A Handful Of The Best Vegan Websites

I love looking through websites. I’ve become a bit of a junkie at collecting new veggie websites and my vegan bookmarks folder easily holds as many as every other folder put together.
I decided to post links to the ones that are interesting me right now. I apologise if I have linked to some before, but the ones that I’ve posted about previously (Earthlings, The Kind Life ...etc) have struck a chord and I couldn’t leave them off of the list.
If you know of any links that I have neglected to mention (some, like PETA were done on purpose), please feel free to link me to them, and I hope you appreciate the links.


Making the decision to go veggie

Do you feel as though you haven't heard the other side of the argument properly? Why shouldn’t you choose a vegan lifestyle? This web page is for you:
10 arguments against adopting a vegan lifestyle

A journalist took the plunge and went meat free (although not fish-free) for a year. She discovered the difficulty she faced in socialising with friends, finding something to eat in a restaurant that wasn't mushroom risotto and the ongoing question: was she doing enough?:
An Independent journalist learns to eat ethically

Not sure if you want to make the transition to fully vegan/vegetarian? Try making Monday a meat free day:
Meatless Monday

The Veggie Lifestyle

Some myths about dairy need to be eradicated:
Milk Myths

Ready to give up meat? The vegetarian Society will give you all of the information and support you need to ensure your transition is a trouble-free one:
Vegetarian Society

You've given up meat but you want to do more. The vegan society offers hundreds of animal-free recipes, advice and information:
Vegan Society

The VVF is a charity that was created to monitor the scientific information linking diet to health. An invaluable source of information:
The Vegetarian & Vegan Foundation

Vegan TV Shows

Isa Chandra Moskowitz is undoubtedly the Queen of Vegan cooking with 5 vegan cookbooks in her repertoire. She became famous for her series, Post Punk Kitchen:
Post Punk Kitchen episodes - Google video

Animal Rights

The Meatrix is of course a parody of the matrix. Instead of the matrix world, it shows that the happy farm with the content and cared for animals is in fact the illusion. It's a fantastic and informative cartoon for both adults and children alike:
The Meatrix

The most powerful film that anybody can watch, it covers everything from puppy mills to the fur and entertainment industry:
Earthlings

A one stop shop for information about the veggie lifestyle and animal compassion. It also has a shop:
Viva!

Compassion in world farming tries to ensure that animals reared for food are treated compassionately:
Compassion in World Farming

Animal Testing

Do you know if your cleaning products have been tested on animals? Check out the best way to go cruelty free:
Go Cruelty Free

The BUAV is leading the way to stop testing on animals:
The BUAV

Want to know which companies don't test on animals? While this site won't tell you if the company is vegan, it will tell you which are BUAV approved:
BUAV approved little book of cruelty free

Love the planet; it’s the only one we have!

Rightly or wrongly blasted as overzealous, these people truly care about the state of the planet, and they offer insights into the things our governments would rather we remain ignorant about:
Greenpeace

Vegan Food/Cosmetics/Clothing

Where to buy vegan food/cosmetics/clothing if you don't live near a whole foods market? The vegan store has a small variety of everything:
Vegan Store

Moo Free Chocolate :)
Moo Free Chocolates

While not completely vegan, they are cruelty free and they do have the vegan logo on most of their products. Plus, they are completely natural :)
Lush Cosmetics

Beautiful looking animal free handbags.
Feel Good Handbags

Animal free shoes
Alternative Stores

Social Networking

Alicia Silverstone’s community of kind lifers, based around her book, The Kind Diet
The Kind Life

Social networking for people wishing to connect with like-minded veggies
Volentia

Still looking for the right person who shares your values? Try this site:
Veggie Romance

Planning ahead for Christmas recipes

I've made a decision about what I will be cooking for Christmas. Actually, I've made a decision about which recipes I will be using for Christmas. I will be making finger foods for the 21st, that I am planning on taking around to my sick grandmother.

Something to make now:
Christmas pudding
Mincemeat

Leading up to Christmas week that I'll be sharing w/neighbours:
Pumpkin spiced bread
Banana bread
Pumpkin Pie
Banana-maple oatmeal Cookies

Foods I am planning for the 21st are:
Individual Vegan toads in the hole
Vegan sausage rolls
Home made hummus with cheezley bread sticks
Individual pizzas
Roasted tomato and pepper soup w/flatbreads (no links, sorry, this is my own recipe)
Stuffed peppers w/cous cous
Baked paprika sweet potato crisps

Individual apple pies
Chocolate and coconut truffles
Vegan Milanos

Christmas eve:
Christmas cake
Chocolate tiffin
Gingerbread cookies
Mince pies
Chocolate cake

Christmas Day:
Quorn family roast (which will be the only non vegan item on the menu - I'll have a whole year to convince my housemate to allow me to try cooking a nut roast)
Swede and carrots
Vegan Cauliflower cheese
meat free bacon wrapped sausages


This Christmas, dinner will be brought to the Herbivore household courtesy of the following sites:
Fat Free Vegan Kitchen
Vegan Village
Parsley Soup
My Vegan Planet
Vegan Cupcakes
Razzle Dazzle Recipes
Cook Dannemann

My neighbours are going to love me this year! I hope some of this stuff will freeze ;)

Vegan Sites

I've been trawling the net looking for vegan suitable recipes for Christmas, and stumbled upon a spakly treasure trove of recipes to suit all occasions. I'll be honest, I walked into this diet thinking that it'll be 101 ways to cook chickpeas and lentils, and to be honest, there are a thousand ways to incorporate these into the foodie lifestyle, but there's so much more! You truly believe that you'll never eat another cheese scone or tiramisu dessert again, and I'm overjoyed to be shown how wrong I am!



Some of the sites thrilling me right now:

Veggie Love Planet

The Vegan Society

Vegan Village

BBC food

Veganfamily

Vegetarian Society

Parsley Soup

Veg family

Whole Foods Market

You may have noticed that a lot of the links are to the Yule section of the recipes. Enjoy and please feel free to suggest more :)

On the books front, my housemate ordered Skinny Bitch in the Kitch, which is just brilliant! I also received my copy the The Quorn Kitchen, which would have been perfect for when I turned Veggie back in June. I can still use it though - I just need to substitute lol.

I've also ordered my copy of Alicia Silverstones The Good Diet and Skinny Bitchin', which I'm anticipating imminently :)

Everybody loves Junk Food!

There seems to be a lot of food out there that seems to have the words Anti -Vegan written along the back in teeny, tiny writing. A lot of obvious stuff, like cream cakes, and a lot of non obvious ones, like health food bars that have honey as an ingredient. 

I was pointed to a group on Facebook by a fellow vegan friend of mine, Faye,  who has provided me with a wealth of information about making the transition first to vegetarian and then to vegan. The group she advised to me to join was The Vegan Societies' official FB page, and the thing she specified was a post requesting peoples favourite vegan eats/junk food.

Now, of course, veganism and vegetarianism are hugely political. The post was a call for suitable vegan food and there's one guy telling somebody off for listing Pringles because they're made by Proctor & Gamble, while another guy sits upon his gold plated high horse and informs everybody that the best snack food available is fruit and vegetables, brought from your local farmers market that are apparently set up right next to where I live. Nice to know. I've obviously walked right past them without seeing them for all of the four years that I've lived in Cheshunt. There is a house less than five minutes walk from me that sells honey from his own hives, but I'm boycotting honey so that's a no go.

Also, there seems to be huge debate over some of the foods listed. Apparently Oreos made in the UK use milk while the American company does not. Suddenly, a lot of the people are happy and some even rush out to buy Oreos. Except that the American company uses sugar that is processed using bone char. Oops.

This is a list of the appropriate foods I've managed to glean from the post (please note that I haven’t taken the time to write everything out and have simply copied and pasted everything, omitting opinions and changing from caps):

Condiments

Salad Cream

 Bisto original instant gravy

Henderson's Relish

Vitalite margarine.

HP Sauce.

Meals

Sainsburys frozen Vegetable Fingers

Linda McCartney Sausage Rolls.
Linda McCartney deep country pies

Realeat veggie mince

Pizza Hut bases and sauces

Linda McCartney sausages.

Tesco meatfree mince

Sainsburys own tinned spaghetti Bolognese

Dried pasta

Tesco finest garlic ciabatta

Veggie samosas

Morrison's stone baked garlic pizza,

Tesco dairy/egg free pizza base mix

Asda garlic stone baked pizza!

coop and Tesco value garlic baguettes

Tesco finest garlic bread

Morrison’s own yellow garlic bread

Waitrose cheeseless pizza

Snacks

beef & tomato pot noodles

Some walkers crisps

Haldirams Indian snack range

Lidl "Crusti croc" crisps (some only)

Sweet n sour noodles

Chow mein pot noodles

Various cheap flavoured noodle packets

Peanut butter

Chili heatwave Doritos

Pink panther wafer biscuits

Tesco value and Sainsbury’s basics tortilla chips

raw almonds

Joes dried mango slices

Butterkist micro popcorn

Doritos Spicy Sweet Chilli Flavoured Tortilla Chips

Snacks: Indian shops
- uttapam mix
- pakora mix
- bhaji mix
- idli mix
- dal vada mix
- pani puri ingredients
- samosa
- onion bhaji
- some indian sweets
- lots of cheap fresh, tinned and frozen vegetables
- cheap coriander and
- lots of spices and flours
- lots of vegan snacks (inc. Haldirams)
- some frozen vegan foods

Snacks: Arabic, Iranian and Turkish shops
- tinned Baba Ghannoush
- tinned Houmous
- multiple tinned Iranian dishes
- stuffed vine leaves
- stuffed pepper
- stuffed aubergine
- especially dark and delicious small cucumbers!
- most bread in these places is vegan. especially delicious is Lebanese flat bread - a palm oil free alternative to tortilla wraps

Cakes

Lyons treacle tart

Morrisons treacle tart

Asda iced fingers

Co-Op custard doughnuts

Asda Victoria ring

Co-Op Jam Doughnuts

Sainsburys basics large apple pie.

Tescos gluten free jam tarts
Mr Kiplings jam tarts

Mr Kiplings apple and blackcurrant pies

  

Biscuits

Bourbons,

Hob-Nobs

Lemon puffs

Oreos (imports only)

Oaties biscuits

Raspberry Ruffles

Happy shopper bourbons

Ginger nuts

Marzipan ritter sports

Jammie dodgers

Plain Chocolate HobNobs.

Tesco and Asda boxes of mini gingerbread men

Asda and Tesco value range digestive biscuits.

Morrison's value fruit shortcakes

Sweets

Jelly tots

Tutti Fruities

Starbust

Fry's chocolate cream

Co-Op packet sweets- eg fruit jellies and gums

Cherry brandy chocolates

Co Op mint & orange chocolate thins

Divine Dark Chocolate

Booja Booja truffles

Morrison's plain chocolate chips

Lindt and Tesco own dark choc (85%+)

As a disclaimer, I will quickly point out that I have no idea if any of these are actually suitable for vegans (they are ALL the opinions of other people).
Also, companies change their ingredients quite frequently and usually without making a big song and dance about it (remember when Mars started using animal rennet in its chocolate and the vegetarians were up in arms to discover their formerly veggie friendly treat had been taken away from them - before a lot of them had even realised!)

In the words of Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin (Skinny Bitch): Always read the ingredients, because you never know how these companies will cut corners to save and make money!

Less than 100 sleeps

I usually spend Christmas alone. It's not a big deal: I'm Pagan and my family are Christian, so I celebrate Yule on the 21st and they all squash into my grandmothers tiny bungalow (they would be my maternal grandmother, my mother, stepdad, two uncles, my two sisters and their husbands).
The bungalow is far too small and I have issues with being 31 years old and forced to sit on the floor to eat dinner. My uncle, who lives with my nan and will be the man cooking up the sparingly dished out feast will not have the time to cook me a vegan meal. So I will avoid the family festivities as I always do.
Sadly, I am also single and thus am unable to snuggle up with anybody. It's a hard life.

My landlady/housemate will be spending the day with her own family and I will most likely spend the day in my dressing gown, watching Jason Statham, Timothy Olyphant, Ben Barnes (and various other types) play bad guys with either guns or weird paintings.
My housemate doesn't like typical Christmas fayre: cream covered pudding and mince pies, strange woman that she is, but I've decided that I may spend the day alone, but I'm still going to attempt making a pudding and mince pies so I can at least get into the spirit, surrounded by those that adore me: my cats and ferrets. And I may spend the next week eating pies and pudding and feeling thouroughly sick of them, but I  don't care.

I've found a recipe for a traditional Christmas pudding, a recipe for pastry and this recipe for the mincemeat filling for my mince pies from Delia Smith. I'm planning on an attempt to veganise everything!
If I suceed, I'll make it up to my housemate by making her a Chocolate Beer cake (see, I'm nice. And I love chocolate too).

Delia calls for a hell of a lot of shredded suet, pure butter and eggs. I'm going to see what I can do with vegetable suet, soya margarine and egg replacer. I have NO idea if it's going to work but I'm going to give it a go (I searched for vegan versions but they looked so lame! The mincemeat I found had half a dozen ingredients in it so I'm not going to bother with it)