My vegan journey – Going vegetarian (Part 1)

” my vegan journey started long before I even realised;
it started by going vegetarian “

I’ve been reflecting on my vegan journey for a while and what better time to write about it than Veganuary?
I have split my vegan journey into two major stages: ‘Going vegetarian’ and ‘Vegetarian gone vegan’. This blog post is about about the first stage of my vegan journey: going vegetarian. I hope this blog post will give you the confidence to start or continue your own vegan journey.

I believe my vegan journey started long before I even realised; it started by going vegetarian.
At that time I was about 18 years old and living in Romania with my parents. The decision to stop eating meat seemed odd to everyone around me. Saying that back then the idea of being vegetarian was not popular is an understatement: I knew no other vegetarians, the food in restaurants was not labelled as vegetarian and the concept was completely alien.
Even more, the Romanian culture revolves around slaughtering and consuming animals at every meal and for all major religious celebrations like Christmas, Easter etc. The only saving grace was that for lent Christians in Romania were supposed to stop consuming any animal products, going practically vegan for weeks at at a time as dictated by the religious calendar.

Why did I go vegetarian?
In my mind I just had enough of consuming dead corpses. The idea of eating animal flesh was not appetising, to put it gently. Not to mention that as a child I had witnessed my fair share of animals being slaughtered for food right before my eyes; acts of cruelty that I can’t get over.
I think this had been playing on my mind for a while, until one day when I had the confidence to say ‘no more’ in my head (I didn’t go out shouting about it to anyone). It was not a memorable day, it all happened gradually. I started eating less and less meat, until one day when I didn’t have any and that day turned into a week, that week turned into a month and that month turned into years.
When I went vegetarian I didn’t know how long I would be vegetarian for, I did what felt right at that time. I didn’t make any commitments about being vegetarian and I wasn’t particularly vocal about it. I did it for myself and I didn’t feel that I had to justify it to anyone else.

My family and friends were not particularly supportive; everyone thought that I was just going through a phase, but they respected my decision. For all I know they could have been right, it could have all been just a phase. I didn’t know how my vegetarian journey would pan out, but I was determined to take it one day at a time. At that age I was able to cook for myself, which helped, and my mum who did most of the cooking was very accommodating.

A massive turning point in my vegan journey was moving to UK to study when I was 21 years old. Here I found a world where being vegetarian was fairly common and met other vegetarian people for the first time. There was greater choice of vegetarian food and I didn’t feel like the odd one out anymore. Living in UK made my life as a vegetarian easy, I fitted right in and felt supported to continue with this lifestyle choice.
I never looked back, until the day I considered going vegan, which was about 10 years later. More about this milestone in my vegan journey in a future blog post.

Lessons learnt
I will end this self-reflection with the main lessons learnt during my vegan journey so far:
Don’t be afraid to start. Start thinking about it. Start trying vegan/vegetarian dishes or products. Allow yourself to be curious.
Do what works for you. There is no right or wrong, it’s your journey. You may start with baby steps, or go cold turkey. Go back, go forward, you are in control.
No strings attached. No pressure. This lifestyle change can be daunting. What if you can’t do it? But what if you can? Focus on what you can do, rather on what you can’t. Can you eat more veggies? Can you eat a vegan/vegetarian meal a week? It may take you a year or 10 years to go vegan, or you may never go vegan, but you may incorporate a lot more plant based meals in your diet. Either way, you have nothing to lose, you may just improve your diet and save some animal lives along the way.
Reflect “Veganism is a philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude—as far as is possible and practicable—all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose; and by extension, promotes the development and use of animal-free alternatives for the benefit of animals, humans and the environment. In dietary terms it denotes the practice of dispensing with all products derived wholly or partly from animals.” Vegan Society definition of veganism.
You are not alone. Connect with others and go through the journey together. There are so many vegan/vegetarian groups and communities which will support you through your vegan journey. Try some of the recipes I share on my blog, you are guaranteed to at least have a tasty meal, no strings attached 🙂

Rum babas aka Savarine (Vegan)

Makes 12 cakes

Rum babas aka Savarine (Vegan)

Papanasi (vegan & baked, not fried)

Makes 15 papanasi

Papanasi are traditional Romanian cheesecake doughnuts, served with cream and jam.
A delicious, very indulgent treat, that reminds me of my childhood. My mum still makes Papanasi for me every time I visit.
Because of the pandemic, my parents already missed visiting me in March and I missed visiting them in May…so you probably know where this is going…I was left with no choice other than making my own Papanasi.  
This recipe is not only the vegan version of Papanasi, but I pushed the boundaries further to make the Papanasi baked instead of fried. I just don’t like to fry stuff!
The recipe takes some patience to make due to the dough proving, but the result is worthwhile. Unlike doughnuts, that go stale the next day, the Papanasi stay good for at least 3 days.
Give them a go and let me know what you think!

Ingredients
2 tbsp milled chia seeds
150ml plant-based milk
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tsp fast-action dried yeast or 20 grams fresh yeast
5 tbsp sugar 
50ml rapeseed oil
170g free from alternative to cream cheese
Zest from one lemon
2 tablespoons semolina
350g plain flour, plus extra for kneading and dusting
a pinch of slat

For serving: Alpro soy single cream, raspberry jam and fresh raspberries.

Method
1. In a small bowl mix the milled chia seeds with 6 tablespoons of water. Leave to set.
2. Warm up the plant milk in the microwave for 30 seconds. Add the apple cider vinegar, mix and leave to curdle.
3. In a large mixing bowl, mix the fresh yeast with 1 tablespoon of sugar. Mix using a spoon until it turns into a runny paste (about 30 seconds). Add the curdled milk over the yeast mixture and cover the bowl with cling film. Leave for 10 minutes to activate the yeast.
4. After the time is up, add over the yeast mixture: the chia seed mixture, the rest of the sugar, oil, cream cheese and lemon zest. Mix until combined.
5. Add in the semolina, flour and a pinch of salt. Mix using the dough hook attachment until a dough is formed.
6. Dust a work surface with flour. Remove the dough from the bowl and knead for about 10 minutes. The dough sound be fairly sticky, so add more flour as you knead to prevent it from sticking to the work surface and your hands.
7. Spray the large mixing bowl with some oil and add the dough back to the bowl. Cover the bowl with cling film and leave the dough to prove in a warm place for 2 hours (until it doubles in size).
8. Line two baking trays with baking paper.
9. Dust a work surface with flour. Remove the cling film from the bowl and gently punch down the dough to remove the air. Turn the dough on the work surface and roll until 2cm thick. Use a water glass dipped in flour to cut the doughnuts and place them on the baking trays. Cover the baking trays with cling film and leave to prove for another 20 minutes.
10. Preheat the oven to 180C. Bake the doughnuts for 12 minutes. Remove the doughnuts from the oven and leave to cool down for 10 minutes.
11. Enjoy hot or cold with single cream, raspberry jam and fresh raspberries.

Thanks for the inspiration go to my mum.

Papanasi (vegan)

Pearl barley risotto – Vegan

Makes 4 servings

Pearl barley risotto, incredibly creamy and simple to make.
Barley is rich in vitamins and minerals, so I made it easy to include in my diet. Pair this with some steamed broccoli and you have a delicious nutritious meal.
The subtle flavours of lemon, pea, mint and basil make this risotto truly special.

I don’t usually cook with pearl barley, but turns out I rather like it.
Sharing is caring, so don’t miss out on this lovely dish.

Ingredients

• Oil for frying
• 1 onion – finely chopped
• 3 garlic cloves – finely chopped
• Zest of one lemon
• 200g pearl barley
• 1.2l vegetable stock
• 140g garden peas
• 1 mint sprig
• 2 tablespoons Oatly crème fraiche
• 1 small bunch of basil – finely chopped
• Salt to taste
• A head of broccoli (steamed or boiled) for serving

Method

1. Heat the oil in a medium frying pan over medium heat. Fry the onion, garlic and lemon zest for 5-10 minutes (until soft).
2. Rinse the pearl barley in cold water to remove some of the starch.
3. Add the pearl barley to the frying pan and half of the vegetable stock, stirring every few minutes to prevent sticking.
4. Use half of the garden peas to make a quick pea and mint puree by whizzing peas with 3-4 mint leaves in a blender. Add a splash of water as needed.
5. Once the pearl barley stock is absorbed, stir in the leftover vegetable stock, the leftover the garden peas, pea puree and continue to cook until the liquid is absorbed.
6. Remove from heat and stir in the Oatly crème fraiche and basil. Add salt to taste (my vegetable stock is already salty, so I don’t usually have to add more salt).
7. Enjoy with steamed broccoli.

Pina Colada Cocktail

Makes 2 cocktails

Pina Colada Cocktail

 

Sunshine in a glass! Sweet pineapple, creamy coconut and delicate rum.
Put your smoothie blender to good use and make a lovely cocktail or two.
It has been my quarantine cocktail of choice because it reminds me of being on holiday, it is easy to make and requires simple ingredients.
It’s the simple things in life that matter.

Ingredients
300ml pineapple juice
100ml coconut milk from a can
100ml rum (I used Malibu)
1 teaspoon coconut condensed milk (optional)
Ice

Method
1. Use your smoothie blender to mix all the ingredients for a few seconds until foamy.
2. Pour in two glasses over more ice and enjoy in the sunshine!
It’s the simple things in life!