 Welcome to the first episode of Lillian's Vegan World, where I delve into the fascinating world of veganism. I'm sure there are lots of you out there who are going, what the hell is going on with all this vegan talk? It's everywhere, isn't it? You can really pick up a newspaper and not see another article about some huge fast food restaurant that's starting to sell vegan burgers. So this is definitely a very, very hot topic, and I'm going to try and clear up some of those myths and misconceptions about the plant-based diet and hope that you can learn something about why this is now the fastest growing diet on the planet. So isn't that incredible? The Vegetarian Times recently published an article showing that 3.2 percent of Americans are now turning to vegetarianism, and that's about 7.3 million people in the US, and approximately 0.5 percent are vegan now. That's about one million people in the states that are turning to veganism. So you've probably got so many questions about this, and I hope that I can clear some of this stuff up for you, so I'm going to go right into it and talk to you about the most popular question, which is, what is the difference between a vegetarian and a vegan? Now this is not very clear cut. There are many types of vegetarians, as there are many types of vegans, so let's start with the vegetarians. Basically vegetarians don't eat any meat, do not consume meat, but within the vegetarian world there are, for example, ovo vegetarians, ovo coming from the word meaning egg, so an ovo vegetarian won't eat red meat or fish or dairy products, but they may consume eggs. Then there are lacto-ovo, or ovo-lacto-vegetarians, I've seen it written both ways, and lacto comes from the word or means milk. So these are vegetarians who do consume dairy, milk, cream, butter, stuff like that, yogurt from the cow. And then there are eschatarians. Eschatarians are different again, so they won't eat any meat, any red meat, but they will eat fish. And they may eat a combination of other things, they may eat fish and eggs or dairy, so there's all these sort of different vegetarians within that one world. And then there are also vegetarians who won't eat red meat, but will eat poultry, chicken, or fowl, will eat, yes, white meat. So there's a few things going on there in the vegetarian world. Now the biggest difference between a vegetarian and a vegan is that vegans do not consume, do not eat any products made from animals or animal byproducts. So a vegan does not eat any meat, no meat, no fish, no seaweed, sorry, no seafood, definitely no cheese, no dairy, no eggs, nothing from the animal at all. And the stricted vegans even go as far as not wearing anything that is made from the animal byproducts such as leather, silk, fur, even wool. And do not consume like byproducts such as honey. I also myself don't eat honey, just I think it's one of those things when you, the more you learn about how vegans think and what veganism means to people, you start to understand that it's not only about compassion for animals. Insects also fall under that category and it's about just compassion for animals and vegans not liking exploitation of animals or any other living creature. So I think bees is still a very hot debate even amongst vegans themselves because there are some that do consume honey and some that don't. So when you start, if you've ever read into things like honey and the bees, I think it's quite interesting to get even just one-twelfth of a teaspoon of honey. The average bee will spend its whole lifetime to get one-twelfth of a teaspoon harvested. So these bees are hard workers and the Oscar goes to, for the hardest working insect, the bee. You know, there are funny things. I think vegans also don't like the fact that bee farmers do sometimes mistreat the bees, the queen bee's wings are sometimes clipped so she can't escape the hive and they sometimes smoke out the bees to collect the honey and there's all sorts of stuff. So that's why a lot of vegans don't even consume honey. That's something that a lot of people, a lot of friends ask me like, no honey, what? It's very interesting. That's something that's food for thought. So that's basically the main difference between vegetarians and vegans. So the next question, why? Why does one become vegan? This again is really an individual journey. Like how you get to the point where you decide to exclude all animal products from your diet and your lifestyle, it's a personal journey. I myself have been vegan for about 10 years. Prior to that, I was vegetarian all through my childhood. So for me, I didn't like wake up one day and have an epiphany and think that's it. I'm giving up the cheese, which for me was the last thing to exclude from my diet before I became fully vegan. So for me, it was more of a natural process. I just kind of, as time went on through my years of being a vegetarian, when I started teaching myself how to cook, it's turned into an actual career for me. I am a vegan chef. I teach vegan cooking classes and I'm a vegan lifestyle coach. So I hope through my journey and my experience in the vegan world, I hope I can help you understand more about why some of us do become vegan. And there are, I guess, if you had to break it down and I'm trying to explain it, there are three main reasons why one would choose veganism. That is obviously the first one being health, for health reasons. Studies are suggesting. Now I'm going to use the word suggest because I'm going to use my words wisely. So a lot of research done over the years and decades by not only physicians and doctors and surgeons. There are lots of studies out there that you can definitely go and have a look into on the internet and find out for yourself. But the majority of studies are showing or suggesting that a plant-based diet is the healthiest diet on the planet. So there is also compelling evidence that shows vegans to be less prone to some diseases, like less cancer amongst vegans, less diabetes, even reversing diabetes. Some doctors and physicians are coming out with all of these studies and experiments and showing that a plant-based diet can actually reverse some illnesses. So yes, definitely health is one of the reasons why you would think about becoming a vegan. Then there's obviously the environmental factor, what sort of impact, what sort of footprint you're leaving on the environment. Again, the vegan lifestyle is said to be to have the less damage on the environment. Again, I think this is a discussion that deserves its own whole 30-minute show because there's a lot to cover when you talk about the environment and what kind of impact eating animals or consuming animals for human consumption, what kind of impact it does actually leave on the planet. So that would be the second main thing. And then of course, the third main reason why people choose to go vegan would be for ethical reasons and that would be about the way animals are treated or animal welfare, how they're treated and bred for human consumption. So those three are probably the main reasons. I myself personally, it wasn't either of those three and it could have been a combination of three, but for me just growing up, choosing from a child to be vegetarian, not interested in eating meat or fish or seafood, happy to eat dairy. I loved dairy. I ate cheese all the time. I used to eat cakes that were made with eggs and butter and cream and I ate yogurt. So all of that I obviously don't eat anymore. But then again, I do because there are so many vegan options out there. I don't miss stuff like that anymore because it does exist in a just a different form, in a vegan form. So I think we're very lucky that we are in the modern times that we are where you can substitute things that you used to love comfort food like who doesn't love a bowl of nice warm bowl of chicken noodle soup or something like that. We got to cover it because you can vegan everything. That big bowl of ice cream and jello, no problem. There is vegan ice cream probably in every supermarket you visit. So next time you're at a supermarket, do wander around and take a look at what's going on and what all the fuss is about all these vegan products out there. And definitely as we, as each week goes by and I tell you more about veganism and the vegan world, I hope that you become a little bit adventurous and do actually go out and try some of these things. You might surprise yourself. These vegan options are very, very tasty. And one thing I know the United States does very well is come out with really tasty food. Definitely. And I'm going to show you more. I'm going to talk to you more about some vegan options that I've prepared for you for today's show. So that's why some people go vegan. Now the next question would be what do vegans eat? I'm just going to totally crush all those stereotypes that you've ever had because we do not live on salads or alfalfa sprouts or we don't only buy organic. Sure, if you can afford organic and if organic, fresh organic produce is available to you, that is fantastic. You're obviously very lucky if you do have that option to be able to eat beautiful organic food. Unfortunately, it's not the case in a lot of areas, a lot of countries. So don't beat yourself up. I don't eat organic all the time when I can, I do. And when I can't, I don't. I just buy produce from regular supermarkets and stuff. But I do live near Chinatown. So I'm lucky there's a lot of fresh produce there that I do enjoy. So here we go. What do vegans eat? So I just told you what, we don't just live on lettuce and celery and carrots. I certainly don't anyway, but a healthy diet consists of obviously lots of fresh vegetables, plenty of green, leafy vegetables full of iron and fiber and every nutrient you can think of. The vegan diet is definitely healthy. You can get all your daily nutrients just within that. So lots of fresh vegetables, fruits, nuts, legumes, seeds and whole grains. So we're not missing out on anything, us vegans, that I'm going to show you after the break what you can do at a nicer vegan barbecue, which is going to be a bit of an eye-opener, I'm sure. So I'm looking forward to that. And we do also eat vegan junk food every now and again because that's also the vegan junk food here in Hawaii is exceptionally delicious. I've been known to partake in some of that and I don't feel guilty about it at all because I like to enjoy a variety of vegan foods and I think that's what makes it fun. I'm not restricting myself, I'm not putting pressure on myself and I don't feel stress. So lots more things to talk about, about the vegan diet and what we eat and what we don't eat and I will let you know that we do eat a lot of high protein foods as well. Lots of lentils, chickpeas, tofu peas, peanut butter, soy milks, oat milks, almond spinach, rice, lots of good stuff so we do get our daily recommended intake of protein without a doubt as do most Americans so no problem with the protein. And that's another interesting question because people ask me where I get my protein from and the answer is the same place that your protein gets your protein from, so there you go. Stay tuned guys, we're going to have a quick break and see you after the break. Aloha, I'm Gwen Harris, the host here at Think Tech Hawaii, a digital media company serving the people of Hawaii. We provide a video platform for citizen journalists to raise public awareness in Hawaii. We are a Hawaii non-profit that depends on the generosity of the supporters to keep on going. We'd be grateful if you'd go to thinktechhawaii.com and make a donation to support us now. Thanks so much. Aloha, I'm Jane Sugimura, host here at Think Tech Hawaii, a digital media company serving the people of Hawaii. We provide a video platform for citizen journalists to raise public awareness in Hawaii. We are a Hawaii non-profit that depends on the generosity of its supporters to keep on going. We'd be grateful if you'd go to thinktechhawaii.com and make a donation to support us now. Thank you so much. Welcome back everyone to Lillian's Vegan World where we delve into the fascinating world of veganism. So next thing I want to talk to you about is what do you serve at a party? I had a birthday party for someone very special a couple of days ago and I made I had actually a vegan barbecue so I'm going to get Rob to pull up the first slide for me and this is something that I tried for the very first time. This is I think you've all heard of this by now because these beyond meats are selling like crazy. This is the Beyond Meat, the Beyond Burger which is a plant-based burger patty. As you can see it has 20 grams of plant protein per serving. Now I think by now a lot of people know how much protein they are recommended to take each day and it's about 0.9 grams per kilogram of body weight. So a 154 pound human 70 kilogram person needs approximately 63 grams each day. So one of these plant-based burger patties is already one-third of your recommended daily intake for protein. Whoever invented these beyond meats are honestly geniuses. They are soy-free, gluten-free, zero-cholesterol, non-gmov-verified and kosher certified. They have really covered like every single thing you can think of and I guarantee any person on the planet regardless of what kind of allergies or you know they have going on. I think this is a product that honestly can just and it is actually selling like crazy. The Beyond Meat is privately a company based in Los Angeles. Now the company is worth over $550 million. So that's how successful this company is and the burgers are selling out like crazy. I've been in Hawaii for only three months having moved from Japan where I spent the last 30 years of my life. Anyway, I have been so looking forward to trying these burgers and cooking them for my friends here and I only got hold of them at Whole Foods which sells them. So that pack that you saw which has two of the patties, it sells for about $7, a little bit over $7. So yeah, this is an excellent product if you're looking to try something different or go easy on the meat products. This is a great one and I didn't mention that it's only 270 calories per patty so that's a good thing. Then there's the same company Beyond Meat also produces Beyond Sausages. So there we go. Made from the same company, sorry I didn't mention that the base of these, both products, the Beyond Burger and the Beyond Sausage are made from pea protein. Now the burger actually has beet juice extract which adds to the color and that gives it that bloody effect, that bleeding effect that looks really like the real stuff. Now the sausages don't have the beet juice extract but they are also made primarily from the pea protein. They have some refined coconut oil, sunflower oil, rice protein, far-for-beam protein and potato starch. These sausages have about 190 calories in each of them and 16 grams of protein per serving. So a couple of sausages, you've got 30 grams there. That's about half of your daily protein right there in two of those sausages. These products are amazing. Really I can understand why they're selling out and rightfully so. So definitely take a look at the supermarkets if you're here in the Honolulu area or anywhere else in the world for that matter and if you do come across them definitely give them a try. They look like the real stuff and my friends didn't know that they were vegan but I'm guessing they kind of suspected because they know me and they know I'm a vegan and a vegan chef and so they know that I don't like handling non-vegan foods so they may have suspected but if you do give these a try, let your friends and family try them and don't tell them they're vegan and see how you go. That's something that you should definitely try. All right, to the next slide, this is what the vegan barbecue looks like. Now if someone were to show you this photo, you really would have no idea that these are vegan. Would you? It's incredible. As you can see the color of the burgers, it looks eerily like the real stuff and they bleed. I wish I had a video showing you some footage of when I was cooking them but these vegan patties take only three minutes to cook on each side. The company recommends, the manufacturer recommends that you keep them raw, a little bit raw, medium raw so that they do bleed on the inside. I think that gives it more of the feeling that you're eating a burger and gives you more of that satisfaction value. The sausages took a little bit longer I'd say and you can season them, dress them as you like, definitely brush on a bit of sauce while you're barbecuing and fantastic. Again, like there's so much protein in these, you add a nice whole wheat bun to put them in. Whole wheat buns have about seven, between seven and ten grams of protein in the meat. A little bit of hummus, again you're adding protein so you could get your daily protein intake very easily and all this hype about where do you get your protein from? This is another thing I'm going to really dedicate a whole show to is the protein, the protein debate or chat because in America, in the United States alone, they're saying that people actually get about double the amount of protein that they need because there's just so much talk about protein and so you might be getting too much protein and my question to you might be where do you get your fiber from? Now this is something that a lot of people are not getting enough of so maybe I can help you with that later on in episodes as we continue on this journey of discovery about the plant-based diet and lifestyle. So I'm going to go on to the next slide and that is now the vegan cheese. Isn't that amazing? That's vegan cheese and this is actually by a company, the cheese is called Chao, C-H-A-O and I use the tomato flavored with spicy peppers. It says it's a product of grease but on the back of the package it actually says it's made in Seattle so that's a good thing you know support American made products any time you can yeah so this cheese tastes also exactly like the real stuff and when you add that to the burgers honestly even you know even the average omnivore can enjoy something like this and be satisfied. I actually brought this cheese to show you these cheese slices I'm going to give the team here at Think Tech Hawaii this to have a try because I think it's you know vegan cheese a lot of people haven't tried it. This is one of the cheeses that is available here in Hawaii in Honolulu but there's a whole range of vegan cheeses actually out there that are awesome delicious they melt you you have your pizza cheeses that are shredded for you that you can throw on you know your vegan pizza pizzas when you're cooking at home but this cheese is great I have an array of flavors that I always keep in my fridge so I don't go cold turkey on the on the cheese thing because everybody a lot of people say no way I could never give up cheese not going to give up cheese and the thing is you don't have to give up cheese on a vegan diet you can also make your own cheese which is something I'm going to help you with later on too so on to another slide the potato pies I always make this make these when I have parties or guests over because they're just really great finger food this is the crust of these pies is actually something that we call accidentally vegan you're not going to believe this but the pie crust is actually crescent rolls you know those funky looking crescent rolls that pop open and you know this blob of dough comes seeping out that's what they are so that I pre-cook them in the oven for a few minutes five minutes at 350 degrees then I top the beautiful little pie crusts with whatever I have left over in my fridge in this case it was a potato salad and I added some cheese sauce that I had made from cashews but that that went on top of that and it was beautiful great party food and now we have the last slide which is the dessert there you go lemon cake lemon vegan cake lots of cream lots of fruit all vegan no eggs no butter absolutely delicious so you don't have to give up desserts on the plant-based diet either so there you go I hope you I hope I've sort of cleared up a few things for you and maybe you're starting to understand more about what veganism is and what vegan vegans can eat do eat or don't don't be afraid when you hear the word vegan as you can see we eat a you know an array of foods just like yourself and there are endless you know endless things delicious things that you can you can eat and you can stay healthy at the same time so be be mindful of what you put on your plate and try and add some more vegan to your table because vegan food is just as delicious and the amazing thing about vegan food is anyone can enjoy it you don't have to be vegan to enjoy plant-based food it's healthy it's it's usually low in calories not all the time but yeah definitely you're also leaving less of a footprint on the environment saving a few animals along the way and lots of other good things going on once you go plant-based but I'm definitely not here to preach to you or try to turn you to becoming vegan quite the contrary I'm just here to try and you know help you understand more what all this fuss is about and why so many millions of people all around the world are choosing to yeah to do this lifestyle there's something here's something you can do you could try substituting one of your meals once a day or once a week even with something like the vegan cheese or definitely go out and try the vegan the vegan meats the beyond burger or the beyond sausage or something different you never know you might just like it a lot of people do thank you so much for watching I I'm so happy to share my thoughts and insight into this weird and wacky world where you know perhaps everything you were taught by your parents and that your parents were taught by their parents perhaps is not all you know the truth so let's let's see how let's see what else we can find out about this vegan thing and I'll be with you all the way to to discover more things about veganism myself even on my own journey I'm learning new things every day and I'm always I'm so excited to share all of my knowledge with you and all the beautiful things that you can cook and enjoy on a healthy plant-based diet so do be mindful of what you eat and try adding some vegan to your table for your loved ones for your health for the environment and for the animals join me again I'll be back again live why time 10 a.m. every Friday to yap on again more about this this wonderful plant-based lifestyle and I hope that you can join me looking forward to seeing you all again if you have any questions or comments do write them on a nice bottle of champagne send them to think tech Hawaii you Lillian Lillian Cumick and I'll be sure to answer any of those questions that you have would love to hear from you and again have a great weekend wherever you may be be healthy be happy and be open-minded to what I'm telling you thanks thanks for watching see you next week