On The Verge of Tears

Yeah, the vegetarian thing is one thing.  People always ask vegetarians what they eat, especially for protein.  Never seemed to have a problem with that.  Americans seem to be protein obsessed.  Vegetarianism isn’t so extreme.  Plenty of animals in our world are vegetarian.  Sure, I guess I’m still an omnivore because I’m capable of eating plants and animals.  It’s just not really necessary for the human animal to consume large amounts of protein mostly because when I’m hungry, I open my fridge instead of running a few miles across the plains to hunt down some prey to feed my family to survive.

Veganism is pretty tough, though.  It’s hard to find a lot of things you’d consider safe that don’t also contain some form of animal product:  milk, casein, gelatin, butter, fat, chicken lard and flavoring, beef flavoring, whey, etc.  Milk and it’s products can be some pretty nasty stuff.  Adults aren’t even really supposed to drink milk at all if you simply look at the animal kingdom.  Let alone the milk and dairy products on the shelves at your store, which are loaded with hormones, steroids, antibiotics and all kinds of garbage.  Not only are a staggeringly huge percentage of people lactose intolerant to some degree, milk can actually cause osteoporosis.  There are other ways of getting calcium and vitamin D, and milk might be one of the worst.

If you go for a raw diet, then it’s pretty straight forward.  Nuts, fruits and veggies, legumes.  But, Monika and I like to have some good old American-type food, too.  For the 4th of July, we’d still like to have hamburgers and hot-dogs, baked beans, chips and dips, and the like.

Here’s what a vegan can buy at Whole Foods for $192.78.  None of this food contains any animal products, though I will admit, some of them are a bit over-processed, and not as healthy as one would ideally like in a perfect world.

Whole Foods can be expensive, but you can’t be their variety. You still have to search for the vegan stuff, and reading labels carefully has been a habit of ours for years, but certain brands you can pretty much trust. A lot of Whole Foods 365 Brand products carry small icons to tell you whether or not the products are vegetarian, vegan, or gluten-free. I really wish this was a national standard. That, along with non-GMO, Organic, Kosher and Local labels. It’ll never happen until this country demands it. Don’t see that happening any time soon.

Of course, We’re huge fans of the bulk foods section. Great deals on loose ingredients. Lentils, TVP, Nutritional Yeast, Beans, Rices, Teas, Grains.

This is the processed stuff. So, if you’ve ever wondered what a Vegan eats, this is it. At least, this Vegan.  All those containers in the front are vegan yogurt, and on the left is some bulk lentils and wild rice.  Tofurky and Field Roast sausages and meat loaf.  Sprouted whole grain bagels…

Oh yeah, and some veggies thrown into the mix. Celery, peppers, broccoli, carrots, snap peas, cauliflower, onions and organic spring mix and spinach.  We still get a weekly box from Suburban Organics, and now that it’s Summer, we switched over to all fruit. Most of the veggies, like tomatoes and peppers and zucchini, we grow ourselves this time of year…

Vegan burgers, re-fried beans, chicken strips, burgers…

waffles, tofu, more burgers, sauerkraut…

hot-dogs, shredded cheeses, breakfast sausages…

vegan sour cream, cream cheese, lunch meat, sliced cheese, meatballs, waffles, Parmesan cheese, ribs…

Yeah, that’s not all of it, just what we shopped for on the 4th.  We have a ton of other things we eat, and I guess I can post pictures of our panty to prove it.  Plenty of pastas (whole wheat of course), potato products, anti-pastas, breads, crackers, and all kinds of other meat substitutes.  But, when people ask us what we eat because we’re vegans, I usually say, “the same stuff you do, just vegan versions.”  July 4th isn’t the same without burgers, hot-dogs, corn and all the other American foods that we all love.