When we first moved to the coast I was really spoiled. I lived in two places with the best food co-ops I have ever shopped at. I could get just about any type of vegan convenience food to be found. I have always eaten mostly whole foods and cook from scratch but, there were a few convenience items that crept in. I really didn't notice until we moved to the coast where it is really hard to find much of the convenience foods that I enjoyed. I can only find the very basic in tofu and tempeh. I still haven't found a decent source for mochi which I enjoyed occasionally. I would keep a package or two of Gardein in the freezer for those nights when I needed something quick to make. I also really like the Field Sausage smoked apple sage flavor of vegan sausage.
Some of this I can find between here and the food co-op 45 miles up the road but not all. I cannot find a source for fresh daikon radish either and boy do I miss it. I will have to grow my own. If I was really really desperate, I could mail order many of these items but there have been two things that have refined the way I eat here on the coast in addition to the scarcity of resources.
I recently went on a 21 day cleanse diet. The only things I had to take out (from a long list of foods) was gluten and sugar. It was hard at first but I started looking into more raw foods for sweet treats without sugar and gluten. This has been a wonderful revelation for me. I don't think I would like to be 100% raw due to the fact I live in a cold gray climate and get too chilled without warm food but I do want to be "rawish". I am nearly finished with the cleanse, just three more days. I feel better physically. It isn't as dramatic for me as taking out dairy was. When I removed dairy from my diet over three years ago (and thus becoming vegan) I felt dramatically better health-wise. It turned out that I was down right allergic to dairy and the allergy was getting worse. Removing gluten and sugar has given a more subtle result. I feel lighter and cleaner. I love where it has taken me food-wise as well so I think for now, I will remain gluten and sugar free. My sweet tooth is more than satisfied with the treats that use dates or occasionally, agave for sweetening.
The second event that has changed the way I am eating and thinking about food is the plastic pollution I see on the beach. I walk the beach every day and always see bits of plastic in the high tide line, not to mention all kinds of objects. I started looking into the plastic pollution and have found several sites which I will be putting in my links list. One sight is called My Plastic Free Life and has a challenge to document your plastic usage. I took the challenge and have just finished week four. I thought I did pretty good but when I started documenting it, I was surprised to see how much I use in spite of cooking from scratch and buying in bulk. All those convenience foods listed above? Guess what! They all come wrapped in plastic. I started looking for alternatives. I found tofu in bulk at my local food co-op. One problem though, they run out and I am not close enough to go back anytime soon. I don't really eat a lot of tofu but it is good to have. The other thing I found was a way to make my own tempeh. I could make tofu too. I want to try it as I have never found tempeh in anything other than plastic bags.
I have also invested in a food dehydrator. Something I have wanted to do for years. Here it is:
The bottom line? I am eating even better than before and finding all kinds of new food paths to explore. Life is good!
Next post I want to highlight some of the wonderful vegan and plastic pollution blogs I read. It has been a busy month but I will be getting to that in a few days.
Here is to good, healthy, delicious, vegan food.
-Renee
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