Vegan Journal previously ran two articles on vegan grilling that you might find helpful:

Gourmet Grilling by Chef Nancy Berkoff, EdD, RD includes grilling tips as well as recipes for Grilled Eggplant, Mediterranean Grilled Portobellos with Pine Nuts, Curried Barbecue Tempeh, Roasted Pepper and Eggplant Dip, Pineapple Peach Salsa, Japanese-Style Grilled Asparagus, Grilled Sweet Peaches, and Roasted Corn. See: https://www.vrg.org/journal/2002issue3/2002_issue3_gourmet.php

Nancy also wrote another article titled Outdoor Feast and it includes vegan recipes for the grill including Tofu and Potatoes Kebobs, Vietnamese “Beef” Salad, Lime and Chili “Steaks,” and Grilled Pineapple. See: https://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2015issue2/2015_issue2_outdoor_feasts.php

To subscribe to Vegan Journal in the USA, visit: https://www.vrg.org/member/2013sv.php

by Reed Mangels, PhD, RD

Maybe I was tired or thinking of other things as I walked the aisles of a supermarket in New York. On the aisle with packages of shelf-stable soymilk and almond milk, I saw shrink-wrapped three-packs of small aseptic boxes, each with a plastic straw. The boxes were labeled “Oat Dairy Drink” and came in flavors including original, cinnamon, and strawberry. I thought they were a brand of oat milk that I hadn’t seen before. They weren’t. On closer inspection, I realized that the ingredients included whole grain oats, cow’s milk, and cane sugar. These were not vegan products. Lesson learned – just because a product sounds to me like it’s oat milk, it may not be.

To read more about non-dairy oat milks see:

Guide to Plant Milks 2024

Grain and Pea Milks 2024

We often depend on product and ingredient information from company statements. It is impossible to be 100% sure about a statement, info can change, people have different views, and mistakes can be made. Please use your best judgment about whether a product is suitable for you. To be sure, do further research or confirmation on your own.

Interactions with children facing food insecurity forced me to think about nutrition beyond myself. As a result, I applied to the Dragon Kim Foundation, a social entrepreneurship incubator. I then founded My Tasty Table, and was awarded a grant to launch my charitable organization. My Tasty Table’s mission was two-fold; educate children on how to cook healthy plant-based meals and impart the benefits of making healthier dietary choices. I developed a curriculum, marketed the organization, fundraised, and expanded My Tasty Table to two additional youth centers. I secured eight community partners, created a Teen Leadership Board, and recruited a team of 22 volunteers. We held over 30 free cooking classes throughout Phoenix, Arizona, reaching over 450 young people. We focused on creating recipes that cost less than $4 per serving, with the goal of making these meals accessible even after they left the classroom. We created recipes such as vegan sushi, vegan chili, vegan gumbo, carrot ginger salad, vegan oat strawberry pancakes, chickpea chocolate truffles, black bean brownies, and energy bits made with sunflower butter and oats. Looking ahead I plan to pursue a medical career with an emphasis on food-based medicine.

Support Young Veg Activists

To send support for additional scholarships and internships, donate at www.vrg.org/donate or call (410) 366-8343. You can also send a donation to VRG, P.O. Box 1463, Baltimore, MD 21203.

Do you know an amazing high school student who promoted veganism? If so, let them know about our annual scholarship contest. The deadline for high school seniors is February 20^th of each year. To see scholarship rules and past winners, visit www.vrg.org/student/scholar

Nigari Flakes from Mitoku Co.

By Jeanne Yacoubou, MS

In January 2025, a reader asked The Vegetarian Resource Group if magnesium chloride (MgCl2) “…is always vegan.” Based on previous knowledge of this ingredient and recent confirmations by several independent manufacturers, we affirm that magnesium chloride and a related substance, nigari, are both always vegan.

What Is Magnesium Chloride?

Magnesium chloride is a naturally occurring mineral salt that is commonly extracted from seawater. It may also be harvested from underground mineral deposits in seabeds. Inexpensive with a low freezing point, MgCl2 is commonly used for winter road deicing. This chemical is also antibacterial, odor-inhibiting, and hygroscopic (water-loving). These properties make it ideal for use in household cleaning and personal care products as well as in cosmetics. Magnesium chloride is also used in fertilizers and animal feed. It is sold as a powder, flakes, or liquid.

A common food use for MgCl2 is as a coagulant in tofu production. It serves this function by thickening soymilk into curds so they can be more easily pressed into a solid block. Gypsum (calcium sulfate) is the most common coagulant for tofu production and results in a soft and silky texture.

Magnesium chloride is used as the coagulant when firmer tofu is desired. Some eaters report that MgCl2 confers a bitter taste to tofu while gypsum lends sweet notes to it. Magnesium chloride acts more quickly in soymilk coagulation than gypsum, so is preferred when production time is limited.

What Is Nigari?
Nigari is a substance most commonly derived from seawater evaporation and used as a tofu coagulant. Nigari is sold as a liquid, coarse granules, or fine crystals.

Nigari is formed after the extraction of sodium chloride (NaCl) and calcium sulfate from seawater. The remaining liquid, called bittern, primarily contains magnesium chloride and other trace substances such as potassium chloride and magnesium sulfate. Nigari is the Japanese word for bittern. The bitter notes in tofu made using nigari are due to the presence of magnesium sulfate.

According to Japanese nigari producers, authentic nigari contains five parts magnesium chloride to one part sodium chloride with small quantities of other trace mineral salts. To obtain this, seawater is kettle-boiled, leaving sodium crystals on the bottom while nigari is the remaining liquid on top. Solutions consisting solely of seawater or made from magnesium chloride dissolved in water may be sold as nigari but are not authentic nigari.
Nigari produced through sun-drying seawater contains large amounts of magnesium sulfate, making the resulting product bitter. Reverse osmosis or ion exchange methods are modern techniques to produce nigari. The former yields both pure water and concentrated seawater with high amounts of sodium chloride. The latter is added back to the water, yielding very salty-tasting nigari water. Nigari made by ion exchange lacks both the bitter sulfate ions and toxic contaminants such as PCBs, dioxins, arsenic, mercury, and lead. It is the safest, most pleasant-tasting form of nigari available.

Manufacturer Confirmations on the Vegan Status of Magnesium Chloride and Nigari
The VRG asked eight manufacturers of magnesium chloride and nigari about these ingredients’ origin and processing. Here are the responses we received.

Q: Is your food grade magnesium chloride derived from or processed with animal ingredients?
From Adnan Heikal of Alliance Chemical:
A: “This product does not contain any declared animal-origin materials [or processing aids] in its composition.”
From Owen Donald of Celtic Chemicals:
A: “None of our products are derived from animal ingredients [or have] animal-derived processing aids involved in their manufacture.”
Q: Is your food grade nigari derived from or processed with animal ingredients?
From Sandra Gibson of Sea Salts of Hawaii:
A: “No, it is only deep ocean magnesium solar evaporated, not other ingredients.”
From Newfoundland Salt Company:
A: “No.”
From Ema Sogabe of Mitoku Co.:
A: “Our Nigari does not contain any animal/animal derived ingredients/processing aids. As matter of fact, we would like to confirm that there are no animal derived ingredients/processing aids at the processing site at all.”

The contents of this posting, our website and our other publications, including Vegan Journal, are not intended to provide personal medical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified health professional. We often depend on product and ingredient
information from company statements. It is impossible to be 100% sure about a statement, info can change, people have different views, and mistakes can be made. Please use your best judgment about whether a product is suitable for you. To be sure, do further research or confirmation on your own.

More ingredient listings are at https://www.vrg.org/ingredients/index.php

Support VRG research at www.vrg.org/donate

pizza photo from Freepik

Chef Nancy Berkoff offers creative suggestions on how to make pizza in your own home. The information below is from a previous Vegan Journal article.

Make Your Pizza

Preheat oven to 400 degrees (you can use a toaster oven for individual pizzas). The microwave won’t work for this — no one wants a “steamed” pizza.

Whatever type of “dough” you’ve selected, bake it, if necessary. If using bread, like English muffins or burger buns, slice thin and toast lightly.

Decide on your sauce and toppings — we’ve given some suggestions below. Smooth a thin layer of sauce on your “dough” and then go to town with the toppings — really pile them on.

Place your masterpiece on a nonstick baking dish and allow to bake until your “dough” is crunchy and your veggies or fruit are cooked to the texture you’d like. Times will vary depending on the thickness of the bread you used and the amount of toppings, but can take as little as 7 minutes or up to 20 minutes. Make enough so you can have cold pizza for breakfast, or pack some for lunch!

Super Pizza Combos

• English muffin topped with mushroom sauce and fresh and canned mushrooms, chopped canned tomatoes, and chopped green peppers
• Pita with mushroom sauce, topped with three different types of cooked beans, mushrooms, and onions
• Sliced French bread topped with tomato purée, rosemary, fresh and canned tomatoes, peppers, and onions
• Baked pizza dough topped with tomato sauce, shredded spinach, basil, oregano, and white beans
• Sliced burger bun topped with tomato sauce, chopped chilies and peppers, zucchini, and mushrooms
• Baked pizza dough with orange juice concentrate and peanut butter sauce (mix the two together for the consistency you want) topped with fresh and frozen strawberries, pineapple, chopped walnuts, and coconut, or topped with canned peaches and plums, shredded dried apricots, raisins, and dates

The entire article can be read here: https://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2001nov/2001_nov_cooking_tips.php

To subscribe to Vegan Journal in the USA, visit: www.vrg.org/member

Greens with New Potatoes and Kidney Beans

Debra Daniel-Zeller’s piece “Warm Weather Salads Fit to Be Meals” includes recipes for Shiitake Mushroom, Quinoa and Greens with Toasted Cashews; Greens with New Potatoes and Kidney Beans; Spinach and Bean Salad with Mustard Croutons; Lime-Infused Black Bean, Corn, and Tomato Salad; 3-Bean Salad with Sweet Onions and Arugula; Soba Noodles with Marinated Tofu and Baby Kale; and Grilled Vegetable Salad with Lemon-Cashew Dressing. Her article can be found here: https://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2015issue3/2015_issue3_salads_meals.php

To subscribe to Vegan Journal, visit: http://www.vrg.org/member/2013sv.php

photo from Gentle World

by Jeanne Yacoubou, MS

Vegetables are often grown using slaughterhouse byproducts. Fertilizers and soil amendments made primarily of blood, bone, feather, or fishmeal, not to mention manure, are common additives.

Unfortunately, even certified organic vegetables have likely been grown in fields literally brimming with excrement from livestock that was fed with pesticide-treated grains. The animals likely have been raised on synthetic hormones or prophylactic antibiotics to ward off disease from close confinement. As recent headlines about the H5N1 avian flu virus infecting cows and humans can attest, there are no ways to ward off all diseases in confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs).

So, what’s a concerned consumer to do? Some individuals grow their own produce using vegan fertilizers. There are plenty of ways to concoct your own blend from only plant-based sources so you can rest assured that what you’re eating is vegan.

Limited space is not a barrier to entry. Vegan gardening works in containers on balconies and stoops, in raised beds on rooftops, in backyard gardens, or in open community plots. Anyone can grow their own with a bit of persistence.

But there is another solution: seek out farms practicing veganic agriculture. See: https://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2025issue1/2025_issue1_veganic_agriculture.php

To subscribe to Vegan Journal in the USA, see: https://www.vrg.org/member/2013sv.php

In an article by Laura McGuiness titled, “Get Cultured with Homemade Fermented Foods.” You’ll find recipes for:
Classic Caraway Sauerkraut
Kimchi
Fermented Veggies
Simple Sourdough Loaf
Strawberry Cream Cheese
Pomegranate Kombucha

Read the article here:
https://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2018issue4/2018_issue4_fermented_foods.php

Please subscribe to Vegan Journal at:
https://www.vrg.org/member/2013sv.php

Julia Rose Weiss photo by Lors Photography

At five years old, I decided meat wasn’t for me. My aversion to meat took a dramatic turn on Thanksgiving Eve in fourth grade … Feeling like the guiltiest ten-year-old on earth, I was determined to redefine my relationship with nature. I skipped vegetarianism and embraced veganism. Now, at 17, veganism has become a pivotal foundation in my life. I became the first teen author to write for the plant-based magazine Forks Over Knives.

Working on coming up with a project to preserve our ocean ecosystems, I developed Whole Grains, Whole Oceans: A Blueprint for Farm to Hospital; a project that seeks to connect New Jersey’s largest hospital system with local regenerative growers to restore the well-being of patients and our environment. I convened major stakeholders in the organic movement. I subsequently met with the managing director of a New Jersey Hospital Network to present my proposal, where up to 50% of the hospital’s seafood and animal protein is replaced with plant-based options of legumes and vegetables. I will be attending Cornell University, studying Global Development with a concentration in agriculture and food systems.

Rosie also works at an organic farmer’s market, where she educates customers on a whole food plant-based lifestyle and helps teach children’s classes.

Support Young Veg Activists

To send support for additional scholarships and internships, donate at www.vrg.org/donate or call (410) 366-8343. You can also send a donation to VRG, P.O. Box 1463, Baltimore, MD 21203.

Do you know an amazing high school student who promoted veganism? If so, let them know about our annual scholarship contest. The deadline for high school seniors is February 20^th of each year. To see scholarship rules and past winners, visit www.vrg.org/student/scholar

Christine Kasum Sexton, MPH wrote an article for The Vegetarian Resource Group titled “Vegan Menus for Adults 51+” to meet the needs of older vegans. These easy-to-prepare menus are designed specifically for older vegans (51+ years). Four different calorie levels – 1600, 1800, 2000, and 2200 – are presented in order to meet the needs of men and women of varying activity levels and budgets.

Read the article here: https://www.vrg.org/seniors/veganmenusfor51+.pdf

To subscribe to Vegan Journal in the USA, see: https://www.vrg.org/member/2013sv.php