On The Verge: Going VEGAN Episode 1

Dylan and bandmate Jason fill up on vegan brownies.

No meat. No eggs. No cheese. No Jello.

Planet Verge challenged The Lives of Famous Men drummer Dylan Mandel to abstain from consuming animal products for one month and document the process for its On The Verge. The series, titled Going Vegan, will follow Mandel at his home in Portland and as he road trips across the USA, where he will cut flesh foods, eggs and dairy cold turkey (pardon the pun) from his diet. Follow him as he learns that being vegan goes beyond his diet, to his clothes, shampoo and even daily vitamins. He’ll meet vegan friends who help him along the way as he takes his 30 days one day at a time.

Presenting…

EPISODE 1: Going VEGAN in Portland, Oregon

Sponsored by Peta2 and Veganessentials

DYLAN’S DIARY FOR THIS EPISODE:

And we’re off! It’s the first week of my one-month Vegan Challenge. In this episode you’ll see the highlights from my first day–from my first visit to the vegan mini mall in Portland, OR to my first cooking adventure.

To prepare myself for the challenge, I’ve been hitting up www.vegweb.com (recipes!) and www.veganessentials.com (where I’m getting my ingredients!), and reading two particularly helpful books, Vegan Freak and World Peace Diet.

Challenger and good friend Jordana Reim stopped in Portland for a few days to show me the ropes. Within the first few days, we managed to cook up mac ‘n cheese, double chocolate chunk brownies, and a mysterious concoction we’ve deemed “Almond Joy” cookies, all recipes are of course free of any animal products.

Having the support from Jordana really helped in the first few days. I’ve also received a surprising amount of support from my family and peers, especially my roommate Jason. Just the other day, I woke up to find he’d been up late baking a loaf of vegan banana bread. I’m now beginning to suspect Jason is a “closet vegan.”

So, here I am in the first week and I feel great. Ironically, I think I’m actually gaining weight, but I haven’t eaten this well in… Well, I can’t remember! It honestly doesn’t even feel like a challenge so far, being home in Portland with all of this help and unexpected support, but I know when we hit the road for tour later this month things will change. No fridge for veggies… No oven…

Wish me luck on this venture into the unknown!

- Dylan Mandel, The Lives of Famous Men

Dylan’s Vegan Mac-n-Cheese Recipe

1) Boil 2 lbs. of choice pasta
2) Put drained pasta in large casserole pan
3) Add tons veggies to casserole pan: broccoli, spinach, tomatoes, artichokes – the more veggies the better
4) Coat veggies and pasta with “cheese” sauce and bake for 15 min uncovered
Remove from oven, stir and serve

To make cheese sauce put all these ingredients in the blender:
-1 package of firm tofu
-2 cups of nutritional yeast
-tablespoon of mustard
-tablespoon of salt
-few shakes of paprika
-approx 2 cups (maybe more-usually just fill blender to top) of almond milk (unflavored)
-soy sauce to taste (usually abt 1/3 cup but do less then add more)
-olive oil – between 1/3 and 1/2 cup

Similar Posts:

• Going VEGAN Episode 6: What’s Cooking?
• Going VEGAN Episode 4: Condoms Aren’t Vegan?
• Going VEGAN Episode 2: Taking the Alternative
• Going VEGAN Episode 8: Beyond the Challenge (series finale!)
• Going VEGAN Episode 7: Taking the Challenge on Tour