The Future of Meat ( And the art of vegan whipped cream)

What is it about the phrase 'vegan food' that makes us think about fresh fruit and cardboard salads? Naw man, there is a ton of junk-vegan food too. And this is only to say this: going vegan doesn't mean you eat vegetables all day (although some do, do what you need to yo).

This pop-culture understanding of veganism is kind of a problem though. It really confuses people and derails veganism from promoting something far more important : That we now have the technology to make substitutes for all those 'familiar tastes and foods'. We don't need animal products to make food we are used to. And the more willing non-vegans are to support the market the bigger impact we'll make.

It doesn't take all of us to go vegan in order to change the reality of animal cruelty today. It definitely is a the best thing you can do environmentally right now. It definitely is the best way to illustrate your non-coolness with the epic amount of cruelty factory farming sustains.

That said,  to make at-scale change, I'd rather encourage more people know about substitutes and how supporting and willing to change a few things can create much less impact on animals. Why? Because I think it can make all of us come together for one cause: getting rid of factory farming.

Ditching dairy for plant-based mylks and following up on the latest on lab meat and plant-based meat trends (google The Impossible Burger) should be on the minds of all os us urban folk. My favourite vegan activist, Tobias Leenaert (The Vegan Strategist)  just put up a selfie with a man named Mark Post. Mark Post is not a vegan but he is the inventor of Clean Meat. This could revolutionise the way we eat chicken and make incredible impact on factory farming. So it's not just about veganism but the ability to invest, research, and support people who are doing amaze-balls things like this. These are the things that are going to at scale change our behaviours and keep us more conscious about what we eat. This is what Tobias posted along with the picture down below:

'With Mark Post (tall Dutch guy), the inventor of clean meat. He expects it can be on the market in three years!
Mark is not a vegan but he may yet help the animals more than a million vegans combined :) Everybody can help animals, vegan or not.'

Tobias (Left) and Mark Post (Inventor of Clean Meat) Photo Courtesy: Tobias Leeneart

One day eating actual animals instead of lab meat will raise eyebrows. That day shall come, I am sure of it. Not in the very near future. But we all can be a part of that journey if we are willing to keep up with this kind of information and then act on it.


Back to my starting point. We are already at the point (not mass available, especially not in india) where we can drink milkshakes and chomp on creamy cupcakes, fried 'chicken', 'beef' burgers, and Tiramisu that are  vegan. Basically we can make anything vegan- and that should be the point. The point is not eating vegetables ( I love most vegetables btw), the point should be why make our food by torturing animals when we can start supporting spaces making those same 'ingredients' vegan?

The simple act of us committing to support one plant-based business by ordering Plant based *Mylk ,  vegan curd/yogurt, or  vegan meat can help us scale up and create a larger demand for this. That means we'll see results in our lifetime, where dairy industries and meat industries start creating more plant-based food options.

*Mylk is the spelling we use for plant-based mylks. So the 'milk' made out of things like like cashew, almond, soy, coconut, oat and even rice. 

This will start lowering the demand on mindless dairy and meat consumption that has gotten us to this reality in the first place. Remember this: America is the leader when it comes to factory farming. To get to this very sad reality they have normalised eating meat, dairy and eggs everyday, at every meal, and at crazy proportions. America's health crises and massive cruelty is there for all of us to witness in real time. Urban india is going right into the same capitalistic arms. Our own parents ate way less meat and dairy then we do today, and it's all because of the market telling us we need more of it.

 Rethinking how everyday foods can be easily replaced can help us create a new ethical norm- where we use familiar ingredients that are not from animals.

So obviously now I have to relate this blabber to cooking/baking because contrary to my own belief this is a food blog. Here's a quick post about non-dairy whipping cream and how I made cake with it, and how it tastes like any other sugar-bomb cake. Just to make a point. That we can eat everything we're used to and still move into a new ethical way of dealing with our raw materials.

So I used Rich's cream that is non-dairy and vegan (blue box). It has to be kept frozen and thawed out hours before you use it. I got myself a hand mixer at Croma, weird I hadn't needed one till now. So I dumped like 3 cups ( made way too much, I was a whipped cream virgin) and then started the mixer on slow and went up to the middle speed. After a minute I threw in about a quarter cup of powdered sugar (note Rich's cream is already sweet). A couple pointers on whipping non-dairy cream.

Stabilise it Baby

You need to mix/whip your cream for about 7-8 minutes with a couple of breaks. Now to stabilize the whipped cream and to keep it all fluffy on the cake for the next 24 hours you need something to hold it together. It's simple, I just used corn starch. So after you've used your mixer to whip the cream for about 3 minutes start to shake in some corn starch. I used about 1/4th cup (For 3-3.5 cups of liquid cream). Don't dump the whole amount of corn starch in one go. Shake in parts of it over a couple of minutes. You will know your cream is all whipped when you can turn your bowl over and the whipped cream won't fall off. Don't do this literally because, um, it might all plop out. But you get the idea.

I also used blue gel colour. Just a like 2 drops (it's a powerful colouring agent this gel thing) - put those drops in mid-way. You can fill the cream in the piping bag and stick it in the refrigerator till you are ready to pipe it onto your cake/cupcakes. You can also just use a knife to spread it all over your cake ( I did both)

I made a regular vanilla cake, let it cool for 40 minutes, then split it in half. I spread a thick layer of chocolate ganache (cocoa powder, 4 tablespoons os coconut mylk, 1/2 cup of powdered sugar, a splash of water heated up till it's all sticky) on both the insides of the cake then sandwiched it together and topped the entire cake off with whipped cream.

Had some for breakfast today (totally not a healthy way to start your morning but meh) and it was so so good. Just like the birthday cakes of my childhood.

Let's differentiate between health and ethics. You want to eat healthy? You can do it both on a non-vegan and vegan diet. Want to do it unhealthily? Same thing applies. The question we should be asking ourselves is this: what's one actionable I can do right now to promote and support a plant-based substitute? Because one choice today can create exponential results tomorrow.

Leaving you fine people with some links on the future of vegan foods and lab meat:



http://www.itv.com/news/2017-02-27/scientists-set-sights-on-bringing-lab-grown-meat-to-the-supermarket/

http://www.nbcnews.com/mach/innovation/lab-grown-meat-may-save-lot-more-farm-animals-lives-n743091

http://www.onegreenplanet.org/vegan-food/why-the-future-of-artisanal-cheese-is-vegan/

Till next time!

Glorious Double Chocolate & Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies ( Vegan Obvs)

Ola Rabbits!

To celebrate my one year of veganism I made some pretty sweetass chocolate brownies with peanut butter swirls.I had to experiment a bit with the 'moist' part to get that classic brownie texture right. 

There are a bunch of vegan alternatives to binding and moistening agents when it comes to baking. That list includes chia seeds, flax seeds, mashed banana, or vinegar. I read another blog that tried using a bit of corn starch to get the gummy thing going. I didn't want to use banana this time and risk it complicating the taste. So what I did was use chia-seeds and corn starch. The result was that it was chocolaty, moist, but very crumbly. All in all a win. 

Here's what you need

2 cups whole wheat flour  (or regular)

3/4th cup unsweetened pure cocoa powder

1 cup brown sugar 

2 teaspoons vanilla

80-100 grams of vegan dark chocolate ( I used a little more than half a bar of Amul's Bitter Chocolate 150 grams bar)

1 cup water 

1/4th cup plant based mylk (  I used almond)

2 tablespoons chia seeds soaked in 6 tablespoons water

1/2 cup olive oil (or regular sunflower will do too)

1.5 teaspoon each of baking soda, salt, and corn starch

1.5 teaspoon of vinegar

1 cup of peanut butter

How to Make

Grab two bowls. Now in one large bowl add all your dry ingredients: flour, starch, cocoa powder, chocolate chunks (break up the bar into hearty chunks), salt, sugar and baking soda. Mix well.

In another bowl add all your wet ingredients: water, plant-based mylk, olive oil, vinegar, chia seed water jelly, and vanilla. Don't do anything with your peanut butter just yet.

Wet & Dry

Now mix your wet mixture and simply dump it into your dry ingredient bowl. Mix into a thick gooey brownie batter. Grease a pan or a cake tin ( I didn't have a brownie tray, boo)

Scoop in your batter and level it wth a spoon. Now get messy. Grab lumps of peanut butter and plop it all over the top of the brownie. Use your fingers to make messy swirls in it. That's it!

Pop it in a preheated oven at 180c for about 30 min. Let it cool for at least 20 min. Cut up and enjoy. It may be crumbly, but it tastes like epic sweetness.

Till next time!

Animal Ethics for Everybody

Tell the bunny nooooo, bunny, noooo. Right? That's what you'd do?

Sweet Jesus. It's been a year since I went vegan. So obviously I am going to write about it. But hang on, I really want to get more people involved in the animal ethics conversation. If you've read some of my previous blogs you'll know that while I am vegan, I also have my fair-share of critique for the movement.

There is a crises no matter how you slice it. Today we are breeding animals just to consume them and their products. In order to do that at the scale means we're being incredibly cruel. Really, there is no contesting this. This is fact. Don't make me put up graphic proof, there is no need for it. That said, I've gone out on a limb before too discussing the various issues in the vegan movement itself. I have been very critical of the cult manifestations and the black and white lens it requires. But does that mean I think veganism isn't awesome? Does it mean that I think it's just a perosnal choice? It's far more complex than that. Bear with me.

We are in an era where the black and white negotiation only serves to reinforce each other's opposing stance. Just like politics. Only politics has evolved enough. Why? Because we have a critical mass. And critical masses on either side will do what it takes to make their voices heard. It's legitimate to be liberal or conservative. Hell it's even legitimate to be a communist. Veganism as a concept does not have a critical mass but has a very strong voice (and a good amount of reason as to why the concept should be looked into more seriously)

But without critical mass it's relegated to a fringe group. And the more fringe we are treated the more 'cult' like we stand to become.

Let's look at the idea of veganism and why it has sturdy answers to most arguments. Now if you are wondering where I stand: I think these answers are indeed very logical, especially when you take into account that the onus should come to us the privileged few to take action. But this refrain, this rational will not necessarily scale up nor translate to logic or good enough answers for some.

Let's go through these typical Q&A that vegans and non-vegans participate in. I think these answers have solid merit- but I also think they won't make scalable impact, especially in terms of 'converting' people. We'll get to that in a bit.

So first, here is the cat and mouse (excuse the non-vegan metaphor) vegans and non-vegans play with each other in the world.

Non-Vegans: Plants have feelings too
Vegans: Probably. We don't understand the extent or context of it enough. But how's this to start. Mash some potatoes, then mash a live goat to death. What keeps your appetite?


Non-Vegans: But the food chain
Vegans: We don't need animal products to survive unlike, Lions. even if we started out like that, it doesn't excuse factory farming. Then there are the academic vegans who will give you solid information on why food chain itself is a myth. I'll leave that aside for now because honestly no matter how you argue it, it doesn't validate the ethics of how we treat animals today.


Non-Vegans: But what about your protein?
Vegans:  I will cut you. Also that's a myth. You get proteins from plant based food. Seriously. Think veganism is propaganda? Thinks about the amount of propaganda the dairy and meat industry has been spewing. So much so it's all people believe.


Non-Vegans: It tastes good
Vegans: Sure. Serial killers like to kill because it feels good. Also pretty sure there is a Japanese cannibal who ate his classmate and said she tasted good too.


Non-Vegans: You can't Really be vegan 100% of the time, there are contradictions
Vegans: Yes they are. But it's still the best way we can approach it and come together to stop cruelty


Non-Vegans: It's a fad
Vegans: It's an ethical choice


Non-Vegans: It's only for the elite
Vegans:  Good, because having social privilege actually allows you to change things. It's us the privileged that consume a disproportionate amount of the world's resources. The onus is on us.

Non- Vegans: How do you afford it?
Vegans: The way you afford your smartphone, computer and your Uber cab fair


Non Vegans: I hate vegans. I hate compassion. I hate changing anything for the greater good. Also vegans are ugly.
Vegans: ok you got us there

Ok. If you're vegan your like, yup, those answers are pretty boss.

If you're disagreeing with them, you are thinking one of these six things ( and six is random, I am doing my best, guys)

1. I didn't  think about it like that. I guess that makes sense. I am going to go vegan.

2. Yeah, well, it's not for me. It's a personal choice. I'll think about it, though.

3.  Well I guess I could reduce my consumption and do some more research on this

4. Whatever. I like my meat and dairy thank you very much

5. Food Ethics don't matter, just live your life. Humans are more important.

6. There are other ways to demonstrate compassion. Veganism isn't the only way to do that



Whatever you are thinking, leave that aside right now. Just for a minute.

Based on the Q &A  I outlined in the first section, let's look at what veganism in terms of conversion relies on:

1. That people give a fuck

2. That people can quickly see the light and give up habit, convenience, and cultural norms

3. That people are self-aware enough to see how everyday actions contribute to things that in theory they don't feel is right or ethical (like how some of my clothes might be made in a sweatshop)

4. That people can all have compassion and relate that compassion to animals

5. That people are ok with participating in one movement and identifying with veganism in its contemporary sense

6. I am not getting into social privilege. If you have access to the internet and are reading this you have some amount of social privilege

7. That people don't have another philosophic/spiritual way of looking at suffering and the need for it in the world.


So if you are tick all the points there, great you'll be vegan or already are. If not, then you won't be. That's a lot of people who won't be.

The simple truth: there will always be a reason for not being vegan in this in world. Veganism is too limited an approach to get people to move together.

We all have made deals through evolution- not because you individually agreed to it, but because society evolved to a place where you were taught certain things were right and wrong.

Slavery, no voting rights for women, murdering people via genocide: these were all legitimate things (And still are in different ways) but most of us can agree it's wrong. And because most of us think it's wrong there are laws in place. There are resources and help available to people who struggle with these injustices. All because a majority of us think it's not right.

Which means there is hope that as a collective we will take animal rights seriously. 200-300 years from now people will look at us and say we were barbaric. That's hope.

How to not to kill hope? By getting more people into the conversation without saying there is one way of doing it. When we challenge culture, ethics, habit, and the market all at ONE time, the largest response to it will be defence. It will for sure convert many people because all the factors veganism relies on match up to the individual. But not nearly enough.

Let go of the defence. Let go of dogma. We are all a bunch of contradictions.

Animal ethics is important enough  and relevant enough in context to where we are in the human narrative.  No matter where you stand on your reasoning, there is something you can do or think about that will contribute to our  ethical evolution right now, right here.

Veganism champions in paving the path to animal ethics. But it can't rely on everyone becoming vegan to create an ethical reality. Just like how not every person is not/will not be a feminist, but will still live in a world that increasingly asks for equal rights and challenges gender notions.

And really, that's all I am saying.

And no. There is no real point. Scratch that. The point is to challenge our own stances and examine those answers. That requires you actually want to think about your own responses to the world. But I'll take that chance.


Irrespective. Say Happy One Year, Rheea!

Vegans like pictures with animals. Helps them with their PR