Vegan- There's no excuse now!

by Leanne Davis (February 2004)

No longer relegated to a hidden shelf in an obscure isle, vegan food is going main stream. In addition to lacto/ovo vegetarian options, Perth food markets are now offering more vegan options to health and animal conscious consumers. Here's what the downtown Woolworth's has for sale:

Deli :

- Prepackaged Bean and Corn salad

Natural Food Isle :

- Soy Chocolate bar (original and roasted almond)

•  Leda Nutrition Lite Bars

•  Slim & Natural Banana, Date and Pecan Bars

•  Apricot Delight (Golden Days Natural Products)

•  Sanitarium-Canned Lentils, Casserole Mince

•  Freedom Foods Cookies

•  Norganic Soy Mayo

•  Naytura Nut Butters (peanut, cashew, soy)

•  Sanitarium 100% Peanut Butter

•  Mayvers Tahini

Breaky Cereal :

- most are vegan friendly but watch out for honey, milk powder and whey protein

Soy Milk :

•  Full line of long-life flavoured, light and smoothie soy milk drinks

Simmer and Stir-fry Sauces :

- Patak (Jalfrezi, Sweet Pepper and Coconut, Rogan Josh

•  Master Foods Satay Marinade (only vegan satay sauce in the whole shop)

•  Leggo's Basil Pesto (only pesto without cheese and it is delicious!)

•  Indian Simmer Sauces: watch out for butter, honey, whey and cream

•  Stir-fry Sauces: watch out for prawn, shrimp and fish extracts

Soup :

•  Heinz Soup to Go: Roasted Vegetables

(Harvest Pumpkin contains chicken flavour and Tomato Ravioli contains beef)

•  Heinz Big Red Tomato Soup

•  Campbells Tomato Soup

Frozen Desserts :

- So Good (Boysenberry, Vanilla)

•  Weis Sorbet

•  Fruccio (Vanilla/Caramel, Strawberry)

Meat Substitutes :

•  Longa Life sausages, hotdogs, lentil burger mix

•  Sanitarium Non-bacon

Fresh Pasta, Sauces and Dips (in dairy case) :

•  Golden Pasta Pumpkin or Potato Gnocci (only fresh pasta without eggs)

•  Latina Fresh Italian Tomato & Garlic Sauce

•  Mundella Hommus

•  Chris' Hommus

•  Black Swan Hommus

Margarine :

•  Nuttelex (only dairy-free spread)

Soy yogurt etc :

•  Soylife Vanilla Custard

•  Soylife Yogurt

•  So Natural Soy Yogurt

•  No soy cheeses are currently available

Coles has a bigger selection of Sanitarium soy cheese, soy sausages and veggie 'meat' slices. Have fun trying different brands.

Baking Tips : Replace eggs in baking with soft tofu. 1 Egg = 3 Tablespoons Soft Tofu. Add to wet ingredients and beat with a fork to eliminate lumps. The result? A moist product with the added goodness of soy isoflavanoids!

A Yummy Treat : Portion out Chocolate Soy Milk into mugs, cover with cling film and stick in the freezer. To eat, let the mugs thaw for about 10 minutes and enjoy!