Vegan Treats

Today I made a vegan Lemon Bundt Cake which actually worked out (surprise!) When it comes to my diet, I try to be as ethical as possible but I don't think Vegan is always the answer. I do, however, believe that we should be making use of all the food that is available to us and so I've had heaps of fun lately putting strange ingredients in my recipes. Vegan recipes are a really good way of experimenting with food. Once you realise that eggs and diary are not always necessary in your baking you can start to learn a lot more about how you can use fruit and vegetables in your cooking! For example: everyone should try putting beetroot in their chocolate cakes, its an amazing way to keep it moist and gives your cake a beautiful browny red colour.

I felt better about leaving out the eggs in this recipe, its not that I don't think eggs can be healthy, but I'm not satisfied that the free range I'm buying is actually treating the chickens better. (see Peter Singer on this one...) That said, I think if you farm your own chicken eggs, or can guarantee they are coming from an ethical farm then you should go for it.

I think that when the population relies on one type of food or foodgroup, its hard to make sure the industry stays ethical and sustainable when such mass production is going on.  I try to eat and use vegetables and fruit in as much of my cooking as possible. I also think its great to be self sufficient and grow and make lots of your food yourself. Its quite simple to grow your own vegetables in your garden. It's less simple to raise a cow in the suburbs...

I really liked this  explanation of why this blogger doesn't consider herself plain vegan:

I think a strict vegan diet isn’t necessarily the most ethical diet- I know vegans who drink Coca Cola from Safeway and buy tofu imported from Japan. I know omnivores who eat roadkill and grow their own vegetables. I try to be an ethical eater/consumer, because that’s why I went vegan in the first place, not for taste/spiritual/discipline/hxc, whatever, reasons. I feel like claiming “vegan” can be a bit of a cop-out because you don’t have to look past the ingredients list.

Also, before I get too high and mighty I should mention, I love feta. I would find it very very VERY hard to give it up...  I also find it hard to stay enthusiastic all the time and end up buying lunch at uni quite a bit. Luckily we have a lovely food co-op that serves some great stuff! point is, I congratulate anyone who cares enough to try to make a difference because I think its really hard to keep up. My pet hate is hardline Vegans giving others a hard time. Especially when they smoke...