Vegan

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__**Definition**__

Vegan is a type of vegetarian diet that excludes animal flesh like ( meat, poultry, fish and seafood), animal products (eggs and dairy ) and the use of animal products (leather, lanolin, wool). Vegan diet consists of vegetables, seeds and vegetable oils.

"Being vegan is more of a life-style choice to make, than a diet made according to a person’s dietary restrictions."
__**Not included food groups:**__

- Meat - Pork

__** Included food groups: **__

- Vegetables - Grains - Fruits

Why do people bec ome vegan?
// There are usually three main reasons that people adopt veganism as their diet. //

__//** Animals **//__ Vegans do not eat any animal products (meat, fish, eggs and even dairy), nor do they use any non edible animals products (leather, etc.), Even though some products like eggs, and dairy do not need the animal to be killed, people turn vegan as part of their belief for an absolute right of animals to live freely and naturally, as they existed 100-200 years ago. Another reason would be because animals whose productivity for eggs and dairy has declined, they are slaughtered.

__**// Environment //**__ Animal farming has a severely negative affect on our planet. More land is used to grow animal feed. Therefore some parts of our planet’s rare forests are cut down for land. This feed is sprayed by toxic chemicals to ensure the crops’ quick growth, as well as immunity against bugs. These harmful fumes are spread into the air, contributing to green house gases. Air miles are used when shipping food over the super markets. This causes pollution in our environment, contributing to global warming. This can be reduced by decreasing the amount or types or food that is shipped over to our supermarkets (meat).

__//** Health **//__
Studies have shown that eating animal fats and proteins can increases a person's risk of developing cancer, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, hypertension, heart disease, and several other conditions. The molecular setup of cows milk is different from humans milk, therefore, it is not healthy for humans to drink cows milk. Vegan diets mainly consist of grains, vegetables, fruits, and legumes. These food items are low in fat, and contain no cholesterol. Vegans get their protein by food sources, such as, nuts, soy, and beans.



Benefits and constraints
//** Benefits **// The benefits of being vegan are plentiful. Firstly, vegans express their beliefs in animal rights by controlling their intake in food. Vegans reduce their carbon foot print by going against meat products, which decreases travel miles, which ultimately reduces pollution and global warming. Vegans improve their health and body by eating what humans are supposed to be eating.

The downside of being vegan is the supply of vegan friendly food. This depends what country you live in. In western countries, like America and the UK, meat-like, and cheese-like vegan food is available in different varieties. In places such as Bangkok, it is hard to get hold of good flavoured vegan food.
 * // Consequences //**

Vegans can eat vegetables, fruits, beans, nuts, grains, oil, and soy products (tofu, soy milk etc). These foods are all natural, and they are also not products from any animal.
 * // What can vegans eat? //**

Vegans cannot eat anything from an animal. This means no dairy products (milk, cheese, ice cream, etc.), no eggs, no meat, no fish, and no poultry. This is because all these food sources have a link to animal products. This is an example of a vegan food pyramid:
 * // What can’t Vegans eat? //**

__//** -SWEET- **//__

Recipe:
 * __ Chocolate Coconut Milk Mousse __**

1 14oz. can coconut milk 3 tablespoon cocoa powder 2 tablespoon raw/turbinado sugar 2 teaspoon organic vanilla extract 1 teaspoon instant coffee 1/8 ounce agar agar flakes or bars.

Directions:

In small saucepan on medium heat, heat coconut milk, cocoa powder and raw vegan sugar, blending using wire whisk for 5 minutes.

Add agar agar flakes/bar, simmer and stir constantly with wire whisk for 15 minutes on medium-low heat. We used agar agar bars. The package contained .5 oz., and contained two bars, so we used 1/2 of one bar. At the end of 15 minutes add the vanilla extract.

Pour into small dishes (soufflé, or custard cups) and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Makes about two small dishes (soufflé, or custard cups) holding about 3/4 cup each. Doubling or tripling this recipe seems to work fine.

Please keep in mind that coconut milk can have a laxative affect.

Variations:

-Put chopped nuts on top for added flair.

This picture as you can see above, is our ingredients. This includes coconut milk, cocoa powder, raw sugar, organic vanilla extract, instant coffee and agar agar flakes. We have used these ingredients into making our final food product which is the chocolate coconut milk mousse.

Here as you can see is our making of the chocolate coconut milk mousse. In the mixture includes; heat coconut milk, cocoa powder, raw vegan sugar and agar agar flakes which is added in later. After we have waited for 10-15 minutes, we have used 3 bowls to put the mixture we have created into the bowls. As you can see in this picture is our final product. We added nuts, sprinkles and chocolate sauce for the toppings. Our chocolate coconut milk we have created looks good and tastes good. We thought our improvements was only to change the coconut milk to soy milk. We think we did a good job into creating this dish.

__//** - SAVORY -  **//__ __My Gourmet Vegan Dairy Free Cheese Recipe__ Ingredients: 1 C. Raw Organic Sesame Tahini (available at most natural foods stores near the peanut butter) —–OR——- 1 1/2 C Raw Organic Sesame Seeds ground into a powder in a nut grinder 1/8 C. Organic Rice Vinegar 1/8 C. Organic Olive Oil 2 T. finely chopped fresh Organic Chives 1/2 t. fresh organic Thyme Leaves 1 medium sized sprig chopped Organic Dill Weed 1 heaping T. red star vegan formula Nutritional Yeast Salt & Pepper to taste Equipment A knife to chop the herbs A spoon to spoon up the tahini A 16 ounce glass mason jar with lid Directions: Firstly, Chop the herbs and put them in the jar, Then Add vinegar and oil and whisk them up with the spoon Whisk in salt and pepper (remember, conventional cheese has a lot of salt in it so be free with the salt in this recipe) Add the tahini (or the ground sesame seeds) and nutritional yeast to the jar Close lid tightly and shake vigorously for about half a minute, and that’s it! Store your cheese in the refrigerator. You may need to shake it again before each use as the olive oil likes to separate from the tahini. The mixture will remain quite good for about a week – if it lasts that long in your house







//__** Information and Tips: **__//

http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=30682.0 http://vegetarian.about.com/od/glossary/g/Vegan.htm http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=6643.0