Edible’s Vegan Diet Guide
A starter’s guide to going plant-based
Welcome to The Edible Project’s Diet Guide Series, a starter’s introduction to eating pescetarian, vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, paleo or keto. We cover the basics of each diet, pass along tips and tricks curated from the diet community, and provide some simple recipes and communities to get started.
PDF versions of all the guides can be found at www.edibleproject.io/guides. To help improve these guides, leave feedback in the comments or send an email to media@edibleproject.io.
Overview
It is important to make the distinction between veganism and plant-based diets, as veganism implies that one does not use any animal products (wool, leather, animal-tested products) in addition to their diet. This guide is concerned only with the plant-based diet aspect of veganism.
To identify if a food item is vegan is seemingly easy — does it have animal products or not? In reality, especially at restaurants, this becomes more difficult when animal products are used for things like cheese and salad dressing. The obvious no-no’s are dairy products (cheese, milk, butter), eggs, beef or chicken stocks, and honey. Make sure to always check with a server when eating out and check the labels at the store — the most indubious route is to buy products that are already labeled vegan since self identifying labels have become increasingly common.
Things To Note
protein: There are a ton of adequate plant-based protein sources such as tofu, tempeh, seitan (meat replacement), quinoa, peas, beans, seeds, nuts, lentils, miso and more.
supplements: It is important for vegans to make sure they get an adequate amount of Vitamin B12, the essential fat ALA, and Vitamin D. For detailed information refer to http://www.vegan.com/nutrition/.
Avoid ❌
- Dairy, eggs, meat, or meat stocks
- Honey
- Some sauces, such as anchovy sauce in caesar salads
- Guacamole that may be thickened with sour cream or half & half at restaurants
- Sandwiches that are cooked/grilled in butter
- Bread products and breadings on items can have eggs and/or dairy
- Ice creams and desserts (sherbet has dairy — sorbet doesn’t)
Be Careful Of ⚠️
• Fried products — some restaurants use beef tallow for french fries, pretzels, etc., so ask a server!
How-To Order
- Check out Middle Eastern and Ethiopian restaurants for ethnically vegan friendly options as well as Indian dishes with dairy-free sauces
- Get a salad without cheese, or with vegan cheese (Daiya, cashew, or nutritional yeast)
- Ask for dairy-free substitutes, such as dairy-free ice cream, milk alternatives at coffee shops, and vegetable spreads instead of butter
- Substitute for vegan sauces and vegetable stocks (vinaigrettes and mustards are normally fine)
- Order without butter on the bun or sandwich bread
- Substitute avocado or tofu for eggs at breakfast time
Simple Recipes
These are some curated simple dishes that are great for any beginner on a vegan diet! Bon appetit!
- Tofu Burrito Bowl — 45 mintues
- Vegan Stir Fry — 45 minutes
- Curried Eggplant — 25 minutes
Community
While embracing a new diet can be daunting, there’s a ton of great vegetarian and vegan resources. Check out the following:
- Happy Cow is a great resource to find vegetarian and vegan foods, restaurants and grocery stores
- reddit.com/r/vegan is very active and has a great support community covering all things vegan
- Earth Friendly Food Choices is a Facebook group that focuses on helping people take a step toward whole foods, plant based diets
- The “What Broke Vegans Eat” Facebook group is a guide to veganism on a budget as well as the Plant Based on a Budget blog which was featured in What The Health
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