vegan in suburbia

I’ve been getting some criticism lately (in real life) about how people believe that vegan diets can’t meet nutritional needs and that it’s particularly “dangerous” to be raising my children vegan. Mostly I’m okay with stuff like this because I know I’m right - I’ve researched the shit out of the nutrition aspect and even though I was really nervous for a while, it’s just really not that hard. 

What it comes down to for me is, children eating standard diets are likely to be deficient in things too. You can’t tell me that a child that eats sugary cereal for breakfast, chocolate spread on processed white bread for lunch, fast food or a half-hearted “home cooked” meal is any better than what I feed my children. For example, they had scrambled tofu on toast this morning (pictured) which consisted of avocado spread on organic stoneground wholemeal bread, with a mix of tofu, nutritional yeast, cauliflower and mushroom on top. It met all their needs for calcium, iron, B12 an protein as well as many other vitamins and minerals without unnecessary fats, sugars and junk. They had a glass of fortified organic soy milk with their breakfast.

For lunch they had a sort of panini type sandwich with portabello mushrooms, tomatoes and basil pesto and the basil was grown on our balcony along with a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice, fortified with iron. They snack on apples, celery, hummus, carrots amongst other things. They drink litres of water.

Until now, I’ve refrained from judging people (well on the nutrition front, i always judge people for eating animals) and their eating habits but if they’re going to start analysing how we eat, perhaps we should keep things fair and let me analyse their diet too. A standard day of food for some of the people attacking me for our lifestyle consists of scrambled eggs with added cheese/milk, canned tuna, deep fried chips, chicken nachos, pre-mixed bourbon and coke, hamburgers, diet softdrinks, bags of lollies, packets of biscuits and ham sandwiches on white bread. One of the families buys seven pizzas from a cheap pizza place twice a week for their family of five - you can imagine what the rest of their diet is like. 

And yet I’m a stupid person who isn’t meeting my children’s nutritional needs. Go figure. The worst thing is, none of them have the nerve to say any of this to my face - it just gets back to me through other people. 

quarrygirl:

great news! the new expanded native foods location opens today in westwood! if you’ve ever been to the old location, you probably remember the awkward seating arrangement and ordering process due to limited space. i attended the soft opening of the new space with some friends over the weekend, and i’m happy to report they’ve fixed all the old problems. they’ve completely taken over the restaurant next door, so there is now tons of comfy seating, you order at the counter, and food is brought to your table.

as usual, the food was incredible. we feasted on entrees such the reuben, the oklahoma bacon cheeseburger, and the kale macro bowl as well as appetizers like the maryland tempeh cakes and nachos, plus a slew of desserts. everything was top notch. my only complaint about native foods is that they garnish EVERY dish with bell peppers, which i fucking hate (and this isn’t even disclosed on the menu!). plus, they’re chopped so small that they’re impossible to pick out. so if you hate bell peppers, specify no garnish. sometimes i forget, and then my food is totally ruined.

i’ve heard that chef tanya is no longer involved with native foods, which makes me sad. i hope the new owners continue to fulfill her vision of creative compassionate cuisine that vegans and meat-eaters can enjoy together. so far they’re doing a great job.

go check out the new location when you have a chance!

nativefoods.com

omfg it’s so beautiful. gimme.

(via veganfeast)

Unexplainable emotions due to having a bountiful harvest of kale. I’ll post photos of everything else tomorrow, we have five veggie gardens, a greenhouse and a balcony full of potted veggies now. It’s been really slow waiting whilst we established the gardens and workable compost for them (all the scraps from what I eat goes back into compost to be put into the soil to help the next lot grow!). I just ordered collard green seeds as I can’t find any in Brisbane so we’ll grow that ourself too. We lost quite a lot of veggies to some rats (mostly tomatoes, I don’t blame the rats because they’re delish) but we’re on track now. The dog gets in almost every photo - I fell into the garden trying to keep him out of the photo with my foot whilst leaning over to try get a photo of the veggies. My new Level 5 Vegan hoodie is soiled. Winter is coming and I will have food forevvvverrrr. Sorry I sound really manic, I’m really tired and this is what happens. If I put a question mark at the end does that mean you’ll be able to write and tell me if you grow anything yourself, if so - what?