Vegan vs Vegetarian vs Plant-Based

Introduction

I've been heavily criticized since becoming vegan in 2017.

• Vegans are clueless when it comes to food. Where's the meat?
• If I gave them scrambled eggs and bacon, they would learn to eat like everybody else.
• Vegans are just doing this diet to be annoying.
• Vegans can't eat anything I cook for them. They are being inconvenient for everyone else.
• You're vegan, so you eat rabbit food, right?

No matter your stance on veganism or what you eat, it is vital to understand the difference between plant-based, vegetarian, and vegan because these concepts are incredibly confusing when the definitions aren't consistent.

Plant-Based Eating

Plant-based eating has a broad range of definitions depending on the brand and the person. Here are some terms on plant-based foods you should be aware of when accommodating vegetarians and vegans:

• 50/50: I've seen some plant-based hamburgers in the health food sections labeled 50/50. For plant-based burgers, the burgers are half meat and half plant, like with the brand Both. For regular burgers, it's half beef and half bacon, aka 100% meat.
• Lactose-free: This marketing term targets those with milk allergies and lactose intolerance. Double-check if there is milk in it before purchasing it. For example, Lactaid and Fairlife both contain milk.
• Plant-based meats: This spectrum is partially to completely made with plants. Note that just because something has plant-based meat on the label does not mean the product is vegan. For instance, Del Monte's Veggieful frozen line includes pocket pies with plant-based meats, but they all contain dairy.
• Nut alternatives: There are a decent amount of nut-based alternatives to dairy products, from cheese to milk. Be wary of the ingredient list before purchasing. For example, Lisanatti Foods sells vegetarian cheese made with almonds and rice, but none of the cheeses are vegan due to containing casein (milk protein).
• 100% plant-based: The food is both vegetarian and vegan.

Vegetarian Diet

Going vegetarian means they stopped eating animals, but that definition is very flexible. Some vegetarians eat fish. Many eat no meat. A few may restrict eating parts of the animal besides meat, including regular refried beans (lard), brown sugar and cane sugar (gelatin), and some alcohol (some beer and wine).

At restaurants, vegetarian dishes only exclude meat. Vegetarians drink milk, shakes, and pop/soda and eat about any dish imaginable like everyone else except without meat. Most vegetarians are okay with wearing leather, fur, and wool, and no, this is not counterproductive. Instead, they focus on not eating animals. Veganism is way stricter than that.

Vegan Lifestyle

Veganism is more than not eating or drinking animal products (eggs) and by-products (gelatin). It is a way of living. Have you heard of PETA? PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) is the world's largest animal rights association and one of the most well-known and extreme groups. They protest bullfighting with explicit gore and nudity in Spain. PETA convinces celebrities to pose in porn  instead of wearing fur. PETA members even compare the poor animal treatment to concentration camps. However, PETA is hypocritical due to euthanizing animals, and this link has PETA's logic on why they believe euthanizing animals is justifiable.

Most vegans do not run naked to protest animal rights, are unaware of the Humane Party, and never rant at people for eating animals. Instead, they look like anyone else on the street. Similar to being vegetarian, the definition of a vegan is not stagnant; rather, there are more debates in the vegan community than the vegetarian one. Some are okay with consuming honey. Others are against wearing cotton due to human exploitation. A few have designated times of the week or year that they eat animal products like everyone else. Some vegans only perform a vegan diet, as well as non-vegans who eat meat but protest animal testing.

The lifestyle aspect of veganism is strict vegans do not wear wool or leather. They never use regular crayons and candles. They are some of the biggest produce and bulk food aisles users. With new processed food brands and items, vegans read the food labels like people with allergies do. They may have vegan apps, guides, lists, etc. like I do to double-check if some weird-sounding ingredients are vegan.

What Do Vegans Eat?

If I would list everything vegans can't eat, you would be dead before you finished reading this blog post because that would take forever. Instead, let's go over what vegans can eat with the exceptions. Just remember that it is impossible for vegans to completely eliminate animals from their lives due to how standard animal products, by-products, and testing are. That is why I say vegans strive to lessen their negative impact on animals' lives instead of getting rid of every place where animal fatality/cruelty occurs.

Produce

Fresh fruits and vegetables seem like fair game as being vegan because they are from plants, but that logic in stores across the United States is incorrect. Many fruits and vegetables are coated in shellac and beeswax. Figs contain dead wasps. Other produce, like avocados, deal with migratory beekeeping. Many banana pesticides include seafood by-products.

In short, if you have a big enough store to buy organic produce, buy it for your vegan family/friends because most of the above-mentioned non-vegan food processing only involves non-organic food. If that is not possible, peel your produce before making their food, and have your guests understand that these are all of the options available in the grocery stores near you. As many vegans do, I eat whatever produce looks good in the store because avoiding animal products and by-products is impossible.

In terms of pantry items, be careful of canned fruit stored in syrup because it may contain sugar processed in gelatin. With vegetables, buy cans with the least amount of ingredients possible, like green beans with only water and salt. The most crucial part of buying canned produce is not to buy cans of mixed fruit or vegetables unless you know the differences between vegan and non-vegan ingredients. The more ingredients added to the food, the more likely the food isn't vegan.

Frozen fruits and vegetables are pretty easy to find. Look for the ones with solely produce as the ingredients, and do not buy ones with additional ingredients, such as cheese, natural flavors, milk, or sugar.

Bulk foods

Grains (quinoa, oats, couscous, and more), legumes (beans, lentils, peanuts, etc.), and nuts (like pistachios and walnuts) are foods to add to any kitchen. They are also a big part of many vegans' diets. One exception to that is almonds. Many vegans believe they aren't vegan due to migratory beekeeping. With legumes, many need to be rinsed and soaked for several hours before cooking with them. Each legume and grain has a separate cooking time and the ratio of liquid to grain/legume.

Before you buy any bulk foods, ask if your vegan family/friends eat gluten-free in addition to being vegan. If they are vegan and eat gluten-free, this would be a diet excluding wheat, which is in couscous, farro, and more. If they are celiac or have some sort of wheat allergy, here are more specifics regarding what foods contain gluten, but for now, just use grains that aren't wheat-based. The second question to ask your vegan family/friends is if they are allergic to peanuts or tree nuts due to how common these allergies are. I'm not much of a nut person, but one delicious way to incorporate nuts in your cooking is topping some whole-grain pasta with this cashew cream sauce.

If you buy legumes and grains from the bulk and pantry sections, buy slightly more than what your recipe requests to make room for making messes (like getting 1 ⅝ cups of amaranth instead of 1 ½ cups). With canned legumes, follow the same advice as the canned produce, as in getting them in as few ingredients as possible. Also, do not buy any cans of mixed legumes or anything beyond the legumes, water, and salt unless there is a certified vegan logo included on the packaging because they are prone to have animal products in them. This same advice also applies to frozen grains and legumes.

Food additives

Sometimes, food needs more flavor than what the original ingredients can provide. A simple rule for non-vegans to follow is for vegan recipes, say goodbye to your condiments and seasonings and say hello to your herbs and spices. I'm not saying all condiments and seasonings aren't vegan. Rather, all herbs and spices are vegan due to being plant-based, so try to stick to using just those unless you are confident the condiments and/or seasonings are vegan.

Say no to adding condiments and seasonings. Condiments are more sauce-based than other types of food additives, like ketchup, mustard, and mayonnaise. Meanwhile, seasonings are groups of powdered flavors, like meat and taco seasonings.

Emphasize the importance of herbs and spices. Some herbs are mint, cilantro, and thyme, and three examples of spices are turmeric, ginger, and cinnamon.

Processed vegan foods

Never give vegans any processed foods unless a) there is a certified vegan logo on the packaging, b) the vegan-food labels come from bigger companies that have the resources to do research on veganism and a lot to lose by someone suing them if they are wrong (Silk (all vegan) and Clif Bar (vegan majority), or c) all of the ingredients are vegan (like corn, water, and salt).

Before you make a dish with processed foods in it, ask your vegan friends/family what they think of vegan food substitutes (like tofu) and processed foods. I eat processed foods, but that logic isn't universal. Some people eat a raw vegan diet, and they do not heat their meals. Others eat a whole-food, vegan diet (different from whole-food and plant-based) and may not even use cooking oils in their recipes.

Beverages

Since this is such a broad category and there are so many non-vegan drinks out there, just ask the vegans you know what they like to drink, specifically what brands they buy and/or which vegan beverage recipes they tend to use. Then, if something isn't completely vegan, the fault would be on your vegan family/friends, instead of you.

10 Vegan Recipe Recommendations

After you figure out what type of vegan your family/friends are and how strict their vegan lifestyles are, here are my vegan-recipe recommendations.

1. Fruit Salad: Cut up a fruit salad with your favorite fresh fruits. If you have some watermelon handy, put the salad in a watermelon bowl.
2. Zoodles: Spiral zucchini to make zoodles (zucchini noodles). Cook them on the stovetop with oil or water, and put some steamed broccoli and cauliflower on top.
3. Skewers: Make a rainbow veggie stick plate with different colors of bell peppers, celery, cucumbers, and carrots. Ask your vegan friends/family if they like a specific brand and flavor of vegan hummus to add to that.
4. Pasta: Cook some 100% whole-grain pasta. Slice a pint of cherry or grape tomatoes in half, and cook them in a pan with your favorite vegetables with a little water or oil. Mix the pasta and vegetables together after the pasta is drained.
5. Stew: Grab 3 to 5 pounds of your favorite potatoes, depending on how much you want to make. Boil the harder vegetables (carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, etc.) and potatoes in one pot until a fork can easily go through them, and steam/cook some thinner vegetables on the side. Purée half of the potato mixture with a can of 100% coconut milk (2 for the 5-pound recipe). Mix the purée with the other half of the soup and the thinner vegetables. Top it with whatever herbs and spices you desire.
6. Baked Potato: Get a potato pocket. (My mom got me this one, which works really well and is very affordable.) Make some holes in the potato(es), and warm it/them up in the microwave, according to the potato pocket's instructions. Sweet potatoes work too, except they take longer to cook.
7. Stir Fry: Buy some rice noodles with ingredients like rice and water, and follow the instructions on the packaging. Cook veggies, like bok choy, mushrooms, peppers, and whatever you like, in a pan or wok. After you drain and rinse the noodles, mix the noodles and vegetables together.
8. Corn & Grilled Veggies: Shuck and boil some corn on the cobs, and do not add anything to them. Serve them with seasonal melon and some grilled vegetable kabobs that are cooked with separate utensils and a different grill rack than the non-vegan food.
9. Legumes: Add your favorite legumes (soaked first if dried), vegetables, and water to a slow cooker or instant pot until the food is ready-to-go.
10. More ideas? Check out my Pinterest board that has recommendations on what vegan recipes are easy for non-vegans to make without messing up.

Conclusion

If nothing of this advice works, get vegan recipe recommendations from your vegan family/friends and/or have them help you make the dishes until you figure out how to make these recipes yourself.

Follow my socials for more vegan blog posts for non-vegans, or you can do nothing and be mad at my cats for distracting me while writing this.