Vegan Baking and Puss Milk

I tried to be a vegan once. No joke. All the vegans I know are super slim and I wanted to adopt the lifestyle just long enough to shed some weight. Yeah, it was pure vanity. Sue me. I bought all sorts of random crap at the grocery store that day including whole wheat gnocchi, which I'm not even sure is vegan, but it seemed legit. I had high hopes and did a pretty good job of making dinner that night, until I realized that I completely screwed it up. I added butter. Oh yes I did! That’s about the time I decided that being vegan just wasn’t going to work for me.

Fast forward two months. I was hanging around with some co-workers talking about…who even knows? I’m pretty sure I blocked most of it out. Puss milk. That is burned into my brain whether I want it to be or not. That, and juicers from the UK that don’t work in the US. Seriously, that’s all I can remember. Anyway, from my coworkers’ enthusiasm, I began thinking about this whole vegan thing again, but not as a lifestyle choice as much as a business decision. What if I included vegan cakes in my repertoire? I thought I was pretty smart.

I began to research vegan baking today, and I’ve come to the conclusion that I must be crazy. Do you have any idea how big of a role animal products play in baking? I’m not ready to give up, but I am a little concerned where I’m going to find supplies. There’s a local health food market in town. Maybe they can be of help. I’ll let you know how it goes.