Foods that Vegans Should Avoid in Colombia

If you are fluent or close in Spanish, you can probably quickly learn how to ask if something has cheese, eggs, meat, milk, or butter in it (queso, huevos, carne/pollo/cerdo, leche, mantequilla), but Colombian cuisine necessitates asking about these as well:

1. Sustancia. (It's like chicken broth.) It's in almost EVERY soup in Colombia, with lentils being the only almost always safe one.

2. Crema. (cream) It appears in everything from potatoes to corn to dessert.

3. Mayonesa (mayonaise) is a common addition to veggies and salads.

4. Grasa (fat), which is basically added to all bean dishes that are specifically prepared vegetarian. Especially pork fat. Even if there is no meat in your bowl, there is almost always meat fat in the beans!

5. Gelatin is everywhere, appearing in candy, snacks, and many other things.

6. Leche en polvo, or powdered milk, also appears in many desserts and snacks.

7. A lot of bread, especially from bakeries, has eggs, butter, or milk. Even though they look enticing, the famous Colombian bunelos are made with cheese and butter, so either avoid them or be prepared for a stomach ache.

So, what should you avoid? Well, if you don't speak much Spanish, I would say that it's best to avoid breads that you can't read an ingredient list for, all other baked goods, most candy, almost all soups, and a lot of the side dishes. Obviously, avoid meat and cheese dishes. Also, beware, a lot of the food sold on the street can make you sick, so it's best to buy it and make it yourself or buy it from/have it made by someone you know is practicing good hygiene. Rice is generally safe, and other safe foods are listed in this blog post.

Things that are basically always vegan in Colombia, unless otherwise noted.

Vegans can almost always eat or drink:

1. Juice (jugo) except that you nearly always need to specify jugo con agua, because a lot of places like to put milk in it, making it jugo con leche. I recommend lulo, mora, naranja, and maracuya.

2. Lentils (lentejas). Lentil soup is naturally vegan in Colombia, except in resaurants and homes that like to make things fancy and add chorizo. So, just ask if you are in doubt: Tiene carne o pollo o chorizo o sustancia? If they say no, you´re good to go.

3. Fruits and veggies, although I generally don´t think it is a great idea to eat any of the fruit sold at street vendors, solely because most of them do not wear gloves or wash their hands and I have gotten sick too many times.

4. Some crackers sold in Supermarkets. Most Dux and Club Crackers are okay. Almost no granola bars are. Read the ingredients. Avoid anything with huevos, leche, mantequilla, queso or gelatin.

5. Santander 70% dark chocolate. This is very important.

6. Rice (sometimes it has butter, which is mantequilla, or milk, which is leche.) I like coconut rice best, which is arroz de coco.

7. Salads without dressing (or only oil, which is aceite, and vinegar, which is vinagre).

8. Most versions of plantains, including platano maduro, patacon, and tostones. When ordering a giant patacon (like in Salento), the best vegan topping is a mixture of pina and pimenton, but it goes by different names. Just ask for it. Platano maduro is sometimes served with butter or cheese, so just ask if it has queso. (Tiene queso o mantequilla?) Tostones should be fine no matter what, but avoid eating most Colombian guacamole, because they put mayonaise in it (generally speaking, it is okay in most Mexican restaurants though.)

9. Canned beans in the supermarket that are ONLY beans... basically just garbanzos. Always read the ingredients, and avoid anything called manteca de cerdo or other meat.

10. Fruit popsicles at Mimo´s.

11. The refried beans at many Mexican restaurants.

12. Falafel at most Arabic resaurants.

13. Things you cook yourself.

Vegan Chocolate Cake (easily made in Colombia)

I promised a post, and I'm going to deliver! With photos!

This is a very moist and fairly chocolate-y cake, especially considering how amazingly accessible the ingredients are. I imagine it would be easy to duplicate this cake almost anywhere in the world. Well, anywhere that has an oven. (Although, since the batter is vegan, you could just eat the raw cake batter. Mmmmm.) The best thing about this cake is that it is SUPER easy and contains really normal ingredients, so it is a great cake to make any time, even if you aren't vegan. Also, it avoids most allergies (except gluten!), so it's pretty friendly. It's low fat if you use the orange marmalade because you can use less oil... Plus, it's delicious. The texture is somewhat like a light brownie.

Essential equipment for vegan baking in Colombia:
a measuring cup
measuring spoons
whisk
2 mixing bowls
heaving spoon (plastic or wood) to do heaving mixing
Although it isn't essential, I highly recommend a spring-form pan for this cake. Just like a cheesecake, it's very moist and dense, so it would fall apart if you tried to remove it from the pan, and just like a cheesecake, it is prettier when you can see the sides. Obviously, it is up to you, but if you want a 12 inch spring-form pan, I know they sell them at La 14.

Moist Vegan Chocolate Cake, Egg-free, Dairy-free

Here's the basic recipe:
2 cups flour (harina de trigo)
1 cup cocoa (cocoa en polva--my favorite brand is Luker)
1 teaspoon salt (sal, I like sea salt best. It's called sal marina)
2 teaspoons baking soda (bicarbonato)
1 cup of white sugar* (azucar blanco)
1 cup of brown sugar** (azucar moreno)
2 teaspoons white vinegar (vinegre blanco)
2 teaspoons (at least) of vanilla (again, I can only find the fake stuff here, but it's called vainilla)
1 3/4 cups soy milk (leche de soya. I recently discovered that Exito marked down the price of Silk, and Silk changed its packaging so it is in Spanish on one side. Check near the cereal aisle. I prefer Silk Unsweetened Natural.) You can sub water for this if absolutely necessary. I wouldn't. You could also sub orange juice. That might be a bit better.
1/4 (maybe a bit more) of juice from fresh oranges
2 tablespoons of canola oil
1/2 cup orange marmalade (mermelade de naranja, my favorite brand is La Constencia)
3 tablespoons (or more!!) of shaved unsweetened table chocolate. I used about 2 squares of Luker.

*I think it is vegan here because the kind I buy is very unprocessed, but using only brown sugar, which is actually turbindo sugar in Colombia, would not hurt a thing.
** If you like a very sweet cake, go ahead and use 2 cups of sugar. If you like a slightly more bitter cake, I would definitely recommend cutting down the sugar to about 1 1/2 cups, maybe even a tad bit less.

Directions:
1. Add flour, cocoa, salt, and baking soda to a mixing bowl. Mix thoroughly with a whisk to get rid of clumps OR sift.
2. In a measuring cup, measure the soy milk. Add the orange juice to the soy milk and stir. Dump in another mixing bowl (not the one with the dry ingredients!).
3. Add the oil, vanilla, vinegar, and canola oil to the soy milk mixture. Then add the sugar. Whisk until it is well-blended. Then, add the orange marmalade. Stir.
4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones. It should bubble a bit because of the chemical reaction between the baking soda and vinegar. Stir to incorporate, and then whisk until completely blended.
5. Add Luker shavings. Stir well.
6. Pour batter into a greased and floured baking sheet (9 x 13, 2 small loaf pans, or a 12 inch round pan).
10. Bake at 350 degrees F. Depending on the size of your oven and the size of your pan, this could take anywhere from 20 minutes to 45. Check on it often. The top should set (it shouldn't wiggle if the pan is shaken), and a toothpick should come out relatively clean (read: crumbs okay, raw batter not really) when inserted into the center.
11. Let it cool, and then top it with this quick icing:
Melody's best icing:
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/3 cup powdered sugar (you can make this, look up a recipe online, or buy it... azucar pulverizada)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon soy milk (may need more)

Sift cocoa powder and powdered sugar together. Stir well. Add vanilla and soy milk. Whisk. You might need to add more soy milk, but whisk really well before you do. It should be about the same consistency as liquid dish soap--easily pourable and spreadable. Pour it onto your cake and spread it with a knife. It will set quickly, so if you want to add toppings do it now. For this cake, I added coconut (coco) and Oreos, which are vegan if you eat white sugar. (They don't have Newman O's in Colombia.)

It makes a cute birthday cake!


Variations:
Orange-Chocolate: You can make this extra orange-y by adding shaved orange peel to the batter and using more orange juice to replace some of the soy milk. You can also use orange juice instead of soy milk in the icing, and then you can top it with orange peel.
Chocolate-coconut: Replace up to one cup of the soy milk with coconut milk, or simply reduce the vanilla to 1 teaspoon and add 2 teaspoons of coconut extract. Sprinkle with coconut.
Chocolate-strawberry: Use strawberry (fresa) jam instead of orange marmalade.
Plain old chocolate: Use 2/3 cup canola oil, get rid of the 2 tablespoons and don't use orange marmalade. Add another tablespoon of shaved chocolate to the batter, an extra 1/4 teaspoon salt, reduce sugar to 1 1/2 cups, and add an extra tablespoon of vanilla.
I made this YESTERDAY, and between my friends, my masseuse, Warren, and me, almost half of it is gone!

Vegan MoFo! (VEGAN MONTH OF FOOD)

Two blog posts in ONE day! What what!

Okay, so here's the deal... It's Vegan MoFo, and although this isn't a vegan food blog, I did promise to write about being a vegan in Colombia a long time ago, and I think that as it is Vegan MoFo, and my last month in Colombia, it's probably time for me to keep my promise. So, without further ado, I bring you Melody's Vegan Mo-Fo from Colombia. First topic: vegan birthday desserts, using what's available in Colombia.

I'm a decent baker, and so this past year I've done my fair share of baking. I've even baked non-vegan birthday cakes for some close friends. At home, I would never dream of baking something I can't eat, but it's difficult to find all the stuff I need to make a really good vegan cake here, like vegan shortening or vegan cream cheese or vegan butter. This week I'll post some cake recipes for sure, but first I want to post this fab apple pie recipe.



Ingredients:
At least 8 Granny Smith Apples
2 3/4 cups flour (Harina de trigo)
1/2 cup canola oil (aciete de canola)
1/2 cup soy milk (Exito has Silk Unsweetened!)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt (sal)
4-6 tablespoons brown cane sugar (azucar moreno)
1 teaspoon flour or cornstarch (Maizena) (optional)
juice of 2 lemons (I found actual lemons at La 14 the other day!! If you can't find lemons, use 1 orange, not limes.)
2 teaspoons Cinnamon (canela)
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg (nuez moscada)
1/2 teaspoon cloves (clavo)
1 tablespoon maple syrup (I can only find the fake kind here, but the flavor helps) (miel de maple)
1 teaspoon vanilla (vainilla)

Directions: Peel and core apples. Slice them into small pieces. Pour lemon juice over them, stir. Add sugar and maple syrup. Stir. Add cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and vanilla (if using). Stir very well. Add flour/cornstarch if using (it just thickens the juices a bit, not at all necessary). Stir very, very well. Let sit in the refrigerator, stir occasionally, for about 20 minutes while you make the crust.

To make the crust, follow this recipe, but substitute soy milk for regular milk. You might need to double the recipe if you want to make a top crust.I didn't need to chill it, but I did add a bit of extra flour. To roll it out, I put the dough on a floured cutting board and put a floured plastic place-mat on top. I then used a can of chickpeas to roll it as thinly as possible. Put it in the bottom of your pie plate (I bought mine at Home Center), and if needed, push it around the edges. Try to keep the crust no more than 1/8 inch thick. Make sure you have crust that goes all the way up the edge. If you want a lattice crust, simply take leftover dough or make more, roll it out, and use a pizza cutter to make nice strips of dough.

Assemble: After you have your un-cooked crust in the bottom of the pie, stir your apple mixture and then dump them in. Spread them evenly in the crust. It's okay if they are piled up very high--they'll cook down. Put your top crust on the pie, making sure it is sealed to the bottom crust. Wrap the outside edges in foil. Bake at 375 degrees. The time will vary--the top crust should brown and the juices should be bubbling. Also, if you made a lattice crust or no top crust, you can just stick a fork into the apples to see if they are soft. It's probably about 45 minutes to an hour, but it will definitely depend on the oven. Take the foil off the outside of the pie about 20 minutes after it has been in the oven.

Let it cool, and then eat! YUM! We both thought the pie tasted better the second day. No idea why... I guess the flavors just absorbed into the apples better.

Saturday Night Hummus

Last night, Warren and I planned a double hummus date with our friends Luis Mi and Diana. Although we love all of our friends, we really appreciate it when we can spend time with another couple. (Warren especially appreciates it, since most of our other friends are girls.) Plus, it's fun to have them over because Diana doesn't speak very much English, and it makes the conversations we have more challenging, but in a good way.

I made way more food than we could have ever eaten, but we certainly made an attempt. Pictured below: four types of hummus, lots of veggies, crackers, chips, and pitas for dipping into the hummus, bruschetta topping and baguette slices, pesto, garlic dip, and roasted red pepper dip.





We also had pineapple and grapes for dessert. Yum!

The four types of hummus I made were roasted red pepper, green olive, roasted garlic and red onion, and fajita spice. They were all good in their own way. My favorite is green olive, but honestly all four rocked. Many thanks to Kristin and her roommate, Kelsi, at Coffee, Calculations, and Colombia for passing on their hummus recipe. We've basically eaten hummus everyday for three weeks.

My own hummus recipe is a bit different now that I've learned how to do it, so I'm going to share it. You know, just to add to the millions of other hummus recipes in internet land.

Ingredients:
1 can of garbanzo beans
1 tbsp tahini
2 tablespoons (or more, depending on how much citrus you like) of lime juice
1 teaspoon orange juice (makes the lime less powerful)
4 or more cloves of roasted garlic*
water and olive oil (I add about 1 tablespoon of olive oil initially and then add more oil and water as needed. Water makes it really creamy and gives it a lighter texture. I probably put around 1/4 cup of water in each batch, but only a bit at a time so I know if it's getting too watery.)
paprika, sea salt, and white pepper to taste
Whatever "flavoring" you want to add.

To roast garlic, take however many cloves you are using, don't peel them, and wrap them up in foil with a little olive oil drizzled over the top of them. Then roast in a 450 degree oven for 10-15 minutes. When they are finished, you can just squeeze the cloves out of the peel. Yum!

Directions: As Kelsi suggested, I rinse the beans really well and then cook them. I usually let them boil for 5 minutes or more. While they are cooking, I put the lime/orange juice, tahini, garlic, and my flavoring* in the blender. When they are finished, add the drained garbanzo beans and about a tablespoon of olive oil to the blender. Blend well. If you have trouble blending, add water and a tiny bit of olive oil or citrus juice. When the mixture is smooth, add spices. Blend again until it looks perfectly creamy. Chill and then eat!

*Flavorings:
1. To make green olive hummus, add about 1/2 cup of green olives (or more if you love them) to the blender. Don't add any salt to this hummus. The olives are already salty.
2. To make roasted red pepper hummus, I add two roasted red peppers. (See Kelsi's directions in the blog link above.) I also add a lot of paprika and red pepper powder.
3. For roasted garlic and red onion, I add an entire bulb of roasted garlic and HALF of a large roasted red onion (do it the same way as the garlic), along with a little more citrus juice instead of water. I also add a lot of pepper.
4. For fajita spice hummus, I cheated. I added 1/2 a package of Old El Paso (I found it at Exito) fajita spice mix. Hooray for MSG. I also added a lot of pepper, paprika, and red pepper powder. I would normally use chipotle and other various yummy Tex-Mex spices, but I can't find them here.

Melody's Guide to Being Vegan in Colombia: Introduction

Welcome to the beginning of a series of posts about being vegan in Colombia... and let it be known before you read this post that I totally get/understand/don't need to be told that veganism is a choice. It is a personal choice I made over three years ago, but certainly one that I'm freely able to change my mind about. I get it. Don't attack me for it, okay? The point of this post is to talk about something near and dear to me: the challenge of being vegan in Colombia, and how to overcome said challenge.

I really do love Colombia, even when I complain about my job and the other frustrating things that happen here. It's a beautiful country full of truly wonderful people, and I absolutely encourage people to travel here and experience it.

Despite this, Colombia is a very, very difficult place to be a vegan, and even a fairly difficult place to be a vegetarian. The main reason for this is that people don't even really understand vegetarianism, and so veganism is something that confuses most Colombians. This isn't because they are stupid or anything, it's because it is very uncommon for people to be vegan/vegetarian here. Vegetarians in Colombia come in many different versions, too. Some people consider themselves vegetarians if they only avoid red meat. Many vegetarians still consume sustancia (chicken broth) and other kinds of animal products, like gelatin and beef juices. A lot of vegetarians do avoid meat and meat by-products, like broth. Even so, people who work in the food business will not understand exactly what vegetarianism is, generally speaking. For example, if you order beans, there's an extremely high chance that they were cooked with meat. They might not have meat IN them, but they might have been cooked with a bone or meat juices or just big chunks of pork fat. This is very typical, and generally it is safe to assume that most beans served in restaurants are not safe for vegetarians to eat. I've ordered beans before that the cooks swore did not contain meat, and there was a big chunk of pork in my bowl when they were served.

In the States, if I didn't have a lot of time to make a meal, or if I just didn't want to do a lot of prep, there were always lots of alternatives. I could easily eat out, even at a fast food place like Taco Bell (not healthy, but definitely convenient), I could grab a carton of packaged hummus, I could buy a frozen Amy's burrito from almost any grocery store, or I could even cook something using packaged foods, like canned beans or fake meat. Even tofu is less work in the States because you can get it at almost any Thai restaurant OR you can buy packaged, flavored, and pre-cooked tofu at a health food store. At that was in Springfield, not New York City or Portland. In Colombia, being vegan or vegetarian requires a lot of work. It takes a lot more effort to get the necessary amount of protein and calcium in my diet here. It can be exhausting and frustrating to constantly be prepping food just to meet my nutritional needs.

During the next food days I will be posting about what foods to avoid, what foods to eat, where to find vegan products, what to bring to Colombia from the States if you are vegan, vegan recipes, and how to ask questions in Spanish that will help you survive as a vegan in Colombia.


At the Chicago Diner for my birthday last year. Best restaurant ever.

Vegan in Colombia

Above: a typical Paisa lunch... bandeja paisa.

On Wednesday, I walked into my classroom and one of my favorite students looked at me with a sad, worried look and said, "Miss Melody, I forgot you are a vegetable."

"A vegetable?"

"Yes," she said, "I brought you some of my birthday cake, but you can't eat it because it has eggs and milk."

"But, am I a carrot or a piece of broccoli?" I countered.

"What?"

"Don't worry, (insert name here), we can give the cake to Warren. He LOVES birthday cake," I said, since she seemed so worried.

Being vegan in Colombia is challenging, and that's an understatement. This past week at school I didn't even each lunch two days because there wasn't anything to eat. Lentil days have become few and far between, and they started putting bacon in the beans whenever they serve them.

There is one other vegetarian at LPV, but very few people understand what veganism is. I'm often offered chicken or soup with chicken broth. The school cafeteria is also a little lax about cross-contamination, so I've found meat in my veggies before.

I'm really not complaining about the school, though. I chose to be a vegan almost 3 years ago, and I knew when I moved here it was going to be a challenge. I deal with it and don't stress. Veganism is a choice I made to help the environment and for my health, but I totally get that it is weird and abnormal. I'm not judging anybody.

Although it's a weird thing to teach, I'm pretty sure my students will understand veganism at the end of the year, simply because they are always offering me bites of their arepa burgers or their ice cream, and then want to know why I turn them down.

Also, because we live in a small city and it's extremely difficult to find the things I depended on at home for easy meals, I've become a more creative and resourceful cook. It's been a fun, albeit slightly difficult, challenge. The world should know: as long as you have your own kitchen (and no maid/cook), it is totally possible to be vegan in Colombia. It just might take a little more effort and a lot of resourcefulness.

Oh-and when people forget you are a vegetable, just shrug and ask if you are looking like a red pepper that day.