World Vegan Day

[JennieInTheGame]

What are the best products out there?
I'm mainly talking in terms of being able to improvise them into a number of different dishes.

My top ones currently are:

+Nutolene (Yep, that Sanitarium stuff that comes in a tin!)- http://www.sanitarium.com.au/images/products/canned-nutolene.jpg
My favourite things to do with it include: Putting it in curries (although it does tend to break up), making burger patties, using it to stuff bell peppers, putting it in sandwiches and on salads.

+Better Than Cream Cheese- Tofutti
http://crueltyfreeshop.com.au/images/tofutti%20BTCC%20original.jpg
This tastes amazingly like cream cheese, and is very good in a range of foods. I have made cheese cake, fondue, dressings, spreads and dips out of this one.

+Chickpea flour
This makes awesome batter, particularly for onion bajis etc, and can also be used as a good nutritious thickener or mixed with breadcrumbs and tahini (my favourite) to make a crust for burgers.

Products I want to get my hands on to try:
+Whipped soy cream
http://crueltyfreeshop.com.au/images/tofutti%20BTCC%20original.jpg

+This cheese because it looks good!
http://www.semedipapavero.com/images/gouda_with_pears.jpg

+Vegan bacon
http://www.cosmosveganshoppe.com/Merchant2/graphics/00000001/baconlarge.jpg

Anyone tried these? Any good?

[the vegie kid]

I agree chickpea flour is great
Omega Care2 Flax butter is good too and vegan
Loving earth.. probably everything they make! The raw chocolate,
tempeh fillets from Simply Soy, they are really tasty
tofu burger from blue lotus
vegie chips- salt and vinger yum!

Cant think of anymore.. but will be happy to have them again when im in melbourne.

[seitan_worshipper]

I can understand the convenience factor with all those packaged, processed foods, but I'd much rather make my own. I'm more of a whole foods kinda vegan. As much as I disagree with that bastard Michael Pollan, his advice that you shouldn't eat anything your grandmother wouldn't recognise as food is pretty much spot on. Not that my grandmother ate tempeh and seitan, but someone's did. A lot of those packaged foods have quite high amounts of sodium in them.

That said, I have used Tofutti in the past to make chocolate truffles, with great results.

Chickpea flour is brilliant, I agree. Using it to make a roux when cooking a casserole or similar thick 'n saucy dish is chickpea flour at its absolute zenith. It works so well and adds a nice flavour.

I also use savory yeast a lot. I use it in breakfasts, muffins, casseroles, tacos, seitan and as a crumbing additive for a bit of extra flavor.

Ground flax seeds for baking or using as a thickener in soy milk when crumbing, it's a brilliant ingredient.

Also, any ingredient you can grow yourself will do wonders for your cooking. Home grown produce is miles ahead of most market and supermarket produce in terms of taste.