A vegan among carnivores by the outdoor grill

The wild weather in Toronto seems to have sobered up. The hot and humid weather is back and that means sweating it out in front of the outdoor grill. Barbecues are big with my family and friends and after turning vegan the barbecue scene seemed less interesting. Our outdoor cooking affairs are always meat-centered. I was always blasé about creating vegan barbecue options, but I think it’s about time to change that and do some research. The lists of products given in this post are for diets that do not include animal products and animal by-products. If you need wheat-free, gluten-free, soy-free or something more specific, this isn’t the list for you.

Go shopping. If you’re buying mock meats, read the label and find out what’s in it. A lot of vegetarian options have animal by-products in it. Read through the entire ingredients list.

  • In veggie burgers you’ll commonly find dairy in the natural flavouring and egg albumen or egg whites as the binding agent.

Read cooking instructions. The cooking instructions aren’t the same for every veggie burger and every veggie dog out there. Read the instructions.

  • Not all veggie dogs are made for grilling. Don’t be disappointed if your veggie dogs don’t turn out well because it wasn’t made for grilling. Read the label.

Prepare the grill. After each round of servings scrape off any bits left on the grate, as you normally would. As vegetarian products lack the fats that its meat counterparts have its a good idea to oil the grill before cooking each serving. Use a towel dipped with oil and rub it on the grates or use a non-stick cooking spray like Robert Rainford from License to Grill or you can opt to brush oil onto the foods you’re grilling if it allows it.

Burgers. There are a variety of different burgers out there that are not made from any animal products or by-products. Here’s a list of some available pre-made veggie burgers crafted without animal products or by-products.

I personally haven’t tried all of these, but it will come down to what taste and texture you like. Some have similar textures to beef burgers, some have similar textures to chicken burgers, some are grainy, some are mushy. Go out and try them! I think my favourite is still the Lick’s Nature Burgers, just remember that Lick’s Guk isn’t vegan. Even before I turned vegan, all I ate at Lick’s was the Nature Burger. If you do try a vegan veggie burger, let me know how you like them.

The following lists some of the veggie burgers that contains some form of eggs and/or dairy. When reading the labels, look for egg albumen and dairy products in the natural flavouring–popular animal ingredients in veggie burgers. This list is just to highlight the fact that most brands aren’t classified as purely vegan but they do offer options.

Condiments. Some people like the bun+burger+ketchup+tomato+lettuce combo, but there’s so many different ways to dress up your burger. I always end up defaulting to the b+b+k+t+l combo, I get bored of it. Make it a medley! Stray away from the ordinary. What do you put on your burger? Some ideas:

  • alfalfa sprouts
  • barbecue sauce
  • beans
  • chili
  • chips, barbecue/ketchup/original
  • chutney, mango
  • corn
  • cucumbers, fresh/grilled
  • fries
  • fruit sauces, cranberry
  • gravy
  • hummus
  • mayonnaise, vegan
  • mushroom, button/Enoki/king/oyster/portobello, fresh/grilled
  • mustard
  • onions, confit/grilled/fritters
  • peppers, bell/jalapeño, fresh/grilled
  • pesto
  • pickles
  • salsa, tomato/tropic-fruit
  • tapenade
  • tomato, fresh/sun-dried
  • zucchini, fresh/grilled

If you don’t like buns, you could slice up the burgers and make wraps out of them.

Hot dogs. Weiners. Sausages. Links. Call it whatever you want. All in a category of mashed-up something stuffed in edible “plastic” casings. Veggie dogs don’t tend to have the same texture as the meat counterparts, but they’re not all terrible.

The following is a list of some veggie dogs that don’t contain any animal products or animal by-products.

Veggie dogs you should avoid if you don’t eat animal products or animal by-products:

Fruits and vegetables. Vegetables and fruits taste great when cooked on the grill. Spice it up with your choices of rosemary, thyme, basil, oregano, cinnamon, chives, allspice, salt, pepper, olive oil, margarine, maple syrup, garlic, red wine, white wine, red wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar, vegan mayonnaise, vegan sour cream, etc. Wrap up some of our favourite vegetables in aluminum foil and throw in some flavour and throw it on the grill. Just some ideas:

  • apples
    slice in half and coat with maple syrup or brown sugar with cinnamon
  • asparagus
    soak in water for at least 30 minutes before grilling
  • bananas
    grill unpeeled; add a bit of sauce when it’s done
  • bell peppers
    marinate halves with some balsamic vinegar and herbs; grill skin down
  • corn on the cob
    wrap it in foil with margarine/salt/herbs or grill directly without foil
  • garlic
    grill the bulb; eat as it is or spread over bread/potato
  • pineapple rings
    with cinnamon and sugar
  • portobello mushrooms
    brush with oil and treat it as the patty in the burger
  • potatoes
    wrap in foil
  • yams or sweet potatoes
    brush with maple syrup and wrap in foil
  • zucchini
    slice length-wise; marinate in balsamic vinegar and herbs and grill

Pick a vegetable or fruit and you can probably grill it. You can eat these on their own or put them in salads, topped on pasta, topped on rice, or in some non-dairy ice cream (e.g., pineapple banana split). Vegan doesn’t mean you’ll be okay with boring food. Change it up.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, July 12th, 2008 at 12:00 and is filed under Food and Beverages. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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