What the Heck Do Vegans Eat?

I get this question a lot. From my 80-year old-grandmother to some of my best friends at school, a people are curious as to whether vegans just eat kale for every meal. As I hope you've gathered from my last two posts, eating a vegan diet can include amazing meals and treats that you may not guess are healthy at all. In this post, I will take you through a week of what I eat as a vegan.
You will find some of it deliciously, mouth-watering and some of my meals, frankly, kind of boring. But hey, it's all about balance, right?


Sunday, October 29

Brunch: Detroit Street Filling Station

As much as I try to eat a budget friendly diet, I can’t deny myself the occasional restaurant meal. It was my best friends birthday and I love a reason to eat out. Often I get overwhelmed when I come to vegan restaurants because I have so many choices and I don’t know what to pick! In this case, I go off what I see other customer’s ordering and the waiter’s recommendations. As soon as I saw this colorful dish on my neighbor’s table and I got my waiter’s approval, I ordered the Central American Plate. My friend ordered the Greek Scramble, which tempted me because it was topped with vegan feta cheese. I don’t really crave cheese (a question I get a lot and will address more later on) but when I see it vegan-ized, I am often tempted to give it a try.

Monday, October 30 through Thursday, Oct 2

You may have heard about a thing called meal prepping. It’s when you make meals in bulk, usually at the beginning of the week. I don’t always do this but when I do, it helps me save a ton of time and also money. I wanted to be tight on my cash this week so I actually ate essentially the same thing Monday through Thursday. I think of meal prepping as taking control of your habit loop. As Charles Duhigg explains in The Power of Habit, a person's habit loop involves a cue, which triggers a routine, which then reveals a reward. If your goal is to save money, eat healthier, and be more efficient, all you have to do is change your routine.

Say, you get hungry but have no food prepared. You grab something quick and unhealthy, but it satisfies your hunger:

Hunger (cue) --> fast food (routine) --> satisfaction (reward)

When you meal prep, you change your routine to something healthier:

Hunger (cue) --> prepared meal (routine) --> satisfaction (reward)

One of Duhigg's golden rules is “almost any behavior can be transformed if the cue and reward stay the same," so just stick to changing your routine (Duhigg 2014).

Repetitive, yes. But boring and tasteless, it is not.

Breakfast: Oatmeal

It’s a good thing I love oatmeal so much because it is so cheap! Sometimes I would love a savory tofu scramble or a refreshing fruit smoothie but oatmeal is the cheapest breakfast option and it requires little time and effort, which is so conducive to my lifestyle as a student. I simply heat up oatmeal and water, stir in flax seeds, cinnamon, and a sweetener like maple syrup or agave. Then I top with a fruit like banana or apple and a spoonful of peanut butter.

Lunch: Pizza

This is one of my favorite meals and it is so easy. I sautéed a bunch of vegetables including peppers, mushrooms, zucchini, and onions - enough for four servings. I use chickpea flour to make a crust. Chickpea flour is one of my favorite ingredients and I only discovered it since I went vegan. I set out to recreate a tasty vegan street food dish I had in Italy called Cecina and ended up improvising and making other recipes using chickpea flour. It’s super inexpensive, healthy, and simple to make. You combine equal parts flour and water with your choice of added spices and fry it like you would a pancake.

To make the pizza I simply add pizza sauce, vegan cheese, and then the vegetables. This was my first time trying vegan mozzarella and I give it a thumbs up. It’s definitely not the healthiest ingredient but it was kind of nice to indulge and make it similar to a “real” pizza. I often get asked, "Why not just eat real cheese then?"

I was reading a mac and cheese recipe by one of my favorite chefs, the Mississippi Vegan, and I think he said it best: "You see, contrary to popular belief that vegans sit around all day trying to figure out how to deprive themselves of all things delicious in the world- we actually miss cheese. Like, we get it."

The 'za cooking in the oven

Bon appetit! I topped the pizza with vegan parmesan. 

Dinner: Toast with vegan butter and cucumber

I try to eat healthier than this, but life happens - ya know. I had a tub of vegan butter that I needed (literally a tablespoon) for a recipe and so I had a lot remaining. This was one of my favorite meals before I went vegan. It is so simple and kind of unremarkable. The summer after high school I went to Norway to visit a friend and breakfast was completely different there. It consisted of fresh warm bread and a variety of vegetable and cheese toppings. So I ate buttered toast with cucumbers for a few weeks and I got hooked. This recipe is pretty explanatory but here's a recipe - knock yourself out!

Friday Oct 3

I went grocery shopping at Trader Joe's. I picked up bananas and dates for oatmeal and smoothies.

I also picked up salad ingredients, which I prepped for lunch for the upcoming days. Lastly, bought some ingredients for a dessert recipe. I seem to always walk out of Trader Joe's with a non-necessity item. Today it was Everything but the Bagel seasoning. I plan on topping avocado toast with this but the possibilities are endless as you can see from this blog post.

My dessert recipe was for a potluck with co-workers on Sunday. Making vegan dishes for a non-vegan crowd can be intimidating. I wanted to make something that everyone would like, which usually means it’s not drastically different from the non-vegan version. For example, I probably would NOT show up with vegan mac and cheese. Too risky. I also did not want to spend a ton of money on ingredients. Common vegan baking ingredients like almond flour are super pricey. I decided on chocolate and peanut butter mousse cups by Minimalist Baker.

Update: they were a hit! My boss who is totally a vegan-skeptic said he wasn’t a huge fan but turns out he doesn’t like coconut. You can’t please everyone.

Saturday Oct 4

Brunch: Avalon Cafe & Kitchen

As I am sure many of you can relate, having your parents visit Ann Arbor is an excellent excuse to get treated to a meal. My mom and I have our favorite restaurants, which include the Lunch Room, Aventura, and Juicy Kitchen but we also love to try new places. I have been to Avalon a number of times but was eager to take my mom there. It has a lovely atmosphere and serves my favorite avocado toast on the planet. As a Michigander, I especially love how they are Detroit based and they sell peanut butter made in my hometown (aka St. Laurent's Brothers Peanut Butter)! Good vibes, all around.

Because my mom was treating and cappuccinos are a bit of a tradition every since the summer she visited me in Italy, I ordered a Vegan cappuccino that I had been eyeing during my past few visits.

I ordered the avocado toast and convinced my mom to do the same.

That concludes my week of eating vegan and my final blog post! I hope you got some ideas about how to incorporate vegan food into your diet and even how to change your eating habits.

Source

Duhigg, C. (2014). The Power of Habit. New York City, New York: Random House Trade Paperbacks