5 Ways Veganism Can Make You a Better Cook!
Veganism can oftentimes be presented as a restrictive lifestyle or diet. However, for many people, making the choice to eliminate animal products can introduce them to a whole new world-especially in the kitchen! While adopting a plant-based lifestyle won’t magically make you a seasoned chef overnight, here are some of the ways in which it can lead to you becoming a better cook:
1- Trying new foods:
No matter what was a typical meal for you previously, when adopting a vegan diet, you will be inspired to branch out and try new options. This can lead to finding new staples and flavors-and even new favorites! Variety is the spice of life, and opening your kitchen to plant-based wonders can motivate you to significantly improve your cooking skills to incorporate new vegetables, fruits, spices and more into your diet.
2- Expanding your centerpiece:
While you may have been accustomed to revolving your meals around a form of animal protein with a side of vegetables or grains, veganism introduces a variety of plant-based proteins into the spotlight instead. Tempeh, tofu, beans, lentils, jackfruit, and seitan are just some examples of plant-based proteins that you can surround your meals around. These can all be marinated, seasoned, and even created at home, allowing you to experiment more in the kitchen in order to place these delicious options in the center of your plate.
3- Getting creative:
While you may have viewed vegetables or legumes as a side to complement any given meal, becoming vegan can really make you see these options in a new light. There are so many different ways to cook and prepare both that you may just learn a few new cooking skills that result in new twists on old favorites. Carrots can become healthy hot dogs, cauliflowers can become buffalo “wings”, and salads can get a new makeover and stand alone as full meals-being filling, nutritious, and delicious!
4- Making staples:
While there are many mock meats, cheeses, and dairy products available today, if you are looking to recreate a favorite dish from scratch that originally contains animal products, you can create just about anything at home! From mock meats made from seitan and jackfruit, to vegan cheeses that have nuts or vegetables as a base, to vegan milks made from creamy coconuts or sweet hazelnuts-you can create the vegan version of just about anything at home!
5- Learning about different cuisines:
There are so many vegan-by-default plant-based staples in different cuisines across the world that you will definitely want to expand your palate to try different foods. Whether you focus on Moroccan, Lebanese, Indian, or Japanese cuisine, learning about different foods throughout the world will bring in new flavors, spices, and ways of cooking into your kitchen. Your taste buds-and dinner guests-will love the result!
So while eliminating animal products from your diet will not automatically make you the next Chloe Coscarelli, it can definitely improve your cooking skills by inspiring you to add a little more variety, creativity, and innovation when in the kitchen. So get out your apron, roll up your sleeves, and get your plant-based cooking on!
