Vegan Masterpost
Want to make a change for the animals, for the planet and for your fellow humans? Here's how to start: 1. Replace your favorites with plant based ones. Look up vegan recipes + your fav meals. Stop buying animal products and start buying alternatives! That's basically it! You're probably going to start getting exposed to a bunch of new plants and flavors to cook with. Embrace the fun! I'm not going to lie, you will probably crave animal flavors and textures at first. There's nothing wrong with having these cravings, just accept they are normal and will go away. 2. Look up vegan nutrition needs. You will probably need to supplement with B12 (found in fortified foods, such as fortified cereals or nutritional yeast). This is fine. Supplements are a good things! We put iodine in salt, and most carnist cereals and cow's milk are fortified for a reason. Take advantage of modern efficiency and accept that fortified foods and occasional supplementation is normal and healthy. My doctor recommends everyone where i live to take vitamin D daily, due to the lack of sunlight. Getting nutritional needs met in the most efficient and cruelty free way is good, actually. If you have specific needs around allergies or are dealing with an eating disorder, talk to a vegan nutritionist if you can afford it, otherwise consult with the vegan community and do your best.
3. Start using a cronomoter if that feels okay for you mentally. A lot of vegans don't eat enough at first! We need to load up on those delicious carbs and protein rich foods and keep consuming fats. 4. Integrate yourself into the community! Join vegan facebook groups, vegan hobby groups, vegan book clubs, follow the vegan tag. Follow animal sanctuaries on every social media. Seeing animals as animals and not objects is a big step in being vegan and seeing how happy these animals are in fulfilling caring environments is a positive reminder of the difference you're making. The hardest part of being vegan is the reaction from non-vegans. If you feel supported through the vegan community, you're much less likely to feel strong in the face of non-vegan pressure to conform or "cheat". A lot of us are genuinely pretty welcoming, probably because vegans are more likely to be liberal, poor, nonwhite, and lgbt+ than average. 5. Educate yourself! Read through vegan books, watch educational videos about what animals go through, and/or look at the vegan boot-camp. You are not required or expected to put yourself through watching animal violence, but if you have trouble connecting to the animals and think you can deal with it, it can help you realize how horrible and violent their lives and deaths are. I personally have not seen Dominion nor do i plan to, i have no need. The only people who need to be watching that stuff is non-vegans who are dismissive of the suffering animals go through. 6. Prepare yourself for a lot of unprompted excuses and defensiveness around non-vegans! Here's some lists of common "gotchas". You'll have them memorized within the first 3 months because of how often you'll hear them. There's also vegan debaters on youtube if that's your jam. Remember, you can always disengage and say "honoring my personal values is important to me and you should respect that" if you don't know what to say or don't want to argue. NOW FOR THE FUN PART Replace WHAT with WHAT? TEXTURES: make sure to get extra firm tofu! ground beef -> textured vegetable protein steak -> seitan steak recipes shredded chicken -> jackfruit sliced chicken -> soy curls, Tofu Fish textures -> watermelon (seriously) Unagi -> eggplant Bacon -> Tofu or rice paper Popcorn Chicken -> breaded soy curls lunchmeat -> vegan lunchmeat, or make your own with seitan/tofu Tuna or chicken salad -> chickpea salad Fried Chicken -> Fried Oyster Mushrooms or Tofu pulled pork --> Jackfruit Cow's milk -> any non-dairy milk! You can also make your own very easily Butter -> margarine Cheese -> vegan cheese, or make your own! Eggs -> Tofu, or mung bean egg, eggy yolk recipe In Recipes: Replace eggs with flax seeds or yoghurt, aquafaba, silken tofu, applesauce, banana, pumpkin, chia, baking soda & vinegar Flavors! Beefy -> Basically just salt with some umami Chickeny -> kinda salty, kinda herby Bacony -> liquid smoke, salt, and some sweetness Eggy -> use black salt Cheesy -> nooch please! Sweet -> maple, agave
7. If you drink alcohol, check barnivore to make sure your wines and beers weren't processed using fish guts! 8. Don't purchase any new products made from taking from animals. This means looking for cruelty free grooming items, cruelty free textiles, and avoiding animal exploitation like purchasing from breeders or riding horses. Obviously, necessary medication is the exception. 9. Be extra kind to animals in your real life :) They deserve extra love. Learn to put spiders outside and how to deal with "pests" by preventing them. 10. You are now vegan! Welcome! We're happy to have you! :D You will probably stumble a little bit or not know things like how some sugar is processed with charr from animal bones! That's okay, just keep learning and keep your eye on the positives.
