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Hello everyone. I will be honest, I am not a vegan or strict vegetarian. I am looking for some advice/help answering a question. I have a good friend coming later this spring to visit me and she is vegan. I want to make sure she is comfortable here, especially with cooking/food. My question is cooking for a vegan similar to cooking for someone who is glutten free? I only ask since I have another friend who is glutten free and she cannot use any utensils/cooking pots that have had wheat products in them. So, is this similar for vegans? No animal products on cooking items? Again, i want to make sure she is comfortable here for her stay and I want to surprize her =). I will get seperate cooking items for her if necessary. please let me know if you can help or recommend what to do.
Responses (5)
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Posted by happycowgirl at 02/13/12 22:24:22
Just by posting this I can already tell you're a wonderful friend. As for your question of whether u need to get separate cooking items for her, I'd say that depends on if she has an allergy or not. People go vegan for different reasons - many for animal rights concerns, many for overall health improvement, some for environmental concerns, some because they have dairy and/or other food allergies.
If she doesn't have allergies, most vegans I know would be fine with just giving the pan or spatula a cleaning after it touched meat and before it touched their dish. It's really a personal preference. There are some vegans who are very particular about it and others who can roll with having their veggie burger fried on a grill that just fried a meat (dead animal carcass) patty.
I think the key is just being respectful of the other person's preferences, and I can already tell you have that down. :)
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Posted by VeganSally at 02/15/12 16:17:44
If you're not sure what she likes, you can't go wrong with having some oatmeal on hand for breakfasts. Some nuts, different kinds of fruits. Fresh veggies. Pasta. Vegans do most cooking in olive oil instead of butter.
There's so many good vegan recipe websites. Here's just one of em: http://www.thebloomingplatter.com
have fun!
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Posted by hrefna at 02/20/12 09:04:16
I don't think you need to get separate cooking utensils for her, just clean the ones you have really well so there is no meat/dairy residue on them. Be aware that she may not eat honey (some vegans do, some don't, it's a hot button issue!) so you might want to get some maple syrup in instead. I hope you have a great time with your friend! She is lucky to have an understanding friend like you. Here are a couple of my favourite vegan recipe sites:
domesticaffair.blogspot.com/
www.theppk.com/
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Posted by pvibe311 at 02/21/12 09:57:45
Thanks everyone! I will check out the recipe sites! =)
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Posted by AndyT at 02/24/12 04:14:10
Also, please note that most vegans do not enjoy the looks and smell of animal products very much.
So if she has a nice salad and everybody else on the table is devouring their rare steaks, it might be that she loses her appetite.
Also, be aware that there are many products that contain animal ingredients (gelatine in gummy bears etc. comes to mind) that might not be immediately obvious to someone who is not used to cooking vegan. When you buy foodstuffs, read the small print. If you see any non-vegan ingredients (there's lots of lists available on the internet, e.g. http://www.veganwolf.com/animal_ingredients.htm ), do not buy it.
It's disappointing if you proudly present a bag of potato chips and she can not join you because it contains whey or something else.
Best regards,
Andy
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