Tuesday 7 October 2008

Vegan Mofo - Tuesday 7th October 2008

Hey guys, I don't have any new pics today - we've been into the studying, so food has been rather unadventurous (though I did give Cam a quiz on drugs - for uni!).
So I thought I'd do a vegan rant post.
Let me just say how jealous we Aussies are of the marvelous array of vegan items that the Americans can get their hands on. Some of the things I'm dying to try when I (ever) visit the US or Canada:
  • Tings - what do they taste like?
  • Teese. From what I've heard this stuff really is the vegan holy grail. And now Angel food in NZ has done marshmallows and someone else (or was it Angel food) has done vegan meringues, there really isn't much left to conquer!
  • Decent Mexican food. All we have here is Old El Paso (and Cactus Jacks in Townsville - but the only vegan thing on their menu is margaritas as I recall). The PPK DIY task this week was homemade tortillas. Funnily enough I have masa in the cupboard (but there's no way I'll be able to find a tortilla press!) that I bought thinking I'd be able to make tamales, but I'm too lazy to get the whole cobs of corn and carefully tear off the husks. SO lazy I am!!!
  • Vegan shoes - have you seen the prices of Aussie vegan shoes? I'm buying some when I finish law school, but that's the only time I'll be able to afford them! Until then, I'll have to be content with not quite so vegan plastic shoes from Big W and my tatty No Sweats!
  • Peppermint flavoured soy milk - apparently this is an Xmas delight.
What vegan things would you like to try that are impossible to get in your neck of the woods? I might be persuaded to send extra large jars of Vegemite to people in the US in return for some vegan marshmallow spready stuff!!!!
Obviously I need to visit the Vegan version of Mecca (Portland, Oregon) one day!
Also - have you voted yet for EAR's friend? The whale is JUST in front.... Link here

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sweet William White Delight! And it's your fault for showing it to me!

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

I'd love to try vegan creme brulee.

allularpunk said...

i've never had tings, teese, vegan marshmallows (or meringues), or peppermint flavored soymilk! and my vegan shoes are chuck taylors. so don't be too sad! i live in WV, so i'd have to mail order all that stuff too...and it's just not worth it for the cost of shipping these days. oh and the mexican food here sucks, too.

donesmoking said...

in my neck of the woods i cant get cheezly or marmite. that is if i dont want to pay 5 times what it really costs. booo :(

Anonymous said...

OMG I was going to put forth a similar offer in return for Vegemite on my blog. Are you serious, though? Cause I will honestly mail you anything in return for Vegemite. I live in Toronto so there are tons of health food stores, but you'd need to give me a week or two to see if I can find the exact item.
In Canada we generally get all the same products as the Americans, though not from the same stores (like, we don't have Trader Joes but we have our own kinda stores carrying the same products.)
Let me know!
-Maureen

lisa said...

After being in Japan I actually feel hugely lucky that I live in Melbourne... although I'd love to go to Portland to gorge on all that is on offer there!

Have you checked out Vegan Wares for shoes? They aren't cheap but they last forever, they're really high quality, so actually if you look at cost-per-wear (cost divided by how long they last) they turn out to be pretty reasonable.

Amy said...

I'm of no help with sending you anything (for obvious reasons) but I'd do anything to get my hands on mimicreme, rice cheese, field roast (I hear it's soy free), hemp milk, well....anything soy free really! RICE DREAM ICE CREAM (sorry I had to yell that, it makes me excited).

Monique a.k.a. Mo said...

BEWARE: You so cannot get decent Mexican food anywhere. If it's not Cali, Texas or New Mexico...I wouldn't trust it.

Theresa said...

I've already tried this, but no longer have access to it... good tempeh! The brands available in Townsville are nothing short of disgusting. Uniformly mushy and brown is not what tempeh is supposed to be like!

Amy said...

Vegetation - I forgot about mimicreme! Here I am complaining about the stuff I can't get and I can eat more than you. How cruel I am!!!
Mad About Udon - I might just take you up on that offer...... :)
And why is everyone voting for the crab? It's the complicated one (ugh!!!).

x said...

Ignore the poll, make the bunnnnny!

And Tings are awesome, they are like Twisties only muchos better! I am hoping for some in my next package swap.

Also peppermint soymilk could be made by adding some essence to regular soy milk. I get cravings for vanilla flavoured milk so I'm going to try adding some essence to rice milk.

And I have some Ricemallow creme in my cupboard that I really didn't use. I think it would be fine now but my bf thinks it's been open too long.... it looks fine :P I didn't know what to use it in/on.

Susan said...

BUNNY!

What are these Tings you speak of? I haven't heard of them before. But suddenly I must have them!

Do many Oz people make on-line orders from the US for food? Do many places post overseas? Is it reliable?

Amy said...

Mandee, I think I owe you a bunny anyway!

Apparently Tings taste like Nooch Twisties? I need to experiment with polenta me thinks....

Michelle said...

Wow...a bummer that some absolute treats are so out of reach!

As for vegan shoes, I LOVE http://www.vegetarianshoesandbags.com/

Trendy, affordable...AND..they are running a free Shoes for a Year sweepstakes, good now through December 5.

The lucky winner gets a free pair of shoes every month for all of 2009. Entries are made each time a purchase is made, however no purchase is necessary. Anyone can go to the site to enter ONCE at http://www.vegetarianshoesandbags.com/vegansweepstakes/freeshoesforayear.aspx . They won't accept duplicate entries at this address, however.

Kathleen said...

There's a Cactus Jacks out at the Logan Hyperdome. One of my Rocky friends dragged us out there for her birthday one year. Also, excellent Mexican is able to be had from a yummy Mexican restaurant on Boundary St in West End .... can't remember the name of it right now. Anyway, it's delicious!

Claudia said...

Quorn is the bomb. http://www.quorn.com/ I tasted it when over in Europe and email them every few months asking if they'll ever export to Australia.

Anonymous said...

I remember..! Got my first pair of vegan shoes from Planet Shoes.