If you’re working in food industry, it’s always good to have food for peoplewhoo might not be able to eat from your usual menu – for vegans, vegetarians, lactose intolerant people, people with coeliac disease, people who are on a low fat diet, people who are following kosher or halal rules etc.
Why is it important?
Well, maybe because you care about people – maybe that’s why you work in the food industry – to feed the hungry? So, if you care, it’s good to care about those that have some restrictions, right?
But even if you’re doing this just because you love food and like to cook, or maybe absolutely for money – that’s also a good reason, it’s still useful to have that message to people that you care. People like that.
Another reason is very practical – preventing loss of clientele.
You could think – it’s not worth the trouble of introducing vegan dishes just to make one or two vegans happy. Well, from my experience, it’s more that that. I’m vegan and I rarely go out for a meal on my own. I often go with my friends, colleagues, family.
When I go with my family, it’s usually 6 people in general – me, my mom, my brother, his wife and 2 kids. Only I am vegan, but we are, of course, choosing a place which has nice vegan options. So if you don’t have them, that’s a loss of 6 people. And even when they will want to go to eat on their own, they go to a familiar place where they know that staff cares about people.
When I go with colleagues, there might be even more people – someone’s leaving lunch or a monthly “company pays“ lunch or dinner, or even a company conference – the company makes sure none of their staff is being left out, so they choose a provider which has vegan options (it’s true with other dietary restrictions also).
So, it’s better for everyone to have some vegan options. A lot of vegan options also cover some other dietary restrictions – they are milk free, so good for lactose intolerant and those allergic to dairy. They are also egg free – good for those allergic to eggs, same with shellfish. Vegan food is also at the same time kosher and halal.
What food is vegan, and what isn’t
Ok, maybe I convinced you that it’s good to have some vegan options on your menu. But maybe you don’t know anything at all and feel a bit lost, like – where do I start?
First, let’s talk about what food is and isn’t vegan.
Basically, anything that has animal products, isn’t vegan. Still, it might seem not that simple, so I will list it down:
Meat. Well, of course it’s an animal product. So if something has any kind of eat in it: pork, beef, chicken, duck, lamb – anything like that, it’s not vegan.
Dairy. All dairy is milk or is made from cow’s or goats milk (some other animals are used also, but not that often). So dairy is obtained from using animals, so it is an animal product. Dairy can come in different forms, so be careful. It can be a lot of things: butter, cheese, sour cream, cream, fudge, curd etc.
Eggs. Eggs are being laid by hens and then taken away, so it’s an animal product also.
Fish. Fish is alive – it’s an animal. You might think – oh, it’s obvious, but I’ve seen cases where fish in food is considered vegetarian or even vegan. Shellfish is not vegan also – they are animals after all.
Honey. It comes from animals – bees. Some people who consider themselves vegans, would eat honey. But most of us don’t. So, even if some vegan will tell you that they eat honey, still – as a general rule honey isn’t vegan, so it shouldn’t be added to dishes that are marked as vegan.
Well, that almost covers it. There are some food additives that are not vegan, like carmine or shellac which come from bugs, bees wax, some emulsifiers, but if you’re cooking food yourself, you probably won’t encounter these.
Still, not sure what dishes to make without those ingredients.
Some advice:
Mushrooms. In a lot of dishes, meat could be replaced by mushrooms.
Falafels. It’s a dish that is familiar to many vegans and liked by a lot of them. Might also come with hummus – which is also something widely enjoyed by vegans.
Tofu – you can fry or pan fry it, makes steaks from tofu, also use in salads and even desserts.
Beans dishes and similar. Something like Chilli sin carne, which goes well with rice and is also gluten free at the same time. (actually most of the above mentioned foods are also gluten free).
All sorts of vegetable curries.
Replacement products, for meat and dairy. They include all sort of products made from soya or wheat gluten, like burgers or sausages. There are also lots of different vegan cheese of different brands. They even make vegan pizza with meat and cheese replacements. And burgers like Beyond or Impossible taste just like the real thing.
I’m not including any recipes here, because food businesses might be different, but if you’d just google “vegan recipes“, you would find a lot of them and would definitely find something that suits the model of your business – either it’s a take away or a cozy sit in or a catering solution.
:) 