Great Roundup! Im so inspired!

Thank you so much for this! Vegan cooking is so awesome, thank you for highlighting how simple and delicious it can be!

Though it looks delicious, I don't believe that nut loaf recipe is vegan, as it contains cheese, cottage cheese, and eggs. However, the sentiment was good, and as most vegans are adept at ingredient replacement, I'm sure it would work as a vegan meal as well using stand-ins. I, myself, am not vegan, but eat vegetarian often, so this recipe sound wonderful to me, but I just thought I'd mention it as a word of caution for those who might be searching for vegan recipes to make for others, if they are unfamiliar with the vegan restrictions.

Five eggs and a cup of cottage cheese? I think it would just be easier to use a vegan recipe, cause that's a lot to replace.

While I agree that bringing out the best in simple whole foods is one of the things veganism really encourages you to master... and as an omnivore I can see how you would think that's all vegan food is about... most of the people on this site come here because they are foodies, and so are open to some new techniques, preparations, the use of interesting tools and flavour combinations. It would have been nice this week to see some new recipes that actually involved some effort, or new ideas or techniques for vegan cooking. You know, like you do for your omni recipes usually. While it's usually a safe bet that vegans will be thrilled to bits if you merely mention that you know they exist, sometimes doing it poorly is worse than not doing it at all. I understand most of you at The Kitchn might not be thrilled to bits to delve into vegan cooking, but rather than this obviously reluctant and uninspired nod you could have called in the experts, and maybe you might have even learned something yourself!

Excellent post, virtualjess!

To You All, especially @virtualjess,

While it may appear that our occasional slip-ups on recipes this week reflect a lack of understanding, as some have said, about what it is to be vegan, I can assure you that we are all very well-aware of the tenants of veganism (and all of us, including those who are not practicing vegans, respect vegan diets). Certainly none of the recipes created for this week, and there are lots, have had any slips.

The mistake of including the Nutloaf in this roundup, a vegetarian recipe from 2009, with it's cottage cheese and eggs, was not a sign that I have no idea what it is to be vegan, but rather a sign that I just made a very blatant mistake when perusing the archives.

My full apologies, and an offering of Emma's excellent (and vegan) Quick and Tangy Artichoke Barigoule in its place.

best,
Sara Kate
(not vegan, but loving you all!)

out of curiosity, how many kitchn writers are vegan? maybe it was posted in their profiles that ran earlier, but i didnt read them all.

i'm with virtualjess - i'm not vegan, but my husband is, so i'm eating vegan 90% of the time and cooking vegan 100%, and was thrilled to see today's email. and all those look good, but... it would be nice to see some more recipes that really are uniquely vegan, rather than just some tasty simple recipes that happen to not include dairy. maybe a seitan recipe for folks who don't normally include that in their diets, so they know there is an interesting meat substitute?

Gosh, I get so irritated with people that are needlessly critical especially when the object of their criticism is offered free of charge.

It's obvious a great deal of time, energy and effort goes into this website, which I appreciate. It's a great go to resources!

I am considering going vegan or at least vegetarian and these all sound so enticing, I can't wait to try them.
Thank you!

I really have appreciated Vegan Week. I think it we're usually looked at a little funny, and as you say above, I hope that things like this can enhance people's awareness.

People so often comment on how hard it must be to sustain a vegan lifestyle. I hugely disagree, I focus on whole grains and vegetables both when eating out and eating in. I cook a lot and it's so very easy to make small edits and hacks to recipes to make them "me" friendly. I hope other people have started to see that this week too.

It seems the critical posters on this topic haven't realized there's a lot more posts happening on this topic.

I appreciate the consolidated list here. My husband and I aren't vegetarian or vegan, but try to eat vegetarian for a month each year and vegan for a week of that month.

I find it really resets our perspective on food and flavours and what "makes" a meal. the Kitchn has been very helpful as usual on this!

Thanks for the discussion everyone. @virtualjess and all the others who have complained this week, please remember that the vast majority of our readers are not vegan or even vegetarian. Our goal this week was to emphasize vegan cooking's simple side and to draw in readers who otherwise might not even consider vegan food. Sara Kate's email was not "reluctant and uninspired," but reaching out to a large email audience that is mostly non-vegan, and trying to emphasize vegan cooking's commonalities with the ways we all want to eat.

Eating vegan can be so refreshing and nourishing, and all of us this week wanted to cook and eat a lot of vegan food and present it in such a way that those who aren't vegan would find something inspiring to try. But we are not a vegan or vegetarian blog and never claimed to be; we just wanted to talk about vegan cooking through our own perspectives for a week.

I confess I'm a little mystified by your comment that you didn't see any vegan recipes that "actually involved some effort, or new ideas or techniques for vegan cooking" this week. I looked back over our vegan recipes and they all seemed to involve at least a little effort in the kitchen. Maybe I'm missing something? We avoided meat substitutes for the most part quite deliberately.

Regardless, we did try to give a lot of attention and love to other blogs who blog about vegan food 24-7, and I do suggest you check them out; maybe you will find more of what you're looking for:

- 10 Inspiring Blogs on Vegan Food & Cooking

Thanks again, everyone.

Well said, Faith. I couldn't agree more.

I wholeheartedly appreciate the vegan recipes this week--my husband and I are not 100% vegan, but we do meat and dairy in moderation. The Kitchn is my go-to for every kind of recipe, any time of the day. I don't know what I would do without all your hard work!
Thanks.

Love it, thank you. I am also not a fan of meat substitutes. I am lactose and soy intolerant and although I love the freshness and wholesomeness of a lot of vegan cooking, there are also a lot of things that qualify as vegan that I don't particularly find nourishing...sugar, french fries, pasta, etc and sooo often there is some kind of soy product serving to substitute for dairy or meat...I completely get what Sara Kate is saying and bookmarked this page for cooking something great in the future!

My husband and I are neither vegetarian nor vegan, but we end up eating like it because we are both awkward in the kitchen and poor. We like to be conscious of what we buy and put in our bodies, but with few foodie role models in our life, and not growing up with home cooked meals, we find kitchen creativity very difficult. I guess what I'm asking is: what are some poverty level affordable vegan/veg dinner recipes that a beginner can master, with ingredients I can find without treking to the Asian store?

Addendum: not pasta. Too much pasta in our lives already.

Faith and Sara- thanks so much for your responses- it's nice to be heard, even though I know I'm not your target audience this week! Since I was a reader of this blog before I was vegan, I know what it's like to read it as an omni, and I like to think I have a grasp of what your market is, since I introduced The Kitchn to friends and family and link you on facebook all the time! I am a huge advocate of food blogging of all stripes, and since my blog reader is longer than my thesis at the moment, I do keep up on what goes on out there in the great blogosphere of food- within the veg community and without. My comments are not based on ignorance of what else you have posted or a misunderstanding of the purpose of this blog. They are informed and carefully constructed- I do not expect your blog to cater to me personally, or even people like me- I just thought it might be useful for you to know how this reads from my perspective- a relatively new vegan, long time foodie, and avid food blog reader.

There are some classic mistakes that people make when trying out vegan food- *never* direct an omni to that crap they call vegan cheese (there are few notable exceptions), if it doesn't look tasty to you as an omni, chances are it won't be tasty to vegans, and if you look at veg proteins like soy and seitan as their own foods and not poor meat substitutes, they can be quite delicious and fulfilling (it's really easy to not deign to consider 'meat substitutes' when you eat meat- I know, because I've been there).

I remember clearly what it's like to be omni and think veganism is strange stuff- and I agree that focusing on how veganism is easy and accidental is a good idea! In my own transition, I had long since been the primary cook in my large omni family, and since I was training myself in French cooking for the four years prior to veganism, and was only cooking differently to accommodate my veg partner, it seemed impossible to make the transition- I would add tofu chopped up into pea-sized pieces and add it to rice or soup or chili instead of meat. But slowly I realized that much of the food of my childhood was accidentally vegan- curries and fruit crumbles and chili and roasted vegetable salads and soups. These accidentally vegan dishes are now the staples of my diet, with minor changes- I put lime and tortilla chips and avocado on my chili instead of sharp cheddar.

I guess what I wanted to express most of all is that it's impossible to predict what it's like to try vegan or become vegan until you've done it- you can't imagine how horrible fake cheese is until you've tried it, and once you have, you can't untaste it ;) This is not your fault. The things you don't know you don't know are not things you can be held accountable for. But when creeping up onto unfamiliar territory- maybe ask for some guidance? The veg community is very supportive and resourceful- your very first vegan week post people were spamming the comments asking for guest speakers, and for good reason!

Oh, and Sara, I wasn't targeting you personally, or this post generally- I just picked a more general post to comment on my thoughts- the mistake about the nut loaf isn't an issue- I just wanted to note that veganizing it wouldn't likely work well due to the quantity of dairy and eggs involved. I should have sent a personal message instead, because this is not a personal attack, and for that I'm sorry. The comment about seeming reluctant and uninspired were not directed at you personally, but at the general impression that I got this week- and I read every post, including comments. I am not upset with what you have done here, and in fact I think things got better as the week went on (homemade vegetable bullion? What an awesome idea!) I love this blog, and the work you put into it, and will continue to post your recipes on facebook and veganize them for my own consumption when necessary. I think you all have done a great job here under the circumstances. I work in a discipline where criticism is given and received without prejudice all the time, and I forget sometimes how to temper my writing to other audiences (why I'm not a food blogger and you are!) so I hope that you can get something out of my messages here without me ruining it all by being too offensive :P

Awesome!! Can't wait to try the plantain chips!!

@virtualjess,
Thanks so much for your reply! We are so happy to have you as a reader - no matter what you do and don't eat - and look forward to many more exchanges in the future.

All best,
Sara Kate