Vegan Mac and Cheese

Backup Dancer #1: "What's for lunch?"

Me: "Mac and cheese. But--" [sees look of wild excitement on Backup Dancer #1's face] "it's not the stuff from the box. It's...a different kind."

Backup Dancer #2: "Any mac and cheese is good mac and cheese!"

Me: [sweats nervously and dishes it out]

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Before I tell you about vegan mac and cheese, allow me to point out a personal failing. Sometimes I get a little amnesia about why a largely plant-based diet is a good way for individuals to fight climate change. Sometimes (all the time, really) I desperately want a beef burger oozing with grease, topped with mayo and cheese (and a slice of perfectly ripe tomato, but the tomato is inoffensive). Sometimes I give in and eat that burger, and I savor every bite. I would eat one of those RIGHT NOW.

Then I read something like a recent New York Times article, "Belching Cows and Endless Feedlots: Fixing Cattle’s Climate Issues," and I remember why you and I are here on this blog, and it's not just to marvel at creepy findings in my back yard,* say, or laugh at the way I screw up just about every recipe. It's also because we know deep in our hearts that if we eat fewer animal products (especially beef), we contribute less to climate change. 

This is true even though cattle's contribution to greenhouse gas emissions, according to the article, "is dwarfed by the burning of fossil fuels for electricity, transportation and industry," which produces carbon dioxide. "Livestock are among the largest sources of methane, which can have 80 times the heat-trapping power of carbon dioxide although it persists for less time," the article informs us.

Here's something I didn't know before I read this article: using feedlots to raise beef cattle, instead of letting them graze, has the environmental benefit of fattening them up quicker, so their lives are shorter, and therefore they produce less methane. In theory, this is good for the environment, but I must point out that it pokes holes in the theory posited by "ethical butchers" in another New York Times article, which I highlighted back in September 2019. Those folks embrace grassland ranching as a sustainable alternative to factory farms, because of the potential to sequester carbon. So who's right?

My take is that it doesn't matter who is correct. The bottom line is that farming beef takes a toll on the environment, and if we want to do the right thing, we should cut back on eating beef. And while beef farming is the worst contributor to climate change, all livestock farming is environmentally more problematic than growing plants to make food for human consumption without an animal middleman (a "middleanimal," if you will).

And that brings us back to "Vegan Mac-n-Cheese" (Violife). You can't beat the simplicity of this recipe, by the makers of non-dairy cheese. 

I added a sprinkling of nutritional yeast in the sauce, and served it with roasted broccoli and purple cauliflower. For my own bowl only, I threw on a dusting of smoked paprika and a squirt of gochujang. Then I served it to my backup dancers and held my breath.

"It's good!" Backup Dancer #1 enthused. And I'll be darned if she wasn't right! Backup Dancer #2 praised its "satisfying texture and cheesiness," though he would have preferred more seasoning, which would be easy enough to add.

*Yesterday's creepy backyard discovery: I was going to take out the hose to water the grass seed, but then I saw this green monster (foreground), and after I stopped screaming, I decided the grass seed could fend for itself.