Meat by Vegetable

So it's been a few weeks, one week to go. By far the most daunting obstacle presented by veganism is the common hangover. Most hangovers require protein to cure. Buttery, cheesy, meaty protein. Oh, how I've pined. Beans and potatoes are a ready enough substitutes, but lack a certain punch. Maybe it's just that this experiment has an expiration date that makes me dwell on such solutions as superior, maybe not.



I have found love for a few vegan specialties; vegan butter is barely distinguishable from its counterpart, and vegan mayo is roughly the same. Admittedly, I don't use mayo often, so if that is your condiment of choice you may notice but I don't. Vegan cream cheese is ok in consistency and texture, but it is less tangy than real cream cheese, a mild minus. I also have grown fond of vegan staples like seitan and tempeh. Seitan is a wheat gluten based protein that walks and talks like the real deal especially in soups, stir-frys, and rice dishes. It's easily seasonable but has soy sauce in it so it's noticeably salty to begin with. Tempeh is a little more difficult to describe. It's a bean based protein that usually comes in a brick. It's very firm and kind of curd-y. I ate this with rice and didn't like it. I put it over a salad and loved it. I also hear that it's good for making faux BLTS (called VLTS) but I have not tried that yet. There is also a lot to be said for the Smart "Meat" or Simply "meat" products. I can't tell you exactly what they're called because I've eaten them all. These guys really know what they're doing. I like their (not) dogs and their "sausage" and "ground beef" products and used them before this experiment to make vegetarian tacos and so on. Texture and taste is great for not being actual meat. I do think the irony of vegetarian products making things that taste like meat for non-meat eaters is ironic and amusing, but you can't beat that it cuts down on cholesterol and other assorted yada yada known for being in most meat.

Some things I've found surprising, however, is that this "diet" has done almost nothing to clear my skin. I've attributed past problems with this to eating lots of cheese and meat which turns up on my skin. Turns out this is not true, sorry Grandma, but it has entirely cured the problems I was having with my guts. I haven't had a stomach ache all month. At this point I would recommend veganism to anyone suffering from food related allergies (except wheat and soy), stomach problems, and people looking to in a sense "clear out their system" after the heavy eating holiday season ect.