Tradivegan, solving the problem of vegan dishes
Are modern vegan dishes missing something essential? How does it feel eating a vegan hot dog?
Hi 👋! I am Patricia Mayo Tejedor, together with Sandoche Adittane, we wrote the book Tradivegan: Traditional Authentic Vegan Recipes from All Around the World. We are also the makers of What to Eat in , a website that helps you discover what locals eat all around the world. We think that we need to bring some traditional authentic vegan dishes back to popularity. We need to go tradivegan to solve the problem of current modern dishes. Want to know why? Continue reading 👇
The problem of vegan dishes
A dish is vegan when it does not contain food products of animal origin. Like vegetarians dishes, vegan ones do not have meat of any kind (pork, beef, lamb, fish, chicken, etc.) but, unlike them, they also avoid including eggs, dairy or honey.
Following a whole-food plant-based diet, has a lot of benefits for the health:
"Researchers have shown that a more plant-based diet may help prevent, treat, or reverse some of our leading causes of death, including heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and high blood pressure." — https://nutritionfacts.org
The problem is that a lot of vegan recipes are either “veganised” recipes (for example vegan tacos or vegan burger) or just salads with a mix of veggies, quinoa and, avocado! One quick look at google searching for vegan recipes, will show you pretty new, just made up, and globalised dishes. You will find how to make vegan mayo, vegan hamburgers, vegan "chicken" nuggets, vegan hot-dogs… I even found how to make vegan kebab or vegan toad-in-the-hole with gravy included. I am not saying those recipes won't taste great, or that they are not healthy (some of them definitely aren't), what I am saying is that it feels like some essential part is missing from these modern dishes. Because of my origins and travels, I know that vegan food is not limited to this kind of fake non-authentic meals. A lot of countries have been eating very nice and tasty vegan food for hundreds of years. So that’s what the concepto of tradivegan is all about.
What does tradivegan mean?
The concept of tradivegan comes, as you might have guessed already, from “traditional” and “vegan”.
A dish is tradivegan when it's a real, authentic and vegan traditional meal from any part of the world.
We should all agree in the power of traditions because if a recipe has been passing around and improved generation after generation, it must mean it’s either good, healthy, easy, delicious or nutritious. Not only that, but with tradition other good words come to mind like emotion, family, legacy, heritage… which make each dish a lot more special. In the book “The Way To Cook” Julia Child says “Dining with one’s friends and beloved family is certainly one of life’s primal and most innocent delights, one that is both soul-satisfying and eternal”. Traditional recipes are a way of keeping our ancestry and cultural heritage alive. If you try traditional recipes from other cultures or countries you will have the opportunity to experience (even if it's just a tiny bit) what it really feels to belong to that particular group.
Nowadays, most of us do not eat food just for surviving purposes, we also look for healthiness, experiences and enjoyment. Preparing (yes, also preparing, the process is one of the best parts!) and eating tradivegan dishes can transport you to different parts of the world, can make you want to travel, can make you want to discover, and can help you become wiser (exploring all the different and new flavours of whole-food plant-based dishes the world has to offer).
Tradivegan cuisines of the world
In the book Tradivegan: Traditional Authentic Vegan Recipes from All Around the World the recipes are classified by regions of the world: African, Latin American (the Caribbean and South America), Asian and Mediterranean (North Africa, West Asia, and South of Europe).
These regions have been chosen because of the particular characteristics each of them has to offer, and because of the amount of traditional vegan and healthy recipes in those diets.
- African cuisine: cradle of humankind, it has been chosen because of their unknown but intense flavours and aromas.
- Asian cuisine: one of the most claimed cuisines of the world, it has been chosen because of their variety (60% of the world's population lives there) and their respectful cooking techniques.
- Latin American cuisine: tasteful dishes, full of exotic flavours and super foods (foods with hight nutrition density or high amount of healthy benefits).
- Mediterranean cuisine: known as the healthiest diet of the world, taking into account its cultural and lifestyle elements as well.
Examples of tradivegan dishes
After getting all of this information I am sure you are really looking forward to know some examples of this kind of dishes. Here I am showing you 3 tradivegan recipes as examples that I am sure will make your mouth start to water. In the book Tradivegan: Traditional Authentic Vegan Recipes from All Around the World you can find a lot more of tradivegan recipes that you can easily cook in your daily life, with a set of ingredients you can easily find in Europe, or any western country.
Bufuke
Bufuke is a healthy tradivegan Ugandan dish that’s as simple and cheap as it’s delicious and filling. This dish might seem simple but nutrition wise is really healthy and powerful, as it contains beans, vegetables, nuts and spices that make up for a really complete dish.
Maghmour
Maghmour is the Lebanese moussaka, it’s a delicious vegan meal made of eggplant, tomatoes, chickpeas and spices! Lebanese cuisine is extraordinarily diverse. With fresh and tasty food, together with some spices, the Lebanese have adapted the best of Turkish and Arabic cuisine, seasoning it with an air of French.
Gaji Mari
Gaji is eggplant, and mari refers to rolled up dishes. These snacks are Korean eggplant rolls that are beautiful, healthy and delicious. You can fill it almost with anything you want, the key point here is the eggplant. You can experience the delicacy with which food is treated in traditional Asian diets.
What do you think of the concept of tradivegan? do you agree or disagree about needing to bring some traditional authentic vegan dishes back to popularity? do you think more tradivegan regions should be taken into account? do you have a favourite dish that it's tradivegan? Let me know all your thoughts in the comments!
Consider buying the book Tradivegan: Traditional Authentic Vegan Recipes from All Around the World in Amazon if you are interested in getting to know more about this concept, getting to known a bit better the characteristics of the 4 main regions of traditional healthy food and getting a total of 26 tradivegan recipes, as well as the hand-picked grocery list, a bunch of healthy tricks and advises, and getting the 9 recipes template.
Do you love food and traveling? Have a look also at What to Eat in, a website that helps you discover what locals eat all around the world.
