Let's start with Meat.:
- Tofu. Most people already know what tofu is. Tofu is a bean curd made by coagulating soy milk, and then pressing the resulting curds into soft white blocks. Tofu is popular for "absorbing" the taste of whatever it is being cooked with, as very as being protein packed thus making it a very versatile vegan staple. You can get it at mostly every grocery store for 1-2 dollars a package. It comes in soft, silken, firm, or extra firm densities which all can be used to make different styles of food.
- Tempeh. Another soy product, tempeh is very much like tofu, but also very different. Tempeh is made from fermenting soybeans, and offers different nutritional value than tofu. It is often firmer than softer, and often an off brown color.
- TVP. TVP, or textured vegetable protein is another soy product, but often of a very different texture, more similar to that of seitan than tofu.
- Seitan. Seitan, oftened nicknamed the meat of wheat, is basically just wheat gluten. It is protein packed and comes in handy as fake chicken in many vegan dishes. Like tofu you can buy it in packages ranging in price from 1-3 dollars, plus or minus a few. It is typically a little rougher and more meat like in consistency then other popular meat substitutes.
So what about Milk?:
- Soy Milk. Probably the most well known of the plant based milks is soy milk. Soy milk is made by soaking dry soybeans, then grinding them with water. Consisting of a nutty flavor, soy milk comes in flavors such as vanilla, very vanilla, unsweetened, and chocolate (as do most other plant based milks). Soy milk has the highest amount of protein out of the non-dairy milks.
- Hemp Milk. Hemp milk is made the same as soy milk, but with hemp seeds. Hemp milk has been rising in popularity recently due to it being a healthy substitute for animal milk, and other plant milk. Hemp milk typically has a chalky nutty taste, and also comes in a variety of flavors. Hemp protein contains all 10 essential amino acids, making it a good source of vegetarian protein, and is also rich in Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids.
- Rice Milk. Rice milk is another milk substitute that has been growing in popularity, but unlike soy and hemp milk, rice milk contains little to no protein or fat.
- Almond Milk. Almond milk is pretty similar to the other milk substitutes. It's made my grinding almonds with water, and it comes in different flavors, and unsweetened varieties. Almond milk leans more towards rice milk in terms of nutrition, but has a little more fat, and typically consists of much fewer calories per serving size.
- Oat Milk. I myself am not very familiar with oat milk, and while searching it discovered google isn't much either. I believe in terms of nutrition it is sort of a mix of hemp and rice milks. It is praised for it's versatility in all sorts of dishes
(this page is under construction and will be completed shortly)
