FAQ
Are all of the pictures you post of vegan pizza that you’ve eaten?
I wish! The photos are a mix of:
- User submissions – these are tagged submission;
- Reblogged tumblr posts – these usually say “reblogged from xyz” somewhere in the text, and always include a link back to the original post on tumblr;
- Creative Commons licensed photos I snagged from flickr and veganstockphoto.com – these typically say “CC image via flickr user abc” (or similar) somewhere in the text, and always include a link back to the photo’s page on flickr / veganstockphoto.com; and
- My own pictures – tagged ibtk (after my personal tumbler); these are also available on my flickr account (shameless self-promotion alert!).
Do you make your own dough, or is it store-bought? Can you recommend a few good basic recipes?
Yes! I usually use this recipe – a simple, everyday white dough – which makes a really puffy, light and fluffy crust. (You can swap out some of the white for whole wheat flour for a slightly healthier pie, too.) I’m also partial to this cornmeal crust, which is a little denser and has a nice “buttery” taste, as well as this crust with ground flax seeds, cause they’re super-healthy and delicious.
For those times when I’m in a hurry or just want a small, “personal pan”-sized pizza, a piece of pita bread works well. Ditto: thick slices of bread, English Muffins, and oversized bagels! (Always read the ingredients on prepackaged baked goods! Manufacturers are fond of mixing things up.)
My top three favorite pizza recipes OF ALL TIME! are as follows: the Vegan Bacon & Cheddar Double Potato Pizza; the cheesy vegan tater tot and garbage plate pizzas (based on the same casserole dish, so they only count as one!); and the creamy vegan macaroni and cheese pizza with Daiya and Follow Your Heart.
Is all the food you post vegan?
Yes! To the best of my knowledge! Of course, I can only really vouch for those pizzas I make and photograph myself, but! I try my very bestest to verify the veganness of all foodstuffs before posting them here. (Pizzas depicted in cartoon and lol fashion excepted.) Since I am but a lowly human (and your humble servant), I’m bound to make mistakes; when I do, call me on it and I’ll make good, asap.
So, to recap:
DO! Let me know if I’m mistaken about the veganness of a specific ingredient, product, brand, pizzeria, etc.
DO! Take the time to read the original post – tags included – before questioning a pizza’s veganness. (Detailed ingredient info is oftentimes included in the tags, if not the post itself.)
DON’T! Assume that a pizza isn’t vegan “just because” (e.g., it “doesn’t look vegan”). Silliness!
DEFINITELY DON’T! Blow smoke (read: baseless accusations) out of your ass; e.g., “There’s no way that mac & cheese pizza could be vegan unless you used water in the sauce!” or “lol this pizza has bacon, you must be one of those vegans who eats MEAT!” Wrong on both counts, and lazy to boot.
Hey! This post is tagged “bacon.” What’s bacon doing on a vegan blog?
I hate saying “vegan” in front of everything. Of course, context is key, and there are some times when specificity is necessary; for example, when dining out at a non-vegan restaurant. But on a vegan food blog, I feel that pointing out the veganness of each and every ingredient is not only needless, but redundant: this is a vegan food blog, so OF COURSE the bacon (and chicken, and feta, and mozzarella, and crust, and sauce, etc.) is vegan! Otherwise I wouldn’t have posted it, duh!
Also, it’s tedious to have to type “vegan” in front of every ingredient. My fingers need a break, yo!
HALP! I am a vegan pizza virgin! What are some of your favorite toppings?
Given the plethora of vegan meats and cheeses on the market, I haven’t come close to sampling them all, so … grain of salt.
Meats: I especially enjoy Lightlife’s soy meats, particularly the Smart Pepperoni, Smart Bacon and Smart Links. (In addition to putting them on pizza, I like to make veggie sammies with the bacon and breakfast links.) Boca crumbles are also yummy, but tend to upset my delicate tum-tum. (Read: I bloat up like a balloon.)
Cheese: Daiya and Follow Your Heart’s Vegan Gourmet are my favorite vegan cheeses, with each occupying a different niche in my kitchen’s ecosystem. It’s all about meltability: whereas the mozzarella Follow Your Heart will liquefy under the right oven conditions (namely 425+ degrees F @ 15-20 minutes or more), the cheddar rarely melts in the oven; rather, it just kind of crisps up, with the shreds retaining their shape (see e.g.). Thus, mozzarella FYH is a good pizza cheese, while we use the cheddar strictly to make mac & cheese sauce on the stovetop. (Hint: mozzarella FYH is also great in baked pasta dishes – it gets super-liquidy and mixes nicely with the tomato sauce!) On the other hand, Daiya is very melty, but also a little stringy like dairy cheese. Daiya is awesome on pizza but a little harder to liquefy on the stovetop, since it clings together. Usually we use a 50/50 blend of cheddar Daiya and FYH shreds when making mac & cheese – it’s the perfect blend of creamy meltability and delicious taste, imho.
I’m not a big fan of Teese (too salty, though they have changed their formula since I tried it) or Tofutti’s cheeses (which I haven’t eaten since childhood). I loathe rice-based cheeses like I loathe rice milk: intensely!
As for other toppings, I love black olives, Kalamata olives, diced tomatoes, shaved tomatoes, sundried tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, garlic, basil, rosemary, corn, black beans, flax seeds, finely sliced potatoes, and tater tots (I KNOW I’M AWFUL!). I’m not a huge fan of nuts and fruit on pizza, but I would like to experiment with dessert and breakfast pizzas. Pesto and hummus make for great alternatives to red sauce.
Again, there are a ton of vegan meats and cheeses available (many of them available online if not locally), so you should try a few yourself and be your own decider person! You can find a comprehensive list of manufacturers on the Resources page.
Fake meat and/or cheese is GROSS! Why would a vegan want to eat foods that resemble the products of animal exploitation!?!
Personally – and with the exception of fishes and other aquatic creatures (i.e. “seafood”) – I stopped eating meat not because I disliked the taste of the stuff, but for ethical reasons. (Cheese is another story, as I’ve been allergic to milk my entire life. While this made things predictably sucky for me as a kid, I became grateful for my galactosemia in adulthood: one less animal addiction to break!) Also, as a college student I was a lazy and unimaginative cook and swapping out animal meats for vegan meats helped ease my transition to vegetarianism immensely – and I wouldn’t want to take this option away from other aspiring vegetarians and vegans. Since no animals are enslaved, exploited or made to suffer in the name soy meats and nondairy cheese
(not to mention, say, almond milk and agave nectar – why are these items never singled out as “fake” foods, I wonder? Also, can we stop using descriptors like “fake,” “imitation,” “substitution,” etc.? They imply that vegan foods are somehow less than or aberrant, and that’s just not the case!),
EAT UP! is my attitude.
That said, I understand that psychologically, some vegans may feel icky eating foods that closely resemble animal flesh and secretions. And that’s okay! I have my own limits, too: for myself, I draw the line at eating vegan meats shaped to resemble animals or their parts. Nor would I want to consume a soy-based meat that’s been fashioned to include veins, tendons, and other animal bits. But maybe that’s your own morbid thing? As long as no animals were exploited to satisfy your culinary whims, it’s your biz. To each her own!, etc.
Bottom line: whether you share my love of Daiya and Smart Bacon or not, I hope we can still be friends!
But fake meat and/or cheese is also EXPENSIVE and OVER-PROCESSED!
Yes! It is! Finally we agree on something! Which is why I a) recommend consuming it in moderation, if at all and b) try to feature alternatives (including diy recipes) with some regularity. But I need your help! Please and thank you!
This pizza is terribly unhealthy!
This is a vegan pizza blog, not a vegan health food blog. If it’s health food you want, you’re in the wrong place.
That said, I try to feature a wide variety of vegan pizzas in this here space, of both the junk and health food variety. Nut- and nooch-based cheese sauces, cheeseless pizzas, raw pizzas, toppings of hummus, pesto, vegetables, fruit, nuts, and seeds – I’ve done it all! If it’s vegan and a pizza, I’ve got it covered.
But if you think I’m not doing enough, don’t complain – collaborate! Send me pictures and videos of your own favorite healthy vegan pies, and I’ll be proud to serve them to the masses.
I’d love to contribute, but my pizzas are ugly / my camera sucks / I’m not a professional gourmet food snob photographer.
That’s okay! All vegan nomz are beautiful and special and unique! Amateur food (not-)porn is welcome and celebrated here!
Who runs this joint?
Kelly! I’m a heathen vegan feminist who *hearts* good vegan eats and blaming the kyriarchy. A native Rochester, New Yorker, I currently live in rural Missouri with my husband and six furkids (five rescue dogs and an ex-stray cat). My interests include animal and human rights, pop culture, language, and the intersecting nature of oppressions. I went vegetarian my freshman year of college (1996), and vegan approximately eight years later (it’s a process – animal-based products are everywhere, yo!).
In addition to fuck yeah vegan pizza, I have two other tumblogs: I Blame the Kyriarchy and fuck yeah vegan ice cream. (I’m all about the pizza and the ice creams!) I also blog at V for Vegan, Animal Rights & AntiOppression and POP! goes The Vegan. and spend way too much time farting around on Flickr, Library Thing, Twitter and Facebook. Hit me up, vegans!
