The 3 Things That Surprised Me Most About Going Vegan

Nope, it wasn't my boyfriend rolling his eyes at me. Or having to explain for the billionth time to someone that getting protein is easy (Coulda predicted that one too). Or that, yes, I know, I'm taking a B12 supplement, so don't worry. So maybe I couldn't have told you that I'd be eating a lot more of 86 Lemons' Chickpea Ratatouille. But read on for the three real whammies that I discovered after making the plunge.

1. "Vegetarian" options at Chinese restaurants aren't safe.

By now, I'm well versed in all the junk that gets thrown into seemingly innocuous dishes. But pre-vegan days, I thought, "Hey! Cheese and dairy are nowhere to be found on the menus of Asian restaurants. As long as I order veggies/tofu dishes, I'm totally safe. Hello Takeout!" Wrong. Turns out, a lot of sauces use fish or meat products and even items listed on a "Buddha's delight" or "Vegetarian" section of a menu aren't safe even if animal products aren't named in the description. I've searched the internet high and low to try and figure out what exactly the standard recipe is for "brown sauce," only to discover that it varies tremendously. After doing some informal surveys on my own at my go-to takeout joints, I discovered one uses chicken stock as the base for it's brown sauce (and it's white sauce too!), another is "vegetarian!" until you pry a bit and learn their definition of vegetarian means no pork and it actually contains oyster sauce, and a third is corn starch and water based, and totally vegetarian friendly. So ask, ask, ask away. And when in doubt. Order no sauce and get extra soy sauce on the side. P.S. Half the fun of take out/delivery is eating pre-made food in the comfort of your own home, so surely you could splurge for a $4 bottle of vegan teriyaki or other condiment of choice and just order your dishes sauce free and BYOS to the dinner table.

2. I have to worry about Blood Mary's.

If you know me, you know that there's one drink I crave breakfast, noon and nightcap: that savory blend of tomato juice, spice, enough olives to justify having to add it to your weight watchers point list and a (few) splash (es) of vodka. Sadly, Worcestershire sauce is typically made with anchovies, so it's not on the "safe list" (I'll trade accidentally vegan Oreos or Doritos Spicy Sweet Chili Flavored Tortilla Chips to get Worcestershire sauce on that list any day). So what's a BM-aficionado to do? Sling a bottle of Annie's Organic Vegan Worcestershire Sauce in your purse to have on call for a brunch spot near you.

3. ...But I don't have to worry about everything.

Okay, so confession: I don't actually walk around with Worcestershire Sauce in my purse (Though Annie's is darn good). And I don't even double check with my waiter at buzzy Manhattan liquor dens to ensure they're using the vegan kind (A little voice in my head likes to cajole me by whispering "C'mon Perri, this is Manhattan, of course this trendy spot knows to pick one without anchovies. I mean, they're charging me $1112 a glass, they must be splurging for the organic vegan version...") And I'm okay with that. I used to think going vegan was an all or nothing type thing. No animal products. None. Ever. But the more you learn, the more you realize how that's pretty much impossible. And striving for a compassionate lifestyle that mitigates as much animal suffering as possible is better than driving yourself insane and spending all day obsessing over your food choices. Get worked up all you want about your veggie stir fry being tossed in the same wok as a pork dish that came before it and is left unwashed (trust me, it happens), but at the end of the day, the .000000003%  animal contamination it's resulted in on your meal is probably better than the additional animal suffering that would result from washing that wok with a tallow-laced soap that led to more demand for cattle slaughter.

2-Ingredient Cleansing New Year's Soup

2014 marks the influx of a lot of food trends. Many, from the elevation of the humble lemon to dairy products getting a nutty twist (hello, macadamia nut cheese!), are actually pretty vegan friendly (Get the full list here). One of my favorite of the ten trends, however, isn't really a "food" in the traditional sense: It's tea. And my tea has escaped the mug and jumped into my bowl and plate. And maybe it's time yours hops into some other vestibules as well. Using Numi Organic Savory Tea and vegetable broth lying around in my pantry, it's five-year-old easy to make an impressive, warm and steamy bowl of soup.

So...drum roll please...the oh-so-formidable recipe.

1) Mix one part Numi savory tea with one part veggie broth.
2) Heat until boiling. Serve.



OPTIONAL ADD-INS

If you want to think beyond one-two-soup. here are a few of my favorite combos.

2-ingredient Soup Remix
Spinach Chive + veggie broth + handful of cashews (Sounds weird, but a good crunch)
Tomato Mint + veggies broth+ chopped tomatoes + splash of  unsweetened almond milk (Again, sounds weird, but remember the healing powers of that bowl of creamy tomato soup on a snowy day?)
Fennel Spice + veggie broth + roasted carrots + fresh cracked pepper
Carrot curry + veggie broth + cubes of cooked potatoes + freshly grated ginger + cinnamon

(The garden sampler contains all six blends)

The best part of this no-brainer recipe? You can still serve it in your tea mug and it still tastes just as good. Perhaps even better.

The Most Brilliant Vegan Stocking Stuffer Gift (And It Only Costs $9.20)

This past year, I became an accidental vegan advocate of sorts when I wrote a series of researched pieces on veganism for Reader's Digest (11 Convincing Reasons That Going Vegan Isn't Crazy, 12 Expert Tips for Becoming Vegan, etc.). It certainly changed my plate and I hope inspired more than a few others too (whether that means joining Meatless Mondays, just crowding out some bad foods by loading up on more veggies when you can, or going from vegetarian to vegan). So when I opened an envelope at work, I was so touched to see that a spokesperson for PETA had written me a note and sent me this beautiful and inspiring sheet of U.S. Postage Photo Stamps (A set of 20 is $9.20, or at least according to my .46 * 20 math skills it is...)

It'll set you back less than a Hamilton (It's okay, I had to look up who was on the $10 too, folks) and make mailing off your monthly rent check that much less painful. Okay, okay, so maybe it won't, but who doesn't need stamps? It's the perfect practical gift that everybody could always use extras. And there's something really nice about thinking that somewhere in a sea of letters, as your envelope crosses through the states, a postal worker in a mail room, your delivery person or a faceless recipient of your Con Ed bill sees the stamp and thinks "Hey, if Sarah Silverman can do it, maybe I can change my plate, too."