Whether it's the vegan teenager living with their non-vegan parents or the animal lover who married a meat lover, many vegans and vegetarians live in homes where cow milk is in the refrigerator, meat makes a common appearance at meals, and tofu isn't exactly embraced as a favorite ingredient. While this may seem to make the kitchen a battleground in the war of food ideologies, it's quite possible to avoid drawing a line down the pantry and eating separate meals. Rather, it can be an opportunity for the vegan in the situation to introduce family, roommates, etc. to new vegan dishes and veganizations of classic favorites - that they will hopefully come to love, and be saving animals with every meal. It's vegan activism that is easy, fun, effective...and tastes good.
New Vegan Recipes
Finding new vegan recipes that everyone--vegan or non--in a household can enjoy is easy. Although there are many wonderful vegan cookbooks available through both stores (including Barnes & Noble, Borders, and smaller bookstores) and online retailers (including Amazon, Action for Animals Store, and authors' websites), finding vegan recipes can be as simple as an internet search. Websites such as VegWeb.com offer pages and pages of all-vegan recipes--and most don't require obscure ingredients. Also, they range in type: from breakfast to dessert, from American homestyle to flavors from the other side of the globe, from healthy to not-so-healthy. Whatever the recipe, when the final product hits the table, everyone can enjoy it.
Veganizing Classic Favorites
While everyone may love a new vegan dish, there is understandably a comfort that comes with classics like mac and cheese, sugar cookies, and a grilled burger--all of which are often not vegan. But recipes that call for animal products are not without their use in creating a vegan meal; they can be an inspiration for a vegan version of the recipe, or they can be altered. For example, an internet search of "vegan mac and cheese" will produce a variety of results from which to choose, as will searching for "vegan sugar cookies." Alterations are sometimes quite simple, such as substituting a veggie burger for a meat burger, using a brand of vegan meatballs in spaghetti sauce, or using soy cheese on pizza.
Useful basic substitutions to be aware of: soy, rice, or almond milk can usually be used in place of cow milk (more information is available about Alternatives To Cow Milk); Ener-G Egg Replacer, flaxseed, banana, applesauce, and tofu are all options to use in place of egg (adjust choice based on recipe); agave syrup can be used in place of honey; a vegan margarine can be used in place of butter.
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