I have a bit of an issue with the concept of ‘substitutes’ in animal-free cooking as that seems to undermine what are actually perfectly good foods in their own right whilst simultaneously setting up omnivores for an inevitable disappointment.
The Chinese have been cooking with bean curd for over 2000 years and don’t consider it to be a substitute for anything. Dishes will quite often involve tofu as well as meat and soya based milk drinks frequently seem to have a bit of cow juice chucked in for good luck. Most of the ‘substitutes’ available on the western market appear to be aimed at people who don’t really want to give up meat but for some reason think they should… hence flaccid pieces of vegetable protein painted with pink stripes and called ‘veggie bacon’. Don’t bother knocking yourself up a BLT with this stuff, you’ll only find it a let-down. Having said that, these products all have their places and many of them are actually pretty tasty if you approach them without an expectation that they are going to be like something else. You probably wouldn’t give someone chicken telling them it was a substitute for beef after all.
Aside from these reservations, I understand that most people find it easiest to think in these terms and you are going to need certain ingredients which are used and marketed as substitutes, especially in efforts such as baking. The above pages aim to give you an introduction to a few easily obtainable basic bits and pieces that you’ll need 'in place' of more conventional foods for many of these recipes…
The Chinese have been cooking with bean curd for over 2000 years and don’t consider it to be a substitute for anything. Dishes will quite often involve tofu as well as meat and soya based milk drinks frequently seem to have a bit of cow juice chucked in for good luck. Most of the ‘substitutes’ available on the western market appear to be aimed at people who don’t really want to give up meat but for some reason think they should… hence flaccid pieces of vegetable protein painted with pink stripes and called ‘veggie bacon’. Don’t bother knocking yourself up a BLT with this stuff, you’ll only find it a let-down. Having said that, these products all have their places and many of them are actually pretty tasty if you approach them without an expectation that they are going to be like something else. You probably wouldn’t give someone chicken telling them it was a substitute for beef after all.
Aside from these reservations, I understand that most people find it easiest to think in these terms and you are going to need certain ingredients which are used and marketed as substitutes, especially in efforts such as baking. The above pages aim to give you an introduction to a few easily obtainable basic bits and pieces that you’ll need 'in place' of more conventional foods for many of these recipes…
