When you go vegan, it’s best to keep making the same recipes you used to. You just veganize the recipe. Swap the meat for vegan meat, etcetera. Once you’re used to all that, it’s nice to try some new things. Whole-foods recipes for example, or from a specific kitchen. Personally, I am in that phase of trying news thing. My goal is to try out one new vegan recipe each week. I love to lend cookbooks from friends or the library and make some recipes from these books. But I know that online sources can be useful too. Standard websites or other media you go to, where you can always find great recipes. So besides the books, I use online sources as well. Today I want to share them with you: here are 3 online sources for great vegan recipes. Please note: all 3 of them are Dutch.
1 | Wateetjedanwel
The website wateetjedanwel.nl is written by Suzanne. The translation for wat eet je dan wel is ‘what dó you eat?’. It’s a question vegans get asked a lot. We say we don’t eat animal products and then people respond with ‘then what do you eat?’ as if there’s nothing else to eat than animal products. Suzanne’s website resolves around vegan food. You cannot only find recipes on her website, but she also writes articles in which she does taste tests, tells about vegan hotspots or articles in which she lists all the new vegan products. I regularly read all articles, but today I want to recommend her recipes.
What I love so much about Wateetjedanwel.nl is that Suzanne’s base is really a diet that is considered ‘regular’, her recipes resolve around veganizing. I think that’s what makes her special. Sometimes you just want to eat something you used to eat back in the days. Suzanne has veganized almost anything, so when I look for something that I want to veganize, I look at her website. But other than that, all recipes are great for inspiration. You will not find the healthiest recipes on her website (whole-foods for example), but you will find vegan recipes for most well-known non-vegan dishes (beef stroganoff, a big-mac or chocolate fudge, to name a few). The recipe from her website that I personally used most is the loaded vegan nachos recipe.
2 | Peasmaker
This feels a bit odd, because I am going to recommend a commercial website to you: peasmaker.nl. About 2 years ago, I discovered Peasmaker. It’s a meat replacement with an extremely high protein level, 53 grams of protein per 100 grams of peasmaker pieces. I am planning to write an article about this product anytime soon. But for now, I want to recommend their website to you, because it’s full of recipes.
I have to admit, the recipes all involve the peasmaker pieces they sell. Like I said, it’s a commercial website, so the recipes are designed to promote their product. But in this case, I don’t mind. I have tried a bunch of recipes from their website, and so has my mom. She’s actually the one who introduced me to Peasmaker and their website. We both love the recipes. From poké bowls to bolognese to vegan savory pastries. So far, I love all recipes. And honestly, you can make them with peasmaker pieces, but also with other things like tofu or vegan chicken. The only downside of this website is that they don’t produce new recipes anymore. It’s a website which has about 70 or 80 recipes and that’s it. But honestly, 80 is more than enough.
3 | Veggilaine
The last source I am sharing is not a website like the previous two. It’s an Instagram account: @veggilaine. The account is made by Ghislaine and she’s been a vegetarian all her life, so that’s where the name Veggilaine comes from. I have to admit, I am usually not a fan of vegetarian recipes. I think they always resolve around dairy or eggs. That’s why I would never share vegetarian recipes on this website, because I would never promote animal suffering. But with Veggilaine I have to somehow admit that not too much of her recipes resolve around cheese or eggs.
Some recipes she shares are already vegan and others are very easy to veganize. So that’s why I feel comfortable to share this. I personally often use her salad recipes. A personal favorite is the watermelon salad with olives. I was hesitant to try it because I thought the flavors would be weird to together. But oh my, I love that recipe. So far, Veggilaine has made me go out of my comfort zone quite a few times already and I love that. Somehow, she’s different than most vegetarian foodies I know of.
How to support online vegan sources
The 3 online sources for great vegan recipes I just listed above are free and easily available to anyone with internet. I struggle with that a little bit sometimes, because I know these people have to make a living too. I don’t support people being influencers, because I think it’s wrong to receive money to promote any type of purchases. It’s never authentic. And I hate adds too. So, if I use their free recipes, how are these people supposed to make a living? I think the only ethical way for them to do so is to receive donations via Petje.af or Patreon. Unfortunately, the two individuals I just listed above don’t have such an option (Suzanne and Ghislaine, I am not worried about Peasmaker haha).
Some people would say you can support them by buying their books (only Ghislaine has written a cookbook). Personally, I would never buy a new cookbook. I try not to buy anything new, and that includes books. As much I love some food bloggers (like Veggilaine), I refuse to buy their books because I think that it’s never sustainable if we all do so. I think it’s best they’d have some sort of contract with the library, so that people can lend the book. We need a circulair economy and if we keep buying new books, we will never reach that.
Yours sincerely,
Romee