Vegans for Dinner - What to Do!

Vegans for Dinner – What to Do!

Vegans for Dinner – What to Do! Everyone has a vegan friend, at least one I hope. Do you want to have your vegan friends over for dinner and you just are not sure what to feed them? No worries, I’ve got you covered! Believe me, everything you can make, I can make vegan. It is possible!

There is soooooo much information online that can be really helpful if you’re struggling with what to feed your vegan friends. All you gotta do is open up any search engine and type in “what do vegans eat?” or “vegan recipes” You will get a million hits. Or vegan substitutions for….its that easy.

The truth of the matter is that we eat just what you do! Let’s see, so you eat veggies, fruit, pizza, pasta, stews, chilli, stir fry, toast, grains, rice, soups, sandwiches, casseroles, desserts, ice cream, salads? Well vegans do too! The only difference is we use different ingredients to make the same thing and the really good news is no being was harmed in the making. I love that part.

Ok let’s have a look at some ideas of what you could feed your vegan friends…..

Vegans for Dinner – What to Do!

Vegans for dinner can be really stressful for non vegans. I’m not sure why, it just is.

I’ve been vegan for going on 10 years and I have experienced this many times. What I am also experiencing is how this is rapidly changing. Vegan is becoming more mainstream everyday or that’s what I keep telling myself. I remember a few years ago my beautiful friend Brenda told me I was the only vegan she knew, I was shocked and once my server at a restaurant told me he had never served a vegan before. That was a bit shocking for sure.

In my world, my husband and my daughter are vegan, many of my family eat a more plant based lifestyle even if they are not vegan. I gotta say it’s the best decision I ever made in my life….about food anyway.

Let’s get busy with some ideas so that you will feel comfortable inviting your vegan friends for dinner.

Check out the internet

Really its all there online. Anything you would want to know about being vegan, what vegans eat, substitutions, tons and tons of recipes and ideas. . Soooo many amazing vegan dishes and ideas about what vegan eat or how to veganize a dish. Start with whatever you like to make and eat and then look up how to make a vegan version of your favourite recipe. A couple website favourites are:

Vegan on the Go! http://www.veganonthego.net/

One Green Planet https://www.onegreenplanet.org/

Forks over Knifes https://www.forksoverknives.com/

Ingredient Substitutions

The cool thing that is happening now is that there are so many options to sub out a non vegan ingredient with a vegan friendly ingredients. Again if you are not sure, just Google it! I got 2,900,020 hits when I put “Vegan Substitutions” in the search engine. Soooo much info online.

We now have vegan margarine, New Balance and Becel both have excellent options). For cheese the list of options is growing every day, there is Daiya (great for Pizza) and I even found Daiya in Honduras of all places. Tofutti brand has an amazing sour cream and cream cheese that I dare you to tell the difference. Fieldroast has Chao cheese which is a favourite of ours as well as many other brands including Miyko. I even make my own cheese with seeds, nuts etc. Its delicious

Eggs – there are so many options here, the chia egg or flax egg are easy to do. Grind up a tablespoon of Chia or Flaxseed in your coffee grinder and add to one tablespoon of water, stir, wait five minutes and you have the equivalent of one egg. Or you can by egg replacer in a box from your local store or health food store. Follow Your Heart brand had a vegan egg substitute that is amazing and comes in a cool egg look alike carton.

PeTA provides an amazing free guide for substitutions for eggs check here https://www.peta.org/living/food/vegan-egg-replacer-guide/

Meat substitutes

The world of vegan meat substitutes has opened up over the past few years with one of the most famous being the Beyond Meat burger that A&W has just introduced on the menu! Yes, folks things are changing.

Now I am not a huge fan of mock meats only for the reason I believe a whole food vegan non-processed diet is healthiest. With that being said, fake meats are wonderful transition foods and are very palatable to vegans and non-vegans alike.

Some of the best brands out there in your average grocery store include Gardein (they rock the mock meats), Beyond Meat, Yves to name a few. I haven’t had the opportunity to try yet in Canada the Linda McCartney brand seems well loved too.

Plantbased butcher shops or online vegan supply shops ….a wonderful place to get ideas and substitutions for transitioning dishes to be vegan friendly. Check out a couple of my favourites

Vegan Supply – these guys ship right across Canada and have a lot of variety https://vegansupply.ca/

The Very Good Butcher https://www.verygoodbutchers.com/

Yam Chops – I tasted their tacos made with Jackfruit, OMG! https://yamchops.com/

Tofu can be very versatile and a great meat substitute. My lovely friend Mel made homemade butter chicken and made the sauce vegan by subbing a couple ingredients. Then she took the yummy sauce and put it in two pots, in one she added chicken and in the other, she added tofu, brilliantly delicious.

Protein Alternatives

Ok let’s be clear, protein is everywhere. The fact is the largest animals in the world including the hippopotamus, elephant and gorilla are all vegan. Animals get their protein from plants, we then eat them and are in truth getting our protein second hand. Most people are in fact eating too much protein, ask your Dr. how many people they have treated for protein deficiency.

The strongest man in the world is vegan. If you don’t believe me watch the new movie The Game Changers – you will be surprised at least a couple times! http://gamechangersmovie.com/

Rest assured, your vegan friends are getting lots of protein from veggies, seeds, nuts, whole grains….add any of these to a meal and we are happy. Here is a short list of high protein foods: chickpeas, lentils, beans, nuts, hemp hearts, chia, quinoa, peas, veggies, nutritional yeast, edamame, tofu, tempeh…..according to Dr. Neal Barnard the only supplements most vegans would need would be B12 and D….just like the majority of the non vegan population. He suggests that a whole food plant based diet can provide everything you need for optimal health. Check out the science at two sites:

Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine https://www.pcrm.org/

Nutritional Facts – Dr Michael Gregor https://nutritionfacts.org/

Learn to enjoy reading labels

If you choose to eat process foods, vegan or not vegan, we all need to read the labels. The best food, is whole food, that has no label and only one ingredient. If you can, organic and fresh is always best. If choose processed, which we all do sometimes, read the labels to see what is really in it.

Because our daughter choose vegetarian at the age of 10 and vegan at the age of 15, very early on we learned to meticulously read labels. Our daughter was vegan first so we had to be sure all of our ingredients were vegan friendly. The most common thing that they put in processed food is eggs, cheese, milk, casein (non vegan), honey (some vegans don’t eat honey) and fish sauce. If it says may contain we will eat, that usually means its produced in an environment where those things are present and they cannot guarantee 100% that there is no cross contamination.

If unsure, stick to whole foods and basically nothing that comes from an animal, you will be safe and your friends will be so grateful.

Ask Your Vegan Friends for Help!

Let them know what you are thinking of serving for dinner and they will be able to help you understand what they can eat. Maybe they can bring some fake meat to throw on the BBQ or a couple ingredients that you might not have. Maybe they can bring their favourite vegan dish or dessert to share. Just ask. We are willing and able to help.

Go out!

If all else fails and you just can’t do it….find a vegan friendly restaurant in your area. Vegans can usually find something vegan at most ethnic restaurants like Thai, Indian, Japanese, Fusion. More and more pizza places have vegan cheese now, things are rapidly changing out there.

Of course, if you have a vegan or raw vegan restaurant and you are willing to go along, you might just be pleasantly surprised. Check out vegan restaurants in your area.

Google, Trip Advisor, Happy Cow and Zomato all have vegan friendly listings. Once I find one that looks interesting check the menu, if may or may not be vegan friendly. A good tip is if the restaurant has real trained chefs, if you call ahead they can probably make a vegan friendly dish for your friends, they usually enjoy the challenge. Just remember to be sure they know you have a vegan in your party.

Here are a few more ideas that you might consider for when you have Vegans for Dinner!

That’s it, I know you can do it, they will love you, take a chance...hey you never know, you might just find out you like vegan food too!