Meals of Veganuary

It’s been interesting trying to cook a vegan dish every day for a month. We’ve obviously ended up with a lot of vegan food in our fridge, more than we usually have, so it was a good thing that I had a staff meeting here on Tuesday, so I could feed people.

I ended up making a beef curry too, though — I found myself sort of hesitant to serve several people an entirely vegan meal without checking with them first, because I think people who are used to eating meat regularly often don’t feel quite satisfied with an all-vegan meal.

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That question of ‘satisfaction’ is a really interesting one, because it’s mostly a mental thing, I think? Partly it’s craving / expecting a certain kind of firm texture — chickpeas and green jackfruit give some of that, but a lot of other vegan dishes, especially curries and pickles and chutneys, are…soft?

I’m not sure what else goes into it — something to keep thinking about. Maybe this will turn into an essay at some point. 🙂 Would love to hear whether you find vegan food satisfying, and why or why not?

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This meal was beef curry, deviled potatoes, green mango curry, kale sambol, cucumber salad, all on a bed of rice.

By contrast, I’m including an entirely vegan meal from a few days previously: tamarind-lentil rice, cauliflower curry, kale sambol, coconut sambol, a little plain rice. Personally I found this quite satisfying, I think because the cauliflower has some textural sturdiness, and the lentils are crunchy and protein-rich. (I could have skipped the plain rice, honestly, but I was trying to use some up.)

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