This is a picture of brownies I made sometime last year, using this delicious recipe from Vegweb.   I revisited this recipe again a little while ago and was going through the comments. I particularly love the comment “They’re just like the real thing…” Hmm, pet peeve of mine, particularly when I once in a while indulge in baking: that vegan products are somehow the “fake” version of the other products that contain dairy/egg.

This is sort of why I think naming anything “vegan” does more harm than it does good. It instantly puts weird associations and prejudices in different people’s heads.  And when you do mention that something you made is “vegan”, instantly people are looking for the differences between that and the other recipes they’re used to… hence comparisons like “it tastes just like the real thing!”.     I’m not a big baker person, but when I do bake, I usually try to make it as vegan as possible… that is no dairy, no eggs, no other animal products. It’s simple, and if you follow a good recipe you come out with a product that is tasty and delicious. If it’s not delicious, scrap the recipe, make something else.   So let’s see… what makes a brownie? Chocolate - check. Square or rectangular shape - check.  Cake-like texture - check. More chocolate - check. Deliciousness - check. That seems to be a brownie in my definition. It’s not a fake brownie just because it’s vegan.  It doesn’t “taste just like the real thing”. It is the real thing.  It has nutritional value. It’s fattening. It’s yummy. Put it in your mouth, eat it, it’s fun!

Anyway, I’m off to have my fake dinner.  Rant done!

There’s a discussion on one of the forums that I frequent about Raw Milk. Of course, one of the proponents of raw milk brought up the argument, and I will paraphrase, that raw milk is in it’s most purest form, as nature intended, so without the manipulation of man, it’s healthier for us. This to me is a laughable argument and I wonder why people still make it.   Particularly if this argument is coming from someone who enjoys most of their food (i.e. meats) cooked.  I don’t really want to get into this, but I’ve always found it interesting that  humans are the only species on this planet that drinks another animal’s milk, even after being weaned.  Somewhere we got the idea that drinking cow’s milk  was an extremely vital part of our growth and development.

I haven’t had a proper glass of milk in probably about a decade, maybe more. Of course, I’m a grown adult.  I’m small, but I’m not skinny. I’m not weak and brittle. Yes, I did get meningitis, but I recovered pretty quickly, while still maintaining a vegetarian diet. I’m more active than most people I know, just for my 5km round trip work commute.    I do indulge in cheese, ice cream, stuff like that, once in a while, but not enough to make a nutritional difference. Except for the cream I put in my coffee, I’m practically a vegan when I cook at home. Yeah it doesn’t help that I seem to have developed lactose intolerance after my meningicoccal adventures, but I’ve done fine without that tall glass of white stuff.  The thing with it is, I’ll consume dairy but I’m not going to kid myself into thinking I need it.  Dairy is junk food. When I tell myself that I need to eat healthier (and I do), part of that agenda is actually cutting out as much of it as I can.