Take-out

Eating out has become far more of a chore now that I am a vegan. As anyone who special dietary restrictions knows, it is very easy to control what goes into your food when you are at home. But it is much harder to know when you are in the larger world. I enjoy eating out; it is practically a hobby for me. If you've ever walked past a fast food outlet or supermarket novelty and wondered "Who buys meat-flavored Shreddies covered in chocolate?", the answer is me. ALWAYS me, the moment I see it. Not only will I but it if it looks gross, I will buy it because it looks gross. I have an insatiable need to know its secrets.

That option has largely been taken away from me. SO many foods contain either butter, milk, or some other derivation/variation of dairy that it is near-impossible to avoid. So a lot of the gross, easy to access foods that I leaned on for hunger support are gone. There is no easy way out.

Of course, there are a number of fine vegan restaurants in the city to visit and try and I love all the food that comes from them. But one cannot afford the higher premiums required to dine at them for every meal. And I have had mixed success from vegan grab and go options thus far (A cold vegan wrap left me feeling very blue while avocado and rice supermarket sushi is my new favorite thing).

So I am learning to expand my repertoire. This is a good thing. I even bought and ate some vegan cheese today. With some simple tomato sauce ( and soy protein, sort of like ground beef in taste and texture), I had a nice little pizza. Vegan cheese is..passable, let's say. It's certainly nothing like real cheese, but it isn't quite as bad as processed cheese either. If I had to describe it, it's somewhere right in between the two. It'll do, it'll do.