rolling veggie swag 2011: veg[etari]ans unite and cook the tastiest food imaginable (omnis u shd get in on this, too)

I mean we are talking less "Will and Grace" and more, idk, "Beverly Hills Cop" iykwim

I hope you guys find it as lol as I do that this list of "The Religious Affiliation of the 100 Greatest Rock Musicians" has both Robin Gibb and Thom Yorke's religions as "vegan." It just made me think they were v stupid abt "what is a religion."

or maybe you find this lol mostly sad

i think part of the problem is that, as with other "out groups", there's maybe a schism/spectrum within the vegan community as to how veganism ought to be characterized? like some ppl are "i'm vegan and i don't care if you're not, just let me do my thang" and other ppl are "i will not rest until these jags stop murdering animals and polluting the g-d planet." an amiable iteration of the former might tolerate some light jokes (cf azn/gay/jew jokes within some social circles) and an irascible iteration of the latter won't tolerate that shit, even in the mildest sense, and even if it means alienating some peeps.

in scott pilgrim, i sorta got the impression that the vegan police was a joke being made by someone who knew and liked, and respected, vegans, and who probably got a 'heh' from his vegan pals. maybe?

i'm just kinda playing devil's advocate here, but i think that the argument for "funny" stereotypes of vegans (or any out group) is that being self-deprecating is a way of getting a place at the table. its....gross? but it's also got a hell of a track record. can't beat 'em, make 'em laugh. now, obv, i'm guessing that the dude that wrote pilgrim is NOT a vegan, but i'd wager that he has vegan friends who weren't really that bothered by the characterization? nb i have no real reason to believe that other than the fact that a lot of people have vegan friends....which is a pretty recent development!

xp Hahahaha okay yes that is p lol. I mean, there are obviously a lot of facets of religion that apply to veganism but I mean it is really fucking stupid to actually list it on a page of other religions.

The first Scott Pilgrim book had four or five pages devoted to a recipe/how-to-make guide of vegan shepherd's pie.

OTOH the vegan powers guy did come off as a dick. I haven't seen the movie.

No no, I mean, I am a huge fan of self-deprecation and love a good clever joke, but I mean there is a diff btwn Q: What is the hardest part abt rollerblading? A: telling yr parents yr gay (way lol!) and Q: What do you call a gay man in a wheelchair? A: Rol-AIDS (not lol at all). I mean that is a very hyperbolic example (vegan police is totally not an AIDS joke), but I kind of got the feel that it was totally mocking but not at all in a loving/respectful way.

I mean maybe it is just poking fun at the haughty, self-absorbed vegans (which I mean let's be real, there are several of) but if it did it wasn't made very clear. I mean, I was reading one vegan cookbook that was listing all these suggestions of replacements of common phrases that involved animals in any form, like "Instead of saying 'Don't count all your chickens before they hatch', say 'Don't weigh all your tofu before it's coagulated!" or some ridiculous shit and it was like "okay lady you are the reason people won't take us seriously.

IDK perhaps I am totally contradicting myself here.

:O
I have been weighing my tofu all wrong

i just skimmed some interview with the dude that played the vegan and in response to a 'response of the vegan community' q he was all "well he DOES have superpowers etc. i'm guessing they all have a pretty good sense of humor."

i dunno. i guess my own personal reaction is that, generally speaking, letting some stereotypes slide is pretty ok, you just gotta know where to draw the line in the sand. and (not a vegan, mind!) i guess that i wouldn't see a comical superhero in a teenager's movie packed with light and generally affectionate stereotypes as a line-drawing situation. also there is the fact that vegans, though maybe not mainstream and not taken seriously, are not like some repressed group or anything?

xp ok yeah, those two jokes are along the lines of what i was thinking. first: pretty hilarious imo! second: despicable! but vegans dont get beaten up and denied civil rights, you know? i feel really strongly about cycling and car culture and so on, but if someone put a self-righteous cyclist in a movie (its bound to happen) i would either laugh if it was artfully done, or just http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_leftkrHJkw1qf8yek.gif if it wasn't.

god its vandermeme again

I mean maybe it is just poking fun at the haughty, self-absorbed vegans (which I mean let's be real, there are several of) but if it did it wasn't made very clear. I mean, I was reading one vegan cookbook that was listing all these suggestions of replacements of common phrases that involved animals in any form, like "Instead of saying 'Don't count all your chickens before they hatch', say 'Don't weigh all your tofu before it's coagulated!" or some ridiculous shit and it was like "okay lady you are the reason people won't take us seriously.

this is really, honestly, how i read it. like i <3 vegans and still try to be as veggie as possible (i am weak), but then i run into a dumpster diving gutterpunk scornful of the wool sweater i got at a thrift store and its like dude?

I get what you're saying Stevie D, it's probably that the most extreme forms of a movement are also the lowest hanging fruit w/r/t joeks and also tend to metonymize the whole process...it's just how it "works"

basically that, yeah

my beef is with ppl who bring up the vegan thing and then get all defensive: obv i am not vegan - not even vegetarian, strictly speaking - but my husband is, and he NEVER talks about it, brings up the topic or ANYTHING around ANYONE, but if someone is trying to push something on him like a burger or whatever, he'll say 'um no thanks i'm vegan'. and that's it. he never proselytizes. BUT some ppl just automatically go on the defensive, and their rhetoric always has this core of like WHY ARE YOU TRYING TO MAKE ME VEGAN. it drives me crazy. although tbh he works in a fairly 'macho' workplace/industry so he deals with it more than the average vegan probably does.

i mean, he's been at this place 3.5 years and STILL gets pretty insulting 'jokes' about veganism on the reg. not funny, friendly jokes either - just plain mean/condescending/repetitive stuff.

dyao pretty otm there. I mean it's not just SPvTW, it's all these other things I've seen over and over and I'm not even megainfuriated or anything, I'm just like *SIGH* "here we go again"

not sure if my post is clear - should really say 'my beef is with MEATEATERS who bring up the vegan thing and then get all defensive'.

OMG that hyperdefensive shit drives me nuts! I am p much the same way, and even when people offer me food I'll politely decline and won't actually so "no thanks, I'm vegan" unless they are really naggy abt it. Also, I could be projecting other things onto this, I really don't know. But "queer" and "vegan" both have this antimasculine/"lesser" otherness thing and I'm so batshit frustrated with gender roles/heteronomrativity/all of this in the first place that I could just be angry abt that a little bit too. I don't know. I should maybe get some sleep and try to think abt this in the morning.

Instead of saying "my beef with meateaters", try using "my soy-protein with Satan's children" instead

lololololol

never change

I misread that as "my soy-protein with Santa's children" and as you can imagine I was rather confused.

lol steve <3

and yes the 'vegan as less masculine' thing is so true - EVERY time we eat out, the waiter/waitress will put the vegan dish down in front of me. every time.

(it is this book, btw http://books.google.com/books?id=JM7vMXwpFM8C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_atb#v=onepage&q&f=false they are at the bottom of the page every few pages)

omg justine are you fucking kidding me? that would piss me off on all kinds of different levels

ok wow that is amazing. the setting down thing I mean. and aside from being offensive and presumptuous, it's just bad service---you cant remember who ordered what?? ffs

i know!!! i think it actually bothers me more than it bothers jordan - he's so used to the whole deal that it's mostly water off a duck's back for him, where as i tend to get more worked up. i think that even when it's written on the docket which of us is having what, the server just ~assumes~ it must be wrong, bc my husband is a big manly-looking dude, so obv he is NOT vegan.

this restaurant in Oberlin, OH, used to make amazing "veal" scallopini that made me want to die of love every time i ate there. finally, when i was already done with school, i asked the chef, and...well, it's just well-marinated compressed tofu. i was actually kind of shocked.

i eat meat all the time (yeah yeah i know the sinner in me) but as someone who was vegan/veggie for so long, i am so down with this thread.

I could see compressed v firm tofu being tasty like that if soaked in like, soy sauces or some tasty stock/spices.

yeah, it was soaked in rosemary, thyme, soy sauce, and some other things i can't remember. what was amazing about it is that it actually tasted like veal. i know, gross that i know that, but still: it tasted exactly like veal, even had the same texture. so.

even when people offer me food I'll politely decline and won't actually so "no thanks, I'm vegan"

This is me exactly, except right after being all tactful and discreet about it, one of my kids will inevitably be right in their face enthusiastically shouting "NO, MY DAD IS A VEGAN!"

omg vegans are the worst

lol joke

:|

and yes the 'vegan as less masculine' thing is so true - EVERY time we eat out, the waiter/waitress will put the vegan dish down in front of me. every time.

― just1n3, Monday, January 10, 2011 10:01 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

hah! this routinely happens to a grad school colleague of mine (her bf's vegan, she isn't)

also i thought gbx recently posted a veggie chili recipe that looked amazing on some thread and i thought it was here but i guess no?

old one

it was p damn good, btw.

xp:

To get a more "flesh-like" texture from tofu, toss it in the freezer. The expanding ice crystals force the soy protein network into a more filamentous arrangement. Pulled plant protein like seitan are better for meat substitutes, but you can get reasonably close.

I'm presently applying an unused scientific education towards the question of whether freezing before pressing and then marinating, or freezing after pressing but before marination, yields better results.

xp:

Impotence, formerly thought to be a primarily psychological disorder, is increasingly understood as just a matter of bad fats clogging arteries (via atherosclerosis) and the nitric oxide signaling pathway (which Viagra and the other ED drugs sorta address). Both etiologies are less likely with a thoughtful vegan diet.

Who's more manly now, limpdicks?

Sorry, I am supplementing my vegan diet with vegan Malbec. I prefer it to vegan Cab.

I just know that when I freeze and don't press it turns way too porous and spongey for my liking. So wait, your dilemma is "freeze/thaw > press > marinate" vs. "press > freeze/thaw > marinate"? Have you done either yet?

Steve D:

Yes. I expect a slight difference, at best. The ideal (in emulating muscle tissue) is to align the protein strands, but tofu is just a precipitate of semi-globular proteins from solution. With gluten, there is a succession of kneading operations that both stretch the protein strands and make them align to nearby ones, yielding a fibrous/aligned matrix, even before the subsequently dried mass is powdered and sold as vital wheat gluten.

I'm mildly gluten intolerant as the genetic data suggest most may be: the day after eating gluten based steamed vegan sausages my eye whites are red with irritation. Its not due to blood pressure elevation (I've checked). So I'd like to improve upon my gluten-free meat substitute repertoire.

Before your post, I was about to post this:

There isn't a large literature on female erectile dysfunction, but the internal tissues of the clitoris are homologous to corpus spongisum of the penis. Yes, the geometry kinda proves the non-existence of intelligent design here. But it seems reasonable to assume a low saturated fat diet is useful for the womenfolk in matters of sexual function as well.

Signing off before I really embarass myself.

Oh shit. I've confused the conversational content of several open windows. Be back tomorrow.

Sanpaku how do things like Tofurky roast work? I mean the ingredients seem to imply some sort of mixture of tofu and wheat gluten; do you just knead the two together??

2011 thread has everything... science, testimonials, damn

I need a tried n true mulligatawny recipe, please!

If you are around the Ann Arbor/southeast Michigan area and want to treat yourself, seek her out:

http://www.cakesbyrubina.com/VegansCake.htm

The raspberry chocolate cake is the best I have ever had, vegan or dairy.

Also, Gardein OTM.

ottolenghi's plenty is sick

attn steve: cooked the following recipe from tal ronnen's book today. thought it tasted 'good' but wasn't really suitable as entire meal.

quarter and slice 2 onions
halve and slice 2 fennel bulbs
saute in 3 tbsp of evoo for 4 mins

add 4 cloves crushed garlic
28 oz can of whole peeled san marzano tomatoes (drained)
a bunch of roughly chopped swiss chard
1/2 c white wine
1/2 veg stock
cook 5mins

add olives (some kind of green olives, roughly chopped, can't remember what kind, i left them out)
juice of one lemon
cook 3-5mins till olives are tender

fold in 1 tbsp of minced tarragon (i used dill bc i couldn't find tarragon in 2 separate supermarkets)
and 1 tbsp of minced parsley
and 1 tbsp of minced thyme (i used lemon thyme)
and 1 packet of whole wheat pasta (cooked, obv)