VeggieDag Thursday; The Never Ending Veggie Pot o' Soup

October 2009 has been the Vegan Month of Food ... or Vegan MoFo. Throughout the month, bloggers have written stories about vegan food, recipes, issues, and lifestyles. Isa Chandra Moskowitz, an author of vegan cookbooks, first introduced the concept in 2007.

A reader has asked me if I am truly a vegan, perhaps incredulous that one who writes so often about beer (and drinks it), could really have a non-animal diet.

In answer, here is the ingredient list for beer:

• malted barley
• yeast
• hops
• water

Malted barley is the grain (non-animal) that has been sprouted and toasted. Yeast is a single-cell fungus (non-animal). Hops are an herb (non-animal). Water comprises 95% or so of the content of beer. (I would assume there would be no need to stipulate water as non-animal.)

Some wineries avoid filtration by using egg whites. Some breweries use gelatin (pig-derived) as a clarifying agent. And many UK breweries add isinglass (fish-derived) to clarify their cask ales. Most US breweries do not (which is one reason why many US cask ales are cloudy. There are other reasons, but that's a topic for another day.) There are other ingredients used in beer, but most are plant, grain, fruit, or mineral.

A more complete answer, predating the question, is here.

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Throughout the month of October, I've cooked, what I've called, the Never Ending Veggie Pot o' Soup.

I began by roasting squash and carrots, sauteeing celery, onions, and garlic, and simmering all in home-made vegetable stock and six ounces of McHenry Lager. (Six ounces, because I reserved the other six ounces for the cook.)


As the pot was depleted, I've added other vegetables and more stock. Cubes of silken tofu found their way in.

A few days ago, I decided to thickened the consistency and make a creamy autumn chowder. I boiled some new potatoes, and then blended them with stock and more roasted squash and several stalks of sauteed celery. 'Creamy' would be the appearance and texture: there was no dairy added! Olive oil, Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, herbes de Provence, and a backyard-grown dried spice blend (graciously given to me by the cellarmaster at the Clipper City Brewing Company) all provided the depth of flavor.


A finishing dash of smoked paprika added color and zest.

There have been several cold, rainy, miserable days in October. As anodyne, this simple soup has been warming, satisfying, and 'never-ending' ... at least for the month of VeganMofo!

• All of YFGF's posts on vegetarian issues, including recipes: here.
• All of YFGF's posts specifically on VeganMofo, including recipes: here
• Why the name VeggieDag Thursday? Here.