Fresh, healthy, and delicious options for a vegan and vegetarian menu to serve these parties.

There is no doubt about the effects that a healthy and greener diet has on health. Just check the obesity statistics of the country to realize. But in addition to limiting the consumption of processed foods, reducing as much as possible the junk food, and controlling the intake of sugars and white flours, the elimination or reduction of animal meats can have a very positive impact on health and general well-being.

More and more people are reducing or eliminating meat and animal products from their diets and are really beginning to understand the relationship between food and health. Therefore, the vegetarian and vegan options available are increasingly, and it is very easy to create something that does not break the budget and that conquer everyone’s palate. And the best part is that you do not need to be a kitchen professional to prepare a meatless menu. The options are multiple in every way.

Parties can be a delicate time to maintain the balance of a healthy diet. In a day nothing more, according to studies, a person can easily raise 5 pounds. And if you are vegetarian and you feel that you may not know how to maintain your eating habits during the holidays, we recommend that you take the initiative to prepare vegetarian dishes to serve, or if you are invited to a meeting be clear about your diet, and bring something prepared by you

The other thing we want to tell you, before moving on to the options for the parties, is that if you have a slip, do not punish yourself. Simply pick up where you left off.

It was a year ago, just for the holiday season that we decided to leave without mercy all dairy and gluten. we no longer ate meat, so it was a difficult change because my vegetarian diet depended on dairy and gluten.

A vegetarian or vegan menu to serve at the end of the year parties does not have to be boring or tasteless. Quite the opposite. It can be more delicious than any dish with meat and animal products.

So, be it you who prepare and invite your family and friends to celebrate in your home, or look for ideas and recipes for a vegetarian or vegan menu to give another flavour to your celebration of Thanksgiving, Christmas and Year New, we hope that these easy and healthy recipes will inspire you to prepare many others, because the options are endless.

Bear in mind that here at Snow Flow you will find all the equipment you need to prepare some special treats for your meetings and parties with friends and family. Make great slushies with natural fruit juices!

Artificial and natural flavours, which one is the best option for vegans and vegetarians?

We all try to be more conscious with our food, we try to eat organic as much as possible, we reduce the consumption of processed foods, we read labels to choose foods with the least amount of ingredients, or to identify ingredients of animal origin or reduce the Consumption of ingredients that we cannot pronounce or read, etc. Even so, with all these efforts, there are ingredients that we overlook. How many of us read the terms “natural flavouring” or “artificial flavouring” without thinking twice what its meaning is. If you were asked to choose between these two, which one would you choose? Many we would choose natural, since we relate it with healthy, good, of the nature and the artificial term we relate it with something harmful or bad. This response is very normal, but are we correct? What they mean to us, does not necessarily mean the same thing to the producers of these foods.

The FDA created an official definition:

Natural Flavours:

They are substances obtained from natural sources (animal and vegetable) and therefore they are exclusively for food use by physical methods such as extraction, distillation and concentration.

Artificial Flavours:

On the contrary, they are any substance that does not fall within the definition of natural flavourings.

Ultimately the difference between these two is related only in the original source of that chemical. The final product is always a manmade compound. Taste engineers or flavour engineers combine dozens or sometimes hundreds of different chemicals in the laboratory to obtain a flavour similar to a certain food.

The producers of these foods carry the term “natural” further, since they know that it is a term that the public wants to hear.

So why do we have natural and artificial flavors?

Many of the flavours found in nature are hard to copy. Fruits and vegetables contain many chemical compounds to have that flavour that distinguish them. Nature is wise.

As vegan consumers, it is a little worrisome not to know what is in the food we eat. Unfortunately, there is no way to identify if the flavour or additive is of animal or vegetable origin, unless the product specifies it.

What can we do?

Do not fall into the trap of the term “natural”. Read labels

It is easy said but try not to buy products with terms such as: Castoreum (used extensively in perfumery and food), Ambergris, Bone meal, Bone carbon, Carmine, Casein, Caseinate, Colchicine, Collagen (dye # E120), Shellac, Elastin, Isinglass, etc. The list can be several pages, but here we leave several articles with more information. Ecosofia, The Vegan Society and PETA.

Buy food as close to its natural state, fresh

Do not buy canned or packaged with any type of flavourings

Contact the company and ask if they can reformulate the product to eliminate these chemicals or at least ask what the origin of the flavouring or additives is.

For us vegans it is very important to know if it is of animal or vegetable origin. We know it sounds impossible, but if they do not hear us, they never will.

The more we ask, the more chance we will have of this industry changing the way they produce their products.

Here at Snow Flow you will find an excellent machine to make frozen yogurt.