Some of my household is vegan, and it's amazing how much things have changed in the last 5-10 years. It's no longer a downgrade for the rest of us when we cook/bake vegan stuff. Although I still think that the best vegan meals are from cuisines that inherently embrace veganism/vegetarianism.
Definitely, instead of a pretend burger or chicken. I get why some people do it, and we do it a home quite a bit with pretend mince etc. I always feel a bit of a cheat though and am trying and steer my wife away from that.
Embrace the veg!
Not vegan myself, but I think the move away from mock-meat and mock-dairy opens up more interesting food opportunities. Vegan food is way better when it's not trying to cater to non-vegan palates.
I've been vegetarian for 22 years or so now, and the recent uptick in vegan food reminds me of the early years of being vegetarian. When I first started there were very few options to eat out where I lived (more rural area didn't help) and not even a lot of good grocery options. Eventually places started offering in house attempts at vegetarian mains, which led to wildly variable quality, and eventually we saw some standardization across restaurants. It's rare now to get a vegetarian dish at a restaurant that is terrible.
The article mentions mass market vegan butter being pursued, which makes me hopeful that restaurants will start introducing more vegan meals, and upping their game on that front. The more options for people the better, and as much as the article romanticizes the boutique shops with their in house versions, that isn't achievable for most restaurants who would otherwise tuck one or two options into their menu.
Over the past five or so years, I've watched the vegetarian frozen food section at my supermarket expand from one little freezer door with some Annies meals and Bocca burgers to five or six sections carrying even generic store-brand vegetarian and vegan meals. I don't often buy prepared food but I like walking by to see what they have. Same with milk options - it went from a shelf with either soy or almond to a full section of different nut milks and flavors.
Some of the wildest changes to me have been at festivals and events. It used to be that you got french fries or onion rings or popcorn and that was about it. Then they started making efforts, as misguided as they could be, like just slapping steamed veggies on a sub roll and calling it done, or serving pasta and plain tomato sauce. Now I go to festivals and there's usually at least one really good vegetarian option at every stand, if not an entire stand serving just vegan and vegetarian options. I look forward to seeing what unique choices there will be rather than trying to eat ahead of time so I don't have to worry about it.
It depends if you can get it where you are, but Flora plant butter is really good, I've used it for cooking and just as a spread and seems to work well.
Vegan baking sounds like one handed boxing.
Read the article - that's really not the case anymore. My wife is a baker, and she makes Vegan deserts all the time, I can tell you first hand that when done well, Vegan deserts are every bit as delicious as "normal" ones
We have several fully-vegan bakeries around me, and they're truly indistinguishable. It's a bit harder for the home cook, but not by much.
I would say it depends on what you are making. Some home vegan baked goods are a fair bit of extra effort to get just right. But honestly, things like croissants are always a pain, which is why I eat them when I got out, versus muffins which I make at home.
Vegan deserts are every bit as delicious as “normal” ones
I would not go that far, but I have had some excellent ones. Something I would never had found even a few years ago.
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