i've been completely meat free for 11 years, and i've been a vegan for about 5. :) i was just wondering if anyone else here is vegan! why or why not? and let's keep the civil and non-graphic, even though it could be a touchy subject, those types of intense conversations are better had elsewhere. so, what's on your plate? what are your all time favorite vegan foods, even if you aren't a vegan? anyone else freakin obsessed with potatoes? dish!

I would never be able to go vegan or vegetarian. I like meat (especially chicken) and I don't really like fruits and vegetables. I'll eat them, they're just not my fave!

I could never go vegan or vegetarian either; I just love meat and dairy too much! But man, I love trying vegetarian meals because people get so inventive with them and they're usually delicious. I've had some amazing veggie burgers. I'm a huge fan of vegetables in general, though. I enjoy snacking on cauliflower and artichokes, especially.

I find that super impressive! ;O; I'm a horrible failure and tried being vegan and that lasted a good couple of months until I caved and then went vegetarian but then my iron dipped even further and I'm like obviously I can't cook right so I switched to meat. I don't go crazy with it and there are certainly meats I avoid altogether and have never fancied (like lamb and almost all seafood) but I still feel pretty bad about it and am looking for ways to switch to at least being vegetarian. :3 It was altogether a bit surprising given I had researched vegan food in depth and took supplements. But that iron.... sigh.

I got into it due to Cowspiracy. It was really informative! Supposedly the contribution to global warming attributed to farming animals is actually less than depicted in the documentary (I'm assuming everything else was fairly spot on or else I'd have read about it as well?) BUT nonetheless it was still informative in a these are the facts type of way which was refreshing because I really didn't want to see graphic things (though warning there is one scene which is emotional and graphic but that's about it). It just makes sense that we're feeding animals a ton of grain and they produce less food than those grains would so we're losing food (not to mention water) by producing meat. And tbh, I think we should be talking more about water conservation. Not just oh we think the world has a water shortage problem in the future, maybe near future.

FALAFEL. I could eat falafel every day of the week if it's done right. ;O; Also veggie moussaka is top notch.

A great pasta sauce alternative I found was taking cauliflower and blending it with a bit of water! Sounds bad but it actually really creamy and you could season it to your liking. Nice calorie saver!

And yes, potatoes are fab. French fries, jacket potatoes, mashed potatoes, potato chips, vodka ehehe. THE BEST VEGGIE EVER.

Imma just leave that here.

I was a vegetarian for 9 years and ended up stopping due to pressure from my ex. Now I'm older and more confident but honestly just like meat too much now that I know how to cook better and have a more refined palate. There are plenty of vegetarian dishes I like and sometimes prefer over meat options, I just don't like to limit myself with food options since I can only afford to have so many calories in a day. I haven't eaten much vegan food but as soon as I start feeling better from my surgery I'm going to push myself with cooking more unfamiliar ingredients; I'd love to try my hand at agedashi tofu.

are there any fruits or veggies you like at all? :3 i've never had an issue with iron honestly! cowspiracy is an amazing film. do you have any resources on how the environmental impact was inaccurate? i also suggest earthlings, and forks over knives. :) all those foods sound so gooood ahh now im hungry for falafels and potatoes and pasta all at the same time lmao. i have to try that cauliflower thing for sure. i looove roasted cauliflower. especially buffalo style. it's always fun to experiment with new ingredients! i LOVE cooking so finding new recipes is a great passion of mine :)

thanks everyone for responding!

I've been vegan for over 5 years and was vegetarian for a looong time before that...my only regret is that I didn't cut the dairy sooner. My number one reason has always been the animals but environmental and health issues are also important to me. I like to eat healthy for the most part, especially lots of super greens. That's not to say I don't love an occasional "splurge day" where I treat myself to vegan pizza, dairy-free ice cream, etc. but I lost close to 100 lbs by focusing on healthy foods. My favorite dish is sauteed kale with collard greens, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower and mushrooms. Add nutritional yeast (this gives it a cheesy flavor), garlic and onion powder and BAM!! Absolutely delicious and insanely healthy!! That's what's on my plate. :D

Never had a problem with iron either, maybe try the above recipe? Kale is a great source of iron! It's also fun to sing about! XD

yesss!! another vegan! can i add you as a friend? this is exciting. i feel the same way, i wish i had cut out dairy sooo much sooner. i'm way big into cooking all my own meals and it's so fun and yummy and just... healthy foods can be SO DELICIOUS! also, carbs on carbs on carbs. haha. i dont even care. nutritional yeast is one of my favorite food items to ever exist. so many options. i like making baked mac n cheese with it! blended with cashews and potatoes and some veggies it taste just like a cheese sauce :) mmmff i'm hungry lmao and yes. dairy free ice cream is heavenly. it might have been a very very long time since i had dairy but.. i feel like it tastes the same or better. my mom eats meat and dairy but prefers non dairy ice cream!

Sure! I'd love to have another vegan friend on here! :D Ooh, I LOVE mac n' cheese. I'll have to try that blend sometime, it sounds delicious! Nooch (nutritional yeast) is the best, it's safe to say I'm obsessed with it and it REALLY helped when I went vegan. I was a self proclaimed "cheese addict" for years. When I was vegetarian I always said "I could never give up cheese!" and I honestly believed that...it took forcing myself to watch some graphic videos to realize it simply wasn't worth it to me. Then I found Daiya and nooch and life has been grand! :D

that's what did it for me too. after a certain point, there was absolutely no way i could allow my own personal preferences and taste buds to cause such drastic harm. now, the thought of real cheese, milk, etc (especially meat but that's been for forever) makes me sick to my stomach! plants are so much better ^_^

"Nothing tastes as good as being vegan feels" is one of my favorite quotes because it's so true! Back to the title of this thread I thought it was so sweet that Gunter went vegan because of Oatmeal. ;v; Yeah, I can't even imagine eating dairy cheese now...the idea is so repulsive to me (and every time I see it in the store all I can think about are the dairy cows and their calves) But it's so easy to find or make alternatives these days, you can seriously veganize anything. XD Before I finally ditched dairy one of my favorite snacks was cottage cheese...and just recently I found a cookbook called "The Uncheese Book" with a recipe for tofu cottage cheese. I was a little unsure at first but it came out really good! Great with chips or plain. For anyone who might want the recipe:

1 lb. of firm regular tofu, drained and well mashed 2/3 C vegan mayo (Just Mayo is my fav) 2 tsp. onion granules 1 tsp. garlic granules 1 tsp. salt 1 tsp. ground dill seed or ground caraway seed Place all the ingreds in a bowl and mix thoroughly, store in the fridge. Wonderful snack! :D

Thanks for the recipe idea! :3 I used nutritional yeast on almost everythingggg. And daiya alt cheese was actually good despite things I heard about its taste from other people! I think my issue is I work long hours and my work schedule changes weekly so it's harder to shop and cook, because I'm tired coming back from work and my skills aren't really anything to brag about. :x I know those are just excuses, but finding the motivation is tough atm with other things going on.

I just googled and wikipedia'ed the documentary to find out its accuracy. They quoted one particular paper when most other reliable papers quote a lower percentage (to be fair, the more reliable number still sounds like a decent chunk - 18% so it's not like it's like a 1% contribution). I'm more curious how this affects water usage more than anything else. :s

I'm not vegan but I do not support fur, leather, wool and such. I'm also not a fan of pelt and other "treasure" made from hunting. I respect people doing it but it's not my thing.

I'm trying to move toward a more vegetarian lifestyle since I don't like the taste of meat + I really care about animals. As of now, I only eat chicken, turkey, very little red meat and eggs. I'm not a fan of dairy since I was intolerant when younger and the taste of milk is absolutely repulsing. Plus, a cow shouldn't be injected antibiotics to produce milk for another "animal" aka us. That's all I had to say haha. But yeah, I do like veggies and fruits a lot. Sadly, my family doesn't have access to good food and I need to fork around to find something good. [edit] oh god potatoes!!!! I love them ;___; Stuffed potatoes with broccoli, vegan cheese (or nutri yeast), peppers, and some squished chickpeas!!

I could never eat meat again, I love animals too much! ;)

I've been vegan for 10 years now, I was excited to see the new items Gunter released, along with the new achievement.

I finally found nooch in a store near me so we added that to the macaroni "cheese" we had for for dinner tonight, it was delicious. Looking forwarding to trying it in other dishes too.

I think my favourite dish has to be chilli with avocado - you can use so many different veg in there; squashes, sweet potato, peppers, broccoli, carrot, sweetcorn, different bean types too! Making me hungry just thinking about it...

OMG thanks for the recipe!!!!!! ive been dying to find a cottage cheese recipe! THANK YOU

thats very interesting i had noo idea that there were inaccuracies!

that is very admirable! i always tell people that if they dont want to (or cant) change their diet, to at least not contribute to the industry in other ways! and of course it can be difficult in certain food situations and i totally agree with you about hunting and drinking another animals milk. :/ ive also learned that most people aren't lactose intolerant, but that only a few are /lactose tolerant/ or something like that since naturally our bodies wouldn't accept it anyway. something like that.

yay another! chili chili chili. i make that so much. just all the ingredients i have mixed into one delicious pot. yummy. can i add you as a friend? :)

or if anyone else on here wants to add me feel free!

We cannot bend people backward to change their diet either. People have the right to do whatever they please but I find myself a bit iffed' up sometimes. I've started drinking almond milk a while back and I stay away from soy since the taste is not pleasing at all (same for most fake meat/tofu/fake cheese). The taste is just so damn wrong to me :c I don't like most food and I'm very picky for everything. I've tried various fake meat and cheese but it's not good for my tastebuds. Plus, I have an issue with iron and I need to be very careful since I lack iron and B12 very easily.

i definitely agree, whatever my convictions are i never want to target anyone for a variety of reasons. i talk about it a lot, but i try to speak in a general way without addressing anyone. sometimes i go a bit far though because it's so important to me, but there HAS to be respect for people who are outside the scope of accessibility to the lifestyle

I'm the same, I receive a B12 injection every 12 weeks and I took liquid iron supplement for ~2years, now my levels are topped up so I'm off it for the time being, will re-check levels in 12 months.

I realise supplementation isn't for everyone though, and most prefer a complete diet, you've just got to find what works for you.

I've tried to cut palm oil since it's causing a lot of tree loss in a few area of the world and it's toxic too. What is hard is too stick to this lifestyle when a carton of almond milk last fewer days than cows milk and when everything is high priced (minus the meat because that thing is suuure expensive?!) So I'm always trying to be eco-friendly too.

Injection/supplement is not long lasting for me. It's always going back and forth between pills and regular diet. But I don't like red meat so it's harder to dodge.

I'm not vegetarian, but I cut meat as often as possible throughout the week and try to eat red meat minimally. If I were able to find someone local, I would be less worried about any ethical qualms but that's not always possible for many people. (: