Meatout 2011!

Meatout 2011 is here! FARM USA, the organization that has included some of my recipes in their Meatout Monday Newsletter, is celebrating a day devoted to the joys of being vegan. Whatever else it is, veganism is most clearly manifested in our diets, and the foods we buy, eat, and order are some of the most important decisions we make every day.

In honor of Meatout 2011, and the 1 year anniversary of my own vegan transition, I’d like to focus on making that step toward a plant based diet. Choosing to follow a vegan diet can be daunting, even for long-time vegetarians, and devoted animal-lovers. There’s so much negative hype surrounding veganism, and it’s often represented as restrictive and lacking rather than the life-opening experience that it is.

So much of one’s commitment to a vegan diet depends on the food you eat. The quality of the your culinary life is directly related to the quality of the rest of your life. To that end, I shy away from overly processed, fake, and alternative foods. To me, the joie de vegan lies in the life and energy of whole, nourishing plants. Take tacos for instance. Most tacos are made of chicken or beef, some lettuce, tomato, and cheese. The health benefit of this food is low, as is the variety of flavor and texture.

It is certainly simpler to make your vegan tacos with textured vegetable protein instead of ground beef and non-dairy cheese. But this veganized dish will not leave you satisfied and joyful. It will only remind you of what you are missing, i.e. meat and cheese. Truly good vegan tacos are about diversity of flavor and texture, the warm creaminess of refried beans, the crunch of a hard taco shell, biting into roasted sweet potato. There are so many options for truly memorable tacos. So, if you’re just beginning your vegan journey, or you need a reminder of how spectacular this lifestyle is, try my Best. Tacos. Ever. Or, cozy and nourishing Winter Tacos. Yum! Happy Meatout 2011 everyone!