A Review of New Things I've Tried #10 (Vegan Proteins Edition)

 Vegan proteins have come a long way, and I've gotten better at finding them, too! They're not always a slam dunk--in fact, some of them are awful (Vegan Toona, I'm looking at you)--but I'm always willing to give them a whirl. Fortunately nothing here was awful, and in fact 2/3 of it was pretty great.

1. Lightlife Smart Deli Plant-Based Turkey Slices

This is not really new-to-me, but I haven't tried these deli slices since I first began my vegan transition. I hated them then, but I know my tastes have changed (and their recipe might have as well), and it's not always simple to get groceries these days, so when these went on sale I decided to try them again. Tofurky is still way better, and I didn't enjoy these when I had them on untoasted bread. However, putting these slices on toasted bread made all the difference, and I was actually able to enjoy them that way! Though the texture of the Lightlife slices is on the soft side, the toasted bread provided a good contrast. A victory for quarantined vegans everywhere--or maybe just me.

2. JUST Folded Plant Eggs

I have been really hesitant to try any JUST Egg products because of the cost, but the prices have come down a lot and while I am grateful for anything I can get I decided now was the time to try them. They are missing something vaguely eggy in flavor that I think black salt would help bring out, but otherwise there is nothing about these that would suggest they were made of mung beans rather than chicken eggs. Some strange vegan wizardry created these things. I will warn you that the directions to bake them didn't work out for me--they required much longer than the 15-20 minutes suggested to heat through--but they microwave beautifully (more so than a real egg would) in 90 seconds. If you miss eggs and all the egg substitutes in the world aren't working for you, this may be worth the cost to you (they do still cost more than actual eggs, but most things do). And if you need to convince an omnivore that veganism doesn't mean deprivation, this would be a pretty amazing place to start.

3. Sam's Harvest Soy Jerky Original Recipe

I was never a huge beef jerky fan, but I think these are better! They aren't quite as hard to chew as I remember beef jerky being and they have a nice, spicy flavor. They're great on days I can't deal with cooking and I just need some protein. Let's face it: Although vegan snacks abound, not all of them are all that high in protein. I'm really glad that Butler Foods threw them in as packing material on my order for soy curls!

I know things are still weird out there, but I'm hopeful sometimes. Sometimes I'm not, of course. But there are reasons for hope in spite of how profoundly we're struggling as a nation, and I'm holding out for the possibility of a better time soon.