Tobie Puttock, chef and author of SuperNatural, shares and weighs up simple vegan substitutes for common ingredients.
Increasingly, people are considering a vegan diet for an abundance of reasons. Whether it’s for ethical, environmental or health reasons, eating more plants is definitely a good thing and there is no shortage of research as to why.
I am not a vegan in the traditional sense, I would be vegan 70 to 80 per cent of the time and so I would fall under the “flexitarian” or “reducetarian” category – meaning I have decided to cut down on the amount of animal products I eat. I began eating this way because to me, foods containing animal products represented harm – whether it be the death of an animal or an animal being held against its will for its milk or eggs – and I don’t need these products to survive. In fact, after much research I have concluded that it’s beneficial for me to leave these products out of my diet as much as possible.
Many people try to find direct swaps for animal-based products like vegan cheese, schnitzels, burgers and more. I see things a little differently. Firstly, I like eating wholefoods, not science experiments. I didn’t eat processed foods before, so why eat them now? It didn’t make sense to me to replace a good quality artisan cheese with an imitation product made from all sorts of strange ingredients, just for the sake of continuing what I had done before. Secondly, I am a chef and see more than enough natural produce available to make a lifetime’s worth of delicious recipes.
Going full-blown vegan can be very daunting, especially if all of the products are somewhat alien to you, and so I highly recommend taking it slowly and replacing one product at a time. I decided that the milk in my morning coffee was not so important that a cow should be held against her will, and so I decided to try some vegan alternatives.
Milk
Most people have their own preference of plant-based milks and I started with almond milk, which I didn’t particularly like. I then tried some soy milks, which I didn’t really like either until I tried a particular brand which I didn’t mind. I now have that brand with my coffee every morning, and while at first I found it different, it quickly became the norm to the extent that I now dislike the taste of cow’s milk in my coffee.
Butter
As a chef, butter is a tricky one. At home we use an olive spread to have on toast or in a sandwich, but for cooking, the olive oil spreads don’t do the job of butter and this is where I would use a different fat like olive oil. Once again, there are so many different oils such as avocado oil, peanut oil, coconut oil and the list goes on, so it’s about experimenting and deciding what works for you.
Cheese
There are many vegan cheese brands on the market now but in my opinion, they have a long way to go. As a foodie, I would rather leave the cheese out of a recipe than have a vegan cheese because they just don’t have the same richness or melting qualities. I recently used a powdered parmesan that was quite good, and you can make a good alternative to powdered parmesan at home by blitzing cashews and nutritional yeast flakes together until they are a powder – I think the taste is quite similar to powdered parmesan. I have seen many good chefs starting to experiment with and produce vegan cheeses, and I think we will see some amazing vegan cheeses coming our way in the future.
Sauces and Condiments
The good news is that increased interest in plant-based eating brings plenty of fantastic vegan products to the table. Like everything, some are better than others and I am always a little weary of vegan products trying to imitate those that are not vegan. In some situations, they can end up having a long list of ingredients and resembling science experiments. I would recommend if you are in Australia jumping onto the cruelty free store website – it’s all vegan and they have some fantastic products available.
Eggs
In most cases I would recommend leaving them out. There are some vegan egg replacements available to buy as well as natural products (flaxseeds, aquafaba) that are good in cakes and other desserts. You can however, choose to leave them out altogether – there are plenty of vegan cake, ice cream and dessert recipes that exclude eggs or their substitutes entirely.
I think the main thing is not to put too much pressure on yourself. If you switch over and really enjoy the products you are eating, you are far more likely to be happy and consequently you will stick with it.