Lily Donofrio<\/p>\n
The traditional response I receive when I ask people close to me to try
\nvegan foods is negative. They assume it’s gross to look at or gelatinous
\nor radioactive instead of truly thinking about and realizing its origin.
\nVeganism is a completely plant based diet. What is shady about fruits
\nand veggies? And the best part is that we vegans and vegetarians have
\nreally worked with our wholesome materials to create some fantastic options.<\/p>\n
I decided to open up some of my friends’ minds recently and have them
\ntaste test some of my favorite vegan foods on the market. I chose my
\nboyfriend, Austin, a long time pescatarian and major supporter of me in
\nmy vegan journey; my best friend Tabitha, a vegetarian open to trying
\nmost things vegan; Tabitha’s boyfriend, Nate, a non-vegetarian with an
\nopen mind; and our mutual friend Garrett, who is a total carnivore and
\nscoffs at the idea of veganism. I was excited to show them how awesome
\nthis lifestyle is. So, I bought Gardein’s Seven Grain Chicken Tenders,
\nAmy’s Lentil Soup, Boca original Vegan Patties, Earth Balance Butter (to
\nspread on a whole grain English muffin), Silk’s Chocolate Almond Milk,
\nand SoDelicious Moose Tracks ice cream at my local Publix. Afterwards, I
\ngathered up my 4 friends participating in the taste test and showed them
\nhow easy it is to prepare the foods purchased. Each participant got 1
\nchicken tender, 1 shot of lentil soup, 1\/2 vegan patty, 1\/2 English
\nmuffin toasted with vegan butter, and a small glass of chocolate almond
\nmilk. I asked each participant to provide a response. Here is the
\nfeedback I received:<\/p>\n
AUSTIN: Being a pescatarian, veggie meats often frequent my meals.
\nGrowing up, my parents never cooked meat in the house, so I would only
\neat it when I went out. This made my transition to an almost vegetarian
\ndiet easy. I have to say that I loved both of the veggie meats used in
\nthe taste test (vegan burger and chicken tenders). I am a big fan of
\nAmy’s brand, and always enjoy their products. The lentil soup was very
\nflavorful. The Earth Balance butter tasted quite similar to traditional
\ndairy butter and was delicious. “I can’t believe it’s not butter!” I am
\nsugar-free, so I did not participate in trying the Chocolate Almond
\nMilk, but I’ve only heard good things about the product.<\/p>\n
TABITHA: I am a vegetarian and so I love being informed about new and
\nappraised meatless foods. I actually eat that specific brand of burgers
\nand nuggets regularly and have always enjoyed the products. I love Amy’s
\nbrand, but this was my first time trying one of their soups. I have to
\nsay that I was very impressed. The bread and “butter” was fantastic! I
\nwould love to swap out my dairy butter for something as delicious as
\nEarth Balance. I’m not a huge fan of chocolate, but the cocoa flavor
\nmixed with the nutty almond milk was amazing.<\/p>\n
NATE: I am not a vegetarian, but many people close to me are. My mother
\nis a vegan. I was raised on vegetarian foods and enjoy them. The taste
\ntest was awesome. I enjoyed all of the products, especially the
\nchocolate almond milk. I now believe that transitioning to vegetarianism
\nwould be easy.<\/p>\n
GARRETT: I was not excited going into the taste test. Vegan food did
\nnot appeal to me whatsoever, but I decided to try it at the request of
\nmy friend and kept an open mind. The food was great! The “meats” were
\nflavorful and the Earth Balance was so similar to normal butter! I did
\nnot get to try the Chocolate Almond Milk because, like Austin, I am
\nsugar free. I liked the soup and am now a fan of Amy’s brand after
\nhearing how great it is from my vegetarian friends.<\/p>\n
Overall, the taste test was a success. I am pleased with my results and
\nam glad that I got the chance to share these awesome products with my
\nfriends. I am optimistic that they will be willing to try other vegan
\nfoods in the future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Lily Donofrio The traditional response I receive when I ask people close to me to try vegan foods is negative. They assume it’s gross to look at or gelatinous or radioactive instead of truly thinking about and realizing its origin. Veganism is a completely plant based diet. What is shady about fruits and veggies? And […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7534"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7534\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7535,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7534\/revisions\/7535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}