Happy New Year, everyone, 

Today's podcast, the first podcast of 2026, yay, 

is a little different because I'm doing it along with Jesika Dawnn who did the vegan chef training and now has her own vegan business, and we're going to be talking about Veganuary, because right now it is Veganuary. 

Maybe you don't know what Veganuary  is, but after listening to this podcast, you will. 

I asked subscribers what they would miss if they had a month of not eating any animal products. And we're also going to talk about that. 

So in a moment, I'm going to introduce you to Jesika. And I'm so excited. You have met her before in another podcast. I'll put the link to that podcast in the show notes. And for the show notes of this podcast, it's www.veets.com.au/46. 

Yay. 

Veet 

Welcome, Jesika So nice to have you here. 

Jesika

Oh, thanks, Veet. Really happy to be back. 

Veet 

So, yeah, we're going to, like I said in the intro, talk about Veganuary, and also, I've got quite a big list of what people would miss if they did decide to not eat any animal products. Looking at my show notes. Yeah, so we'll just get started and it's going to be quite informal and before we started the video recording via Zoom, we did have a few frozen moments and we'll just run with that. So enjoy the podcast. 

Jesika

Sounds good. 

Veet

Okay, so over to you, Jesika. 

Jesika

Oh, well, thank you for having me. I'm really happy to be here and really happy to be talking about this. I guess, before we start going through the list of what people have written in about, would you be able to let us know a bit more about Veganuary? 

Veet

Yeah, definitely. I became aware of it some years ago and started promoting it without even looking into it that much. I did know that it started in England. So late last night, I was looking it all up again to get the facts. And they still have the same vision and mission, and it is to spread awareness and inspire people and support people to try vegan food. So maybe not necessarily to become vegan. I mean, that would be the ultimate goal, but to try vegan food. And they started in England in 2014, so it was a local movement, but it has become so big and so popular that now it's a global movement. In 2014, there were 3,300 sign-ups, and in 2025, there were 25 million sign-ups. Isn't that amazing? 

Jesika

Oh, my God. That's amazing. Yeah. So it's great that, you know, so many people are wanting to at least try and add a bit more vegan food into their meals. 

And that's good to know, that you can sign up, so that you can be counted for their records as well. 

Veet

Yeah, that's true. I haven't signed up, better sign up. I've never signed up, I've always promoted it, so yeah, and you can add a few extra sign ups to make up and so if you're listening, you can, well of course you're listening, you could sign up as well, it's not too late, even though we're recording today, on the 13th day of January, it's never too late to sign up, and when you do sign up there's access to lots of recipes and just, you know, lots of inspiring things on there. Their vision and mission is just beautiful. They're just beautiful people that started it and that are now involved in it. So it's fabulous. 

Jesika

Did you join Veganary to become, Veganuary - I've got to learn how to say that. Did you actually join that to become vegan?  

Veet

No, I became vegan in 2015 and I hadn't heard of it until about maybe six years ago. So it was very much an English thing, I guess. And it's made its way, thanks to social media, because it pops up a lot. You know, I get to December and I forget about it, and then it pops up on Instagram or something. But no, I didn't. That wasn't my path. And, you know, I became vegan. I didn't try. I'd been vegetarian. Like, you can listen to podcast number one and find out my vegan journey. But just for those who have listened and have forgotten, I was vegetarian for a long time before I became vegan. And I never really, you know, tried it. So I went cold turkey, really. But, you know, I had given up the meat a long time ago. So it was just the dairy and eggs that had to go. 

Jesika

So, yeah, that's extremely similar to myself. It was, yeah, for over 40 years of being vegetarian. And then it just didn't occur to me for whatever reason. But when I did your course and was just presented with so many different options, it was like, oh, well, I mean, it's not really a problem with all those choices, you know. 

Veet 

Yeah, that's brilliant. Yes, yeah. A lot of people that come to do my courses, well, the vast majority of people that come to do the courses, even the chef training, they're not vegan. Yes. And then, when they see what is possible, then they start adding more and then, like yourself, actually and do become vegan. 

Jesika 

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so what happens at the end of the month? Do people stay on the plant-based diet or go back to how they were? 

Veet

Yeah, I didn't see the statistics of that, but I'm not, you know, I've heard of some people that have. Like they say, "I enjoyed this so much, you know, I felt much healthier, I have much more energy" and then they continue. But some people, they just, you know, they do it because they want to add more plant-based food into their diet for their health, for the environment. And, you know, some for, because they do know what goes on with the animal agriculture. Ah, we've lost sound.....

..... Okay. So Zoom went a bit funny then, so I'm not sure if I finished my sentence, but I was just saying that some people, they want to just add more plant-based food into their diet, not necessarily go vegan, and Veganuary really helps them with that. 

Jesika

Yeah. Yeah, no, it's great to have that kind of outside structure. I think that really helps when you're trying to do something new, you know? 

Veet

Yeah, it's like having a support, and everyone's rallying you on and you know, like, you might think, oh I'm just gonna have a bit of cheese, and then, you know, that there's 25 million other people doing this so you're like, I can do it. 

Jesika

Yeah, yeah, no, it is, it's good, it's good to know those numbers. I didn't actually know that, so I wanted to ask you before you  became vegan, what was the thing you thought you would miss the most? 

Veet

I thought I would miss cheese the most, and cheddar cheese. Like that was just my favourite. And to be honest, I don't miss it any more, but I miss what it gave me. Like, it was a real support. It was a real crutch. Like, if I was having anything emotional or there was work I didn't want to do, I was in the fridge eating cheddar, and it just made me feel amazing for a little while. Because, you know, it was a very hedonistic thing. And so I just felt, you know, satiated in that way. And then I wouldn't feel so great afterwards, when I realised how much of it I had eaten. So I still get those feelings. So I'll still go into the fridge and the cheddar's not there any more. But I've got my beautiful cashew cheese there now. And I don't have that ridiculous like overeating of it. It's just a much more balanced thing now. But, yeah, cheese was a big thing. 

Yeah. What about you, Jesika? 

Jesika

I thought about this before we were going to meet and I have to be very frustrating. I think your listeners are going to be really annoyed with me, but I don't actually miss anything. I think before, you know, before I switched to vegan at that stage, I was really only eating eggs. And I think that was just for the convenience. And so once I realised that I could replace that with so many other things, it became more of an excitement of moving towards something rather than thinking about what I wasn't getting. But I do acknowledge that I think cheese is a big issue for most people and I've just never really been into cheese. So it's a little bit of a cheat, you know what I mean? 

Veet

Yeah, I come across a lot of people that haven't been into cheese and so they're just super lucky, you know, in that way. 

Jesika

Also, I've got lots of friends that are crazy about cheese and I just couldn't have it. I mean, that's not to say I didn't eat it, but I just didn't. I've never been tested for lacto intolerance or anything, but it just didn't make me feel too good. I couldn't eat too much of it. 

Veet

No, and that's true. That's the same for me, really. like any of the dairy, cream was the worst, so I'd be so nauseous after eating right, feel so nauseous, but someone recently, I saw something on Instagram, and I loved loved it, someone said that their friend said I could be vegan if it wasn't for the cheese, and so their response to that was, well, be vegan except for the cheese, and I just love that, it's like, yeah, okay, you know, like I was saying, that I pretty much was vegan except for the cheese because I wasn't eating anything else and I wasn't buying leather products and, you know, I wasn't doing any of that, but it was the cheese. And so that was a good step and it might have taken me, you know, five or six years to get there, but I got there in the end.

Jesika

Yeah, and I also recently went to visit friends of family, and they were really generous with trying to be inclusive with my activities. 

Veet

Oh, that's gorgeous. 

Jesika

No, I'd never met them before. It was really heartwarming. But they were doing a pizza night and they went out and bought me all these different vegan cheeses to put on a pizza, which I've never used because it doesn't occur to me. Yes. And it was pretty good. I mean, I don't think it's great to buy a lot of, you know, processed foods, but I think if people are struggling in that transition period, that maybe something like that would help. I don't know. 

Veet

That's right. Yes, that definitely could do, and it does for a lot of people. And, you know, like when I was asking my subscribers what they would miss, a few people said that, you know, they would miss meat but they don't want to do any of the fake stuff because of the preservatives. But the last time I looked at like cheese slices that you can get, Bio, they're coming from Greece. Okay, that's not great food miles. But there wasn't a lot of – there wasn't any preservatives in it. Like it's amazing. So you – 

Jesika

I looked at the packet too. I was pretty surprised. Yeah, yeah. So it's not true that, you know, some of the stuff may be processed, but if you look at the packets, some of them are pretty clean. So you can get better ones. Yeah. Yeah, I think it's come a long way. I mean, you didn't even have that choice, not even so long ago. And yeah, so I think, yeah, that might be something that could help people in that transition. Yeah, absolutely. 

Veet

Absolutely, definitely. Yay. So shall we get onto the list? Is that where we're going? Yes. 

What's the first thing on the list, Jessica? 

Jesika

Well, the first four things kind of roll into a similar category, and, well actually, no, sorry, I’ll back up, the first thing on the list is melted cheese on toast, okay. 

Veet

Yes, yeah, and I know who asked that, so Sue, if you're listening, it's melted cheese on toast and melted cheese on toast is a big one, but there are some, you know, there are some cheeses that you can make with tapioca flat flour that they melt really well, you can actually just make it, you just mix them up, but what I think is awesome is the scrambled tofu, and if you haven't got the scrambled tofu recipe you can write to me and I'll send it to you, but in the scrambled tofu recipe we make a bechamel sauce and it's very cheesy because it's got nutritional yeast in it and besan flour, and the combination of those make it cheesy. Actually, the scrambled tofu has brown rice flour, but if you put it with besan flour it makes it cheesy, and you can put that on your toast, and then tomatoes, and make it, you know, it will bubble up a little bit under the grill if that's how you want to do it, Or if you're putting it in a sandwich press, it would definitely ooze out like cheese does, so there is that possibility, but for me that was a big one, I used to love melted cheese on toast, with it getting all crunchy, and for me nothing comes as close to that, so I completely do it differently. When I make a toasted sandwich, I put hummus in it and it's amazing. So I just let go of the melted cheese. 

Jesika 

Yeah, yeah. And I had forgotten about that bechamel sauce. It is very good. 

Veet

Yes, yeah, yeah. And that actually does lead, because the next thing on the list is fried eggs. Yes. So the best thing, I learned this from Shannon Martinez of Smith & Daughters, is, she makes a bacon and egg McMuffin. And so she fries the tofu, thin tofu, and fries it until it's nice and crisp. So you've got that crispiness of a fried egg. And then she puts a similar bechamel sauce in it. And so you feel like you've got – if you don't look at it and you're eating it, it feels like you've got some yolk and some crunchiness of the fried crispy egg. And that does me very well. 

Jesika

And there's a chewy factor as well that would match. 

Veet

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, and recently I made mi goreng, and fried up the tofu like that, and just put some black salt on it, and that made it nice.

Jesika

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Did you cut the tofu or tear it? 

Veet

I cut it. 

Jesika

Yeah, okay. Yeah. Yeah. I'm getting hungry. 

Veet

Yeah, me too. I bet everyone is who's listening. 

Jesika

I know. What would you suggest to substitute for an omelette with basil and tomato? 

Veet

Oh, yay. That's my favourite. On YouTube, I've got a, I'm just writing that down so that I can give you the link. On YouTube, I've got the omelette recipe, and there are plenty of different things. Like you can buy Just Eggs, that's a product. But basically what it is, is mung dhal blended, because mung dhal is yellow, blended with some water, and in the Just Eggs they'll put some preservatives to keep it well. You don't need to do that. And you can make a delicious omelette with that. And it is best if you eat it fresh, like cook it and eat it. But an egg omelette is the same. So it's best for you to do that. So there's that one. But I also have, you know, the Japanese do like an eggy roll. So they roll the omelette over. 

Jesika 

I haven't made that yet. It's called Tamagoyaki. Yes. 

Veet 

And I just called it eggy roll. 

So I've got another YouTube video on that. And so I'll give you the link for that as well. But that is a little bit more complex because you do the mung dhal. You make the mung dhal into a flour and then you mix it with silken tofu. But it's amazing. And it's got more protein in it, more protein in it than eggs. Yeah. 

Jesika

It would with both of those. 

Veet

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Especially because the first one, the omelette, we do with the mung dhal, I grate some tofu into it and then that gives it a cheesy aspect, a little bit cheesy string, and then both of them have a lot of protein in them. So, yeah. 

Jesika

Oh, that looks great. I'm going to have definitely check that out because I haven't seen the eggy roll one yet. Yeah, yeah. 

Veet

Is there anything else you do for omelette or that sort of thing? 

Jesika

I, well, this morning I made mung dhal kimchi pancakes. Oh, yum. Yeah, that was very delicious. Yeah, except I had about five of them. 

Veet

So you had plenty of protein. 

Jesika

Yeah, and then on the topping I did the homemade vegan mayo and then avocado and chopped up peanuts. And it was just, it ticked all the boxes, you know. There was a little bit of spice. It was very filling. I was, like, sated by the, you know, fattiness of the mayo and the avocado and then the crunch of the peanuts. 

Veet 

Oh, that's so good and so much protein. 

Peanuts, so good for revitrol, so great for menopause. Yeah, amazing. Oh, yum, yum. Okay, I think now I'm going a bit AWOL, but I think I'm going to ask you about barbecue chicken. Do you have any ideas? Oh, my God. I could have helped you with the other ones. I looked at that on the list. I'm being so naughty because it's like barbecue chicken and I'm avoiding that one. 

Jesika

Well, I was wondering about that, because I was thinking if it was, you know, like a whole chicken that's covered in barbecue sauce, I don't really think you can do anything about that. But if it is, I think I would probably do torn or grated tofu, but largely grated. I don't know. I've been tearing tofu and I find that quite good. And then you would just slather it in barbecue sauce. 

Veet

Yeah, maybe or barbecue. But remember, there's two things that have come to mind. Remember in the foundation course we did the seared mushrooms? 

Jesika

Yes, I did those. 

Veet

You know, with the big oyster mushroom, you get a big cluster of oyster mushrooms and then you put it in a frying pan, you marinate it, put it in a frying pan and it chars on the bottom and then you put a heavy saucepan on top to flatten it and then it cuts like chicken. I wonder what that would be like on the barbecue. 

Jesika

Oh, I think it would be wonderful on the barbecue. I just realised what you meant, barbecue. I was thinking barbecue sauce, but you meant barbecue. Sorry. No, that would be perfect. Yeah, yeah. 

Veet

And the other thing is, well, that's great that you thought it was barbecue sauce because there might be someone listening that loves barbecue sauce. So we've covered both bases there. The other thing, you remember when we made the schnitzels, the tofu schnitzels? Yes. And so what we did is, we froze the tofu first because it takes up more marinade. But what I've been doing lately, and I've spoken about it a little bit, is, my sister-in-law, you know, has been doing it for decades, and I've never thought to ask her, but she boils the tofu with salt, and then cooks with it, and what happens is that, you get like quite big pores in the tofu, so it really sucks up the marinade, and it has a chewy texture, so I was thinking maybe we could marinate, you know, marinate that in a really good marinade, it could be barbecue sauce, or what you normally do with the chicken, and then put that, and in quite big slabs, on the on the barbecue and see what happens there. 

Jesika

That sounds amazing. Can we go back to the boiling of the tofu? I just, I’m like wait, I have to ask about that. Is that the whole block of tofu?

Veet 

Yeah. So you can so you can dice, it depends on what you're cooking, you can dice it, but the other day I wanted to make, you know, the schnitzels so I wasn't going to freeze it, so I put it in quite big slabs and boiled it, so you have to have salt in the water for it to work, so I put a teaspoon of salt and, oh, the tofu tastes amazing with any marinade after it's been boiled in the salt.

Jesika

Well that that would be like when we made fresh tofu. That exactly.

Veet

Yeah, and if you want it, that's right, if you wanted a bit, yeah, it reminds me of that exactly, because in the chef training we made fresh tofu with the wonderful Kiriko, and it was so good, but it does remind me of that, and if you want it a slightly softer, you just boil it for five minutes. If you want it firm, you boil it for 10 minutes. 

Jesika

Ah, so the longer you boil, the firmer it gets. 

Veet

Yeah, yeah. So that will be the recipe for this podcast, everyone. Normally I do a recipe at the end, but that's the boiling of the tofu. So we've got that one covered. 

Jesika

Yay. Oh, that's great. Yay. All right. Well, I think we've covered what to do with how to change the barbecue chicken. What do you think about real Greek yogurt? 

Veet

So a few people had yogurt on and one of them wanted, you know, they have Bircher muesli for breakfast, and then they put yogurt on and they said that they're not prepared to have coconut yogurt because of the fat content. And it's true, coconut yogurt does have more fat content than dairy yogurt, and dairy yogurt does have more protein than coconut yogurt. But I would, at this stage, you know, you could make a cashew yogurt and I have a fake cashew yogurt, I just put a probiotic. I blend up the cashews with water and put a probiotic in it, leave it out overnight, and it makes a yummy yogurt. Or you could buy a soy yogurt, and then you've got the protein there. I haven't seen too many organic soy yogurts, so I haven't looked, you know, I haven't bought any soy yogurt, but you could also just rethink your muesli, because if you're relying on yogurt to give you protein in your muesli you haven't got enough protein in your muesli, because the purpose of muesli is having enough complete protein with the oats and the seeds and the nuts and so I, you know, in Europe, when I was having muesli, they had it on orange juice and I've had it with apple juice too, so then you're getting, you know, you're getting other nutrients, because remember, we need protein, but we need other nutrients too, so yeah, but so in the case of muesli, I would rethink it, if you don't want to, you know, the coconut yogurt on the muesli would just be to add that extra decadence, yeah, but you know, using it for the protein, you should be getting enough from your muesli and I would say that, if you're having your dairy yogurt on top you're probably getting too much protein, i don't know. 

Jesika

Yeah, oh sorry, just before you go, I just wanted to say also that I have just started making soy yogurt and it's not very difficult, but if anybody's interested, the person who wanted the real Greek yogurt, I'm imagining that they like that thickness and you don't get that with the soy even. I did buy some soy yogurt just to see what it looked like and it's kind of a bit more runny than other things, but all I did when I get it out of the yogurt maker I put chia seeds in it and that thickens it up as well as adding a little more.

Veet

Oh that's great, I'm gonna have to get a lesson from you yeah, and how to make it, but yeah, my cashew yogurt, which I love because I have yogurt on savoury, that's my thing. I'm not a sweet tooth person, but I have made it sweet as well, I do, you know, it'll be a cup of cashews and half a cup to three quarters of a cup of water, blend that till it's smooth, put one probiotic powder in it, cover it with a muslin overnight and it will have fermented, and if you want it thick you would definitely just put half a cup of water, like, have it really thick, and that makes such a beautiful reita, so maybe if you put a little bit of a sweetener in it, it could be maple syrup, because I've learned recently that maple syrup is not just a great sugar alternative, it's also incredibly healthy, and they're recommending two tablespoons of maple syrup a week. Oh wow isn't that awesome. 

Jesika

That's great . I'm gonna dust off my maple syrup. 

Veet

I know. I'm like, whoa, we can have that in our dressing after all. so yeah, it's really good for lowering blood pressure among other things, that's the thing, I can remember, but yeah, you could try the cashews, and some people say, well cashews have a lot of calories, but they don't have as many calories as dairy, so no, that sounds great, yeah. 

Jesika

And I guess you would sort of use the cashew one, because in the past I would have used yogurt to thicken a curry or something like that, so that's when you would use the cashew one as well.

Veet

Yeah yeah, that's that's absolutely right. Well, for thickening curry, you just make cashews, you know, cashews and water  and you don't have to ferment it and that thickens very easily. Or if you don't you're like, I don't want to have cashews, then you can do it with sunflower seeds and they're a little little bitter, but pepitas if you don't mind your curry looking green, pepitas add a whole ton of protein in there because they're a complete protein, and that's delicious when you make a pepita sauce.

Jesika

Oh I’m definitely going to try that one, yeah yeah, so that's yeah great, yay. Oh, is the next one on the list mac and cheese? Uh no, it was milk and cheese.

Veet

Milk and tea. That's a hard one. You need to start experimenting to see which milk that you like. A lot of people have oat milk instead,  especially in coffee, because it sits well, it doesn't separate. But you know Mak, he was vegan, except for his cup of tea, so he was still having milk in it. That was nine years ago, probably 10 years ago now, that he gave up milk, and he's been through the whole range of milks, and for years had oat milk but is now back to soy milk. But he didn't like the soy milk I was getting, because I was getting Australian soy and it was organic. But he's moved to Bonsoy and he loves it, and Bonsoy is coming from Japan, and, you know, I'm pretty big on food miles, but sometimes we have to make compromises because that's keeping him away from going back to dairy. Although I think if he went back to dairy now, he'd be sick after all this time. 

Jesika

Yeah. Yeah. 

Veet

Yeah, and we did cheese, didn't we? Yeah. The best cheese, though, is cashew cheese, if you're going to make it yourself. But there's so many good cheeses out now. There's this company called Delictico, and they have the most amazing blue vein cheese. It's just fantastic. Yeah, and that's a Byron Bay company actually. But there's Arteza from Tasmania. There's so many different cheese companies, and if you're listening overseas, you've got even more range. Like it's incredible what's coming out of Europe with cheese, vegan cheese. 

Jesika

Well, that's a good reminder because I just sort of tick it off and don't think about it any more. But maybe I'll just, you know, check the dairy, I mean, the supermarket section or the health food store every now and then and see what they've got. 

Veet

Yeah, yeah. And when I had my parents and my auntie here, they're big cheese eaters, but we still had a cheese board and we made it with all vegan cheeses and they didn't complain. And, of course, it wasn't like cheese for them. But they loved the whole thing of it, because we had the fruit with it, and the yummy crackers. Yeah. So, you know, I tend to make my own cheese. But if I want to do a cheese board idea, I'd definitely go and buy the Delictico cheeses because they're fantastic. They've got a Camembert. The blue vein is good. So, yeah, that's a possibility. 

Jesika

Well, I don't know if you remember an old recipe that I don't know when it was, but it was like a cheese ball, you know. Yeah, and so I had made that many years ago using cream cheese, pretty like, you know, I didn't eat much of it because obviously it would have made me feel unwell. But your tofu, the feta tofu recipe that you have, I've used that to make a cheese ball. I did a jalapeno popper cheese ball and covered it in panko, in like rice crumbs and took it to a gathering and people were raving about it.  

Veet

Oh, that's so good. I have to do it because I've done it with the cashew cheese that I make, the recipe, which I know is in one of the podcasts, so I'll just put the link to that for you, whoever's listening. But I remember doing it with Philadelphia cheese, so I did it with cashew cheese and then there was some mayo in it. And so when I've tried to replicate it, it's fallen apart. So, of course, the tofu will make it stick together better. Yeah. That's fantastic, Jessica. You're a genius. That's genius. Well, you, it's yours. No, but you put it together in the bowl because that was, I remember in the 80s and 90s, late 80s, early 90s, that was everywhere, that cheese ball. Yeah. Well, we could bring it back. Bring back the cheese ball, but vegan. 

Jesika

Yeah, yeah. So keeping on with our list what would you do for ceviche.

Veet

That's exciting because that's going to be my next recipe for my blog and in my newsletter, so if you're not signed up to my newsletter get signed up, because someone said that they they could be vegan except when they go home to Peru. Hello Miriam, if you're listening. When they go home to Peru, they love their ceviche. So ceviche, I have made it before, but not for a long time, but i made it with oyster mushrooms, so I’m going to do a bit of experimenting over the next few weeks to get that. And in Peru they have, it this sounds amazing so i really want to do it, they have the ceviche with corn and sweet potato and it's like a real meal and not just, you know, ceviche on its own. Because for those who don't know, ceviche is raw fish marinated. So I would do it with the mushrooms. But I've seen and I've had it at No Bones, watermelon ceviche. So what they do is, they almost dehydrate the watermelon. So it's got a chewy texture as well. And it's got that redness and that's really delicious. So, yeah, it's just, I think, especially when it's a dish like ceviche that is with the corn and the sweet potato, you could easily replicate that and get that same sensation. So I did ask Miriam and what I would ask you is, what is it really that you're missing? Because I didn't know what it was in the ceviche. Was it the fish flavour or was it the texture? And she said it was the whole meal together, and those flavours joining together. That's my challenge, to get that right, yeah.

Jesika

I think you really touched on something when you say, I couldn't do this if I can't have such and such. It is really important to figure out what exactly it is that you're missing because, you know, is it texture, is it flavour, is it ,you know, the combination of both? Because once you can identify that, then you can start figuring out how would you change it you know. 

Veet

Exactly right, and that is a really good point, because just to elaborate on that more. When I was once sick, I think it was in 2017, I got a really bad flu and I hadn't eaten for days, and I was craving cheese, and it was like oh so craving, and so I sat and really thought, what is it that I'm missing, and it was protein. So I just had a protein and comfort food ,so I thought, well what is protein and comfort food that I used to have as a kid that didn't involve animal products, and I had baked beans on toast and I was  happy and I forgot all about the cheese.

Jesika

 I love baked beans on toast.

Veet

We can, when I have baked beans on toast now ,forget the butter, forget putting cheese or anything on it. Put some avocado and sprouts and, you know, just super healthy and yummy yeah yeah yeah yeah. So i think we did the eggs and all the meat, yes, all the meat, and don't like fake meat, so there are some good fake meats, but I’m actually won't go near the fake meat, so I think, no I don't know. So mushrooms are brilliant for making things meaty, and tofu. We mentioned before jackfruit, that makes things like pulled pork, or you can use it for fish and banana blossom for fish. So there are things that have those textures and TVP. One of the things on the list was shepherd's pie. I make shepherd's pie with a client of mine and we put TVP in which is textured vegetable protein, and that's very chewy, it's just made of vegetables, so it's got no preservatives in it, it's got some molasses in it for the colour.

Jesika

So the the next three things on the list were the chilli con Carne, the spaghetti, and the shepherd's pie. If you didn't have the TVP, the another thing that I’ve done with those is, either use lentils, and then also in the chilli con carne , burghul, it's a wheat. So if people are gluten intolerant it's no good, but if they're not it is, because that's quite chewy. 

Veet

Yeah, I love having them, even though I'm supposed to be gluten-free, I'll have a burghul wheat salad and I just love it because of the chewiness of it. 

Jesika

Yeah, I think, genius, and the other one that we did when we made the soy milk in the course, we had the leftover pulp that is perfect for chilli. 

Veet

Yeah all of them, it's good for all of them. Also, I’ll sometimes put some chopped walnuts in, because then that sort of gives it a crunchy chewy, because when the walnuts get wet with the sauce, they're a bit chewy. And so I have another client that we've made shepherd's pie with, lentils and the walnuts. And it's just so good. 

Jesika

Oh, I like that. I'll have to add the walnuts. YBut I'm going to try the burghul wheat now. 

Veet

That's awesome. 

Jesika

Plenty of ideas. I think that's the thing. Like, you know, when there's not a limitation of eating vegan, you know, in fact, you've got more choices. 

Veet

Choices, that's right and if you like experimenting in the kitchen it's awesome, because there's so much, what you say, there are more choices. When I became vegan from vegetarian I couldn't believe how creative my food was, and my regular clients, I was catering for on yoga retreats then, were saying, wow, this is amazing, it's so much better and I was really surprised because a lot of them were meat eaters, but they were saying it's so much better that it was vegan, because there was more variety. So yeah, and because there is more variety, even if you don't like cooking, it does become more inspiring and it gives you more enthusiasm. 

Jesika

Because there's more things to try, and you don't have to try everything at once, you can absolutely, it doesn't have to be too overwhelming. What was next?

Veet

Maybe steak and chips? 

Jesika

I don't really know. I think that would have to be also, what exactly is it that you're missing? I think that, in that situation, it's a really important question of what are you missing, and then, you know, I kind of wonder if that's about going out as well. 

Veet

I think, yeah, there's a place up in Brisbane called the Green Edge and they had a lot of fake stuff and they had a steak there that really looks like a steak. And so I know people say, well, I don't like fake meats, so, you know, why am I going to eat that? But it's not going to be any worse, maybe a little less worse than having a steak really, for your health. Yeah. So it's not going to have as much trans fat in it. It may have vital wheat gluten. So if you're gluten-free, you're not going to go anywhere near it. But, you know, I have a friend now who's experimenting with making vital, you know, that vital gluten, you know, stuff. But he's trying to make it gluten-free, and there are recipes out there for it. So there are those things. But I don't know. I think you're right. You do need to think, what it is you're missing. Maybe it's the chewiness factor. And I know this sounds weird, but I just have to steam some kale and I certainly get that chewiness factor. It's nothing like a steak, but it's nice and chewy. 

Jesika

We might have a hard time switching from steak to kale. 

Veet

Yes, that's right. There's got to be some steps in between. 

Jesika

I know, that's very true. Yeah, so the steak is a hard one. But, if you're asking the question, then somebody's written this in to you specifically for, you know, about eating vegan, then there are some questions happening in that person's head already. And I think in this situation, it would be a case of what I was saying before, rather than thinking about what you're not having, think about what you can actually have, like move forwards. 

Veet

Yeah, and I would say again, I mean, this is very controversial, and a lot of vegans wouldn't agree with me, but if you did decide that you want to be vegan, but you just couldn't give up steak, how often do you have steak? Is it just once a month? Well, then maybe have your steak once a month, but the rest of the time be vegan and see how it goes, because eventually your body won't want it any more. 

Jesika

Yeah. All right. It's a hard one. It is, yeah, but I think we've covered it in certain areas. So we had somebody write in and say, after eating plant-based for three days, they always feel weak. 

Veet

Yeah, so I did an Instagram post on that, because I find that very interesting, because after I eat I have lots of energy. So what I think it is, is that, maybe the foods aren't the recipes that you've got that are vegan if you're using recipes. Or some people, they just take out the meat, the dairy and the eggs, and then they're just left with a bowl of veggies, and that's not going to give you the energy that you need. So it's really about making sure you've got enough complete protein, and you can sign up for my complete protein chart and have that on the fridge and check that out. Or better still, come and do the Vegan Foundation Course. I will show you how to make any vegan recipe that you get online, that makes sure that it's got complete protein, and got enough nutrients so that you can avoid that. Because if you are committing to doing three days a week of vegan food, you know, in Veganuary, hopefully the whole month or the rest of the month. But if you were doing three days of vegan food a week, that would be incredible for so many reasons. But it is about getting your food well balanced, and making sure that you've got complete protein in every single meal. 

Jesika

Yeah, yeah, definitely. I use Andrew, my husband, as a barometer when I'm doing things. If I feed him something and he's like, oh no, I'm not full. I'm like, all right, I didn't get it right. You know, I have to go back and figure out how to make sure that there is the complete protein. 

Veet

Yeah, absolutely. That's like, if you go to eat out, I often don't feel full, and then you look at why it is. So in, I think it's podcast 10, I talk about what to do with eating out, because that's a big one. That could put a lot of people off trying to get your eating, because eating out can be quite problematic. But, yeah, there are things you can do to make sure that even when you're eating out, your meal has got plenty of protein. 

Jesika

Yeah. It is a big issue, so that would be good to double check. And does that podcast also include when you're travelling. 

Veet

I can't remember. No, I need to do one on travelling. It's more for eating out, but same thing, like having seeds in your handbag or in your backpack or something. 

Jesika

What would you say about bagel with cream cheese and lux. 

Veet

So bagel. They're easy to access, they're actually easy to make, but i don't have the time to do that, but it's easy to access cream cheese, cashew cream cheese. You can either make it or buy one. In Australia we've got the botanical cream cheese, if you want to buy one. It's quite expensive, but amazingly delicious. But if you're going to the supermarkets, you can get that cheese. I can't remember what it's called but it's not an organic one, but that is a cream cheese. And then the lox, and I will put the link to the recipe. We make it from carrot. You've had it haven't you? We did it at our graduation. You did, at your graduation. That's where that recipe was developed, at your graduation. Because you tried it cooking the carrot, and then you had the raw carrot at the chef training graduation. And that one is amazing and people love it. So that recipe is on my website, so I'll put a link to that and you'll be able to get that, whoever asked that question. But that's a beautiful cream cheese on bagel with that carrot lox or on a cracker. It's a winner. And I've even put that carrot lox in a salad and it's so good. 

Jesika

Oh, I'll have to make that again. It's been ages. Yes. condensed milk.  

Veet

It's a thick milk, so these days you can buy vegan carnation or condensed milk. I have made it with coconut milk and it's incredibly yummy, but if you don't want to go to those extremes, you can just buy it now, you can get it in most shops, or probably even the supermarket. 

Jesika

So that I just found some and I bought it. I haven't used it, but I just had some recipes that called for it, and they were all sweet things. It's not what you would be having. It's a treat.

Veet

That's right, but that's fantastic. We're so lucky. I think about the people like Victoria Moran, who've been vegan for 45 years, and they had nothing, they had none of this, and now we have all of this. So it's just so easy and it's something like signing up to Veganuary. It's just so much easier, because of all these things we've got.  

Jesika

Yeah, and that's before you even start making things. 

Veet

Yeah, you can just go out and buy a lot of things if you're time poor. Oh well, we kind of covered everything, just about going out to eat, that can be a bit of a nightmare. We didn't cover that but because I went out to eat, I went to a few Christmas parties and then over Christmas, I went out to eat a few times, and I got to the point where I'm meeting up with a friend next week and we were going to go out for dinner and I said, no, I've had so much, can we just have a picnic.  So I would suggest, because going out to eat could be like, if you're really committed to Veganuary and then you go out to eat and then you're confronted with, there's nothing on the menu, and then you feel like you've let yourself down because you've eaten, you've just broken the big Veganuary. Or just maybe suggest an alternative to going out to eat in January, because it's a nice reset to just eat food and the weather's fine. 

Jesika

I'm definitely in the same boat from all the pre-Christmas gatherings, and then I went away for a week and just the last week and a half all I've been doing is cooking at home like crazy, cooking because I just want to eat all these things. I was eating quite badly really, but I definitely think a picnic's a great idea.

Veet

I think so, yeah. And if you don't feel like making things for a picnic, like we said, you can go and get some vegan cheeses, or salads or that sort of thing, that might already be vegan there. There's plenty of salad recipes on my website as well. So it looks like we've covered that. Normally we have a recipe but I think we went through many recipes. And normally we'll have a fun cooking tip. I think the fun cooking tip is boiling the tofu. 

Jesika

I'm gonna give that a go. See how that goes. 

Veet

So you have to let us know, Jesika, what you think of that, and I’ll put it on my socials. And anyone else who tries it, please let me know what you think. 

I hope you've enjoyed listening to us. I’ve really enjoyed it. Jesika and I, we could talk for hours. 

Jesika

Yes. 

Veet

I'm like, but then, and what about? And where's that? Thank you so much, Jessica, for joining this week. I'll have to have you back real soon. 

Jesika

Yeah, thanks so much. It's been great and has just, as always,  given me so many ideas for myself as well. It's just endless. So thank you very much. 

Veet

Oh, that's fantastic. 

Jesika

Yeah. 

Veet

Thank you, wonderful listener. Please share the podcast with anyone who you think may be interested and have a great week. Write to me. I love to hear from you. 

And until next time, I hope you have eaten sensational vegan food. Bye. Bye. Bye.