Vegan groceries Review and why I slowly cut down my meat intake

As far as I am concerned, I slowly begin to cut down my meat intake : I don’t eat anymore beef or pork -or any other « red » meats », neither chicken but I still get some trouble fixing a problem with Mister fish and his seafood family even though in the restaurant if they serve vegetarian food, I definitely won’t eat that fish. 

Kind of a flexitarian diet.

Why this choice ? I actually hadn’t choice, I don’t know why but, during my days off one year ago (long time no take a break), I started to watch documentaries on meat processing just to become aware of this.

The one I watched is « EARTHLINGS » (type the keyword on youtube and you’ll find it -I am not gonna share it here since I don’t want to be that kind of « revolutionary girl » and force anyone to watch it) and it moved me to tears. I am usually not really sensitive and rarely cry but this documentary shocked me to the extent that I wasn’t able to eat meat for days.

After a few weeks, I started to eat a piece of beef again and actually, it was gross to me. I didn’t like it anymore and this documentary was recalling in my mind which actually disgusted me.

As a matter of fact, my perception is that, if I had to seek my own food, would I be able to kill a cow and eat it ? No. Hence the fact that I don’t eat animals I wouldn’t be able to « sacrifice » to nourish my body.

The conclusion is that I am not vegetarian (because I still eat fish from time to time) but I like to try new stuffs related to the vegan diet. I don’t want to pretend I belong to any group of « vegetarian/vegan » because this is too much of a fad diet and I am still open minded with people who still eat meat (don’t want to force anyone to join my cause but of course, people have to respect my choice instead of blaming).

Well, now that you see the whole picture about my concept, you will understand the review I wrote below on vegan food : is it delicious ? Does it taste like real meat/ real cheese ?

I was off to Lille (in France) during a week-end and went to an awesome vegan shop downtown open even on Sunday (called « Vegetal & Vous »). My friend is actually vegetarian (and slowly becoming a vegan) so I would rather try how it looks to embody a « vegan »

Overview of the groceries I bought 

Got all of it for 35,40 € which is not that bad for vegan food (you may already know that it is expensive)

Also bought this cute cotton tote bag for 6,50€ which I found it really convenient for groceries, I always bring this in my purse now. Plus : it reminds me of those spring days with its green color ;)

Let’s take a look at the composition of the fake cheese first. Not bad. Only natural and organic but…it would have been perfect if it tasted good. Really, I don’t recommend this. The texture is not creamy and as a consequence, I found it really hard to spread it on bread. Moreover, the taste of the walnut is not strong enough (and this is what I was looking for when buying this) and the smell of the tofu is too pronounced.

About the meat-like product, I was curious tasting it since there’s only soy protein in there (I mean there’s no thickening agent or starch or something weird you know). How come they manage to duplicate this so perfectly ? I was surprised how the texture was like real meat. But the fact is that, as I stopped eating meat, it was actually weird for me eating this kind of food that tastes almost too real. I kinda felt like I ate beef and was wondering if truly, they haven’t put some kind of animal inside. The seasoning spicy/ sweet + teriyaki were delicious and indeed, I recommend you trying this (above all if you still eat meats).

Favorite part of this review : the lactose-free milks !

The Coconut almond milk show below is lactose-free, gluten-free and wheat-free (3,90 €). 

Composed of water, coconut milk, almond and agave syrup: that’s it !

Same composition for the cashew and macadamia milks (2,60€ each) : only the nuts, water and agave syrup.

Be careful when buying almond milks (or other vegan milks) in usual groceries shop they may put lots of weird stuffs that you have no idea what it is (I often saw they put « xanthin gum » or other preservatives which I avoid consuming). As long as you know the composition behind each denominations, you can drink it, otherwise you might think twice before buying it, it may not be as « healthy » as you believe.

Guess that my favorite products among all the groceries shop were definitely all the milks :9

I haven’t tried the vegan chocolates (hazelnut and white nougat crisp) with rice milk instead of cow milk yet, nor the nuts butter (spread) but I’ll make an update once it’s done passing the test in my stomach but I am pretty sure it'll worth it :)

Infos :

VEGETAL & VOUS

241 RUE LEON GAMBETTA 59000 LILLE

Tel : +33 3 20 51 55 06

Opening hours 

Monday : Close

From Tuesday to Friday : 10:30AM - 8:00PM

Saturday : 10:30AM - 7:00PM

Sunday : 10:30AM - 1:30PM