My husband and I attended a Rotary Club fundraiser / Super Bowl party / pot luck. The other food there was heavy in animal products, so I figured I’d share my vegan, gluten-free, soy-friendly, nut-friendly Super Bowl contribution with you!
I made a super easy salad with pre-washed greens (mixed greens and baby arugula), fresh blueberries that I washed, frozen edamame that I steamed in a pot on the stove, slivered almonds that I simply dumped in the bowl, and Trader Joe’s vegan creamy dill salad dressing.
Mix it all together in a bowl and that was it! My big Super Bowl food prep. It was a big hit, very nutritious and delicious!
I’m sharing a photo of the veganish plate I made with my vegan, gluten-free, soy-friendly, nut-friendly Super Bowl contribution, along with fresh vegetables and Ranch dressing, potato chips, banana bread, mixed nuts (can’t see in photo), a chocolate chip cookie and a piece of white chocolate with nuts in it. Yeah, it’s not all vegan. In my informed opinion, it doesn’t do a thing to help animals, refusing to eat Ranch dressing or desserts that are otherwise going in the trash. (I could even eat the meat at the party with no negative effect on animals … as far as I’m aware.)
I didn’t eat the meat at the party because I preferred to eat the complete protein salad I brought instead. If there hadn’t been any good vegan protein options, and if I were hungry, maybe I would have eaten the meat, and it wouldn’t have harmed animals one bit. Meanwhile, does it open up people’s minds to possibilities when they see how easy it can be to bring a delicious and nutritious vegan thing instead? Yes, I think it does.
Above are the groceries I brought for my salad for my vegan, gluten-free, soy-friendly, nut-friendly Super Bowl contribution. The Tofurky slices, pumpkin seeds or pepitas, and Good Katms flax milk were things I bought extra for myself. And I only used one package of edamame soybeans. See below for the receipt.
If you subtract out the extra stuff, the bill was about $23.00. Then of you add about $2 for half of the Trader Joe’s salad dressing, total cost was about $25.00. I would say it was enough for about 10 large servings of salad. So, about $2.50 per serving. I realize that spending $25 on a pot luck contribution isn’t do-able for everyone, but I could afford it, so it worked for me .
Above is a photo of part of the desserts table. At least half of this was thrown on the trash at the end. I love cake so I had multiple slices of the fancy cakes before they went in the trash. I’m very lucky not to be vegan so I could enjoy all of that delicious cake with no harm to animals whatsoever. Yay! Meanwhile, I do feel sorry for vegans who think it’s their duty to pass up on delicious treats like this out of some misguided thought that it could help animals somehow.
If a person is passing it up because of the calories and sugar and saturated fat, that’s for a good cause, for sure … improving a person’s health … but the equivalent vegan treats are just as full of calories, saturated fat, and sugar … so if a person is strictly avoiding sugary treats for that reason (nutrition), great, but then the vegan treats need to be strictly avoided, too. And that clarifies that it’s not because of the animals that a person is avoiding the treats … it’s because of their own health concerns, plain and simple. Which is totally fine!
The Rotary Club, as it seems to me so far, is for wealthy “do-gooders.” They appear to be smart people who understand that theoretically it would be a good idea to not eat so many animal products. However, from what I’ve seen, they are just like 95% of people everywhere (except in some parts of India) … they stuff their meals with animal products every chance they get. I believe my vegan salad was the only vegan thing at the pot luck other than the mixed nuts. Nonetheless … they did appreciate my contribution as people generally do like io have some salad with their meat.
Personally, I relish my role as a non-vegan, non-vegetarian person bringing food vegan food to the meat eaters … I go all the places where vegans and vegetarians are not. Clearly they weren’t at this pot luck of do-gooder Rotarians, as I brought the only substantial vegan dish.
Hopefully, eventually everyone will be bringing substantial vegan food to events like this. For right now, I acknowledge it … even as a non- vegan and non-vegetarian, the way I eat is VERY FAR AWAY from the mainstream. I normally eat all big-picture vegan food, three meals a day. That simply is not happening right now, for 95% of people in my country, the USA.
And that is why I write these posts, encouraging people to see other possibilities beyond the typical animal-centered meals that most of us are used to. I do believe that delicious, nutritious vegan meals are possible more often, for at least 95% of the people in the USA, and most likely for a good chunk of the population in other countries, too.
To that end, I will continue highlighting the efforts of people all around the world who are finding their veganish groove and sticking to it. Wherever you may be in the world … what works for you?
Because trillions of fish, billions of chickens, and millions of pigs are killed every year for the food that we eat as human beings, if you’ve figured out some things that are working for you, to live a full life without needing food that required so many animals to be harmed, you can help others by sharing what you’ve learned. That’s why you are invited to become an author here or to share in the Facebook groups, Let’s Go Vegan-ish (public or private). Sharing is caring, as we like to say here.
Onward and upward!
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