World Vegan Month with Teacher Robin

See Transcript  

Hello, welcome to today’s class. I’m Robin and today we are going to talk about vocabulary related to World Vegan Month. Okay, so the month of November is World Vegan Month and November 1st is International Vegan Day. Okay, so I want to give you some useful vocabulary related to being vegan or being vegetarian. I’m going to explain the difference. I want to share a recipe with you. And I want to give you some tips on how to ask if something is vegan or vegetarian when you are ordering food in a restaurant and when you’re traveling. So the point of today’s class, my objective, is not to convince you to be vegan or vegetarian. I’m not. But actually, I want to encourage you to try some of these options that I’m going to talk about because during the pandemic, we’ve all been eating more at home, cooking more, and maybe we feel bored or tired of having the same five things over and over again. So hopefully, this class will encourage you to try different kinds of foods and some new recipes as well. Okay, so let’s start with the definition of vegetarian versus vegan. Okay, there is a difference. So if someone is vegetarian, it means that they do not eat meat products, so they do not eat beef, pork, fish, etc. No meat, but they do eat foods that come from animals, for example, eggs, honey, cheese. Okay, these are products or these are foods that come from animals, but you do not have to kill the animal in order to eat these. Okay, so vegetarians do eat things like eggs, and cheese, etc. Now, vegans do not eat any of these products. Okay, so no animal products. So this is the main difference here. If you are vegetarian, you might still eat cheese, eggs, honey, etc. But if you are vegan, you do not eat any of these products. Okay, so another word for vegan is called a plant-based diet. Why? Because you eat plants, you eat vegetables, fruits, you eat things that come from the earth that do not come from animals. So another way to say that you are vegan, you can say “I eat a plant based diet”. And when we say diet, it doesn’t mean that you are dieting, you are trying to lose weight, it just means this is what, I eat a plant-based diet. Okay, so the important thing when someone goes vegan or vegetarian is that when you stop eating meat, you lose a source of protein. So meat has a lot of protein, but there are many other foods that can substitute or replace this protein that you were getting from meat if you decide to go vegan or vegetarian. So I’m going to give you some of these options. So some of these “meat substitutes”. Okay, so one of the most well known ones is tofu. Okay, so tofu is made from soy and a lot of times you add a special sauce, you cook it a certain way and it can actually taste like meat because of the way that you cook it. So this is one meat substitute. Another one is seitan. Okay, this is wheat gluten. So this is another item that can be made into similar to look like a meat product but it’s a meat substitute. Another one is tempeh. This is fermented soybean so another soy product. Jackfruit, okay, this is a fruit, but when you cook it, especially if you cook it for a long time, and then you shred it with a knife, it can actually look and taste with seasoning. It can look like pork or shredded chicken, things like that. So this is another meat substitute. And then you have all of the pulses, beans, etc. So lentils, chickpeas, all kinds of beans, black beans, pinto beans. These are all used as meat substitutes if you are vegan or vegetarian. Okay, so you might be thinking, I want to try but I don’t want to do it every day. That’s fine. Why don’t you try Meatless Monday? Okay, so Meatless Monday is very popular. A lot of people choose not to eat meat on a Monday. Okay, so one day of the week, you can choose to not eat meat and if you want to do it more than you can. Okay, so that’s one option. So I want to share with you a recipe that I enjoy, that I have been making a lot lately with the change of season. Now it’s fall, where I live or autumn, and I like to make the salad. So I want to share with you the ingredients. And many people say vegans and vegetarians, all they eat is salad. That’s not true. And also, some of the salads are not what you might think. It’s not just lettuce. There are many ingredients to a delicious salad. So look at this example. Okay, this is my Autumn Salad or my Fall Salad. Okay, I made this the other day. So my meat substitute here is roasted sweet potatoes. So sweet potatoes are very, very common during the season. This is a seasonal thing. People tend to eat sweet potatoes in the fall. So I roasted the sweet potato in the oven. That’s my meat substitute. I have sweet potato. I added beans, black beans. I have greens. So a mix of salad greens, a mix of lettuce. Okay, I have guacamole. So if you know me, you might know that I love Mexican food. So guacamole is one of my favorite foods. And this is very easy to make. You take avocado, lemon and garlic. Mix them together. You have guacamole. This is the simple version. Okay, so I have guacamole. I also have corn. Okay, I have rice. And I have my tomato salsa. All right, this one I bought at the store but you can also make it yourself with tomatoes and chili peppers, etc. Okay, and I sprinkled a little bit of cheese on top of mine. But if you want to make it vegan, you can just leave the cheese. Okay, so this is an example of a balanced bowl. Okay, a balanced bowl with a variety of ingredients. So we have a grain, we have the rice, we have vegetables, we have greens, protein, and then your dressing. Okay, so when you have a salad or something like this, you don’t want it to be dry. So that’s why I have this combination of the guacamole and the salsa. It gives it a nice flavor and this serves as the dressing. Okay, so this is so easy to make. These are cheap ingredients, you can buy it at your supermarket, and you can make this delicious salad which is actually very filling. Okay, you will feel full. Many people think, oh, if it’s a salad, I’m going to be hungry later. But it depends on the kind of salad that you make. Okay, so let me know if you try this at home. It is a delicious Fall, Autumn salad. I really love this and it’s vegan. Okay, and now let’s talk about how to ask or order vegan and vegetarian foods. So imagine your friends invite you to a restaurant, or if you’re traveling. So it depends on the country you travel to. Some countries have more options than others. So it’s important to know how to ask, okay, and instead of saying, “I don’t eat this”, “I don’t eat that”, “I don’t like meat”, etc. Let’s look at some polite ways to ask your waiter in a restaurant, how to or what options they have. Okay, so I’m going to give you some questions. You can say, “Do you have any dishes without meat?” All right. Is it possible, okay, so imagine you see something you want, but it has meat. So you can ask for example, “Is it possible to have the fried rice without chicken?” Okay, so if there’s something you want and you can just say can you have it without this without chicken, without beef, and maybe they can prepare that for you? Alright, some other questions, “Do you have a vegan or vegetarian alternative?” Okay or substitutes. So these are synonyms “alternative” and “substitute” means something different, something instead of. Okay, “Are there any plant-based options on the menu?” So remember plant-based means that there is no meat. So are there “Any plant based options on the menu?” and maybe they can show you. Alright or “Could you suggest something vegan?” “Could you suggest something vegetarian?” Okay, so normally, the waiters in a restaurant are going to be very helpful, they will show you. If it’s not clear on a menu, ask, ask these questions, and I’m sure they would be happy to show you what they have, or maybe find something for you if you do not want to eat meat. Okay, so I hope that you have enjoyed this class. I hope it’s been useful for you. Whether you are vegetarian, vegan or not, it gives you maybe some inspiration to try something different in this month, the month of November, World Vegan Month. Okay, so I want you to tell me in the comments, what is your favorite vegetarian or vegan meal? Okay, if there’s a recipe that you want to share with us, please do. I want to see it. All right, share your vegan or vegetarian recipe. And I want to know, have you ever had a problem ordering vegan or vegetarian food? Maybe if you were traveling in a specific country, or something like that? Tell me about your experience ordering this kind of food. Okay, so thank you so much for joining and leave your comments. And I will see you back here next week. Take care. Bye!