Veganism. Love it or hate it, it’s on the rise, particularly in Sunraysia. But how does it fit in during the silly season, when cold meats, platters of prawns and traditional turkeys typically take pride of place on the table? Local vegan Carl Woodberry talks Ashlee Falvo through his top plant-based tips that will impress your guests.
THE Christmas lunch my family has now is exactly the same as when I was a kid – there’s a roast, cheesy cauliflower bake, veggies, Christmas pudding and usually a trifle for dessert,” Carl says.
“The only difference is that all the dishes are vegan now.”
Carl and his family, who all follow a plant-based diet, say it’s simpler than you may think to cook vegan, and you don’t have to sacrifice flavour.
“One of the first things I worked out when I went vegan is it’s not about changing the dish, it’s about changing the ingredients,” Carl said.
“All you need to do is sub out the animal-product ingredients and find a plant-based alternative, it’s really not that hard.
“Like if you’re using an egg in a cake mix, you don’t taste the egg anyway, so does it really matter if you use something else instead?”
Carl used his Nanna’s traditional Christmas pudding as an example of easy ingredient swapping.
“Nanna has always made our Christmas pudding, it’s a bit of a family tradition,” he says.
“When I went through the ingredients she used, there was only one that needed to be changed to make the entire dish vegan. It doesn’t get much easier than that.”
Carl says the simplest way to cook vegan is to work out your favourite ingredient swaps.
“Once you know what works, it’s really easy,” he says.
“You can take virtually any non-vegan dish, change up the ingredients and make a vegan dish. The main ones are butter, milk, cheese and eggs.
“The whole Nuttlex range of butter is vegan, so that’s an easy swap. For milk, there’s so many to choose from – soy milk, rice milk, macadamia milk, almond milk – whatever you like best.
“Vegan cheese is actually really strong in flavour and a little bit goes a long way and chickpea brine can be whipped exactly the same way as eggs. Banana can also be used in the same way eggs are to bind ingredients.”
Carl says having reasonable expectations of ingredient swaps is important too, as is having fun in the kitchen.
“A roast veggie roll is not going to taste exactly the same as a roast pork roll, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be tasty,” he said.
“Have some fun and experiment, don’t be scared to stuff up and fail in the kitchen. It’s all part of the fun.”
If you’ll be catering for vegan family members or friends this Christmas, Carl’s advice is not to panic.
“You really don’t need to go out and buy a ton of special vegan ingredients,” he says.
“Just adapt what you’re already cooking. If you have a bowl of peas with butter for example, leave the butter on the side for the people who want it.
“Talk to them, ask them what they like to eat – trust me, they’ll appreciate that you’re making the effort and will probably be grateful that you’ve included them.”
