Bon Appétit Offers Advice to Help Veg-Curious Go Vegan

Mainstream food magazine Bon Appétit recently published an article detailing five common mistakes made by people trying to go vegan and advice on how to overcome any missteps. “There are both health and environmental benefits of eating less meat, but before you pull the plug on pork, make sure you read this list…” author Rochelle Bilow writes. The fifth most common mistake listed is “making substitutions willy-nilly—that is, for example, expecting identical results when using an egg replacer in a baking recipe that calls specifically for eggs. “Baking is a science … reliant on chemistry of how ingredients react with each other,” Bilow says. “You’re better off using a recipe made specifically to exclude [eggs] than you are nixing ‘em and hoping for the best.” Forgetting about fat is mistake number four, remedied by adding avocado, nuts, and healthy oils to boost flavor, satiate our need for fat, and keep from overeating later. Bilow warns about iron, protein, and vitamin B12 deficiency—offering up algal oil and supplemented foods as answers—and points to the reliance on too much meat replacements as a protein source as another detriment to staying vegan. The number one mistake cited, however, is indulging in too much plant-based junk food. “Potato chips are potato chips,” Bilow says. “Whether or not they’re from organic spuds or their bag is made from eco-friendly packaging.”