Trying to switch to vegan
vaani96
Posts: 72 Member
hello guys! I'm new to this group, so firstly hello 
second, I've been thinking about switching from vegetarian to vegan for a while. I've been vegetarian all my life, as has my family. However everyone loves their dairy and Indian food occasionally uses yogurt, clarified butter, and milk as ingredients. I don't get tempted otherwise or anything but how do I stay away from their food without completely excluding myself from it?
Thanks to everyone!
second, I've been thinking about switching from vegetarian to vegan for a while. I've been vegetarian all my life, as has my family. However everyone loves their dairy and Indian food occasionally uses yogurt, clarified butter, and milk as ingredients. I don't get tempted otherwise or anything but how do I stay away from their food without completely excluding myself from it?Thanks to everyone!
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Have you tried making vegan alternatives to the foods they make? If you show them what can be done with vegan ingredients they might try making more of it in the future!0
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Hi, new here and have been trying different vegan foods. Not much of a cook unless I have a recipe, and started to eat healthy and mostly looking for recipes for vegan food. Love tofurkey bacon and lunch meat and vegan pizza but having some difficulty replacing the bulk of meat like beef, pork. Any recommendations on cook books I can get?0
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I did that last weekend, they seemed to like it. The thing is, it's not something I think they'd want to always do because of tradition. While I'm home for the summer I told my mom I'm claiming our second refrigerator for myself and my foods though hahaJoeyFrappuccino wrote: »Have you tried making vegan alternatives to the foods they make? If you show them what can be done with vegan ingredients they might try making more of it in the future!
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I did that last weekend, they seemed to like it. The thing is, it's not something I think they'd want to always do because of tradition. While I'm home for the summer I told my mom I'm claiming our second refrigerator for myself and my foods though hahaJoeyFrappuccino wrote: »Have you tried making vegan alternatives to the foods they make? If you show them what can be done with vegan ingredients they might try making more of it in the future!
Haha, sorry to hear that! My family doesn't have many traditions with food so it hasn't really been a problem for me. Maybe try explaining how important it is to you and see if they'll make an exception for you on occasion? Other than that, are there any traditional foods they make that are just naturally vegan?0 -
Hi Vaani, welcome to the group! Changing ones diet can be difficult for families to accept. They raised you one way and don't understand why you feel that way is "not good enough". At least that has been my experience. I was raised eating meat and when I initially became vegan about 5 years ago, my family did not understand at all and seemed somewhat offended by it. I was not expecting them to take it so personally! Over the years they have become more excepting and now my mom is "mostly vegetarian" in her words. She has even started my "meat & potatoes" step-dad drinking almond milk because he feels bad for the baby cows. He hasn't graduated to feeling bad for adult cows yet, but fingers crossed for one day.
Maybe try supplementing Earth Balance for "clarified butter". I honestly don't know what "clarified butter" is, but Earth Balance makes an excellent substitute for regular dairy butter. I'm only familiar with some Indian dishes, but could you try substituting light coconut milk in for dairy milk in most recipes and see how they feel about the change? In my experience, slowly implementing these things and trying not to be judgmental of their resistance to the concept is the best way to go. Good luck to you with the change. Keep us updated!0 -
Thank you very much! I sure will, great ideas by the way. I'll definitely be trying themJalynRose1 wrote: »Hi Vaani, welcome to the group! Changing ones diet can be difficult for families to accept. They raised you one way and don't understand why you feel that way is "not good enough". At least that has been my experience. I was raised eating meat and when I initially became vegan about 5 years ago, my family did not understand at all and seemed somewhat offended by it. I was not expecting them to take it so personally! Over the years they have become more excepting and now my mom is "mostly vegetarian" in her words. She has even started my "meat & potatoes" step-dad drinking almond milk because he feels bad for the baby cows. He hasn't graduated to feeling bad for adult cows yet, but fingers crossed for one day.
Maybe try supplementing Earth Balance for "clarified butter". I honestly don't know what "clarified butter" is, but Earth Balance makes an excellent substitute for regular dairy butter. I'm only familiar with some Indian dishes, but could you try substituting light coconut milk in for dairy milk in most recipes and see how they feel about the change? In my experience, slowly implementing these things and trying not to be judgmental of their resistance to the concept is the best way to go. Good luck to you with the change. Keep us updated!
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A lot of Indian dishes are healthy and "vegan" I guess but it's mostly just oil and butter that causes me to eat very little of it. 90% of the people in the part of India my family is from are vegetarians so it's not too bad.JoeyFrappuccino wrote: »
I did that last weekend, they seemed to like it. The thing is, it's not something I think they'd want to always do because of tradition. While I'm home for the summer I told my mom I'm claiming our second refrigerator for myself and my foods though hahaJoeyFrappuccino wrote: »Have you tried making vegan alternatives to the foods they make? If you show them what can be done with vegan ingredients they might try making more of it in the future!
Haha, sorry to hear that! My family doesn't have many traditions with food so it hasn't really been a problem for me. Maybe try explaining how important it is to you and see if they'll make an exception for you on occasion? Other than that, are there any traditional foods they make that are just naturally vegan?
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Frostygirl2790 wrote: »Hi, new here and have been trying different vegan foods. Not much of a cook unless I have a recipe, and started to eat healthy and mostly looking for recipes for vegan food. Love tofurkey bacon and lunch meat and vegan pizza but having some difficulty replacing the bulk of meat like beef, pork. Any recommendations on cook books I can get?
Hi Frosty Girl,
A couple of my favorite vegan cookbooks are Appetite for Reduction by Isa Chandra Moskowitz, 30 Minute Vegan by Mark Reinfeld and Happy Herbivore by Lindsay Nixon. Also, Amazon has a list of best selling vegan cookbooks that you can find here! http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=best+vegan+cookbooks+ever0 -
Hi vaani96. I am a vegetarian trying to be vegan and a big fan of Indian food. I have tried many recipes from a cookbook by Anupy Singla called Vegan Indian Cooking and they have all been pretty good. She also has a website. I am not sure if she makes the style of Indian food that your family is used to but you might get some ideas for substituting the dairy products.
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Hi vaani96. I am a vegetarian trying to be vegan and a big fan of Indian food. I have tried many recipes from a cookbook by Anupy Singla called Vegan Indian Cooking and they have all been pretty good. She also has a website. I am not sure if she makes the style of Indian food that your family is used to but you might get some ideas for substituting the dairy products.
Perfect, I'll check it out! Thanks so much!
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