world vegan day post - store-bought snacks

Today is World Vegan Day! I am not doing anything especially vegan today, aside from continuing to be one. I even have an offer for a birthday party for a vegan, which I am very naughtily not attending! (Sorry, Nevryn) But this post of store-bought snacks is in celebration of being a vegan. Sometimes it's nice to have a quick, trashy snack.




Yao chao guai (or you cha kueh) is a breakfast or dim sum food, but I like to eat it as an afternoon snack, I used to always eat it after school, and I'm glad I can still eat it now. Yao chao guai is made of wheat flour and looks like it's been fried. I bake it in the oven for ten minutes until it's crispy, then eat it straight away, often burning my hands in the process. A good yao chao guai has to be crispy, or it's no good. It's sometimes served with char siu sauce or chilli-in-soy sauce. It's available from the fridge section of your local Chinese grocer, but only when the lady who makes it isn't on holidays. There's usually a delivery once a week or so.




Mixed gram is a tasty combination of gram flour, rice flour, rice flakes, nuts, and spices (so it might possibly be gluten free?). Mixed gram can be quite hit or miss, depending on the provider, very spicy, not so spicy, and so on. My favourite at the moment is provided to me magically by S, apparently it is made by an Indian lady somewhere South of the River (where I dare not go, being from North of the River). It is available from your local Indian grocer (though I have previously picked up some mediocre mixed gram from my local Chinese grocer).




Coles makes an Anzac biscuit that is slightly soft and a little bit chewy, rather than tough and crunchy. It leaves a hint of a buttery aftertaste, and doesn't contain as much in the oats department as I would like. They make it all year around (not just in April), and it's a nice take on the old Anzac. Available from the Coles bakery.




In Australia, the plain Oreos are vegan-friendly. I recommend checking the packet, though, as people have been caught out by it before. Also I don't think the wafers are suitable for vegans. It's nice though to have a cheap cream biscuit that I can just pick up from the local shops. I've never been a huge fan of the oreo, but I'm beginning to appreciate its chocolate biscuit-bits and its white cream filling. Available in the biscuit aisle of most supermarkets.




Smiths potato chips. I used to love the Gobble-Gok Monster, with its cry of CHIPPPIEEEEE. It's really annoying that all of the flavoured chips contain milk solids (UGH). Note that these chips are crinkle-cut, this is because thin/original cut is not as awesome. I am sure that you agree. Available from the chip aisle of supermarkets.




Dried fruit is a great alternative to jelly lollies, they're just as sugary and just as jelly-like and chewy, but they're just fruit, not gelatine! Yay! These dried mango spears are from Kakulas Brothers in Northbridge, they're sold by weight and you pull out of canvas bags, surrounded by dried strawberries and paw-paw and banana. Kakulas also sells nuts, coffee, grains, rice, beans, all sorts of dried things, by the weight. I love Kakulas! Last week I was scooping out dried chilli flakes, that was awesome.




I've only been getting into the soy curls for the last week or two, but they're pretty tasty! These plain ones are from Kakulas, they also have flavoured ones but no ingredients list. Based on experience at other shops, I'm willing to assume that the plain ones are okay, but not going to risk it re: the flavoured ones. Which is a shame, because my favourite soy curl flavour so far is the chilli and lime one - it sounds odd but it's really great! You can also buy these in packets from supermarkets, or from health food stores.




Fruit is tasty. This is some early season watermelon, it was not fantastic which is unsurprising as the season in the Swan Valley doesn't actually start for another six weeks. When it starts, though, it's about eight weeks of the most amazing watermelon and grapes you can imagine. I will post about this more indepth as the season proper approaches, but if you live in the WA metro area it is well worth your time to trek out to the vineyards and growers along the Great Northern Highway to buy the grapes and melons directly off the growers, so cheap and so incredibly tasty.