MKS's Log: A new take on fake

Still waiting for the recipe inspiration to hit. In the meantime, I've been scheming.

If you ask any health-conscious vegan why they avoid fake meats, I bet one or more of these reasons will turn up in their explanations:

-Egg protein and/or casein (dairy protein) are found in a lot of these meats, rendering them very much NOT VEGAN. (In my head I'm imagining the NOT VEGAN sound byte from Vegan Freak Radio.)
-Soy protein isolate. Vegan, but extremely unhealthy. In the words of Dr. John McDougall, "You may as well eat meat." Here's why. (Scroll to the section titled "Calcium Loss and Cancer Growth from Protein Concentrates".)
-Isolated wheat gluten is used as a binder and a texture enhancer in a lot of commercially available fake meats. Wheat gluten may very well be the most potent and common food allergen, and it can cause unpleasant digestive and skin conditions for sensitive people. Along with casein, it is also thought to enhance the symptoms of autistic spectrum disorders. (I'm not going to provide a link for this one, but google "wheat gluten autism" and witness the debate for yourself.)
-Fat. Some fake meats are loaded with any and every kind of oil you can imagine just to simulate the feeling of biting into a 30% fat ground chuck burger.

While there are many reasons to avoid commercially available fake meats, that doesn't make fake meats out of the question. There are perfectly good replacements for the proteins, texture enhancers, binders, and fats listed above.

For protein: Instead of relying on soy protein isolate, use enzymatically processed rice protein powder (available at health food stores and gyms). You can mix it into baked goods, and use it in lentil balls and lentil loaf. Rice protein is a perfect compliment to bean and lentil proteins, therefore adding rice protein will not only increase the amount of protein in otherwise grain-free meats, it will enhance the quality of the protein already present. Enzymatically processed rice protein producers tout their low-temperature production method as not destroying any of the amino acids in the finished product, but uncooked rice also contains higher levels of lectins, which are proteins apparently capable of causing stomach upset, and possibly inhibiting nutrient absorption, among other nasty things. So, baking this stuff might actually be the better bet.

For binders and texture enhancers: Use xanthan gum and flax "gluten". Xanthan gum is something that is commonly used to replace wheat gluten in gluten-free baking. It is GRAS (generally recognized as safe) but I don't want to make a habit of using it in large amounts. A little will go a long way to provide a (I hate using this adjective) meaty texture. Flax "gluten" is not only a great binder, but it also provides omega-3 fatty acids even post-baking. Flax is also a very highly anti-inflammatory food.

For fats: Instead of adding isolated fats, grind up whole, raw pumpkin seeds in a coffee grinder, and add the meal to a fake meat mix. Pumpkin seeds are very rich in iron, vitamin K, and protein. Pumpkin seed meal also adds a rich, (I don't want to use that adjective again) flavor to any fake meat.

(In case you're wondering why using the word "meaty" bothers me, but talking about fake meats does not, I am wondering that as well. I think that there's some latent guilt present for even wanting something so close to the "original", animal carcass that it is...)

So, there you have it: Fake meats to feel good about. I guess I should write some recipes about now...

In the spirit of health: Healthier spirits!

Two substances in red wine are thought to have a positive impact on cardiovascular health, and those are the alcohol in the red wine, and the resveratrol in the grape component.

While drinking any alcoholic beverage in moderation can provide potentially beneficial alcohol, not all contain other health promoting compounds like resveratrol. That doesn't mean that they cannot be added, though, along with some pizzazzy flavors. (I dedicate my use of the word 'pizzazzy' to Rachel Maddow for inspiring me to utilize some quirky linguistic creativity.) For some great creative mixing potential, a spice-infused vodka can be a wonderful tasting experience that provides beneficial phyto-nutrients and antioxidants to boot.

For a basic cinnamon-ginger vodka you'll want to begin with a liter of good kettle-made vodka. Ketel One is good, although if you can find something of similar quality made closer to home that might be a better bet. Dehydrated whole ginger root will work best as an infusing spice, but if you can't find dehydrated whole ginger at your local supermarket fresh whole ginger will work as well. You'll want to use a whole medium-small size root to infuse a liter of vodka. Find some cheap cinnamon sticks, too -- you'll need four or five to infuse a liter of vodka. Slice the dehydrated or fresh ginger into small enough pieces to fit into the mouth of the bottle, and place the 4-5 cinnamon sticks in as well. Unfortunately, some of the vodka might be displaced when the spices are being added, but that's a sacrifice that sometimes has to be made for the greater vodka. The other sacrifice that has to be made for this greater vodka is a bit of a wait. Specificaly, the vodka should be allowed to infuse for at least a week, at the end of which it will have turned a dark, rich amber color. It will also smell absolutely amazing.

I'm not too up to speed on the benefits of cinnamon and ginger, but I've heard that ginger is extremely anti-inflammatory, and cinnamon can help to moderate blood sugar levels. I think I heard that cinnamon bit from a slightly new-agey source, though, so you might want to check on that one. The thing about ginger being anti-inflammatory came from The Man Himself, Dr. Michael Greger, so you can take that to the bank. (In case you haven't figured it out, I really appreciate Dr. Greger's skeptical inquiry into health issues, and I trust the guy's word quite a bit.)

So, health issues aside, what exactly can you make with this stuff? I usually like to mix a little juice and a little mineral water with regular vodka, and I found that the same will work with this infused vodka. You just have to take into consideration the new flavors of the vodka and add a juice that will meld well with them. Cinnamon and ginger pair really well with orange juice and, surprisingly, with black cherry juice. My favorite mixture (so far) is:

-~1.5 teaspoons black cherry juice concentrate
-1 oz cinnamon ginger vodka
-2.5 oz mineral water (as in Perrier, but a less expensive brand is perfectly fine)

It's truly a taste sensation worthy of a fancy glass, a comfy chair, and a good book. An episode of The Rachel Maddow Show works, too. (Here's to Rachel Maddow. Cheers!)

The importance of doing what works

I had a bit of a wakeup call today. For the past couple of days I had been exercising as normal, but I just felt too lazy to cook something on the stove, so I resorted to microwaving potatoes and eating the late beta versions of some muffins that I'll hopefully perfect soon. I'd been topping the baked potatoes with black beans among other things, and figuring that all would be well if I just ate enough baked potato with Mexican topping.

I got this crazy idea in my head from reading some vegan fitness forums. A lot of the advice on vegan fitness forums seems to fall along the lines of, "If you don't feel right, just eat more (implied anything)." That might work for some people, but for people like me (and others I'm sure) it does quite the opposite of working. Illustration: Eating too many starchy foods like potatoes, and even black beans to a certain extent, kills my appetite for higher-protein foods, which in turn decreases the amount of high-protein foods I eat, which in turn makes me feel sore and sick because I don't eat enough protein, which further kills my appetite. In addition, black beans, potatoes, and soy milk (which I was drinking in hopes that the protein would level me out some) among a myriad of other vegan foods are actually inflammatory because of their impact on blood sugar, and other factors of which I am not aware yet. I ordered a book on the subject to better understand it.

To summarize, lack of appetite + too little protein + inflammation = BAD. Terrible, in fact. The last thing I want to do is to have to rely on animal foods again without it being an absolute necessity, so I was really torn up over feeling so terrible. I was really feeling great for a while. I was working on building some good arm muscle, and my mile time was the best it had been in a year. So what happened?

Obviously I had gotten lazy, and I had gotten some bad advice. Now I was in some of the worst pain I'd experienced in a long time. The good thing was that righting this day-long hell took all of 20 minutes. I cooked a pot of seasoned lentils and broccoli; an anti-inflammatory and very high protein meal. I ate it and felt better almost instantly.

I remembered today that it wasn't just adopting the grain free diet that had enabled me to stick with being vegan, but it was paying attention to factors like inflammation, and eating non-inflammatory foods like lentils. In fact, more than anything I owe being a healthy vegan to discovering the amazing qualities of lentils. They're just what works for me, and given their nutrient profile I can't imagine them not working for anyone. I guess for people like me they're just extra-important to consume daily, and if I really want to feel good on a long run I should consume them in pretty large quantities.

That's not really a problem for me because I'm hooked on them. And they're all of 1.00 a pound. Woot.

Needless to say I felt like crap all day so I didn't write up any recipes. I do feel lucky that I got to watch the Rachel Maddow show in bed, along with the Daily Show. Thank god for streaming TV shows and wireless routers. How about that plane, huh? And that inauguration? Crazy days... crazy days.

Baked Ruffles + Fritos Bean Dip -- (almost) grain free, vegan, low fat

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Crazy delicious?

Well, I'll give it "not bad" as far as commercial snacking goes. It is a convenient snack that, aside from a little modified food starch (corn starch I'm guessing), is grain free and vegan, and pretty darn (I'm toning it down after my last rant) low fat. They actually took most of the fat out of the Fritos bean dips when they removed the hydrogenated oils, so there's some more good news for you. As far as flavors go, the hot Fritos bean dip, while not being anywhere close to hot, is tastier than the regular dip. I think there might be one with cheese in it, but it's explicitly marked as cheese flavored dip or something.

Grab a bag of roasted peanuts to go with these and you'll be in grain-free vegan truck stop food heaven. (Just watch for sugar in those drinks . :| )

An argument that makes me want to tear out my hair...

...and then braid it into an effigy of the arguer and set it on fire.

I don't mean to offend or scare anyone with any implications of homicidal thoughts for bad arguments. Even for the most baseless, radical, and disgustingly stupid arguments I stop at thoughts of effigies. Granted, there is also quite a bit of rage involved.

I also hate to sound like I'm putting myself significantly above anyone trying to argue one point or another. I usually don't like to participate in vegan vs. omnivore arguments because I've been in far more than my share, most in which neither side came away the wiser. But, I respect people who do argue their side of any issue, no matter what their side or the issue is.

However, I cannot respect people who present an argument which makes completely obvious the fact that they have taken no time whatsoever to find any evidence to back up such an argument, or to simply examine the world around them and spend a little time deconstructing this -thing- that they pulled out of their ass and mistook for a legitimate viewpoint because they either liked the sound of it, or it helped them to forget that what they may have been considering before was a real issue worth a little more mental CPU time than deciding whether to make their toast before or after they take a crap in the morning.

This blog entry is dedicated to one argument from the omnivorous side of the fence that I feel fits the above description, and I hear it far too often for how absurdly weak it is. It has its so-called basis in physiology, and perhaps evolutionary theory if you want to give it that much credit. For anyone playing at home, I'm not referring to the hunter-gatherer argument, or the theory that eating meat somehow made our brains larger and more complex. Those are also both common arguments from the omni crowd -- the former being one that I do respect somewhat, while the latter is treading thin ice over the frozen lake of easily debunked mindless banter. The argument that I am thinking of would actually be taking a stroll with the latter, but what makes it break the ice and sink (but not die, strangely) is the undue gusto and pride with which it is usually presented, sometimes as though it is the end-all be-all of pro-meat-eating propaganda. It is (drumroll.......) this:



Can you see it? It took me a while to find it, too. Here I've marked it:



The red arrow in the above image is pointing to a human canine tooth. I hope I marked it right. I had to identify it by counting teeth rather than by sight. Supposedly, even though it can't be immediately identified as something that is supposed to tear through flesh, this little tooth is a prime marker for our omnivorous nature. It is there expressly to tear through flesh according to some omnivores I've spoken to, who all seem to be either overly proud or overly confident in their assertions. I've even been told to go to a dentist, who I guess would be an expert in the field of teeth, and ask him or her "what my teeth are for" after telling an omnivore that I was a vegan. I guess he assumed that a dentist would tell me that my canine teeth are for tearing into meat.

If a dentist did tell me that my canine teeth are for tearing into meat, I think it would be just another symptom of we as a society forgetting what exactly meat is, and where meat comes from. Meat is not something that originates cured in plastic packaging, sliced between deli paper, or baked, boiled, broiled, or cooked in any way. It is flesh from a living creature which billions of years of evolution have made tough enough to withstand harsh elements and some predator encounters. It does not "fall off the bone" or "melt in your mouth" naturally. The thought that a human being could rip through the flesh of a cow like a real predator with our "canine" teeth is absurd. On the other hand, these teeth look like they may be able to accomplish such a feat:



Pictured above are real canine teeth, as the skull is that of a real canine. In this picture you can easily identify the teeth which would make this animal capable of taking down and eating live prey. If we were a modern society of dogs the pro-meat canine teeth argument might actually hold some water, until you consider that despite their dental configuration even dogs are omnivorous and can live happy, long vegan lives if given the proper nutrition.

Humans do have a long history of being able to eat almost any plant or creature in sight, but that trait is surely not due to the configuration of our puny teeth. Instead, it was our brains which became complex enough which allowed us to hunt, farm, cook, and to make use of any food source, plant or animal, and consequently spread all over the globe. Now that we no longer need to kill animals to sustain ourselves, I hope that we can use our brains to figure out a way to live humanely and sustainably for the sake of all creatures on this planet.

Whether or not this blog convinces anyone to adopt a vegan lifestyle, I hope that I've at least accomplished something worthwhile by making the Appeal to Dental Anomaly argument for omnivorism sound fittingly absurd. I felt it was about time somebody did so in short-essay format. However, I feel one cannot truly appreciate the absurdity of this argument until one hears or reads it from the horse's mouth or keyboard, with all of it's accompanying fervor and gusto. I present to you the segment of the Amazon.com review which inspired this blog post:

"I do NOT buy into the argument that the human body is able to be sustained by eating massive quantities of grains and veggies. God gave us canine teeth for a good reason - to tear into some tasty MEAT!"

Why argue from nature alone when you can bring God into this silly, silly picture? You'd think that if God had intended us to be obligate omnivores he (or whatever pronoun designation you prefer) would have set us up with the real canine tooth model. In defense of the Biblical God's design, in Genesis "He" gives Adam and Eve permission to eat "every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed". Hey, that sounds like God's original intention for Adam and Eve was that they be vegan. Sounds like somebody's a little mixed up on their religious views, but maybe I've discounted this Amazon reviewer too soon. Perhaps the day will come when somebody can point me to the Bible verse, "For God did giveth man his tiny canine teeth so that he could tear into some tasty MEAT," and all will be forgiven.

MKS's Log: Making Meat in the Lab

PETA should give me an award, and a lot of money.

Just kidding, I'm not actually creating meat meat in a lab. That concept creeps me out a little, honestly. I've been playing a lot with formulations of lentil and flax meats, and I've been coming to some very surprising conclusions as to what works really well for different recipes. The lab projects which I hope will produce good recipes very soon are:

-Delicious lentil loaf
-Lentil nuggets (I made these with sweet and sour coating, and it tasted quite a bit like sweet and sour chicken)
-Lentil balls for squash pasta(I've done these so many times, I just have to formulate the recipe)
-Flax and pumpkin seed sausage.
-STUFFED CABBAGE! (ENTHUSIASM because this was always one of my favorite foods as an omni child, and chances are it's going to be REALLY EASY to make meat,dairy,egg,and-grain-free!!)

The challenging thing, and the thing that has caused me to throw out the most failed lentil meat so far, is figuring out how to cook, pre-cook, soak, etc. the lentils before adding the flax-gluten and the flour and all of the other ingredients, and then baking the meats. Every one of the recipes above requires a different tenderness of lentils, different amount of flour, and a completely different frame of mind for preparation. It's been amazing to learn firsthand, through trial and a lot of error, the science of lentil meat.

I also, by accident, found a good proto-recipe for grain-free tortillas. I'll work on that and hopefully post it.

The only other thing I've been working on is a couple more muffin recipes. I've got a really good one that I'll post in a couple of days, if I get to test it. (If one of my ingredients comes in the mail...)

Oh yes, and I've almost perfected a black-eyed pea, French lentil, spinach, and mushroom soup. And, I have perfected (through much practice preparing and consuming) an easy lunch option: A Mexican sweet potato with tomatoes, green chilies, black beans, and guacamole.

More recipes very soon.