Generational food

[xemcats]

This is a follow-up to this post about how cabbage rolls are inexpensive "peasant food" carried over by immigrants.

Have you ever veganized recipes that your immigrant families have been making for generations?

My family has so many of these and they've been some of the hardest recipes to veganize, but I'm totally determined to do it. Food is

Comments

[freakykitten]

Are you asking about cabbage rolls in particular? For cabbage rolls I just put in a mixture of cooked onion, brown rice and lentils, salt and pepper. I also make pierogi, but that's not actually a family recipe (I'm hungarian).

My father makes goulash the way his mum made it (and etc), I need to make that recipe and figure it out... *runs off to ask father for his recipe*

[xemcats]

No, not at all! Just any recipes that have been passed down.

[laceyslostlove]

mmm. let's see.
i've veganized our secret family cookie recipe, pecan pie, and german chocolate cake. most other tradions are so dependent on dairy/meat that i won't even try to make them cruelty free, it doesn't work well.

[xemcats]

I agree! There's so many recipes in my family that call for lamb, for instance, and there's not a way to veganize it and end up remotely close. I still want to try, though. Food's just so ridiculously important in my family that I don't want some of these traditions to die with me simply because I'm vegan.

[coco73]

wrt to lamb, there's actually a product that can be found at Asian supermarkets (though few) that is made from Shitake mushroom stems and then kind of 'woven' together. I've had it at a couple of vegan Buddhist restaurants as 'lamb' or 'chicken' and it is really unbelievable. The texture and flavour are amazing and it lends itself well to stews, hotpots, and anything kind of saucy. I haven't been able to find it in my current city, but the last place I lived had two restaurants that served it, and a freezer of it for sale. *sigh*

Also, I don't have any recipes to share (all my "family recipes" have come out of Kraft cookbooks or the like), but I wanted to say that I love this post!

[xemcats]

I'll keep an eye out for that! We don't have a good Asian market in town, or at least not one I'm aware of.

[fetishangel]

I've veganized my family's banana bread recipe - my mom used to make it every weekend. But really, we don't have any generational foods :(

[catnip13]

My family makes a dish called coomla. It is a Norwegian potato oat dumpling traditionally boiled with salt pork and served with lots of butter. I seperate my portion and boil it in heavily salted water instead of the big pot with the meat, and eat it with Earth Balance.

My husband's father was from Mexico. We've veganized tamales by just completely changing the filling to something unexpected. Butternut squash, carmelized onion and chipotle chili is my favorite.

[vanillagenocide]

mashed black beans with cumin and garlic/ onion is also tasty for tamales. :)

[catnip13]

We've done that. And black bean-corn, and an absolutely amazing spinach-mushroom filling, too.

We make tamales every year in October, for our Halloween/Samhain observances, and we make enough to last the whole year. My teenage stepdaughters and their mom come and help. Last year we made almost 300 to split between the households (some for other family as well), all vegetarian, though we added cheese to the ones going to the omni's freezer.

[xemcats]

Mmmm, I'd love to see your mole recipe whenever you get a chance.

[iwanttobeabear]

omg tres leches. how did it turn out veganized?