I went to buy a paper from WhSmith yesterday after work. It's actually the job that I did for 4 years before joining the Underground. The aim as a till monkey (as I liked to call us - strangely, none of my former colleagues appreciated the term) is to persuade the customer to take an 'extra' with their desired shop. I always managed to sell the most chocolate, sweets, Harry Potter pre-orders, etc, than anybody else in my store. Not that I'm bragging, but if the person that sold the most got a voucher, free bar of chocolate or a free book out of it, I was going to be that person. I'm not overly competitive, but I will not be beaten.
The woman that served me asked in a nonchalant voice if I'd have liked any of the selection of sweets that she had on display (if I'd worked there, I'd have trounced her) and, joking because I'm still on my Cambridge diet, I said 'Not unless any of them are vegan', which, consisting of lots of Haribo jellies and Galaxy milk chocolate, I knew they weren't - I wouldn't touch any of it, even if she took the time to check all of them.
One of the things I'm beginning to find irritating about telling somebody else that I'm vegan (well, apart from the stupid diet, I almost am), is having to listen to people listing foods that they think are vegan. Apparently fish is vegan (who knew?) and you're a vegetarian if you don't eat any meat or dairy, so is a vegan somebody that only eats fruit? Grrr. This woman, thankfully, knew what a vegan is. She asked very simply, 'So how do you get all of your nutrients? Do you eat tofu and fruit?'
Now, yesterday I was running on about 45 minutes sleep from the night before thanks to being unable to sleep after shift changes, and I looked like death on a stick - I looked awful! I also couldn't list all of the vegan 'meats'. I managed to croak out that I ate tofu, and although I haven't tried it yet, the name amuses me so much that I also said 'Seitan', more for the look on her face. And then I was stuck. I knew there were a couple more but I just couldn't remember them, so I stuck 'nuts, seeds and vegetables' on the end. She just said that I looked very healthy so I aimed an ‘ok, I’m done and am outta here now’ look in her direction and scuttled out of the shop clutching my goods.
It's been bugging me all day: Tofu and Seitan. Great. And then I forgot about it until I got home and spotted 'Tempeh' in a vegan blog. Yay! 3 down, 1 to go. Obsession reignited.
I know the fourth began with 'P' but I was stuck on the word Paneer, which I know is an Indian cheese!
Google is very unhelpful. Nobody uses it in any of the recipes I've browsed. I've searched and came up empty. So I got bored and switched off.
Two minutes later, the correct word occurred to me: Polenta. Thank Goddess for that!
My vegan 'meats':
Tofu
Seitan
Tempeh
Polenta
I’ve seen loads of recipes that use Tofu and Seitan, but none that incorporate Tempeh or Polenta. Half of me is curious to know why that is? (are they both basically a one trick ingredient?) but the other half really wants to try them (when the diet is over, of course).
Now, excuse me, but it’s time to hunt down more recipes!
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