit smoothie (with water or plant-based milk as the base), a scramble made with tofu or plant-based eggs (with vegetables and spices), or a bagel with peanut butter or plant-based butter/cream cheese.
Lunch and dinner:
Variations on stir fry, burritos, pasta, pizza, sandwiches, curries, salads, and soups. For protein, I’ll use marinated tofu, tempeh, beans, or a plant-based meat product — and the same goes for cheese (I’ve shared my favorite “replacement” products below). This winter I’ve made trays of roasted squash, potatoes, and carrots with fried chickpeas on the side.
Many cuisines are inherently vegetarian-friendly, or are easy to adapt. Here are some of my favorite recipe websites that focus on a specific cuisine:
Vegan Richa (Indian),
the Greek Vegan,
Astig Vegan (Filipino),
the Korean Vegan, and
Vegan Mexican Food.
I have a sweet tooth, so I’d be remiss not to talk about baking. Plant-based butter and milk function very similarly to their animal-based counterparts in most baked goods, and you can also use non-specialty foods, like applesauce, bananas, or flaxseeds, to replace eggs in baking.
Here’s a guide to get you started.
BALANCE CONVENIENCE AND HEALTH
Most of my “meat” replacement is tofu, tempeh, lentils, or beans. Tofu ends up as the punchline to a lot of jokes about vegetarianism, but if made right, it can be delicious (... like most foods).
Tofu:
Here are the basics: Get the extra-firm kind, cut it into small cubes, and fry with a little oil and your favorite sauce (I like barbecue, or Sriracha and soy sauce).
Here’s a tofu guide for more information, and
It Doesn’t Taste Like Chicken has a lot of tofu recipes to get you started. And
here’s a guide to tempeh, another kind of fermented soy food that I use similarly.
Beans and lentils:
Both are incredibly versatile, and since they’re high in protein, fiber, and a number of vitamins, I try to eat them every day. I usually eat lentils in South Asian dishes, or in a salad. I’ll prepare beans in a variety of ways — again, in a salad, but also regularly in burritos and soups, fried with a sauce and oil (like tofu), blended into dips, roasted in the oven with vegetables, in chili or stews, in nachos and homemade black bean burgers, and much more.
Then there are the meat and dairy alternative products, which are more convenient, accessible, and affordable than ever. One downside is that they tend to be high in sodium and saturated fat.
I see meat and dairy alternatives, and plant-based fast food menu options, as convenience foods that can save time in the kitchen, be eaten while traveling in places without better options, or be used in more indulgent meals. These are great, but moderate consumption is probably wise.
Here’s a rundown of my favorites:
Milk:
I stick to soy milk (unsweetened, any brand), as I find it tastes neutral. I also like oat milk (I think Oatly is the best). There are many other plant-based milks, too, so try a few to see what you like.
Ice cream:
Soy- and cashew-based ice creams tend to be creamier than almond- and coconut-based ice creams. I think the best brands are Van Leeuwen, NadaMoo, Ben & Jerry’s, and So Delicious.
Beef:
Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods’ beef burger and ground beef are the most convincing facsimiles. I also like Field Roast’s burgers, which don’t taste like beef but taste very good in their own right.
Pork:
Beyond Meat and Field Roast make good sausages, and Trader Joe’s soy chorizo is good as well.
Mayonnaise:
Follow Your Heart’s “Vegenaise” is the best. Runners-up include vegan mayos from Sir Kensington's, Trader Joe’s, and Hellmann’s.
Chicken:
Gardein’s chicken products are tasty, especially
this one — as are the chicken products from Beyond and Impossible. But my favorite will always be one of the earliest faux chicken products:
Boca’s spicy chicken patty, which has been around since the early 2000s.
Cheese:
For cheese “wheels” and spreadable cheese products, try Miyoko’s and Treeline. For shredded cheese, there
aren’t many good options, but I prefer Violife, Follow Your Heart, and Trader Joe’s (vegan) parmesan. Follow Your Heart’s feta and Field Roast’s “Chao” slices are good as well.
Eggs:
Just’s liquid egg (I hope to see more innovation in this space next year).
Butter:
Earth Balance is the most well known, and you can’t go wrong with whatever’s available (most taste the same to me).
There are also plenty of frozen meals for when you’re in a pinch, and hundreds of
“accidentally vegan” foods and snacks.
Where to shop:
By now, every major grocery chain has a wide array of plant-based foods, and many are even making their own products. Here are some “grocery store tours” to acquaint yourself with what’s available at your supermarket:
Trader Joe’s,
Wegmans,
Aldi,
Sprouts,
Whole Foods,
Costco, and
Kroger (search “vegan grocery haul” and the name of your regular grocery store on YouTube for more guides). I also recommend checking out plant-based “pantry staple” guides on YouTube (
here’s one to get you started).
Where to eat:
Use
HappyCow to find vegetarian-friendly restaurants near you and
this guide to vegan fast food options. Most “fast-casual” chains, like Chipotle, Panera Bread, Sweetgreen, Cava, and Moe’s Southwest Grill, have good options as well. Hashtags on Instagram are useful in finding local options, too (e.g., #bostonvegan).
EATING PLANT-BASED AFFORDABLY
Plant-based eating is sometimes criticized for being too expensive and portrayed as an inaccessible lifestyle reserved for middle- and upper-class white people in wealthy countries. But the research doesn’t bear this out.
In 2020, Americans of color were more likely to say they’d
reduced their meat consumption compared to white Americans, and one 2015 survey from the
Vegetarian Resource Group found 8 percent of Black Americans identify as strict vegetarians or vegans, while just 3 percent of the general population does.
The term “vegan” was thought up in 1944 in the UK, but before that,
Rastafarian and Black Hebrew Israelite communities were espousing animal-free diets, and for millennia cultures around the world had been shunning meat on moral grounds. Today, most of the world’s vegetarians reside in India, where
around a quarter of the population of 1.4 billion doesn’t eat meat.
When it comes to affordability, a
recent study found that in high- and middle-income countries, a flexitarian diet — a mostly vegetarian diet — reduces food costs by 14 percent, and a vegetarian or vegan diet costs around 25 percent less (though in lower-income countries, vegan diets do cost a little more).
To be fair, it will be more expensive if you regularly eat the kinds of specialty products I listed above, or dine out frequently. Plant-based products, especially the newer wave, tend to be more expensive than their animal-based counterparts because they’re new, and because the externalities of animal meat production (pollution, animal cruelty, worker injuries, etc.) aren’t captured by the price.
Specialty plant-based products are already
coming down in price, and will hopefully come down even more as they scale. Until then, consuming them in moderation is smart for your wallet, especially since the main plant-based protein staples — tofu, lentils, beans — are even cheaper than meat. Check out
Plant-Based and Broke and
Budget Bytes for recipes and tips on eating plant-based affordably.
TODAY'S CHALLENGE: MAKE A GROCERY LIST
Now that you have some guidance on what to cook and a rundown of the tastiest plant-based alternative products, here’s a challenge:
Make a Meat/Less grocery shopping list. Choose a recipe or two you want to cook and some products you want to try, and head to the store!
—Kenny Torrella
Resources
The 100 best vegan products of all time (VegNews)
Vegan.com (a comprehensive, practical guide to eating more plant-based)
The vegan race wars: How the mainstream ignores vegans of color (Thrillist)
“The Future of Meat” (season 2, episode 3 of Vox’s
Explained show on Netflix)
Minimalist Baker (vegan recipes)
www.vox.com
