Vegan Sammiches: At Last!

The IC and I went to Great Sage for lunch yesterday, and the IC had their vegan club sandwich, which is a big favorite of his. Here is a picture of yesterday's lunch:

As you can see, this sammie has lettuce, tomato, Vegenaise, and some sort of bacon and turkey substitute. Simple. So today we replicated this sandwich in hoagie form, with positive results!

Here's what we used:

One Italian roll
Tofurky slices (oven roasted style)
Vegenaise
Several slices of Smart Bacon
Fresh herb salad
Sliced plum tomatoes

I toasted the Italian roll, smeared it liberally with Vegenaise, cooked up the Smart Bacon and sammiched it all up together. The light in my kitchen isn't as lovely as that at Great Sage, but still:





That's a pretty good-lookin' sandwich. The IC reported that it was delicious, and when I asked what could take it to the next level (avocado slices? pesto mayo?), he insisted that it was already at a very high level. So there!

Next Sandwich Challenge: One World Cafe in Baltimore has a delicious-looking vegan Reuben going on.

A Vegan "Chicken" Breakthrough?

I don't really mind eating tofu and tempeh and stuff that doesn't taste like chicken or meat. But here's an article in Time about a new mock-chicken product that (according to the article) really really does taste like chicken. I think this bit:

Before an animal is killed, its flesh essentially marinates, for all the years that the animal lives, in the rich biological stew that we call blood: a fecund bath of oxygen, hormones, sugars and plasma.

pretty much sums up why I'm OK eating something that tastes like beans (they've been marinating in chlorophyll and sunshine!) or pretty much anything else that hasn't had "the benefit of sloshing around in something so complex as blood before (it goes) onto your plate."

If you've been waiting for the next major mock-meat breakthrough...it appears your wait is over!

Scott Jurek

The NY Times has a little article about vegan ultramarathoner Scott Jurek: check it out here. The article is titled "Diet and Exercise to the Extremes," and I like that the "extreme" part of his diet isn't that it's vegan. It's that it consists of, like, a bajillion calories per day.

The exercise is pretty extreme, though.

Mercy for Animals - Dairy Farm Investigation

The latest Mercy For Animals Dairy Investigation: results and responses are here, on the MFA blog.

I sometimes wonder about the way celebrities are always highlighted by the animal rights movement. I mean, I'm pretty sure Alec Baldwin isn't vegan - OK, I don't know, maybe he is, but isn't there something kind of...carnivorous about him? But he frequently speaks out for organizations like MFA and that's fine...I'm glad he's lending some of his fame in that direction. I just don't know how persuasive he can be if he speaks out against animal abuse and all that, if he's also simultaneously contributing to the problem (by buying & eating meat...if he is, indeed, doing so). But whatever, whether you care that Alec Baldwin has spoken out in favor of their campaign or not, it is a troubling, thought-provoking investigation and you can check it out on their blog.

World's Laziest Vegan Superhero

OK, So I never got around to posting about the vegan sandwiches. I've been busy, and most of my cooking has been re-hashing old territory. But I did recently re-vamp my Red Velvet Cake recipe with a transcendant frosting that is worth talking about. So, I will work on translating that recipe to something anyone can replicate.

I will also work on the vegan sandwich thing. It seems to me that there are any number of possibilities there, but the IC has gone off sandwiches lately and I haven't been making many. BUT. Like I said, I'll work on it and try to get my head back in the game.