Vegan Junk Food

If you're new to veganism, or just trying to cut back on animal products, you may think you are going to have to give up junk food.  While it's true that a vegan diet is just about the healthiest diet there is (no cholesterol at all, virtually no saturated fats, super high in fiber and vitamins and minerals, etc.), there are vegan junk foods.  Fritos are vegan.  Oreos are vegan.  And while you may have do to a little searching in stores or online, there are vegan versions of many junk food staples.  (I say this while eating a handful of vegan chocolate chips.)

There are vegan Cheetos.  They are every bit as delicious as the original, and they don't leave nearly as much mess behind on your fingers.  They are called Tings, and they are made by the same Pirate brand that fed your addiction to Pirate's Booty. 

You can get them at places like Whole Foods and sometimes the health food isle of big chain grocery stores.  Or you can get them here: http://piratebrands.com/products/tings/original

There are finally really amazing vegan versions of the candy bars you grew up hoping for when you went trick-or-treating.  You know, the candy you went back to the same house for over and over again and hoped they didn't notice that the Dracula/ghost/fairy princess on their porch was the same one who had been there five minutes before.  Milky Way.  Snickers.  Nestle Crunch.  Almond Joy.  Three Musketeers.  Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. You know, the good stuff.  Only they're better now, because they don't have all the crap in them, like whey.  And crap.  Their vegan names are Twilight, Jokerz, Snap!, Mahalo, Buccaneer, and Cleo's Peanut Butter Cups.  Some of these are at places like Whole Foods.  All of them are at Food Fight! online.  (http://www.foodfightgrocery.com/)

Mmmmmmm...

Soft drinks, another junk food tradition, are vegan, but as junk food is not known for being particularly good for you (hence the term "junk food"), there are slightly better and worse versions.  Most of us know by now that High Fructose Corn Syrup was the primary cause of the Bubonic Plague that wiped out half of Europe in the late Middle Ages.  OK, not really.  But we do know that High Fructose Corn Syrup is evil and that if we consume it, the terrorists win.  In addition to being evil, high fructose corn syrup just doesn't taste great.  There are several brands of soft drinks now that offer HFCS-free versions of refreshment.  Hansen's drinks are made with real sugar instead of the highly processed crap most soft drinks depend on.  They come in hundreds of tempting flavors, such as Key Lime Twist, Cherry Vanilla Creme Soda, Grapefruit, Kiwi-Strawberry, Vanilla Cola, etc. 

Ahhhhhhh!

And in Mexico, Coca-Cola is still made with real sugar, the way the gods of junk food intended.  Having had a genuine Coke bottle of The Real Thing from Mexico in a restaurant recently, I know how much better it tastes.  And I hear you can buy Mexican Coca-Cola at Costco, now!  http://www.seriouseats.com/2007/05/costco-is-selling-mexican-coke.html

That alone might be worth the membership.  If only Pepsi were available in HFCS-free form!

Isa Chandra Moskowitz, the Goddess of Vegan Cooking and Baking that I bow down before, has a recipe for homemade vegan cupcakes that you will recognize at once, if you grew up in the 70s in America as I did (or before that, or after that).  They look like this:

Fauxstess Cupcakes

And the recipe is here: http://www.theppk.com/2005/05/fauxstess-cupcakes/

So if you've been thinking of trying a vegan diet for a while, but knew you could never give up your junk food IV, go ahead and try it.  You don't have to cut out all the junk-- just the animal crap.  Your body will thank you for it.  Your taste buds will thank you for it.  And you'll find out that you can have your cupcake and eat it, too.

technorati tags: vegan junkfood, Tings, vegan candy bars