What can you feed a preteen vegan?

Recently, many young teens (or even children), have proposed the idea of adopting a vegan diet and many follow through with that proposition. Whatever their reasoning is (animal rights, health, trends, etc.), they have made conscious decisions to discontinue their consumption of all animal products. As a parent who may provide and cook your child's meals, you might be thinking: "This is crazy! Without meat, eggs, dairy, seafood, and even honey; what is there for me to feed my child?" Well, the truth of the matter is there are more foods available for your vegan children than you could ever imagine.

I am currently 13 years old, and I have been vegetarian for almost two years now. This summer, I plan to go vegan. In preparation for writing this article, I have spoken with many of my vegan and vegetarian friends. I have found out what kids really will eat. I asked the question "When you were 12, what foods did you like?" I'm not writing about sushi and spinach, but what do kids favor and what can you feed them that will keep them happy? I hope this answers some of those questions.

The first thing you might do is research vegan eating. You will find that vegans frequently consume foods such as collard greens, hummus, legumes, tofu, seitan, tempeh, and numerous other foods that you may have no idea how to prepare. So, automatically you assume that your child can no longer eat any "normal" cuisine. This is far from the truth because although vegans do eat those aforementioned "weird" foods, they can still eat at restaurants, have cookouts, and even enjoy desserts.

Let's begin with breakfast. For this meal, your child could have cereal. What about the milk? Well, there's always soymilk. You may want to try the vanilla or almond flavors before the plain. (This often makes the transition to soymilk much more comfortable.) Some brands such as SILK, SUN SOY, VITASOY, and SOY DREAM can be found directly in grocery stores. You can also use rice milk, which is preferred by some. RICE DREAM is a well-liked rice milk. In addition to a bowl of cereal, you can have a bagel or toast. Another great choice may be vegan pancakes! Make sure you always find foods that do not use any non-vegan ingredients such as whey or mono- and diglycerides. Certain ingredients found in foods may not be vegan! (See Vegetarian Journal's Guide to Food Ingredients for more information.) For a beverage, serve orange juice, grapefruit juice, apple juice, soymilk, or herbal tea.

For lunch, pizza may be a good choice. Vegan pizza is conventional pizza, only prepared with no cheese! Or you may wish to go with a sandwich; peanut butter and jelly is a classic. There are even deli-meat substitutes on the market. (A popular deli meat substitute is LIGHTLIFE'S Smart Deli.) At some health food stores, you may find vegan "chicken" or "tuna" salad. For lunch, you may also like to provide popcorn, chips, pretzels, fruit, rice cakes, or cookies as a side dish.

Now on to dinner. Some common choices are vegan pizza, spaghetti with organic tomato sauce, stir-fry with tofu, soups, salad, vegan chili, tofu lasagna, burritos, veggie burgers, or soy hot dogs. An alternative option may be using TVP (Textured Vegetable Protein), which makes a great ground beef substitute. This can easily be added to sauces and casseroles, or put on pizzas, etc. Another thing you and your child may do is dine out. When doing so, try pizza without cheese, Mexican food, and Asian cuisine. Fast food may not be out of the question. At Burger King, you can purchase fries, which are vegan. To learn where to find vegan foods at restaurants, and what foods at your favorite restaurants are vegan, see The Vegetarian Resource Group's Guide to Fast Food, and their Guide to Natural Foods Restaurants in the US and Canada, as well. Sorbet and frozen fruit bars make wonderful dessert treats. Soy ice cream is a delightful replacement for dairy ice cream. There are many companies which produce vegan cookies, such as the ALTERNATIVE BAKING COMPANY, FROOKIES, PAMELA'S, BOSTON COOKIES, and ESSEN SMART. In addition to these, it is common to find vegan cookies at your local supermarket. Most of the time, these are not necessarily intentionally vegan, but they are made without dairy, eggs, or lactose.

Veganism is a healthy and compassionate way of life. Just remember to be open-minded, and use your imagination when it comes to uncharted food territory. An additional important thing to keep in mind is that this diet is possible for your child (and for you!). Veganism is not only healthy but can still be very enjoyable.

Lysa Wieman wrote this article while doing volunteer work in The Vegetarian Resource Group office.