3rd Veganniversary

As a vegan, you have to be happy every day that you're alive, because, as everybody knows, it's no way possible to survive at all on a vegan diet. No proteins and such, you know. So, every year that you survive has to be celebrated! Manuel's veganniversary is in January, but we celebrated a bit later. Pictures are not too good, because he was late from the airport and we were terribly hungry ;-)

First: Tofu fish sticks (the german recipe can be found here) with a bit of salad (carrots & apple) and remoulade (vegan mayonnaise I won at the Paris Vegan Day with cucumber and herbs).

Second: Mac & Cheese with alibi green stuff (spinach). Still have sauerkraut left over!

Third: Little layer cake with vanilla pudding and blueberries. The dough I made as in this recipe, the pudding as described here, without the chocolate, but with vanilla soy milk and some extra vanilla. The blueberries I found somewhere in my freezer...

The vegan girl's guide to life

At the Paris Vegan Day, I was lucky and got the very last copy of Melisser Elliott's book, The vegan girl's guide to life. I wanted to read in it over the holidays, but I had too much luggage and the book stayed behind. In the last days, I found some time to read.

When I looked at it at the PVD, I was instantly convinced that I needed this book. It really is the vegan girl's guide to everything - veganism, animal rights, cooking, where to buy what, and many more cute tips what you can do, including sewing, stitching, gardening, and other DIY tips. The book looks very cute, and the writing is entertaining and informative. Throughout the book, there are pages with interviews of vegans, bloggers, crafters, food artists. Definitely a must-have for a vegan girl! (I don't see a reason, however, why it should be restricted to girls... ok, most men don't use make-up, but apart from that...)

There are tons of tips that are, of course, useful mostly if you live in the US. But if I go there again, I will be prepared!

There was only one part that did not convince me: the chapter about nutrition, written by a guest author, who is a clinical nutritionist. For a vegan, there are not many news in this chapter, and that is ok, but in the light of a girl thinking about becoming vegan, I think it could have been written in a more, well, positive and "vegan is not unnatural" way. For example, it does not mention that B12 is synthesized by bacteria; only that we usually get it from animal products, as if the animals produced it. The text also mentions that omega-3 fatty acids are found in fish and algae, but not that they are found in such a high concentration in fish only because they eat these algae.

Today, it was time for the final test: Cooking a recipe from the book. As there is a paragraph entitled "Attention, tempeh haters!" I thought it would be a good occasion to give this weird soybean stuff a second chance. My first trial, about two years ago, was disastrous. Therefore I chose "Brussel sprouts with crispy tempeh over soft polenta". It was easy, it was quick, and it was very tasty! (I did not have "liquid smoke" (wtf?), and used a pinch of gyros seasoning instead...) Thank you, Melisser, you have successfully healed my tempeh aversion!

True Norwegian Black Chili

Ein unglaublich gutes Rezept von den weltbesten Norwegern, die wir in Paris kennengelernt haben. Jedes Mal, wenn wir es machen, denken wir an sie und sind glücklich. Für 3-4 Personen.

This is an incredibly good recipe from the most wonderful norwegians that we met in Paris. Each time we make it, we think of them and are happy. Serves 3-4.

Zubereitungszeit: 1 Stunde

Preparation time: 1 hour
Suggested Music: Watch the documentary "True norwegian black metal" by VBS.tv

Zutaten:

Man muss sich hier nicht exakt an die Mengenangaben halten, und es ist nicht tragisch, wenn das ein oder andere Gewürz fehlt. 

• 1 EL Olivenöl
• 3 Zwiebeln, fein gewürfelt
• 2 Dosen gestückelte Tomaten
• 150 mL Rotwein
• Saft einer halben Zitrone
• 1 EL frischer Dill, gehackt 
• 1 EL frische Petersilie, gehackt
• 1 Dose rote Kidneybohnen
• 1 Dose kleine weiße Bohnen (oder sonstige Bohnen)
• 150 g Cashews, gesalzen oder nicht ist egal
• 100 g Sojagranulat
• 1/2 EL gemahlener schwarzer Pfeffer
• 175 g Tomatenmark
• 2 Knoblauchzehen, fein gehackt
• 2 TL gemahlener Kreuzkümmel
• 1 TL Chili (das ist abhängig vom verwendeten Chili!!)
• 1 EL Senf
• Salz nach Geschmack
• 1/2 EL getrockneter Basilikum
• 1/2 EL getrockneter Oregano
• 1 kleines Glas/Dose schwarze Oliven (am besten ohne Stein)
• 20 g dunkle oder Zartbitter-Schokolade
• 1 TL Zimt

Ingredients:

Feel free to mix the ingredients freehand, and don't worry if you're missing any of the herbs or only have dried ones, etc. It will work out fine.

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 onions, finely chopped
• 2 cans chopped tomatoes
• 150 mL red wine
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill 
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
• 1 can red kidney beans
• 1 can small white beans (or mix any other beans in that you like)
• 150 g cashews, salted or not
• 100 g granulated soy (Sojagranulat)
• 1/2 tablespoon ground black pepper
• 175 g tomato purée
• 2 cloves finely chopped garlic
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon chili flakes (depending on your chili!)
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• sea salt to taste
• 1/2 tablespoon dried basil
• 1/2 tablespoon dried oregano
• 1 small can black olives
• 20 g dark or semi-dark chocolate
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Zubereitung:
What to do:

In einem großen Topf (notfalls zwei nehmen) das Olivenöl erhitzen. Die Zwiebeln darin dünsten, bis sie weich und leicht durchsichtig sind.

In a very large saucepan or pot (use two, if in doubt), heat the olive oil. Sauté the onions until tender and transparent.

Tomaten, Rotwein, Zitronensaft, Dill, Petersilie und Bohnen dazugeben. Durchrühren und fünf Minuten köcheln lassen.

Add tomatoes, red wine, lemon juice, dill, parsley, and beans. Stir well and simmer uncovered for 5 minutes.

Cashews und Sojagranulat hinzugeben, außerdem Pfeffer, Tomatenmark, Knoblauch, Kreuzkümmel, Chili, Senf, Salz, Basilikum und Oregano.

Add cashews and granulated soy, followed by pepper, tomato purée, garlic, cumin, chili powder, mustard, salt, basil, and oregano.

Schließlich Oliven, Schokolade und Zimt hinzugeben. 20-30 Minuten köcheln lassen.

Add the olives, chocolate and cinnamon. Let simmer for 20-30 minutes.

Kann so serviert werden, mit etwas Brot. Wenn vorhanden, sind gewürfelte oder mit der Gabel zerdrückte Avocados extrem lecker.

You can serve it as it is, with a little bread. If available, diced or mashed avocados are very delicious.

Sojade & Sojasun and the bacteria problem

No recipe and pictures today, but the results from a "is it really vegan?" inquiry.

In France, you can find the soy yoghurt from Sojasun in basically every supermarket, the ones from Sojade in the organic stores. Soy yoghurt is made in the same way as milk-based yoghurt: Take (soy) milk and add some special bacteria (lactobacillales). They will transform your milk into yoghurt. These bacteria need to feed, and they obviously like milk. The original source of those bacteria will usually always come from colonies that have grown on milk-based culture medium. The question is now if the companies producing soy yoghurt are still cultivating their bacteria on milk-based media (or use other animal ingredients), or if they use plant-based culture media. If they use culture media with non-vegan ingredients, their product is, by definition, also not vegan. They can still claim that their product is vegetable, so this problem is not solved by reading the list of ingredients.

The two lovely vegans at a german blog named Laubfresser posted lately that they tried to get an answer from Sojade (which is also sold in german organic stores) if Sojade is really vegan, e.g. if the bacteria are cultured on a plant-based medium or not. Here is the entry (german). The result was that there was no result. Sojade says that this information is confidential. Which is sad, because we have to consider Sojade non-vegan now. As Sojade is french, I thought that this might be a communication problem and wrote an email to Sojade in french.

Using french did not help. I received the exact same "standard" answer from Sojade as the german one, only in french, explaining what bacteria are, how they make soy yoghurt have a nice texture, and that they were good for your digestion. I answered that email, explaining that this was all very nice, but that I wanted to know about what the bacteria eat, similar to what I explained above. At this stage, I also wrote an email to Sojasun. Now I received an answer, and learned at least one useful thing: Sojade and Sojasun belong together. Sojasun is the brand sold in the supermarket, and Sojade in the organic stores. The information about the culture media, however, remains confidential.

I hope that Sojade/Sojasun will think about this again. Luckily, there are companies that have no problem to declare that they grow their bacteria on vegetable media, for example Alpro Soja/Provamel and Le Sojami.

EDIT (September 2012): Finally, finally! They are declaring now that they cultivate their bacteria on vegetable medium. So Sojasun/Sojade is vegan, hurray! Read on here at the website of Tübingen Vegan.

The soy of it all

Soy is amazing. Soy is the multifunctional holy grail of veganism. Soy milk, tofu, mockmeat - all easy and great, and wonderful bases for thousands of dishes. As often, however, the simplest things are the best: Edamame!

Edamame are young soy beans in their pod. You buy them frozen in an asia store, toss them in boiling water for only a few minutes, drain them and add some salt. Then you can eat them as an appetizer, plopping the edible beans out of the (uneatable) pods. Incredibly yummy! And, strangely, not very common, at least in Germany. Therefore, we mention it here. You can cook other things as well with edamame, but so far we did not manage not to eat them right away.

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Suggested music: Alcest - Écailles De Lune (which has absolutely nothing to do with edamame, but was recommended to my while I was writing this little text by my best music recommendation source :-) - youtube)