Bizarre Vegan Foods caught on Camera

Ever noticed how some vegan foods look very strange? Well for fun I have created the following list of photographs of various vegan dishes and given the scoop on why they look so weird.

#1. Caramelized Seitan

If you are looking at the photo on the right and thinking that looks like meat, then I agree - it does LOOK like meat. But I swear to you that it is not.

It is actually Caramelized Seitan with Broccoli. The recipe for Caramelized Seitan is below. I am including the recipe just so you believe me when I say that it really is not meat and is seitan instead.

Garlicky Caramelized Seitan

Source: Veg News Magazine

2 tablespoons vegan margarine (Earth Balance)

1 teaspoon Olive Oil

¼ cup brown sugar

1 clove garlic (thinly sliced)

½ teaspoon chopped ginger

1 cup seitan, ¼ inch diced

1 cup chopped broccoli

Garnish: chopped scallions and sesame seeds

In a medium pan over medium heat, heat margarine and olive oil. Once hot, mix in brown sugar. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes, then add garlic, ginger, and seitan, carefully coating with the hot sugar mixture. Cook seitan on each side, mixing and flipping often to prevent burning for 8-10 minutes.

Once the seitan is crisp and caramelized, toss in broccoli to steam. Add salt; remove from heat after 1 minute, and plate, topping with scallions and sesame seeds.

#2. Tofurky

Honestly, Tofurky isn't just weird to look at, it is also just a weird word to say out loud. Tofurky. Yes, it looks strange - like spam in a way - but the name "Tofurky" just makes it seem silly somehow. Ranks up there with silly words like "gazebo" or "antipope" or "blunderbuss" or "shenanigans".

#3. Fiddleheads

Honestly, Fiddleheads is another one of those words that are weird to say out loud. But in this case they actually look weirder than the word. They look like green worms... I have a hunch this is why so few people eat Fiddleheads. The concept of eating something that looks like worms messes with your head, even if you are not a vegan.

#4. Bizarrely Shaped Fruits, Vegetables and Berries

Sometimes plants just grow into into funny shapes. Like the butterfly shaped strawberry below. It still looks delicious however. And other times certain fruits just look completely alien to us - like the "African Cucumber" further below or the "Buddha's Hand" below that.

#5. Rawlicious Supercookies

According to raw vegan restaurant Rawlicious, their supercookies are made from "13 ingredients" including "Almonds, walnuts, coconut, goji berries, cacao nibs, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, hemp seeds, bananas, currants, cinnamon, vanilla and a dash of agave." So they end up looking like a fight between a cookie and 12-grain bread, and the bread apparently lost the fight. So they look strange, but they oddly enough also look quite tasty. Plus cinnamon AND vanilla in the same cookie??? I gotta try one of those!