EATING VEGAN IN 2021

I have long ago decided that diet culture isn’t for me because I like to feel good in my body rather than feel like I am having a love and hate relationship with it. One way I find that I can eat anything I like and still manage to hover around no more than eight pounds past my ideal weight is my love for home-cooked meals. Yes. I eat out at least once a week but I couldn’t do it every day. There is this therapeutic effect I get when I prepare food for myself and family. I tend to pour my love into each meal while enjoying watching them savor every bite.

One way I have learned to stay healthy and feel good in my body is by eating vegan most times. I am not your typical vegan who eats only plant-based diet 100% of the time. I eat anything I want when I feel like it, but I mostly stick to healthy vegan meals that leave me craving for more.

We are now almost at the end of first quarter of 2021. I wonder sometimes how the more than 500,000 people who signed-up for Veganuary, an online pledge to eat only vegan meals for 30 days are coping. Sticking it out is the hard part. We start with zeal, fired-up attitude and good intentions to start the year vegan, vegetarian or adopt one form of veganism or the other. The easier part for me is not to join the chorus but to form a habit of eating well…most times by making 90% of my meals at home and ensuring the meals are healthy while at it.

People tend to feel intimidated with vegan food. I always thought perhaps it wasn’t delicious as ‘regular foods.’ Veganism is not only about the food but also the fact that people are becoming more conscious of the environment and how what they do and what they eat imparts the world around them. It’s the reason people are putting a bit more effort in eating vegan. Initially, I wasn’t a big fan the vegan movement. It was my thought that it deprived me of the meal’s authentic taste. Come to find that I spent most of my childhood years eating vegan. One of my favorite meals of all time is Nigerian Bean Porridge and Plantains. It’s one of the most delicious meals mum made at home. It’s vegan and ultra-delicious with the right amount of sweetness.

Below is the recipe.

Ingredients

• 4 cups of beans (use brown beans if possible but you can use black-eyes beans too)
• 3 whole onions (chopped finely)
• 2 whole tomatoes (blended)
• 2 tablespoons of coconut oil or palm oil
• 5 Plantains
• Salt, black pepper, turmeric, thyme

Serves 8

Directions

• Add the 4 cups of beans in a bowl and rinse. Add to beans in a rice cooker and add water enough to cover the beans and some.
• On a skillet add coconut oil and let it heat up. Add chopped onions and then the blended tomatoes. Fry until all water in the tomatoes evaporate. Another way of knowing it’s ready if when you scoop up the tomatoes, you can see the tomatoes cooking on the spoon.
• Cook the beans for 30 – 45 mins until beans is soft to touch.
• Add beans to the skillet and mix. Let it cook for another 5 mins.
• Cut up plantains and fry in coconut oil. Another option would be to cut them up and cook them with the beans. It’s up to you what you like best. If fried, then serve on the side.

Make them and send me some pictures of your cooking.

Osoka!  - (means delicious in Igbo)

Love + Miracles

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