Small-time producers should be all right.*
I didn’t know about those bombs. That’s really fucked up! And of course I hope they’re no longer used.
*And since this is the plant based thread, have you tried those? I’ve had some excellent cashew-based yogurt.
My current food budget is… not large.
I have enjoyed coconut milk yogurts, and cashew yogurt. Yum! Just too spendy.
I would love to track down small-scale producers. Most people in my area can only keep goats (and goat milk yogurt is ok but I am not the biggest fan; I sometimes like goat cheese too). Our area is just too hot to keep any dairy cows anywhere local. Small scale dairy foods producers who supply our food co-op are great but the price tag means I can only buy their stuff every so often.
Good advice though!
Thanks.
When I feel a bit more adventurous, this is next:
I think there are so many really valid reasons for this, and that they leave us all tons of dietary options.
My current motivations are related to health and physical symptoms that improved, whose improvement seemed related to eating vegan while staying with a friend.
But I’m not swearing off dairy, or meat, forever.
But even before, I’d guess at least 80% of the meat and dairy I ate respected my environmental concerns and trying not to support horrible industrial practices like the one you mention.
Enjoy your yogurt!
ETA: thanks for the sunflower seed yogurt recipe! I can’t wait to try that.
I shopped for sun butter a while ago. It was absurdly expensive; like $9 for a 1 lb jar.
I can get organic sunflower seeds in bulk for less than $4 a pound at the local co-op. And it’s ridiculously easy to make them into sun butter: toast them in the oven at, IDK, 350 (keep an eye on them so they don’t burn), toss in the food processor with a pinch of salt, and let it run for like 10 minutes until it gets the right consistency.
No one else in the house likes sun butter, as it turns out, but I didn’t mind finishing off the entire pound on my own, mostly just off of a spoon.
I did last night with some not-frozen tofu. Awesome!
Nutritional yeast - I buy it in bulk from a local Mennonite store, but they recently doubled the price to some outrageous $17 a pound. I’m going to have to look around when I need more.
I use it to make a “cheesy” sauce for au gratin potatoes - sautéed onions, make a rue, add soymilk and a cup of the yeast, layer thinly sliced potatoes and bake. I always layer in frozen peas in the middle.
I wish I’d taken photos. I made a fresh pasta sauce with the cherry tomatoes from our garden. Usually cherry tomatoes are too watery and sweet, but I ran these on high heat for about 15 minutes to reduce and the sauce was just decadent Lots of olive oil helped as it became emulsified, plus two cloves of garlic and half an onion. Some basil and oregano from the garden as well and it was just fantastic. I didn’t even add salt to the sauce (the salt from the spaghetti was plenty).
Chia seeds recently came into my life. First, a friend I was staying with started adding them to Agua Fresca. Then, states away, I bought chia seed pudding at a farmers market and it was SO good. I’d never even seen it before.
I think they used coconut milk for the liquid, and then you could add strawberries and/or bananas.
I’ve been trying different variations since I got home.
Anyone have any favorite versions or recipes?
And, slight aside, now I want a chia pet to graze from 
I find fake ground meat works best when burying it in a ton of other flavors. Best uses I found were in chili, Japanese curry (with eggplant) and mabo dofu. Where it’s more of a texture than anything else.
I’m sure there are better alternatives, but it is readily available and Target in my nabe sells it at a reasonable price.
Then again, I love putting beans in chili, what the heck do I know?
I have actually used nutritional yeast as yeast food in my brewing. The slightly cheesy flavor is very much lost in the honey and fruit, and it seems to make the yeast happy. I can get 18%-22% brews with it if the stars are properly aligned and i hold my tongue just right!
My wife uses chocolate milk and sometimes milk with matcha powder and sugar substitute for her chia pudding.
Substitute potato starch and you have traditional Japanese agedofu. The outside is a smidge rubbery by design to act as a sauce sponge.
Ah, that’s sad. Here in the valley, dairy is a huge industry and there are lots of single farm creameries where locally produced milk and dairy can be had at not-outrageous prices. And excellent quality. That’s where i get the milk to make my cheese. Yum!
Cannibal Yeast! That is such an awesome concept.
Following up, I’m enjoying my favorite homemade version right now! I haven’t yet splurged for the coconut milk, but got pretty close to that farmers market version with this mix:
Oat milk
Maple syrup
Vanilla extract
Unsweetened coconut
Chia seeds
I let it sit in a mason jar in the fridge for a couple days.
Thanks, another great nickname for my doggo!
Sounds yummy. I do that if I’ve more cherry tomatoes than we’ll eat fresh, toasting or roasting them makes them taste similar to sundried tomatoes.
I don’t really have proportions for this, and I have eyeballed (rather than measured) this uh custardy puddingy summer dessert [that probably has too many food miles in it but whevs]:
If it still tastes a bit strong, you can add more coconut milk. You definitely want this dessert on the cold-to-barely-below-room-temperature side of things.
Try to eat it slowly.
ETA: clarifier
I may order organic raw sunflower seeds in bulk and do this.
Then I might throw in some unDutched cocoa powder, some maple syrup, and maybe smidge of hazelnuts (roasted when I roast the sunflower seeds) and tell myself it’s just like Nutella (which I never buy, because I know myself far too well to have it in our house, ever).
