Fuck Yeah It's Vegan

ourcatastrophe:

it’s a vegan cliche that everyone talks about the bossy judgemental vegan, and is happy to boss and judge you based on that spectre.  of course it’s somewhat disingenuous; as a vegan, you’re unlikely to be judged for not being vegan, no?  but it is nonetheless true to my personal experience.   the radical folks I know are the worst offenders, actually.  my family and my other friends just accept my veganism as part of my general weirdness.  they may or may not accommodate it, but they generally don’t give me shit for it.  that would be rude.  it seems this basic courtesy has passed a lot of people by.  I get it; we’re combative, we critique.  still. 

I make a point of not telling people their food is weird or gross, or shaming them for their diet in any way.  it’s obvious that food is not just food, it’s tied up with so many other things — the body, gender, culture, religion, race, personal history, mental illness, physical needs.   the way some people bulldoze through that with “but if you just tried” is shameful.  (in any case, veganism is essentially a product boycott, and in itself unlikely to make a significant change in the way animals are treated.  a boycott is a way to make yourself feel better and maybe create some space to articulate alternatives.  it’s not a whole social movement.)

the thing is, this applies to vegans as well.  you just do not know why someone is vegan.  you cannot assume that it’s not tied up with incredibly strong emotions, trauma, oppression.  one major thing I’ve observed is that, yeah, many many vegans have or have had problems with disordered eating.   it could be a way to further punish themselves or it could be an attempt to get a sense of control in a way that doesn’t hurt.   either way, making fun of their diet is unlikely to help.  and either way, you can’t assume they don’t also have serious political or spiritual reasons for being vegan. 

please don’t make fun of other people’s diets, or call their food gross, or assume you know anything about their relationship with food.  this goes for everyone.  we can still have a serious conversation about food politics without doing this; in fact, it’s vital to that conversation being productive on any level. 

in the simplest terms: don’t yuck anyone else’s yum. 

I want to take a minute to get on my cooking soapbox and talk about three things I hold fast to in terms of all cooking, but especially my vegan cooking.  Here they are:  don’t buy what you can easily make, learn basic recipes and then never quite follow any recipes, and don’t make things that require weird ingredient replacers.  Now, take this with a grain of kosher salt:  last night I made a delicious cake from a cake mix with Ener-G egg replacer and frosting out of the can mixed with raspberry preserves.  It wasn’t as good as something homemade and it had weird ingredients, but I was tired and wanted cake so there you go.  Thanks to industrialized foodways the strangest things are vegan these days.

The don’t-buy-what-you-can-easily-make extends to one key ingredient that I feel like every person who calls him/her/hirself a good cook should be doing is making their own stock.  I don’t care if you eat meat or not, making your own stock is so cheap and so much more delicious than store bought stock, and without it you can’t make much, honestly.  Stock is so good for almost anywhere you would otherwise use water in a savory context.  It is very easy to make, even for folks who are just cooking for themselves.  Here’s my recipe, or really, my method:

• Step One:  Get a big container and stick it in your freezer.
• Step Two:  Whenever you make something that requires chopping vegetables, stick all the peels and leftover bits and stems and whatnot in your big freezer container. (If you eat meat, stick bones and whatnot in it, too.)  When vegetables go limp in your fridge and you can’t bring yourself to eat them, put them in there.  A lot of people say, “Don’t put cabbage/broccoli/etc. in your veggie stock,” but I think it’s fine.  Please notes that if you put red cabbage or beets in there (even beet peels) your stock WILL turn purple.
• Step Three:  When the container is full, put the frozen goodies in your crock pot or on the stove in a big pot, cover your goodies with water, and simmer for a long time.  I’ve left it on all day before and also cooked it for an hour—it will just get darker and deeper the longer you leave it on, but an hour will also give you a light taste that’s nice (if you’re crockpotting it, do at least three hours on high or all day on low).
• Step Four:  Use your stock as you want; freeze it if stays in your fridge for a week.

Stock makes vegan cooking so much easier.  Add some cornstarch and you have a base for a low-fat salad dressing; blend it with soft tofu for mac and cheese or alfredo sauce; make all the soups you’ve ever wanted to make.

People always criticize cooking (especially vegan cooking) for its lack of flavor.  Well, stock is one flavor base that will always pull through for you. It will add this savory, vegetable-y, deep flavor that you want in your savory dishes.

It’s that easy!

getting a good start on friendsgiving cooking.  so far today i’ve

• made the pie crust
• started toasting the cornbread and making some vegetable broth

in the works for the rest of the day

• make the pumpkin pecan pie (needs to sit for a whole day to set because it’s vegan)
• sort through csa veggies to see what needs to be eaten today and what can be eaten tomorrow
• make pickled beets
• clean and chop cauliflower for gratin
• make salad dressing for optimal flavor marriage
• perhaps prep some of the things that will need to be cooked tomorrow

I just steamed sausages and put cornbread in the oven for an epic apple sausage cornbread stuffing, which is functioning as my main protein. I will probably make the pie crust tonight as well as get the pickled beets going. I’m gonna try to remember to take pictures.

I’ve been making this caramel corn every few days in the past two weeks of writing this recipe. I’m sure I’ll make it a lot more often.

For the popcorn:
2/3 cup popcorn
2 tbsp oil

For the caramel syrup:
1/3 cup brown sugar
½ stick margarine (4 tbsp)
dark corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla
dash cinnamon (optional)

Kosher salt (regular salt is fine, too)

Make the caramel syrup first. Melt your margarine over medium heat in a small saucepan. Add the sugar and the corn syrup, and stir until it’s thick. Add the vanilla and the cinnamon (if you want cinnamon). Let it roll a bit at a just above a simmer—it should have a few bubbles but you don’t want it to boil. This will thicken and darken as you pop the popcorn. Stir it frequently while you pop the popcorn.

Pop your popcorn. Most people pop popcorn out of a bag. I find that really sad, because popcorn is so easy to make, so cheap, and so much more delicious when you make it on your own. In a big saucepan or wok with a lid (the biggest one you have, up to a small stockpot) drizzle the oil. You don’t have to be super precise. Put three corn kernels in the oil, cover, and put on a medium burner. When one of the kernels pops, add the rest of your popcorn and put the lid back on asap. Turn the heat down slightly. Let it pop until it sounds like it’s almost done. Take it off the burner and let it cool for a few minutes.

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.

Pour the caramel syrup on the popcorn. In the interest of washing as few dishes as possible, I usually pour it directly into my big saucepan. Stir until all the popcorn is coated.

Spread the popcorn out on a baking sheet and sprinkle with salt. Pop it in the oven for 5-7 minutes, or until the caramel is crispy and the popcorn is golden brown. Let it cool. EAT IT.