Vegan for beginners… A trend that is hard to ignore

Don’t worry, nobody has to justify himself/herself because he/she offers meat dishes, likes to eat meat himself/herself, produces his/her own bacon and cheese or goes hunting. I’m a vegan, but: I come in peace. As you will come across them more and more often I would just like to give you an insight into how you meet vegans needs if they are your guests. Especially among there is growing number of vegans – in Germany also due to the Militante Veganerin (over half a million followers on Tiktok, views of her videos on YouTube in the five-figure range). She is admired by many young people and feared by parents because the content of her videos leads to discussions at the cooking pot and dinner table. Vegans are still a minority, but more and more non-vegans are also interested in this lifestyle. Vegan lifestyle is a rising trend.

How many people are there in Germany who avoid food of animal origin?

According to the Veganz nutritional study from 2022, this is the situation in Germany:

3% are vegans,

7% vegetarian (according to a Statistika Survey among  23.500 Germans  above 14 years in 2023 even  8,12 million people are vegetarians which is plus of 1,6 millions since 2020),

2% pescatarian

and even 31% are flexitarian.

Only 56.5 percent are still omnivorous. In addition, groups that limit meat consumption have been increasing rapidly for years. According to the study mentioned above, 57% of non-vegans would like to reduce their consumption of animal source food in the future. That’s probably what prompted the German burger chain “Peter Pane” to put a lot of money and time into developing meatless patties, which are now even on top of the menu.

It is also an interesting fact that Germany is number 1 in the world when it comes to new vegan product launches. German market for veggie foods is worth over 1.2 billion euros and is growing between 25% and 33% annually (click for source). Many of the vegan substitutes are also consumed by omnivores or people who only eat little meat. Just out of curiosity and because it’s “cool” to do so.

What are the different levels of meat abstinence?

• Flexitarians (the largest group): These people avoid meat most of the time, but occasionally treat themselves to high-quality organic meat. This means for you: Flexitarians do not feel like they are missing out if they’re served dishes without meat. On the contrary. They only want a small amount of meat in their diet and if they eat meat they make sure it is from species-appropriate husbandry. You don’t have to overload the menu with animal source food.•
• Further more, there are the pescatarians: They don’t eat meat, but they eat fish.•
• Ovo-lacto vegetarians are basically classic vegetarians: They don’t eat dead animals, but they eat products that come from animals such as eggs and dairy products.•
• Vegans: They don’t eat any animal source food products, including dairy products and eggs. Some vegans take it very seriously and, for example, don’t eat honey, which is produced by bees.

What is of animal origin even if you wouldn’t expect it at first glance?

Attention: Even If it is often not obvious at the first glance, some food and dishes are of animal origin. If you are aware of this and point out to your vegan that the beer or chocolate you offer is vegan, you will make him/her very happy. Examples of non-vegan or food that causes animal suffering:

• Chocolate usually contains milk.
• Gummy Bears/jelly babies: Gelatin is made by boiling pig skins, bones and connective tissue such as tendons, cartilage and ligaments in water.
• Coconut milk and products containing coconut milk from Thailand: In Thailand, chained monkeys are often used to collect coconuts from the trees.
• Some types of chips and bread: They contain pork bristles (L-cysteine ​​(E920). Chips also often contain milk powder.
• Instant vegetable broth: Sometimes contains egg whites or beef fat.• Beer and fruit juices: Some beers are filtered through a fish bladder and some juices contain gelatin.

Personal tips and experiences – inside a vegan family

My family has a tradition of avoiding foods of animal origin. I have been a vegetarian since I was 13 (the result of a report about tethered pigs), my mother became a vegetarian at the same time and has remained so – for 3.5 decades. Two of my daughters have decided six months ago not only to eat a vegetarian diet (this was also their own decision after a visit to a farm), but to switch to vegan. I wasn’t enthusiastic at first because veganism is more complicated than vegetarianism. As a vegetarian, you simply leave out the meat and fish which is usually not a problem in restaurants these days. As vegans basically we had to turn into nutrition experts – what contains calcium? How to get enough proteins? And what about iron? – and cook completely new recipes. Luckily, we are real foodies and enjoy trying new dishes every day (if you ever have a question about vegan food or dishes, please feel free to contact me: [email protected]). Thus, at home we are able to manage, but sometimes it becomes challenging when traveling. However, my daughters’ arguments convinced me in the end. A list of reasons for veganism can be found here (if you are interested in this subject, you can use DeepL to translate this article).

Let’s continue with practical tips so that you can also make vegans happy in your restaurant or at breakfast. Because non-vegan guests often benefit from it, too.

What vegans don’t like

• Pasta with tomato sauce, fries and jam on dry bread every day. Pasta with tomato sauce is lovely, but not every day. Above all, vegans also need proteins and calcium. Believe me, after a week in Italy we have a surplus of carbohydrates and are very keen on tofu, soy yoghurt, oat milk and wheat protein (this is what the meat substitute “Beyond Meat” is made of).
• “Just leaving out the cheese” from a dish is not a good idea. Because the dish usually doesn’t taste good. Many vegans are also foodies (like us) and if an element is missing from a composition, it usually tastes bland.•
• Thai curry in Greece. That just doesn’t fit and usually doesn’t taste particularly Thai. It’s true that most vegans eat a lot of Asian food, as Asian cuisine offers a lot of vegan dishes. However, as vegans are usually good cooks – out of necessity – they will therefore sometimes conjure up a better Asian menu than the Greek chef (no offense!). Therefore: It will be much more appreciated if you veganize traditional dishes or put local dishes on the menu that are vegan anyway.
• Only offering one vegan dish on the menu. Vegans also don’t like some plant-based foods. For example, I don’t like beetroot, but chefs seem to think that a vegan dish always has to contain beetroot. Vegan is inclusive: All the other meat reducers (almost half of the population in Germany now) will be happy about a vegan dish. Therefore, 2-3 dishes without animal products on the menu will surely not cause any problems for other guests ( on example during Munich Oktoberfest 2023: The Ochsenbraterei (!) had 5 vegan dishes at the top of their menu – all of the dishes super Bavarian).

What makes vegans happy

On the breakfast buffet:

A vegan waffle batter without eggs and milk (there are great substitute products – e.g. oat milk or egg substitute made from chickpeas – which be found in every well-stocked supermarket). Nice side effect: Lactose intolerant people will also benefit.

Vegan spreads with lentils or beans, olive paste, vegan chocolate spread (in Germany “Rapunzel Nougat Crème” is by far the best! Better than Nutella), guacamole, hummus, vegan butter. Curd can be easily replaced with curd alternatives from soy. To be honest – most of them don´t taste particularly nice without spices, but with a little “treatment” it tastes so deceptively real that no one will notice the difference: curd substitute, a little garlic, salt, lots of lemon, pepper and fresh herbs. Ready.

Vegan scrambled eggs: Simply use all the ingredients that you normally use for your scrambled eggs, but instead of eggs use silken tofu with a little kala namak (black salt, which smells and tastes sulfurous) and turmeric. o Cakes and muffins: Several times non-vegans asked me for these two recipes because they simple and incredibly delicious. Mostly it wasn´t even noticed that they are were vegan cakes: lemon cake (I add 3 teaspoons of poppy seeds and decorate with edible flowers) and blueberry crumble muffins (again you can use DeepL to translate the recipe).

 

 

Chocolates: Yes, they cost a fortune, but they are by far the best chocolates I’ve ever tasted. And I mean ALL chocolates, whether vegan or non-vegan. The shop Das Bernsteinzimmer produces all of its chocolates by hand, is a completely social and sustainable company and the sweet particles are breathtaking! Even just one would certainly make every guest – whether vegan or not – happy. The chocalates are produced in Germany, but they also ship to other countries like Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands, Luxembourg or France.

Traditional dishes without substitute products that have always been vegan: A great recipe book with recipes from all over the world is the book “immer schon vegan (always vegan)” (unfortunately there exists no English translation – if anyone knows an English counterpart, I would be happy to know about it). From Spanish gazpacho to Italian pizza marinara and to the French artichoke, you will find many vegan dishes in that book (also from your home country) that you wouldn’t even think of at first. Because: Many old recipes do not contain animal products because they were not always everywhere available.

Traditional dishes in a vegan version: Nowadays there is a vegan recipe alternative for almost every dish. Vegans usually don’t eat meat because they don’t like it, but because they do not want animals to suffer. Be it Kötabuller, Christmas goose or apple strudel. A great link is this one, this one, this one or this one (“vegane Wunder” also runs an Instagram account with simple recipes and a great recipe book, unfortunately I don’t know any English vegan influencers, but I found a list of vegan influencers here.). And sometimes a dish can quickly become vegan with a small adjustment, such as risotto, where the Parmesan can be replaced with a vegan Parmesan alternative. Also interesting: Among dairy ice creams, lemon and mango are usually vegan.

Collect a few restaurant ideas for vegan guests or point out to vegans specialties of your country that are vegan. There are vegan dishes in every culture, believe me! You just have to think a little. For example, we would never have ordered pizza marinara. To us it sounded seafood-y, but it’s a vegan Italian pizza (thanks, Francesca from San Giorgio Resort!). Spaghetti Al’ Assassinata is now also one of our favourites in Italy. And there are probably restaurants in your area that offer at least a few vegan options – sometimes even “by accident” (Happy Cow is a good source for traveling vegans. Who knows, maybe you will soon be recommended by a vegan on this webpage;-).

I hope I was able to give you some inspiration for vegan dishes and take away your fear of “these difficult vegans”. Most of them are quite nice, do not mind if someone eats a piece of meat next to them, and are really grateful if you cater to their needs. With this in mind: bon appetit!