Me and veganism have a long history, and like any history, it’s had moments of complete adoration alongside small spats that eventually ended in reconciliation.
Before the blog even existed, I tried the “22 Challenge,” where I switched to a vegan diet for 22 days. It actually went pretty well, but I entered into the experience with quite a bit of frustration about the more extreme voices in that world. That frustration brought my foray into veganism to an end after a disagreement with one of the people in the group who was supposed to help guide me through the project.
Looking back, it’s silly to walk away from an ideology I truly believe in because of one person—or even a handful of them. But you know how it is. We’re human, not machines, and the decisions we make are shaped by a million different reasons.
Today I’m not vegan mostly because of work. The aforementioned argument may have played a role in breaking my momentum, but it has nothing to do with the fact that I currently eat eggs while trying not to think too hard about it.
After years of being angry at myself for not fully choosing a side and committing to it completely, this past year I decided to let go a little and simply do the best I can in the life I live.
When I go to restaurants, I almost never order meat or fish, and I greatly try to reduce meat recipes on the blog. Partly because I barely eat it at home, and partly because I feel some responsibility knowing that after a recipe goes up, many people will make it.
Yes, sometimes I fail at that too. Just like in life. But right now, this is the most I can do for those who can’t speak for themselves. One day I’ll stand beside them fully—I really believe that.
And why am I telling you all this?
Because yesterday I remembered I was invited to a housewarming party the following day, for a friend who doesn’t eat meat or dairy and generally lives a vegan-adjacent lifestyle (hi Moran! Everything was wonderful, and thank you for hosting).
To make her happy—and also Harel, her niece, who avoids dairy too—I decided to make a vegan dessert, one that kids would also like. There were six children running around nonstop and suddenly I missed being that age.
This wasn’t my first attempt at a vegan chocolate cake, but previous versions were just… fine. Not light enough, and definitely not good enough to replace my regular recipe.
This time I changed two ingredients, and somehow the result was one of the lightest, fluffiest, most delicious cakes I’ve ever made. No apologizing for being vegan. No substitutes. No explaining why it’s amazing despite having no eggs.
It’s amazing because this vegan chocolate cake is delicious and deeply chocolatey, and because it proves that there are quite a few recipes that genuinely don’t need eggs—or dairy at all.
It’s easy these days to make dairy recipes non-dairy. Coconut cream has taken over supermarket shelves and does beautiful work almost everywhere. The real challenge is eggs. That’s where creativity matters more.
I’m not really a “substitute” person. I don’t think shakshuka needs a substitute—you can simply eat other things. But I do think our automatic need to add eggs and cheese everywhere, even when we don’t need them, deserves to fade a little.
And this chocolate cake is proof that there’s another way.
Kinder. More thoughtful. More delicious.
- Did you make it? Don’t forget to tag me on Instagram.