Day 12: The liquid vegan diet

Friday wasn't much of an exploration into the culinary depths of vegan life. In all honesty, I ate leftover Pad Thai (which was greatly improved by the addition of steamed broccoli, carrots, and peas) for lunch and skipped dinner entirely. We went to see Brett Eldredge at The Rave and I was a little more preoccupied with getting to the concert than I was with finding a nutritious meal. Consequentially, my dinner ended up being solely $8 Spotted Cows.

Since I don't have any food-related antics to share with you, I did want to address the most popular question I've been asked since we started the challenge: "can you still drink?" I always answer a little too triumphantly, "yes!" While I doubt any dieticians will claim that alcohol is an important component of the vegan food pyramid, I will admit that it's nice to still enjoy a beer during a Packer game, regardless of our diet.

It's true that some beer and wine are processed with animal by-products, like gelatin (extracted from the skin, bones, and connective tissues of animals), casein (used in processed foods and in adhesives, paints, and other industrial products), and isinglass (a substance obtained from the dried swim bladders of fish). Now, let's just stop here and ask ourselves why would we ever want those things in our bodies in the first place? I'm not one to preach that "your body is your temple," but that doesn't mean I want to voluntarily chug ground up animal bones. For some reason, it just doesn't appeal to me.

This beer is so vegan it even hangs out with vegetables.

The good news is: lots of your favorite drinks are probably already vegan! My most recent discovery is Barnivore.com which will tell you whether your favorite drink is vegan or not, and even gives you quotes directly from the company explaining why. Here's a brief sampling of vegan-friendly beer:

• New Glarus Brewery! - My sighs of relief could be heard from space when I discovered this. Includes Spotted Cow, Fat Squirrel, Staghorn, Totally Naked, and lots more.
• Blue Moon - Includes all flavors of Blue Moon except the Honey Wheat and Honey Moon. It's worth pointing out that the only reason they're not vegan is because of the honey, not because of horse hooves or anything.
• Miller - Includes High Life, MGD, Miller Lite, and Miller Chill.
• Coors - Includes regular and Light. 
• Budweiser - Includes Bud, Bud Light, and even Lime-a-rita, though I do not condone the consumption of those gut bombs.
• Corona, Dos Equis (amber & lager), Schlitz, and many more.

Sorry, Guinness fans, but your beer was filtered with fish guts. Have a good St. Patrick's Day, though!