Vegan at home and vegan afar

We don't have any fun and exciting recipes to share, just some advice, I guess. I've been at home, cooking for one (which means hardly cooking at all; I'm not the type who's motivated to cook for only myself.) Dan's been in Japan, trying to find vegan food in three different cities (going on four.) So, I share with you, "How I eat my ramen noodles"... or, "The sad, sad life of a stay-at-home-vegan".

Ramen, with trimmings?

I usually try to find packages of ramen noodles with a flavor packet that doesn't have animal products (Top Ramen oriental flavor seems fairly safe, and these are a vietnamese brand in which all the products were recognizably non-animal, though I forgot the name of the brand; you can also get yakisoba noodles in frozen sections of Asian food stores that have vegan flavor packets.) I do this more for the sake of consumer habit, since I usually just throw out the flavor packet and make my own broth (ooh, fancy.) So, what do I put in my noodles?

-Soy sauce
-Sriracha
-Nutritional yeast (adds a nice smooth flavor and thickness)
-Black salt, if I feel like an eggy broth
-Miso paste (though it's a trade-off with the soy sauce, since both are salty)
-Other spices/seasonings -- ginger, onion, garlic, chili oil, white pepper, black pepper, you name it
-Veggie dogs, sliced into pieces (pictured is Viana "Mild Jumbo" sausage from the Vegan Cuts box last month)
-Tofu in small pieces (you can marinate the tofu in some soy sauce & liquid smoke for a few minutes and fry it for an even more exciting dish)
-Vegan cheese (I put it at the bottom with a little of the broth, then pour noodles over)
-Spinach! (or any other leafy green that becomes tender in hot water)

I just add these things a little at a time and taste the broth, since the amount of each really depends how much water you use. Sometimes I don't use miso, sometimes I don't have vegan cheese or veggie dogs. If I had MSG, I would actually probably add a bit (most flavor packets contain this, if they're from outside the US) because I think a little MSG is better than loads of salt for obtaining a good flavor. I know people have issues with MSG, but I haven't had any troubling experiences--on the other hand over-salted foods tend to make me sick, so I'm more comfortable with MSG. (There are also weird xenophobic undertones to some of the anti-MSG talk, which I don't dig...)

Anyway, that's my Americanized-veganized-ramen! Meanwhile, Dan is in ramen's home nation of Japan, eating... potato chips and avocados? I guess so.

Jalapeño chips and avocado

Apparently, inside of a Japanese supermarket owned by Wal-Mart, they sell some American foods like Kettle Chips. Dan has been buying a few packages of these and eating them with avocados. I think it's weird, but there's not really much choice there, and he likes it... they also sell something called "Vegips", which are chips made from potatos, kabocha, and other veggies.

Inari and umeboshi

He can also get some vegan Japanese foods from the supermarket, like inari (rice-filled fried tofu packets) and umeboshi (pickled sour plum). I love inari and umeboshi, but I can understand wanting a little variety! He is in Iwate now, where their hotel has been great about vegetarian food, serving some nice grilled tofu and veggies. So, he's definitely surviving, if not thriving. They move to Tokyo soon, where he might be able to get some vegan ramen (tastier than my own version) from a place inside of Tokyo Station--wish I could be there to try it!