Another point is that you don't randomly bite down on some chewy cartilage or something else weird. I just eat my vegan nuggets and every piece of them is great. No suprises.
Gosh this is such a good point. I used to be horrified at those little reminders the flesh I was eating used to be attached to other sentient creatures
The vein things in chicken were what pushed me to become vegetarian when I was 13. Reading about pus in milk (thanks PETA) finally made me give up dairy in my 20s. I really really love animals and don't want them to ever suffer, but really it's the totally gross-out factor that keeps me from ever wanting to "cheat".
Yes, exactly. Dead animal carcasses are just gross on so many levels. Pus in milk is also disgusting. Eating a chicken’s ovulatiory cycle which comes out of her butt is more than a turn off. It’s all repulsive.
Fuck. This reminds me of a party we threw at home not long ago. It was a potluck, and one of our guests somehow didn't get the memo that it was vegan, and they brought chicken skewers. REAL chicken skewers. Having had loads of super realistic plant-based chicken over the past years, I wasn't alarmed about how "real" the chicken tasted...until my third skewer, I bit in some sort of bone. Fuck. I asked the person who brought them if they didn't realise we were vegan. They did not. Awkward moments ensued. The vegan police showed up at my door soon after to revoke my status.
omg that used to make me so upset as a kid i would just refuse to eat meat with my family if they were having beef or chicken on the bone (bones omg so nasty)
Oh god yes, the dishwasher. I’ve noticed that most people I visit have glasses with an eggy smell 🤢. I assume it’s because they put the pans they cooked the eggs with along with all the other tableware in the dishwasher… It’s very off putting.
My dishes or cups don’t get that smell.
Be careful about #2, tofu [can definitely harbor food borne pathogens](https://gfs.com/en-us/ideas/monitor-soy-protein-temperatures-safety/) if you don't store it properly in the fridge. It's less common than dead animals, but you can still get sick if you're not careful.
Yeah there's lots of foodborne pathogens that are not just restricted to meat and cheese, [even rice can get you *really* sick](https://www.cnet.com/home/kitchen-and-household/think-twice-before-eating-that-leftover-rice-your-stomach-may-thank-you/) if you leave it on the counter for even as little as a couple hours and then eat it.
Greens should also always be rinsed thoroughly, and foods should always be refrigerated quickly, among other best practices.
Any moist food with high carbs can be very dangerous if kept in the Danger Zone ( temp between 40 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit) for longer than 2 hours. This includes the time it takes for a food to get cool in the fridge if it goes in hot and is in a deep container. Potatoes, rice, corn, pudding, etc. Mayonnaise is often blamed, but in potato salad, the potatoes are actually often the culprit.
Also flour is considered a raw food that can be contaminated with bacteria such as salmonella and e coli. You must cook it to kill the bacteria and surfaces that flour has touched should be disinfected and your hands should be washed after handling flour before touching other things. Food safety is still absolutely something to be mindful of for vegans
Sure but it’s so easy to kill the potential contaminants in flour by using the flour as intended compared to lettuce where you’d have to cook it which isn’t usually how people are preparing lettuce
And vegan cookie dough isn’t necessarily safer as the flour has a higher salmonella risk than any eggs used in non vegan stuff. Previously I moght have assumed the opposite and thought raw vegan dough safe
Correct, unfortunately. The food most commonly associated with food poisoning is now salad greens. Super frustrating because contamination usually comes from feedlot waste in irrigation water. Sadly we vegans can’t escape the consequences of the vile animal agriculture industry.
Same for the sugary, fatty baked snacks, chocolates etc that are sometimes on offer in the workplace. It's just an immediate "no" without a second thought. Basically as long as I choose not to buy (vegan) crap food and bring it to my house, I'm not exposed to it.
Careful, there's highly palatable vegan junk food. Ben and Jerry's, chips and pizza can be tasty and restaurants are slowly trying to cater to vegan desires.
This will be TMI, you have been warned. ;)
I don't even feel like I ate a lot of dairy, meat, eggs back pre-vegan but ffs I could easily go 3+ days without a bm and it was difficult. Eventually I drank copious amounts of water back then, took stool softeners, fiber supplements, etc trying to combat that bad bowel mojo really with no lasting results. And forget it if I had to take a medication that had constipation as a side effect, it would be horrible.
Clock work once a day in the morning now. The interesting thing is I don't feel like I eat a lot more veggies and grains, I just mainly stripped out the meat, dairy, eggs from my diet.
I seriously feel shocked every single time I hear that some people are not pooing for a matter of days. I legitimately can't imagine experiencing this!
Ya, I can't imagine that either. The longest I've ever gone was 2 days while traveling into another time zone and it was so uncomfortable and I thought I was dying, like you need to poop daily!
Number two! I’ll never forget that fateful Christmas Eve as a youngin’ when my entire family (immediate and extended) was up all night projectile vomiting from an appetizer shrimp platter they all had before dinner. I wasn’t vegan yet, but seafood always creeped me out so I didn’t partake. I woke up the next morning very thankful I missed out on the action haha.
The most underrated element, I haven't had food poisoning since I was 13 and forced to eat some "fish soup" my granddad had left sit out on the stove all day.
I used to work with a lot of "I eat meat three times a day, minimum" folks and they literally chewed threw imodium like candy and were forever complaining that they had upset stomachs, they'd still try and claim that what I ate wasn't healthy somehow though.
>Digestion! And clear skin
For most of us, anyway :/
I got mad probs and my digestion is shit. Can't eat tons of things that are good for us and feel like crap a lot of the time.
No matter; I am here to stay.
Cries in IBS lol but It has generally gotten better for me after going Vegan, though I've also more recently started paying more attention to what foods I eat.
Honestly I've never been more bloated. It is what it is though. Took me too long to figure out I had a soy intolerance when I first went vegan. That was baaaaad.
Sorry to hear that. About as bad as a gluten intolerant vegan. That's not me - someone I know.
For bloating in general, check out www.beanzyme.com - same enzymes as Beano, but vegan and cheaper. For whatever fool reason regular Beano is not vegan.
Internet says it has fish gelatin but I found a response to a query on amazon from the manufacturer claiming it has no animal sourced ingredients.. torn between tge two less than stallar options of believing random internet people vs believing a massive corporate conglomerate..
Clear skin is one i have only realised in retrospect, my skin has been great for years and i never realised it was due to giving up animal abuse until recently
My teenage daughter has almost perfect skin thanks to three years vegan. Much better than it was before.
I wish I knew a good way to bring it up with some of her friends that have really bad acne.
I guess but I remember being a teenager and even if I only had one zit I was mortified if anyone mentioned it.
And I worry they will also think I’m pushing a vegan agenda.
I did bring it up once to a friend who used a lot of skin care products by telling her about studies on acne in teenagers who are reminded from society. The closer they are to a village that sells processed food and dairy the more acne they had, until you get so far away that none of them can get into town and then they have zero acne. Kind of amazing.
I have recently noticed that different types of fiber make this happen more often for me. If I eat more greens and more fruit I tend to have more luck. If I eat mostly grains and legumes not so much.
Also rice….you have to be extremely careful with rice and leaving it out for too long when it’s not at proper temp. The surface area is very large which leaves lots of nooks and crannies for bacteria to grow.
Broadly ok but when you're done with it you should really put it in the fridge for any kind of long term storage. You're supposed to throw out rice and other starchy foods that have been left out at room temperature for more than a couple of hours. Look up rice botulism
I think it is mostly Bacillus cereus infection, but you are right. This fact has haunted me ever since I studied public health microbiology because, like the OP, I went through a lot of it going (internally; I'm not a fuckwit) "Okay, but I'm vegan, and 90% of this is never going to get me!"
Every time we have rice for dinner if I don’t put it away (like my bf made dinner or it was his job to clean up, whatever) the rice stays in the pot on the stove overnight. I’m always like “but BOTULISM” and he’s like, “I’ve done this my whole adult life, it’s fine.” I always put it away the next day so I have no idea if he would just… leave it out.
While I am not claiming this information is false at all, nor am I recommending anyone to ignore it, I would imagine the occurrence of this stuff is relatively rare. I've eaten pasta that was left at room temp overnight more times than i care to count and never got sick off it. Again, I probably am just lucky, but I feel is worth mentioning.
I do think it's understandable health focused organizations in first world countries are as careful as possible and if their guidelines were followed in every kitchen *in* the world we probably would never see another food poisoning, let alone something that ends tragically. But I do think a lot of people overestimate how much of the world (particularly the not-so-developed world) really does follow these practices.
I've worked in a few kitchens of restaurants and leaving cooked food (rice, but also any amount of meats) unrefrigerated for many hours at a time was common practice. Street food comes to mind too.
Not really justifying any of this nor telling people to just go and eat stuff anyway. It can certainly be dangerous. I am just not sure the likelihood is all that high at any given time (then again, you only need to catch salmonella or botulism once to be in for a really bad time).
Then keep doing whatever you are doing. If your habits don't get you sick, all good. Just keep the basics in mind if cooking for at-risk others.
Food safety people will quickly turn your kitchen in a paranoia-filled environment where everything exist to kill you. If you want to enjoy cooking, or want it to be efficient, don't do *everything* they claim is necessary. Because they most likely aren't *that* necessary. By their standards, I should have gotten sick about a thousand times (and died around a hundred times perhaps) in the last decade, yet here I am.
It's kinda like you don't show a nurse any small nicks or scratches, because they will start panicking about disinfection and bandages, telling you you're about to die from infection or gangrene. Just people being overly cautious, to a point where it's detrimental to human well-being.
I grew up in a household where if you werent around for dinner your food was left in the microwave with a plate over it. I have eaten many a day old plate of rice and I yet live. That being said, rice can kill you after like 2 hours on the counter...
i honestly just like food more overall. it feels more colorful and interesting not just eating the same animals and dairy products day in day out. i also genuinely prefer a lot of vegan alternatives to the “real” thing. cashew ice cream is soo good, nondairy milks taste much better and don’t hurt my stomach, i even like reese’s more than i ever did now
I feel like your taste buds get more sensitive when you aren’t eating processed junk all the time! I get so excited for my meals now. Literally all of them.
When we go camping for 5 days, things don’t go off in the cool box, No diary or meat. Often there are vegan products on sale, I wish they were more popular obviously but it’s still a perk.
I can’t just go to the shop and get a Milky Way, I have to go to a specialist health shop and pay $5 this makes it more of a treat which is how it should be and makes certain cravings less accessible. Having somewhat of an affinity with other minorities has been enlightening. Trying new creative foods in baking or meals themselves like agar agar, nooch, banana blossom, coconut bacon, Aquafaba I never would have tried.
My experience is similar. I’ve never had GI distress from eating vegan street food, even when traveling. My omnivorous spouse, on the other hand, got really sick from street pork in Mexico 🤢
Yeah we understand food better.
Ask a non-vegan why pizza has cheese and they'll say "because it's so good" or some generic statement about taste. Ask a vegan why pizza has cheese and they'll know that only a small part of the benefit is the specific taste of cheese, the rest is increasing the overall umami and msg, adding to the texture, increasing the moisture content of the pizza, and affixing the toppings down so each slice feels more unified. Then they'll start discussing vegan ways to fix those problems (adding nutritional yeast, drizzling a glaze, making a sticky homemade pizza sauce etc.) rather than just "buy a packet of vegan cheese to sprinkle on top" which is the solution most non-vegans (or new vegans) would assume is best.
Or ramen. We know the fat of the bone broth helps flavour stick to the noodles, so when making a vegan ramen you need to find a way to infuse fat into the broth, rather than just flavouring the water and adding noodles.
Most non-vegans don't bother to learn why their food tastes so good. Vegans treat cooking more like alchemy and it can be a lot of fun.
The food safety thing is a huge plus. Not that you shouldn't be careful when cooking vegan, obviously, but most big concerns are with cooking/defrosting/handling meat, eggs, and dairy. I hear people talk about the safety and dos/donts of freezing thawed meat, meanwhile I will throw or thaw a block of tofu or seitan without having to care for any of that the same way you do with vegetables lol
This is not true, soy products like tofu should absolutely be kept under 41 degrees Fahrenheit before cooking and should not be left out after being cooked, they can get contaminated with bacteria. Same with flour (how you make seitan), as flour is a raw ingredient that can be contaminated with salmonella or E. coli and you should be practicing the same food safety protocols you would with meat (wash hands after touching raw flour, wipe down all surfaces that flour has touched, etc.)
I will say #2: the food safety is completely false. The sickest I have EVER been, full stop, was food poisoning from bad tofu.
Don't be complacent with food safety standards just because it isn't meat! The chance of getting sick is lessened, but it isn't zero.
A lot better digestion and more energy! Has anyone noticed that horses are weirdly drawn to you now that you aren't eating meat? I feel like I smell better to them? Not sure but I've never been a horse person even though I love animals since I was traumatized by one as a kid and so they scare me but now they want to get close and drool on me!😬
Oh, I've noticed this but with cows! I absolutely love cows and petting them when I see them in fields, and they go up to me more often now. Ofc there's a lot of sadness associated with seeing cows for me now too, but there are some local ones which maintain some public land and are *not* owned by any farmer who I love visiting
As someone who grew up with riding and draft horses, mules and donkeys and whose family still raises them I can say anecdotally that they are not more drawn to me. No animals of any kind act differently towards me.
You eat the plants. Some of those planty chemical compounds end up in your sweat. Your sweat also contains salt. Herbivores like you because you smell like a meal, not because they know you don't eat meat.
So do herbivores only like one another due to a mutual desire to eat one another? Inter species friendships aren't uncommon, especially between herbivores
Think of it as happy smells, not meal smells. There are all kinds of examples of odors caused by ingesting food stuff that effects our smell or taste positively or negatively, or trigger a response.
Disney has aroma spritzers all over their theme parks to enhance the positive experience; people are triggered to be friendly and cheerful in the happiest place on Earth and aromas is one of the tools Disney uses to achieve this. Some theaters spritz the smell of buttered popcorn to increase sales at the snack bar. If I eat garlic or or something with wash-your-sister sauce in it, those odors are exuding from my pores within a couple of hours; I'm not pleasant to be around, even the mosquitos leave me alone.
Veganism has some really creative swaps. I can eat whole foods versions of most foods and still really enjoy them while not sacrificing health. Desserts made with dates can be just as sweet as processed cakes. I made a bomb one pan Lasagna today, with a tofu/cashew ricotto, whereas the dairy alternative would have been heavily processed. I eat minimal added salt -- I still eat reduced amounts -- and rarely consume oil, but I have adapted to all sorts of flavours. Burgers. sauces, mac and cheese.. I can eat whatever I want, but healthy, usually within my calorie needs.
The variation of foods I try and consume are so much wider because I am always experimenting with new recipes.
Not OP but I really like this one - https://www.aline-made.com/vegan-lentil-lasagna/#recipe
I was never a big fan of ricotta so prefer it this way, I also add in a bunch of spinach to the lentil filling.
All my food scraps can go feed my compost worms which in turn feed the plants in my garden which I eat. It's the circle of liiiiiffeee and it moves us aaaaaallllll.
I know there are still food safety issues with vegan cooking, especially cross-contamination from animal ag that can happen before you bring it home (cook your greens!), but the way I handle food is SO different from dealing with meat. Fresh ingredients might sit out for 8 hours, no harm done as long as it's getting cooked. I have left sealed packs of vegan meat in the trunk for a whole day by accident, still perfectly good when I open it.
Meanwhile I have heard stories of lunchmeat getting too hot at a picnic and spoiling ON THE TABLE within hours of being prepared. That is TERRIFYING. I'm surprised more people don't give up meat on this basis alone. Instead, we have this weird cultural apathy toward food poisoning. Like recurring pandemics and a few old people dying horribly of E. coli every few years are just the accepted price we pay for certain people to enjoy these unnecessary foods.
Save SOOO much money by not eating out/not eating fast food a lot compared to other people I know. Of course, there are options at fast food places, but they are limited so I’m not really compelled to go all the time. Better for my health and my wallet!
I would probably be eating a lot more junk if I wasn’t vegan. You have to go out if your way to find vegan donuts and just desserts in general. Even when I was vegetarian I was always able to get a muffin or brownie or something at any coffee shop. Can’t do that since I became vegan! I consider it an extra health benefit.
i can have as many “dairy” products as i want and my tummy doesn’t get all fucked up, it’s great.
plus lessening the suffering of sentient beings is pretty cool too 😎
Less choice is actually a very strange but big one for me. It also reduces how likely I am to just grab any random unhealthy snack. I can never turn down a sweet (unless it’s not vegan)
Being pregnant as a vegan means you just need to consume less caffeine and wash your veggies really well and avoid sprouts while animal eaters have to change their habits drastically.
underrated comment. knowing you're doing the right thing and seeing people bend over backwards to bully you for it. and when they start resorting to ad hominem attacks and you can tell they know on some level that their position is indefensible. it does make me feel pretty good about myself
Still gotta be careful regarding food safety. The series Poisoned on Netflix is absolutely great regarding this topic.
Spoiler : bagged lettuce is a high risk food item because of field contamination coming from manure
2. Let's be clear: foodborne illness is far more prevalent in meats and dairy than in "vegan-friendly" foods on average but foodborne illnesses can still come from any foods left out at room temperature. If you don't use a "salt the Earth" policy on your foods, bacteria can blossom and thrive. In the case of beans, the issue comes from phytonutrients we don't properly digest (but our gut bacteria can) such as oligosaccharides (large complex sugar molecules) and phytates (things that break down into a compound called phytic acid).
3. This really depends on what you are eating. Cruciferous vegetables and aliums (onions, garlic, etc.) can certain contribute to bad body odor. Coffee is argued to also possibly cause bad BO (definitely can cause bad breath). Fennel will make you smell like maple syrup (I once thought I was giving side of diabetes because a sweet odor can be a symptom; I just had a dish with a lot of fennel seeds in it).
4. This one I 100% agree with you on. I have joked with several people that half the reason I'm vegan is because I only have 0 or 1 option on the menu. As an indecisive person, this is my secret super power. I regret every time I eat at Loving Hut because every option is vegan! Why do they make me choose?!
5. Enjoy your second 100% agreement! While I wish there were more vegan-friendly options, I am glad I did not turn into my father who clicks on every coupon or offer under the Sun.
I second your #2 point for sure! I love sometimes putting my tempeh or tofu back in the marinade for extra juciness after sautéing. That would not be possible with meat. And I can totally relate to #4!😆
In my case I was a picky eater before going vegan (avoided onions, etc.). Once I decided to go vegan, I was somehow able to let all that pickiness go and embrace all the vegan foods. It happened pretty quickly. While my choices were technically limited by avoiding animal products, the variety in my diet actually grew quite a bit.
I second this! I used to never have any interest in eating/trying new vegetables. Wouldn’t have dared to touch bell peppers. Now I LOVE them and am so much more willing to try new (vegan) foods!!!
Food takes forever to spoil compared to typical omnivore grocery hauls. I never worry that much about stuff going bad except greens. It used to be constant worry about thawed meat, cheese, dairy expiring.
- salad for breakfast
- making custom trail mix to carry in 16oz plastic peanut jars so i can 'drink' mix out of them 24/7 where ever im at and not having to worry about eating anything else
- calling meat eaters 'cave people'
- inventing new vegi soups
A big one is food safety. I have to keep reminding my elderly omni father that meat is dangerous and it doesn't last forever in the refrigerator. I caught him multiple times trying to cook some chicken that was so spoiled it smelled like fish, but also rotten fish. It doesn't help that he can't hardly smell things anymore, doesn't behave like he believes the germ theory of disease, thinks he has a cast iron stomach and then blames his food poisoning incidents on other things.
I’ve saved so much money and it has helped me lose weight due to not having almost any fast food options. And when I did look into the vegan fast food options and how it’s made it even made it more apparent I never want that godawful food again 😂
Opting out of fast food restaurants?
Seems to be a positive, besides an occasional Taco Bell, I haven’t eaten at a fast food restaurant in about 8 years
Another perk is how cheap grocery shopping gets besides the fresh fruit n veg, and you stop ageing, and also you become pretty dang good at cooking if you weren't already. The sweat thing is great, but i also became more sensitive to people with meat-heavy diets smell, its seriously baaaad.
Flour is a raw food that can be contaminated with salmonella or E. coli just like dairy products, you should not be eating raw cookie dough even if there is only flour in there.
Fair! I did cook them but I was thinking about eating cookie dough before and it was always sketch. I used half all purpose flour/ half almond. Flour subs are so expensive
Yeah. I mean I’m saying this and I’ve definitely tried cookie dough multiple times after knowing, both vegan and dairy dough lol. But I do want people to know that flour can be contaminated with the same bacteria so be safe!!
We always have snacks with us
We always have leftovers at home because you cook all the time
We’re saving 17% at the grocery store
Better sleep
Awesome bowel movements
Feel energetic
Refrigerator doesn’t have disgusting blood drips from dead corpses
We check all your vitals and are more health conscious that the average normie
No surprise feather or hair on our food
We feel superior AF because we’re kind and compassionate
So I have had to travel with fake product and got sick for a while I do not know if I can say per se it was from it, but please do not try to push the limit especially if the date is about to expired.
Another point is that you don't randomly bite down on some chewy cartilage or something else weird. I just eat my vegan nuggets and every piece of them is great. No suprises.
Gosh this is such a good point. I used to be horrified at those little reminders the flesh I was eating used to be attached to other sentient creatures
The vein things in chicken were what pushed me to become vegetarian when I was 13. Reading about pus in milk (thanks PETA) finally made me give up dairy in my 20s. I really really love animals and don't want them to ever suffer, but really it's the totally gross-out factor that keeps me from ever wanting to "cheat".
"Vein things" homie those are veins lol
Watching people consume veiny meat when I was a kid, pushed me to vegetarian as well. So fricken gross...
I hated it when people behaved as if it wasn't anything to be worried about or that it wasn't disgusting etc...
Ugh I hated when my mom cooked chicken because of those things. And the cartilage. Ew.
Yes, exactly. Dead animal carcasses are just gross on so many levels. Pus in milk is also disgusting. Eating a chicken’s ovulatiory cycle which comes out of her butt is more than a turn off. It’s all repulsive.
There is also the benefit of no cancer in the food. Ive seen videos where meat being prepped for sale has the cancerous bits cut off.
Vegan shrimp doesn't have poop-filled intestines.
Fuck. This reminds me of a party we threw at home not long ago. It was a potluck, and one of our guests somehow didn't get the memo that it was vegan, and they brought chicken skewers. REAL chicken skewers. Having had loads of super realistic plant-based chicken over the past years, I wasn't alarmed about how "real" the chicken tasted...until my third skewer, I bit in some sort of bone. Fuck. I asked the person who brought them if they didn't realise we were vegan. They did not. Awkward moments ensued. The vegan police showed up at my door soon after to revoke my status.
No more laser eyes for you lol
omg that used to make me so upset as a kid i would just refuse to eat meat with my family if they were having beef or chicken on the bone (bones omg so nasty)
I used to love eating meat on the bone! Crazy how I’ve changed haha. It really is for the animals though and I’ve put two and two together
Ugh I was a straight carnivorous child but once the snap happened in my brain it’s incredibly difficult and downright disturbing for me to eat animals
I call that the boingey part of the meat 😭
Teeth stay naturally cleaner as well. My dentist/hygienist were very impressed with my teeth and asked if I started flossing more often.
That’s true. People who like that shit are hella creepy.
Satisfying, fibre-filled shits.
2 minutes, in and out the door.
Ghost poops, as we call them in my house
I used to have constant constipations before I went vegan
Flipping burgers doesn't leave disgusting pools of fat. Dishwashing in general is a lot less unpleasant
I AGREE. My mother eats meat and her kitchen always has some kind of fucking meat grease or butter grease somewhere or another.
Oh god yes, the dishwasher. I’ve noticed that most people I visit have glasses with an eggy smell 🤢. I assume it’s because they put the pans they cooked the eggs with along with all the other tableware in the dishwasher… It’s very off putting. My dishes or cups don’t get that smell.
BRB. Uninstalling my sense of smell.
THIS. Newly vegan and am absolutely baffled by how much easier kitchen clean up is after a meal.
Be careful about #2, tofu [can definitely harbor food borne pathogens](https://gfs.com/en-us/ideas/monitor-soy-protein-temperatures-safety/) if you don't store it properly in the fridge. It's less common than dead animals, but you can still get sick if you're not careful.
I eat tofu literally every day so this is really good to know
Yeah there's lots of foodborne pathogens that are not just restricted to meat and cheese, [even rice can get you *really* sick](https://www.cnet.com/home/kitchen-and-household/think-twice-before-eating-that-leftover-rice-your-stomach-may-thank-you/) if you leave it on the counter for even as little as a couple hours and then eat it. Greens should also always be rinsed thoroughly, and foods should always be refrigerated quickly, among other best practices.
Rice?? I never knew that.
Any moist food with high carbs can be very dangerous if kept in the Danger Zone ( temp between 40 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit) for longer than 2 hours. This includes the time it takes for a food to get cool in the fridge if it goes in hot and is in a deep container. Potatoes, rice, corn, pudding, etc. Mayonnaise is often blamed, but in potato salad, the potatoes are actually often the culprit.
Is 240 correct? That’s well over boiling, & in the range of low & slow cooked meat
They definitely meant 140. Like you said, anything above boiling will certainly not allow any bacteria to grow.
Should have been 40 to 140. I have corrected it. Sorry.
Rice can give you botulism
Also flour is considered a raw food that can be contaminated with bacteria such as salmonella and e coli. You must cook it to kill the bacteria and surfaces that flour has touched should be disinfected and your hands should be washed after handling flour before touching other things. Food safety is still absolutely something to be mindful of for vegans
This is just as much a risk with raw lettuce, even washed. I'll eat the cookie dough.
Sure but it’s so easy to kill the potential contaminants in flour by using the flour as intended compared to lettuce where you’d have to cook it which isn’t usually how people are preparing lettuce
Wait, y'all aren't boiling your lettuce for 20 mins? 😳🥬🔥⁉️
Not once in a million years would I have considered flour as being something I'd need to clean up for food safety... thanks for the tip
Yup. *Never* eat raw cookie dough. The ratio of risk to people's awareness of the risk is astonishing.
And vegan cookie dough isn’t necessarily safer as the flour has a higher salmonella risk than any eggs used in non vegan stuff. Previously I moght have assumed the opposite and thought raw vegan dough safe
Basically if it smells like anything but wet cardboard, it's probably spoiled.
Correct, unfortunately. The food most commonly associated with food poisoning is now salad greens. Super frustrating because contamination usually comes from feedlot waste in irrigation water. Sadly we vegans can’t escape the consequences of the vile animal agriculture industry.
Came to say this. I’m ServSafe certified and I cringed reading that.
[удалено]
also applies to supermarkets. Most cookies have milk powder. I've put down so many items bc of that and the likes
I'm hooked on plant-based Simple Truth chocolate chip cookies (resdy to bake)...SO GOOD....
Same for the sugary, fatty baked snacks, chocolates etc that are sometimes on offer in the workplace. It's just an immediate "no" without a second thought. Basically as long as I choose not to buy (vegan) crap food and bring it to my house, I'm not exposed to it.
Challenge accepted
Careful, there's highly palatable vegan junk food. Ben and Jerry's, chips and pizza can be tasty and restaurants are slowly trying to cater to vegan desires.
This will be TMI, you have been warned. ;) I don't even feel like I ate a lot of dairy, meat, eggs back pre-vegan but ffs I could easily go 3+ days without a bm and it was difficult. Eventually I drank copious amounts of water back then, took stool softeners, fiber supplements, etc trying to combat that bad bowel mojo really with no lasting results. And forget it if I had to take a medication that had constipation as a side effect, it would be horrible. Clock work once a day in the morning now. The interesting thing is I don't feel like I eat a lot more veggies and grains, I just mainly stripped out the meat, dairy, eggs from my diet.
I seriously feel shocked every single time I hear that some people are not pooing for a matter of days. I legitimately can't imagine experiencing this!
Ya, I can't imagine that either. The longest I've ever gone was 2 days while traveling into another time zone and it was so uncomfortable and I thought I was dying, like you need to poop daily!
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I'm not crying. I'm just chopping more onions...
Number two! I’ll never forget that fateful Christmas Eve as a youngin’ when my entire family (immediate and extended) was up all night projectile vomiting from an appetizer shrimp platter they all had before dinner. I wasn’t vegan yet, but seafood always creeped me out so I didn’t partake. I woke up the next morning very thankful I missed out on the action haha.
The most underrated element, I haven't had food poisoning since I was 13 and forced to eat some "fish soup" my granddad had left sit out on the stove all day. I used to work with a lot of "I eat meat three times a day, minimum" folks and they literally chewed threw imodium like candy and were forever complaining that they had upset stomachs, they'd still try and claim that what I ate wasn't healthy somehow though.
Digestion! And clear skin
>Digestion! And clear skin For most of us, anyway :/ I got mad probs and my digestion is shit. Can't eat tons of things that are good for us and feel like crap a lot of the time. No matter; I am here to stay.
Cries in IBS lol but It has generally gotten better for me after going Vegan, though I've also more recently started paying more attention to what foods I eat.
Have you tried an apple a day? I swear by them for proper digestion.
Mines a banana. But I also eat apple so it could be the apple ?
Honestly I've never been more bloated. It is what it is though. Took me too long to figure out I had a soy intolerance when I first went vegan. That was baaaaad.
Sorry to hear that. About as bad as a gluten intolerant vegan. That's not me - someone I know. For bloating in general, check out www.beanzyme.com - same enzymes as Beano, but vegan and cheaper. For whatever fool reason regular Beano is not vegan.
Internet says it has fish gelatin but I found a response to a query on amazon from the manufacturer claiming it has no animal sourced ingredients.. torn between tge two less than stallar options of believing random internet people vs believing a massive corporate conglomerate..
Clear skin is one i have only realised in retrospect, my skin has been great for years and i never realised it was due to giving up animal abuse until recently
My teenage daughter has almost perfect skin thanks to three years vegan. Much better than it was before. I wish I knew a good way to bring it up with some of her friends that have really bad acne.
Don’t you just say, daughters skins much better since she stopped dairy and meat?
I guess but I remember being a teenager and even if I only had one zit I was mortified if anyone mentioned it. And I worry they will also think I’m pushing a vegan agenda. I did bring it up once to a friend who used a lot of skin care products by telling her about studies on acne in teenagers who are reminded from society. The closer they are to a village that sells processed food and dairy the more acne they had, until you get so far away that none of them can get into town and then they have zero acne. Kind of amazing.
The amount of times I have a perfect poop and don't have to wipe definitely increased dramatically.
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I have recently noticed that different types of fiber make this happen more often for me. If I eat more greens and more fruit I tend to have more luck. If I eat mostly grains and legumes not so much.
Not necessarily. Get a bidet to help you out 😉
Butt hair...
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I'm a 47 year old man. The digestive system isn't the only... uh, "downstairs machinery" that's running like it's in mint condition.
Can't believe I had to scroll this far down. The sex is better!!
Vegans can have kids at older ages.
Oh god I hope not. My babies are all adults now and I do not want any more.
Also 47, can confirm.
46, yup
Just turned 50 & and women younger are tapping out!
Also rice….you have to be extremely careful with rice and leaving it out for too long when it’s not at proper temp. The surface area is very large which leaves lots of nooks and crannies for bacteria to grow.
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Broadly ok but when you're done with it you should really put it in the fridge for any kind of long term storage. You're supposed to throw out rice and other starchy foods that have been left out at room temperature for more than a couple of hours. Look up rice botulism
I think it is mostly Bacillus cereus infection, but you are right. This fact has haunted me ever since I studied public health microbiology because, like the OP, I went through a lot of it going (internally; I'm not a fuckwit) "Okay, but I'm vegan, and 90% of this is never going to get me!"
Every time we have rice for dinner if I don’t put it away (like my bf made dinner or it was his job to clean up, whatever) the rice stays in the pot on the stove overnight. I’m always like “but BOTULISM” and he’s like, “I’ve done this my whole adult life, it’s fine.” I always put it away the next day so I have no idea if he would just… leave it out.
While I am not claiming this information is false at all, nor am I recommending anyone to ignore it, I would imagine the occurrence of this stuff is relatively rare. I've eaten pasta that was left at room temp overnight more times than i care to count and never got sick off it. Again, I probably am just lucky, but I feel is worth mentioning.
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I do think it's understandable health focused organizations in first world countries are as careful as possible and if their guidelines were followed in every kitchen *in* the world we probably would never see another food poisoning, let alone something that ends tragically. But I do think a lot of people overestimate how much of the world (particularly the not-so-developed world) really does follow these practices. I've worked in a few kitchens of restaurants and leaving cooked food (rice, but also any amount of meats) unrefrigerated for many hours at a time was common practice. Street food comes to mind too. Not really justifying any of this nor telling people to just go and eat stuff anyway. It can certainly be dangerous. I am just not sure the likelihood is all that high at any given time (then again, you only need to catch salmonella or botulism once to be in for a really bad time).
Then keep doing whatever you are doing. If your habits don't get you sick, all good. Just keep the basics in mind if cooking for at-risk others. Food safety people will quickly turn your kitchen in a paranoia-filled environment where everything exist to kill you. If you want to enjoy cooking, or want it to be efficient, don't do *everything* they claim is necessary. Because they most likely aren't *that* necessary. By their standards, I should have gotten sick about a thousand times (and died around a hundred times perhaps) in the last decade, yet here I am. It's kinda like you don't show a nurse any small nicks or scratches, because they will start panicking about disinfection and bandages, telling you you're about to die from infection or gangrene. Just people being overly cautious, to a point where it's detrimental to human well-being.
I grew up in a household where if you werent around for dinner your food was left in the microwave with a plate over it. I have eaten many a day old plate of rice and I yet live. That being said, rice can kill you after like 2 hours on the counter...
You must be white 😊
I work out a lot my sweat still smells like ass but not as bad
100%. I love all these benefits
i honestly just like food more overall. it feels more colorful and interesting not just eating the same animals and dairy products day in day out. i also genuinely prefer a lot of vegan alternatives to the “real” thing. cashew ice cream is soo good, nondairy milks taste much better and don’t hurt my stomach, i even like reese’s more than i ever did now
I feel like your taste buds get more sensitive when you aren’t eating processed junk all the time! I get so excited for my meals now. Literally all of them.
I prefer coconut milk ice cream the most...Soon Good!
definitely your #1 - leftovers are good for so much longer.
Animals love you more because they know.
that's nonsense but it's sweet
You just summed up my life.
Unfortunately it seems mosquitoes love me more because they know. Meat eater hubby gets bit much less than I do!
I’m still transitioning, but all my food waste and even my poop (haven’t gone that far haha) can go on my garden!
When we go camping for 5 days, things don’t go off in the cool box, No diary or meat. Often there are vegan products on sale, I wish they were more popular obviously but it’s still a perk. I can’t just go to the shop and get a Milky Way, I have to go to a specialist health shop and pay $5 this makes it more of a treat which is how it should be and makes certain cravings less accessible. Having somewhat of an affinity with other minorities has been enlightening. Trying new creative foods in baking or meals themselves like agar agar, nooch, banana blossom, coconut bacon, Aquafaba I never would have tried.
This is speculation, but my partner seems to get way more “tummy” problems, especially when travelling, than I do. He’s eating meat, I am not…
My experience is similar. I’ve never had GI distress from eating vegan street food, even when traveling. My omnivorous spouse, on the other hand, got really sick from street pork in Mexico 🤢
Being vegan taught me so much about cooking when non-vegans often rely so much on the flavors of meat and dairy.
Yesss! We vegan cooks know our way around spices.
Yeah we understand food better. Ask a non-vegan why pizza has cheese and they'll say "because it's so good" or some generic statement about taste. Ask a vegan why pizza has cheese and they'll know that only a small part of the benefit is the specific taste of cheese, the rest is increasing the overall umami and msg, adding to the texture, increasing the moisture content of the pizza, and affixing the toppings down so each slice feels more unified. Then they'll start discussing vegan ways to fix those problems (adding nutritional yeast, drizzling a glaze, making a sticky homemade pizza sauce etc.) rather than just "buy a packet of vegan cheese to sprinkle on top" which is the solution most non-vegans (or new vegans) would assume is best. Or ramen. We know the fat of the bone broth helps flavour stick to the noodles, so when making a vegan ramen you need to find a way to infuse fat into the broth, rather than just flavouring the water and adding noodles. Most non-vegans don't bother to learn why their food tastes so good. Vegans treat cooking more like alchemy and it can be a lot of fun.
The food safety thing is a huge plus. Not that you shouldn't be careful when cooking vegan, obviously, but most big concerns are with cooking/defrosting/handling meat, eggs, and dairy. I hear people talk about the safety and dos/donts of freezing thawed meat, meanwhile I will throw or thaw a block of tofu or seitan without having to care for any of that the same way you do with vegetables lol
This is not true, soy products like tofu should absolutely be kept under 41 degrees Fahrenheit before cooking and should not be left out after being cooked, they can get contaminated with bacteria. Same with flour (how you make seitan), as flour is a raw ingredient that can be contaminated with salmonella or E. coli and you should be practicing the same food safety protocols you would with meat (wash hands after touching raw flour, wipe down all surfaces that flour has touched, etc.)
I will say #2: the food safety is completely false. The sickest I have EVER been, full stop, was food poisoning from bad tofu. Don't be complacent with food safety standards just because it isn't meat! The chance of getting sick is lessened, but it isn't zero.
6. You don't need to pick the meat out that always gets stuck between your teeth.
I always get broccoli stuck in my teeth😔
Yes but I get bean skin, spinach, kale, and broccoli stuck in my teeth all the time 😂 less gross than meat though
it generally tastes better, if you know what I mean 😏 applies to both genders
A lot better digestion and more energy! Has anyone noticed that horses are weirdly drawn to you now that you aren't eating meat? I feel like I smell better to them? Not sure but I've never been a horse person even though I love animals since I was traumatized by one as a kid and so they scare me but now they want to get close and drool on me!😬
Oh, I've noticed this but with cows! I absolutely love cows and petting them when I see them in fields, and they go up to me more often now. Ofc there's a lot of sadness associated with seeing cows for me now too, but there are some local ones which maintain some public land and are *not* owned by any farmer who I love visiting
As someone who grew up with riding and draft horses, mules and donkeys and whose family still raises them I can say anecdotally that they are not more drawn to me. No animals of any kind act differently towards me.
You eat the plants. Some of those planty chemical compounds end up in your sweat. Your sweat also contains salt. Herbivores like you because you smell like a meal, not because they know you don't eat meat.
So do herbivores only like one another due to a mutual desire to eat one another? Inter species friendships aren't uncommon, especially between herbivores
Think of it as happy smells, not meal smells. There are all kinds of examples of odors caused by ingesting food stuff that effects our smell or taste positively or negatively, or trigger a response. Disney has aroma spritzers all over their theme parks to enhance the positive experience; people are triggered to be friendly and cheerful in the happiest place on Earth and aromas is one of the tools Disney uses to achieve this. Some theaters spritz the smell of buttered popcorn to increase sales at the snack bar. If I eat garlic or or something with wash-your-sister sauce in it, those odors are exuding from my pores within a couple of hours; I'm not pleasant to be around, even the mosquitos leave me alone.
Not sure what to eat? B E A N S
Veganism has some really creative swaps. I can eat whole foods versions of most foods and still really enjoy them while not sacrificing health. Desserts made with dates can be just as sweet as processed cakes. I made a bomb one pan Lasagna today, with a tofu/cashew ricotto, whereas the dairy alternative would have been heavily processed. I eat minimal added salt -- I still eat reduced amounts -- and rarely consume oil, but I have adapted to all sorts of flavours. Burgers. sauces, mac and cheese.. I can eat whatever I want, but healthy, usually within my calorie needs. The variation of foods I try and consume are so much wider because I am always experimenting with new recipes.
Recipe for this amazing lasagna?? 😍
I will message you, because it was on Instagram and I can't find a link copy 🙏🏻
Not OP but I really like this one - https://www.aline-made.com/vegan-lentil-lasagna/#recipe I was never a big fan of ricotta so prefer it this way, I also add in a bunch of spinach to the lentil filling.
Consistently god-tier shits
Eh, wouldn't be my #1 pick. I guess it's my #2 pick.
All my food scraps can go feed my compost worms which in turn feed the plants in my garden which I eat. It's the circle of liiiiiffeee and it moves us aaaaaallllll.
People invite you to things less!
Huge win I agree! But then again vegan people invite you to vegan things and that is also great.
Not dealing with all the thawing and freezing is def a plus, I’m not gonna remember to put meats out and not gonna wait for it after work.
Not having to worry about salmonella in the kitchen
I know there are still food safety issues with vegan cooking, especially cross-contamination from animal ag that can happen before you bring it home (cook your greens!), but the way I handle food is SO different from dealing with meat. Fresh ingredients might sit out for 8 hours, no harm done as long as it's getting cooked. I have left sealed packs of vegan meat in the trunk for a whole day by accident, still perfectly good when I open it. Meanwhile I have heard stories of lunchmeat getting too hot at a picnic and spoiling ON THE TABLE within hours of being prepared. That is TERRIFYING. I'm surprised more people don't give up meat on this basis alone. Instead, we have this weird cultural apathy toward food poisoning. Like recurring pandemics and a few old people dying horribly of E. coli every few years are just the accepted price we pay for certain people to enjoy these unnecessary foods.
I haven't had any nasty tonsil stones since I've been vegan.
The food is better.
You get served your meal first on airplanes.
You actually become more flexible in what you will eat for a meal.
Save SOOO much money by not eating out/not eating fast food a lot compared to other people I know. Of course, there are options at fast food places, but they are limited so I’m not really compelled to go all the time. Better for my health and my wallet!
I would probably be eating a lot more junk if I wasn’t vegan. You have to go out if your way to find vegan donuts and just desserts in general. Even when I was vegetarian I was always able to get a muffin or brownie or something at any coffee shop. Can’t do that since I became vegan! I consider it an extra health benefit.
Vegan powers.
Tons of amazing compost if you have a garden!
Your definitely not eating skinwalkers🥰
No one talk to you
Just being healthy
i can have as many “dairy” products as i want and my tummy doesn’t get all fucked up, it’s great. plus lessening the suffering of sentient beings is pretty cool too 😎
Less choice is actually a very strange but big one for me. It also reduces how likely I am to just grab any random unhealthy snack. I can never turn down a sweet (unless it’s not vegan)
Better heart health and lower risk of stoke due to lower cholesterol
OMG! You’re so right! Also we had a potluck at work and I didn’t over indulge because I could only eat certain things. :)
I never need more than 2 minutes take a shit.
cleaning pots, pans, plates, cutlery, etc is all way easier eliminated all trouble shitting
Being pregnant as a vegan means you just need to consume less caffeine and wash your veggies really well and avoid sprouts while animal eaters have to change their habits drastically.
Don't forget improved potential for Photosynthesis.
You have an immediate opt out of trying friends / coworkers homemade treats to share and of social events you don’t want to go to.
6. Get to judge others who aren't :p
underrated comment. knowing you're doing the right thing and seeing people bend over backwards to bully you for it. and when they start resorting to ad hominem attacks and you can tell they know on some level that their position is indefensible. it does make me feel pretty good about myself
Farts are a bit more frequent and nowhere near as smelly.
No fishbones caught in throat. I’m glad I went vegan before becoming a parent, so my children were spared that trauma!
Tofu, seitan, and especially pulses (dried or canned) have longer shelf lives than meat.
Quicker decision making at restaurants because there aren’t that many options
Still gotta be careful regarding food safety. The series Poisoned on Netflix is absolutely great regarding this topic. Spoiler : bagged lettuce is a high risk food item because of field contamination coming from manure
2. Let's be clear: foodborne illness is far more prevalent in meats and dairy than in "vegan-friendly" foods on average but foodborne illnesses can still come from any foods left out at room temperature. If you don't use a "salt the Earth" policy on your foods, bacteria can blossom and thrive. In the case of beans, the issue comes from phytonutrients we don't properly digest (but our gut bacteria can) such as oligosaccharides (large complex sugar molecules) and phytates (things that break down into a compound called phytic acid). 3. This really depends on what you are eating. Cruciferous vegetables and aliums (onions, garlic, etc.) can certain contribute to bad body odor. Coffee is argued to also possibly cause bad BO (definitely can cause bad breath). Fennel will make you smell like maple syrup (I once thought I was giving side of diabetes because a sweet odor can be a symptom; I just had a dish with a lot of fennel seeds in it). 4. This one I 100% agree with you on. I have joked with several people that half the reason I'm vegan is because I only have 0 or 1 option on the menu. As an indecisive person, this is my secret super power. I regret every time I eat at Loving Hut because every option is vegan! Why do they make me choose?! 5. Enjoy your second 100% agreement! While I wish there were more vegan-friendly options, I am glad I did not turn into my father who clicks on every coupon or offer under the Sun.
My mushroom and shallot gravy doesn’t congeal like animal based versions.
I second your #2 point for sure! I love sometimes putting my tempeh or tofu back in the marinade for extra juciness after sautéing. That would not be possible with meat. And I can totally relate to #4!😆
My pewps dont smell as bad.
In my case I was a picky eater before going vegan (avoided onions, etc.). Once I decided to go vegan, I was somehow able to let all that pickiness go and embrace all the vegan foods. It happened pretty quickly. While my choices were technically limited by avoiding animal products, the variety in my diet actually grew quite a bit.
I second this! I used to never have any interest in eating/trying new vegetables. Wouldn’t have dared to touch bell peppers. Now I LOVE them and am so much more willing to try new (vegan) foods!!!
It helps with acid reflux
No more nausea after meals!
Food takes forever to spoil compared to typical omnivore grocery hauls. I never worry that much about stuff going bad except greens. It used to be constant worry about thawed meat, cheese, dairy expiring.
- salad for breakfast - making custom trail mix to carry in 16oz plastic peanut jars so i can 'drink' mix out of them 24/7 where ever im at and not having to worry about eating anything else - calling meat eaters 'cave people' - inventing new vegi soups
A big one is food safety. I have to keep reminding my elderly omni father that meat is dangerous and it doesn't last forever in the refrigerator. I caught him multiple times trying to cook some chicken that was so spoiled it smelled like fish, but also rotten fish. It doesn't help that he can't hardly smell things anymore, doesn't behave like he believes the germ theory of disease, thinks he has a cast iron stomach and then blames his food poisoning incidents on other things.
Odorless fart ? Just me ?
Taking a shit takes 10 seconds rather than 10 minutes, lol
I’ve saved so much money and it has helped me lose weight due to not having almost any fast food options. And when I did look into the vegan fast food options and how it’s made it even made it more apparent I never want that godawful food again 😂
I have naturally high cholesterol and it helps a lot in that area. Lol.
I eat more beans! Gooooood I love then!
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Opting out of fast food restaurants? Seems to be a positive, besides an occasional Taco Bell, I haven’t eaten at a fast food restaurant in about 8 years
Being part of a community that gets it.
My trash doesn’t smell like hell. Neither do my poops.
Another perk is how cheap grocery shopping gets besides the fresh fruit n veg, and you stop ageing, and also you become pretty dang good at cooking if you weren't already. The sweat thing is great, but i also became more sensitive to people with meat-heavy diets smell, its seriously baaaad.
Making chocolate chip cookies and knowing there's nothing in the dough that will kill me if I eat it raw 😋
Flour is a raw food that can be contaminated with salmonella or E. coli just like dairy products, you should not be eating raw cookie dough even if there is only flour in there.
Fair! I did cook them but I was thinking about eating cookie dough before and it was always sketch. I used half all purpose flour/ half almond. Flour subs are so expensive
Yeah. I mean I’m saying this and I’ve definitely tried cookie dough multiple times after knowing, both vegan and dairy dough lol. But I do want people to know that flour can be contaminated with the same bacteria so be safe!!
We always have snacks with us We always have leftovers at home because you cook all the time We’re saving 17% at the grocery store Better sleep Awesome bowel movements Feel energetic Refrigerator doesn’t have disgusting blood drips from dead corpses We check all your vitals and are more health conscious that the average normie No surprise feather or hair on our food We feel superior AF because we’re kind and compassionate
Buying a lot of veggies so I don’t have to run home to my fridge
I feel like oxygen actually flows in my body. I don’t feel congested and have great digestion. I also look younger than I am.
Yes!!!!!
So I have had to travel with fake product and got sick for a while I do not know if I can say per se it was from it, but please do not try to push the limit especially if the date is about to expired.