By: C L Cohen PhD

This article is published by citydebate.com

Miami Beach – City Debate – March 29, 2009 – There are not many vegan newspaper columns or columnists to whom I can turn on a daily or weekly basis. I have found two. Occasionally, newspapers showcase a “healthy lifestyle” cover feature by displaying facts to help us get in shape and stay healthy; statistical analyses; recipes. However, there is not a dedicated vegan daily or weekly column sharing information and delicious foods.

A sprinkling of vegetarian magazines do exist, among them, Vegetarian Times – which has been publishing for 25 years. (The magazine has recently decided to include a monthly vegan column.) As for the internet, yes, there are websites devoted to vegetarian/ vegan recipes. Most include a brief definition of each ism, recipes and comments by bloggers.

Today, people’s personal mantras and our advertising slogans are about ‘living simpler lives, about going green, about decreasing our carbon footprint ‘. Remember FLOWER POWER? – The same back to nature (translation: living simpler lives), organic foods and natural products useage (translation: going green), recycling (translation: decreasing our carbon footprint) mantra was chanted everywhere. The easiest means I know to accomplish these goals is to change to a vegan diet. Your life will evolve dramatically; your eyes will open to what is really happening to people’s health, to the lives of animals, and how eating meat IS the global warming problem. More discussion on the politics of eating in future columns…

Of course the health benefits of a vegan diet are a given. The deliciousness and ease of eating this way are a joy to discover.

I have now been following a vegan diet for 43 years. Wow! You say. How could you?! Isn’t it hard? My answer is NO. Not today, anyway. People even know what “vegan” means today. A top chef in a three/four star establishment knows not only what the term vegan means, may even offer up a couple of vegan items on the menu. (Yes, even GORDON RAMSEY, everyone’s beloved, chef extraordinaire)

This is not rocket science. This is a way of life which does not require a PhD, long hours of study, nor a huge investment of cash. More on the economics of vegan to follow in future columns…

My journey has been filled with humor, inquisitiveness, international culinary intrigues and downright disdain by people I have met along the way. It has thus far been a delightfully delicious global adventure and one, which I would love to share with you.

More vegan politics, answers to your questions, fabulously easy-to-prepare recipes, miscellaneous nibbles coming soon…

Technorati Tags: eating vegan, vegan, vegan lifestyle, veganism

 Plenty of people every year decide to switch to a Vegan lifestyle.  This means that you certainly are not alone when it comes time to break in some new dishes that you have been drying to try.  However, it does mean that you are going to be rather amazed at some of the great unique dishes that are available to try out.  Looking for several ways to get started cooking Vegan successfully is not always easy, but if you have some patience and a bit of time to really plan out a game plan you will find that it does not have to be as difficult as it might sound.

The very first step you need to take is a good accurate assessment of your current cooking skills.  If the idea of walking into the kitchen to cook has you sweating profusely then you are again not alone, but it will mean that you need to come to terms with the kitchen.  If your idea of cooking is running to the local take out and putting food on plates or even eating straight out of the box you will again need to come to terms with the kitchen.  A vegan diet is possible, but while eating out is also possible it is not as healthy, nor will you find the same amount of options as you can prepare yourself at home.

Your next step is to determine how well you can actually cook vegetables.  Many people think that vegetables have to be limp, boring and bland.  This is actually far from the truth.  Using several different cooking techniques, it is possible to make vegetables that actually taste good!  Strange as it may sound, it really is possible and if you do not already know these methods you will need to learn them quickly.

You should also dedicate a bit of time to learning a few of the simplest recipes.  These will serve you well when it comes time to throw a fast meal together so you are not late for a teacher’s conference or you have unexpected guests coming over.  Of course, everybody wishes they had time to prepare a full three course meal but alas, this rarely happens so knowing a few fast delicious recipes is sure to safe you at some point or another.  Just be very careful to stick to ingredients that are common in your house for these recipes so you do not have a collection of useless recipes with no ingredients.

Look into a couple of cooking classes.  This will help you to really master the Vegan cooking lifestyle.  Giving up meat is certainly not easy and while there are some great animal product substitutes available on the market learning how to properly cook them as well as ensure that they are prepared correctly is some valuable information.  There is certainly no reason to sign up for dozens of lessons though, most people can easily get by on just 2 or even three fast lessons.  Just enough time to really cover some basics without getting completely lost. 

Looking at this as a great learning adventure will allow you to get the biggest benefit possible, and you may even decide that you want to take some additional classes and further expand your vegan cooking skills.

Article Written By J. Foley

Technorati Tags: cooking vegan, vegan cooking