— Theresa Arist

Great question. I love this question because I think there are a couple of different. Facets to cooking or Avenues to cooking that are sort of entwined here. Okay, so let me untangle these. so The term vegan. All right at least once upon a time and I'm still one that adheres to this definition. Okay, but once upon a time when this term vegan came about Not only was it aligned with plant-based cooking but it was also strongly aligned to the politics of meat eating. All right, so and that had to do with the treatment of animals and then so many other things and we can talk about the environment and probably other things as well. Okay, but a big part of that was the ethics that were associated with the treatment of animals. And and so the today many of us use the term vegan simply to refer to plant-based cooking without all of the politics attached to it necessarily. Okay. I still associate the politics and that has to do with my own background, but so when we see vegan recipes or vegan food basically anything goes all right, meaning processed foods processed ingredients are very much a part of the history of Vegan Cooking Okay, so In more recent years we have seen the term. plant-based come into use And this idea of plant-based cooking? Is one that separates cooking from the palette from the from the the politics of Vegan Cooking? Okay, if that makes sense, so we're really trying to focus on just using plant-based ingredients when we cook. All right, and then we've got Whole Food plant-based cooking. And this approach of whole food cooking in this case with emphasis on plant ingredients is one where we try. to emphasize Whole Foods while we decrease processed foods or refined Foods in our diet now can I say decrease because for most of us that's the reality it's not the elimination of these processed or refined foods, but it's it's the decrease of those things to some level that is satisfactory to the individual cook. Okay, and this is where we get into some very interesting discussions and and really at the end of the day it's going to be up to you. The individual cook right who is concerned about your body and your family's health to make the decision and to sort of draw that line or shape that definition around. Just what is Whole Food plant-based cooking okay for you because it probably looks a little bit different. Than the definition that the next person uses. Okay. Now let's think about this. All right. to use unprocessed Foods period is super duper difficult and if we were to maybe sit down over a cup of tea or coffee or whatever beverage of choice might be yours and talk about this. We might even find that, you know to start out at home with with. 100% Whole Foods is practically impossible for most of us and I say practically okay because we've got busy lives and limited equipment at home and and so on and so forth, right so that on a more practical basis, which is hopefully we're trying to find here right because you want we want cooking to be convenient. All right. We want it to be something that we can engage with happily and joyfully each each day and each moment, you know, we know we need to find that middle ground. And and often that's means incorporating some extent of processed ingredients in our inventory at home. Okay. Now what that looks like is going to be up to you. Okay, so I mean if you want to do Whole Food Vegan Cooking that's entirely possible and in my book that would include the politics of food. Okay, if you want to try to cut the politics out of food and just focus on the cooking part, then we call it Whole Food plant-based cooking. Okay. I hope that makes sense in terms of these these terms. Okay, and some of the history around the usage versus some of the Contemporary usage okay of these terms now when it comes time for cooking that includes oil versus cooking that is oil free that is an entirely different approach to cooking. Okay. When we talk about oil free cooking. The first Benchmark that we're usually talking about is to eliminate added oils. So any oils that you might buy in a bottle that you bring home from the store. Okay, and you know that is in itself. Challenging sometimes but it's much more approachable for a lot of Home Cooks. Okay, and then the next Benchmark that some folks that have. I'll say bigger health concerns to deal with maybe to a significantly eliminate fat from the diet, which goes beyond added oil to include some categories of fatty foods like nuts and in avocados, for example, okay. So this idea of cooking with oil or without oil totally up to you. It's not related to plant-based cooking necessarily. All right, this idea of cooking with all plants you can do on your on its own with added oil of any sort or amount that you want likewise as if you're approaching cooking in an oil free sort of Desire. You know also consider the idea of reduced oil cooking right or maybe eliminating oil in some areas, but using a little bit of a little bit of it in some places where it makes cooking more convenient. Okay. Those are all individual decisions that you get to make. All right, and and if you want to continue this conversation, please reach out to me at support at ruby.com, including the politics of food. All of this stuff is very very interesting to me. But again, they come down to personal ethics and health concerns and you know other personal decisions. Thank you.