I got my first increase since 2009 this year, by changing jobs.

The vegan can eat all the sprouts!!

I once got a long awaited promotion at work to a management position. It involved a huge pay rise, removal of payment for overtime - which was not allowed anyway, but they did call out at all hours day and night.
The huge rise? £25 per YEAR.
I saw more dawns whilst working there than I had ever seen , before or since. Strangely those were some of the happiest years of my working life.

My wife's reaction to her birthday present tomorrow: The offer of taking her clocthes shopping without the boys.

She'll either think it's romantic, or think I forgot and was too lazy to buy her a present.

Erasure have one hell of a singles back catalogue.

And the Vegan Christmas Card arrived yesterday. Guess that will alienate a few people. I’m starting to be glad that I’m only going to be there for part of Boxing Day now.

How militant is militant - is it to the level of lecturing other diners as they are tucking into their turkey about how meat is murder

Pretty much, but as my mum is also vegan, Christmas dinner there is anything animal free. Last year, conversation was nothing but about being vegan, and when my wife asked about how you make vegan cheesecake (a genuine question), no answer to the question was given, but a lot of talking about how great it all was.

I pity my dad. He’s NOT vegan, but it’s been rather enforced on him. No wonder he goes to London on his own. He has sneaky meat-filled burritos when he’s on his own.

You can't. Anything you might make may look like a cheesecake, but by definition it is in fact something else. It might be very nice to eat, in which case you might as well call it whatever it is rather than claiming it's something it isn't. Call it a tart or something instead.


My Brother's father in law was Hindu, but much less strictly than many of his family. So large family gathering were 'meat free' at least ostensibly. Meat eaters made themselves known to him before hand and would be 'accommodated' without the rest knowing. It was like that butcher from The League of Gentlemen...

Really, how important is cheesecake to a vegan? (8+\
If it is Christmas and a family gathering, is it really that important to be talking about cheesecake that isn't even cheesecake?
Throw a sprout at them and tell 'em to get a grip.

Mark

Apparently, very. Something about getting the texture and feel of it without it being animal based. I think it’s something done with tofu, but who knows? You certainly can”t call it cheesecake, but then I’ve seen Quorn advertising “meat free beef burgers” so what do I know?

No sprouts either.

No sprouts? Call themselves vegans

That's something that always perplexed me about veggies and vegans. You don't want to eat meat and/or animal derived products fine but then why go to the trouble of trying to mimic the thing you have given up?

This. Vegetarian bacon? GET IN THE SEA.

I know lots of vegetarians. They are uniformly happy with their choices and have no great desire to eat meat or meat products. And, frankly, I get to eat in some very lovely vegetarian restaurants that have very, very nice food indeed which I wouldn't experience if they weren't there, so I'm glad they're around. But people who demand vegetarian bacon and sausages and, lord above, vegetarian black pudding deserve nothing but contempt from both carnivores and herbivores.

I've never been a massive meat eater and generally find red meat upsets my stomach. So historically I've tended to stick to white meat. Swmbo has been vegetarian for years (I gather she changed her attitude to meat when she saw animals being killed and butchered into meat).

Consequently, my diet is these days pretty much vegetarian as we both can't be bothered to cook two separate meals. If I really want to, I'll cook some fish to go alongside my meal. But Quorn is one of those things I struggle with both to think about and to eat. It doesn't taste particularly nice IMO. Tofu - I've learned to get along with tofu since it's one of swmbo's staples and will have it frequently. I just prefer the extra-firm stuff as opposed to the stuff that's like blancmange.

There was only one vegan I knew. He was my father's friend and despite living a vegan lifestyle since childhood, he passed away in his forties from a heart attack.

The vegan diet is amazing. I was only on it for one week, and I lost eleven friends!

Seems like 2016 came very very close to claiming Carrie Fisher...