Crumbled probably allows you to mix it better with the wet ingredients since tofu is firmer than egg white. I would use some Vegenaise and maybe some turmeric to make it a nice yellow color, plus whatever other seasonings or ingredients you use in egg salad.

I also like to make a vegan "tuna" salad with chickpeas, vegenaise, finely diced celery and pickles and seasonings. Sometimes I add some of the granulated seaweed. It's good!

If the egg in mayo grosses you out why not make some vegan mayo...

Or just buy some Vegenaise as our resident vegan Chi83 suggested.

If you don't like the eggs and mayonnaise what part of egg salad are you craving? It just is confusing to me. The only things I put in egg salad are eggs, mayonnaise and salt and pepper!
Joann

Joann, vegans make egg salad with eggless mayo and tofu. Chi, thank you for the advice. I've heard so much about the chickpea tuna salad, I'll have to try that, too. I sent DH to town for Vegenaise and he came home with Spectrum. I'm a little scared to try it, as every vegan I know says that Vegenaise is the only way to go. Lindac, there is a vegan mayo recipe I've been meaning to try, but it involves safflower oil, which would mean yet another trip to town (hour drive, so it doesn't happen too often.) Thank you all.

There are lots of vegan mayo recipes....don't think it's really important what oil you use.
If the goal with vegan mayo is to have it taste like "real" mayo.....and you are not vegan.....why not use real mayo and pretend it's fake?

Here's my "Missing egg salad" recipe. I served it once to a friend and he said, "How did you get the egg taste in there?" I have no idea, lol! It calls for mayo, which I happen to like. You could use Veganaise, or just use a less firm tofu and leave out the mayo. I make Tuno salad and Hamless salad with tofu too! As far as the crumbling goes, I find tofu pretty much just crumbles on its own when I mix it up for the salad.

Missing Egg Salad

1 lb. tofu, "crumbled"
1 TBLSP tamari
3/4 tsp. mustard
1/4 tsp. tumeric
1/4 tsp. curry powder
pinch cayenne
1 TBLSP minced parsley
1 stalk celery, finely diced
1 TBLSP minced onion (I tend to use a scallion or two)
2 TBLP mayo (could use yogurt or sour cream if you're not vegan.) Could maybe use some mashed white beans? Really the mayo is not necessary, but it does probably add to it tasting like "egg salad."

Feel free to increase the amount of seasonings to suit your taste.

Sorry but you want Vegenaise :) It's usually in the refrigerated section. You won't be disappointed, it's awesome. I know people who aren't vegetarians who prefer it over real mayo.

Oh, and here's my version of tofu "tuna" and white bean salad, a riff on a classic Mediterannean salad.

Tofu "Tuna" and White Bean Salad (also works with real tuna for the tofu-adverse. I like it better with tofu).

2 cups cooked canelinni beans (16 oz. can)
8 oz. package baked marinated tofu, diced. Can use plain tofu, make your own baked marinated version, or use a store bought italian marinated version
1/3 cup chopped black olives, perferably the cured kind like kalamatta
2 lg. celery stalks, diced
1/2 cup sliced red onion
1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley
2 TBLSP extra virgin olive oil
Juice of 1/2 - 1 lemon
fresh ground pepper
a little salt to taste

Serve over greens and red lettuce leaves.
Yumo!

Thank you, LPink. You know, I've never tried canelinni beans- I think I will have to try your recipe. I also like that you put curry in your egg salad. I tried the Spectrum mayo- just dipped my finger in, and wow, is it bad. You can definitely tell they were trying to make it taste like mayo- it's like mayonnaise on steroids with a floury aftertaste. Yikes!

Yeah, BF brought some Spectrum low fat mayo home once. I told him never again! But I actually like mayonaise. But not the salad dressing stuff. I found Veganaise tolerable.

If you have good eggs, make your own mayo then you know where it's come from ;)

LindaC - You're making a big deal about the mayo which leads me to to believe you misread the original post. What turns her off is not just the eggs in mayo but the eggs and mayo. Mayo turns a lot of people off. Me too, to an extent, though for me it's not the egg that bothers me but rather knowing that I'm essentially eating thickened oil. Anyway, as you might have picked up on other threads, a common theme is that while not vegan herself, BWJ does like to take vegetarian dishes a step further and veganize them.

Sometimes the large quantity of mayo turns me off, too, in sandwich salad fillings. I like to slice a hardboiled egg (or two - minus the all white ends), and put them on whole grain bread with a little bit of mayo, salt, pepper and thinly sliced European cucumber. Makes a good, eggy, crunchy sandwich with not too much mayo.

seagrass

I just have to ask. Does a Vegan eat eggs?

Just use sour cream with a little mustard mixed in. You can even use mustard powder. I don't like mayo with eggs and use this all the time.
Olga

No, no eggs, no animal products at all, including things like honey or gelatins.

And vegans do not use or wear leathers, either. My vegan cousin does not wear wool, but she says that others she knows do.

Sushi - I thought honey was debatable. But, Olga, I don't believe milk products are accepted. Go figure, the one food made by nature for the sole purpose of being food...

Some vegans eat honey. I call them beegans. :)

Definitely no milk products unless it came from a plant!

LOL, couldn't help but think of this thread last night ;-)

In the most memorable line of the night, Romney accused "out-of-touch liberals like Barack Obama" of saying they want a strong economy while showing they "don't like" business.

"It's a bit like saying you like an omelette, but you don't like eggs," Romney said.

In defense of the "eggless egg salad" moniker, (and I can only speak for myself), it isn't that we want "egg salad" but don't like eggs. It's vegetarian humor! It's a play on words of the meat eaters vocab. I could just as easily rename my "eggless egg salad" as "Curried tofu salad," and my "hamless salad" as "Picadillo tofu" and my "Tuno salad" as "Tofu remoulade." I enjoy eating tofu salads in sandwiches, and don't think of them as pale substitutes for the meat conterparts. In fact, they do not taste all that much like their meat counterparts, and anyone who thinks they do, or they should, is setting themselves up for disappointment. The idea of chopping up little bits of flavorful stuff and binding it together for a salad that you then scoop onto a sandwich works and is yummy for both meat and non-meat items, (believe it or not and of course depending on your taste!). I have a friend who has a "no bits" policy on all her food! :) And another person I know says, "I don't eat anything that doesn't have a face." Obviously these folks don't want egg salad OR tofu salad on their sandwiches!

I forgot to do a follow-up for this. I made the egg salad and really enjoyed it. Kept it simple because that's how I liked it as a child. I cut the tofu into small cubes and steamed it in the microwave to soften. Made my own vegan mayo (much, much better than spectrum) using the recipe below but substituting veg oil. It was basically just tofu, mayo, French's mustard (which, come to find out, is not vegan nor even vegetarian :(, nutritional yeast, salt, pepper, and cajun seasoning because I'm a little obsessed with the stuff.
Foodonastump- no. Just no.

Here is a link that might be useful: vegan mayo recipe

Ha, my favorite vegan restaurant has a bacon cheeseburger on their menu. I suppose it's easier for people to identify with considering our culture, and it's a lot easier than asking for a "thinly sliced seitan sandwich with cashew cheese and smoked tempeh"

That looks really good, Jenny! Nice job. What is non-vegetarian about mustard?

"FRENCH'S YELLOW MUSTARD INGREDIENTS
The ingredients in French's mustard by volume are vinegar, water, mustard seed, salt, turmeric, paprika and garlic powder. The mustard seeds used to make yellow mustard in the United States are most often white. The turmeric gives the mustard its bright yellow color."

The ingredient list looks vegan to me. Unless the "mother of vinegar" is considered an animal. :)

Here's the ingredients for my homemade mustard. I thought it was vegan? What am I missing, please.

3/4 cup brown mustard seeds
3/4 cup yellow mustard seeds
1 cup white wine vinegar
1 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons dry mustard
1 tablespoon salt
1 to 2 teaspoons red pepper flakes (optional)
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Thanks.
/tricia

Vinegar is generally considered vegan unless it is filtered through isinglass.

"Isinglass is a substance obtained from the dried swim bladders of fish. It is a form of collagen used mainly for the clarification of wine and beer. It can also be cooked into a paste for specialized gluing purposes." - Wikipedia

Here is a link that might be useful: Is vinegar vegan?

Barnmom, I really didn't want to know that! I thought French's was non-veg because I'd read that it contained beef broth. But I swear sometimes it seems impossible to be veg. Even apples may be coated with crushed up beetles for shine, and of course there's no requirement to label as such.

Wine is not considered vegan. Maybe this is why. That and the bits of whatever insect life follows the grapes into the crusher, I suppose.

I stumbled on this recipe today:

For the "yolk," you need:

1/2 tbsp tumeric
1/2 tbsp onion powder
1 tsp ground pepper
1 1/2 tbsp glutinous wheat flour
1 tbps dijon mustard
1 tsp lemon juice

For the "white," you need:

8 ounces of extra-firm tofu, drained and pressed and dried (this is easy to do-just press it between two plates, wrapped in cheesecloth or clean dishcloths)
4 tbsp Vegenaise
1/2 tbsp relish
1/2 cup chopped celery (optional)

Then you:

Whisk the "yolk" ingredients together and set aside.
Crumble the tofu and combine with the "white" ingredients. If it seems dry or not mayo-y enough for your taste, you can always add more.
Mix everything together, making sure the "yolk" part is smashed and smooth.

Here is a link that might be useful: Vegan egg salad recipe.

Sounds neat! Thanks

Thanks Eileen. I had no idea wine wasn't vegan.

/tricia

I was at the grocery store today and saw in the cheese section a bag of cheese substitute. The package proclaimed that it melted just like regular cheese! I read the ingredients: a really long list which included some fats and tapioca and a whole bunch of things I couldn't pronounce.

This got me thinking that a vegan diet is a "first world problem" Only in places like North America would we think up such crazy substitutes for real food. Sorry if this offends anyone, I'm not a troll...really. Just perplexed about all the people in this world (my children included) who reject SO many foods for so many different reasons.

A good chunk of the world's populations regularly avoid meat/dairy. Being mostly vegetarian is the way of life in many countries, and I'd argue that North American culture is the one that brands people as being strange because they believe it's healthier and more ethical to avoid animal product consumption. I deal with it every single day.

I do agree about the processed vegan cheese, though. I don't believe milk is healthy for the body, but neither is that. I would, however, argue your definition of "real food" ;)

As for veganism being a first world problem, I just find it ironic that it's a viewpoint that tends to be globally conscious about nutrition and the planet's limited resources to feed the world. Of course it is a luxury to be able to eat to reflect your beliefs and I'm eternally grateful to have that opportunity, but it really is a testament to our culture that makes this way of eating so incredibly abnormal. In fact, I think someone existing solely on chicken nuggets and french fries would be more accepted than a vegan in mainstream society!

Donna, I'm just as perplexed as you are by how many vegetables those around me reject. Sometimes I swear the majority of Americans would rather eat any part of any animal than try a new vegetable. Every time I tell my mom I've made something with rutabaga, for example, she says, "Yuck." And she's never tried it before! But her father used to complain that it was terrible and she took his word for it. I took a friend of mine to Whole Foods and she turned up her nose at every veggie I threw in my cart. So when an omnivore hears that I'm vegetarian and says, as they often do, "You're missing out" I have to laugh.

As far as I'm concerned, anyone who restricts their diet in any way for any reason is potentially (and probably) "missing out" on something they'd really like if they took away those obstacles. Of course there are many legitimate reasons to restrict one's diet, whether moral/ethical, environmental concerns, religious restrictions, medical or general health reasons, etc. In my book the only stupid reason to be missing out is because you're afraid to try something new.

I would hazard a guess that "cheese substitutes" are probably marketed to people recently diagnosed with lactose intolerance and are having a hard time giving up cheese, so are desperate! Dairy does not agree with me very well, (nor my father so this is probably a genetic inheritance) so I briefly experimented with some cheese substitutes, because I just LOVE, LOVE cheese! Well, they were a complete waste. I have however, found that soy milk is a fine substitute for regular milk for most of my uses, and since I was never a milk fan anyway, I don't miss it. There are whole cuisines that are very shy on milk and cheese and the beef that goes along with a cow-centered agriculture. Japan and India spring to mind . . . and India has close to a billion people. They don't think soy and other legume products are weird or a sign of deprivation, they have been part of their culture for hundreds and hundreds of years. And in Japan, their repertoire of fish and sea vegetables is vastly greater than what we would be used to eating.

So anyway, I think the whole "substitute" nomenclature comes from trying to reach people who for various health reasons have to cut out the foods they are accustomed to and like. I don't think this is a totally bad idea, some substitutes are good and who knows what some people will like or not. But I think it also helps to embrace a totally different style of eating, and to explore different types of dishes you may have never been exposed to but find out you like. It's always better in my experience to embrace something new and joyful than to try and deprive yourself. I have a friend who had to change his circle of friends and take up jogging to quit smoking, but that was easier for him than to tell himself he had to give up cigarettes. Whenever he had a craving for a smoke he took a run!

I know lots of people who have experimented with veganism (I work at a college and that is a time when young people try out new things since they start living on their own). If you just get a notion to "give up meat and diary" to become a vegan, and don't embrace a totally new way of eating and cooking, well you're bound for health problems. And if you're like some of my friends that just cannot abide by vegetables and vegetable products, then probably best to just skip the whole idea!

I became a vegetarian 34 years ago, when I was 18 and started cooking everything on my own. That's how I developed a life-long interest in food and cooking, I had to seek out new ingredients and new cooking techniques. Just as a reflection of how truly "odd" our own American culture is, many, many of those foods and techniques had actually been mainstream 100-200 years before, or were mainstream in another culture. It's amazing how many of those ingredients and techniques have become mainstream again nowdays. Back when I started you had to join a food co-op to get any type of whole grain and other plant products. Now they are on the shelf of most larger grocery stores! No one had heard of gadgets like a bread machine and food processor!

Now I'm longing for the day when locally produced food returns to the mainstream! We're getting there!