Vegans always have a thought time when they need to protect their standpoint and point of views. And while there always might seem like some valid arguments against veganism, one thing is for certain.
When it comes to taste it really is hard to find equivalent substitutes that taste or smell as good as the not-so-vegan counterpart. But be assured, nature always has her special kit involved!
What I'm talking about is the Umami, which which scientists recently have added as a new tastebud of the human tongue, and distinguishes the "Hmm, delicious," part in our brains. But it's not just delicious! It affects our brains in such a way, that the Umami flavor acts like a drug and makes people crave for more. If you haven't known, big fast food companies use glutamate, which is dubbed evil, and wrongfully enough connected with a specific ethnic group who barely add it in their cuisine. Let's be straight, they do add it, but not as much as people tend to think.
And while people are arguing about whether this ethnic group uses glutamate or not, one thing is for sure, in high amounts it shows to support health issues and problems concerning the human body.
But what glutamate does is make things more delicious. Which is why I want to tell you that there are substitutes out there which cuisine chefs and cooks have all known about for decades.
One example I've seen is on an animated Japanese show called Food Wars: Shokugeki no Soma.
Soma, the main character uses a new trick to raise the Umami-flavor without glutamate, which is sun-dried tomatoes.
Whilst watching the episode, I was wondering If it wasn't possible to do the same with Ramen?
And here I was. For the broth I added sesame-oil which is another great meat-flavor substitute.
If you haven't tried it by now, you definitely should because it goes well with everything. The only down part using it, is that it has a high amount of saturated fatty acids. And when you overdo it, you will feel and see how it effects your body.
So use it carefully and only on special occasions, to show off your vegan meat-substitute cooking skills.
Until next time, thanks for reading and eat you later!
PS: If you guys are wondering, what camera and gears I'm using: