Say No To Vegan?

Introduction

I got an Instagram like by someone with the handle "Say No To Vegan" and while I noticed it, and they were commenting on an anti-patriarchy post of mine. You can see the post and the user if you follow this link:

I am not a vegan but I find an anti-vegan stance extremely odd. Maybe they just chose the name to get noticed. I certainly noticed it and I have used it for the title of this piece and have a feeling that people will come into this ready to, ironically, tear me apart.

The picture I came up with is unspecified pies, and the music is my second favourite Sutherland Brothers song "The Pie" (my favourite is "Sailing" which they wrote but you probably know Rod Stewart's version on "Atlantic Crossing")

This is possibly my favourite type of pie:

My first two posts in Vocal's Feast community addressed Veganism.

My Views On This (Once More)

While I do eat meat I almost always go for a vegan/ vegetarian option if it is available. Last night at Umai Mi I had the Vegan Chicken Sizzling Hot Plate with Curry and Jasmine Rice, but I added an egg as well so it was vegetarian rather than vegan.

I went for the vegan chicken because I still think that most Tofu tastes like that it should be something that should be stuffing furniture cushions. I do find it odd that people want vegan bacon, meat and fish that look and taste like what it is supposed to imitate when there are so many ways to enjoy vegan food that involve just vegan ingredients and spices.

In Vegano I once had a breakfast muffin which had a vegetarian take on sausage and egg. I asked them how they made it (it tasted brilliant). They told me the sausage was reworked Sainsbury's hot dog and the egg was whipped Tofu. I told them I hated Tofu and they apologised, but I said no because it had shown me that Tofu could be made to taste good.

I couldn't kill, skin, pull apart and cook an animal myself, but I am fine with everything else. Yes, I eat bacon, and I suppose that makes me out to be a coward of convenience. I don't like steaks, and though I am ok with a beef casserole, I much prefer vegan mince to real mince because while it still fills you up it feels much lighter and more digestible (if that makes sense).

I am fine with eggs because I am not killing anything or hurting any creature. An addendum to that is that I only buy free-range eggs as I don't agree with battery farming. That is cruel and I have seen that first-hand and up close.

I used to work on a farm fifty years ago, and when calves were born they were kept with and fed by their mother. Surplus milk was taken for sale to the public and I manually bottled it (24 bottles at a time) admittedly, but there was no cruelty to the calves or cows on the farm.

I think factory farming has brought in the cruelty of separation, but I do still drink milk, but I also like oat milk (other forms don't make me happy).

Conclusion

I will probaly be an omnivore for the foreseeable future, but vegan food is superb and given a choice I will almost always go for the vegan option. I remember when I first came to Newcastle I frequented a Vegetarian restaurant and my daughters at the time thought vegetarian food was yuk! They are a lot more eclectic in their food tastes now.

Thank you for reading and would love to hear your thoughts.