Being vegan in Central Minnesota takes effort

On a shelf in Alicia Landucci's kitchen is a collection of vegan cookbooks.

"My boyfriend says I don't need any more," jokes the St. Cloud native who has abstained from eating any product pertaining to animals for eight years.

"But my dream is to own every vegan cookbook (ever made)."

Landucci has invented some of her own vegan recipes as the full-time vegan baker at Good Earth Food Co-Op. The position was created specifically for her nearly four years ago as a promotion from prep cook.

Vegan cooking requires frequent recipe substitutions.

"When you're vegan, you learn to cook from scratch," explains Michael Willemsen, a fellow Central Minnesota vegan who gets a lot of his groceries at the Minnesota Street Market co-op of St. Joseph.

"Being vegan forced me to learn how to cook."

As a baker, Landucci must specifically find plant-based alternatives to eggs and milk that simulate their function in traditional baking.

She said the substitutions vary from recipe to recipe.

Landucci uses tapioca starch for her popular chocolate chip cookies, and apple cider vinegar with soy milk, baking powder, baking soda and flax seeds as binders in other bakery items.

"People think that it's difficult but it's actually easy if you do a little research," Landucci said. "There's an alternative for almost anything."

Being vegan also puts an emphasis on reading consumer labels.

"I think vegans have superpowers with labels — we can look at it and the words are just bigger for us," said Landucci, who works the bakery alone on counters only touched by vegan products. "You'd be surprised at how (animal products) are sneaked into some items."

Both Landucci and Willemsen became vegan as a stand to reduce the suffering of animals. Both said that the biggest nutrient challenge isn't protein but rather getting enough vitamin B12 — for which they take a supplement pill made by bacteria cultures.

And both started as vegetarians who continued to consume cheeses and other dairy products before pledging against all animal products.

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A 2014 Vegetarian Resource Group study estimated that 5 percent of the U.S. population — about 16 million people — are vegetarian. About half of those are vegan.

"It's getting a lot easier to be vegan," said Landucci. "There's just so many options out there now and they are continually creating better alternatives."

Landucci said her favorite vegan meal is baked tofu with quinoa and steamed vegetables. She also consumes a lot of smoothies in the summertime.

Willemsen's favorite is a vegan lasagna. He regularly snacks on trail mix.

And both are always on the hunt for more vegan cookbooks.

"There's only a couple things that have yet to be duplicated (as vegan)," Landucci said. "At the bakery, I still haven't found a way for angel food cake. But I like experimenting."

Follow Jake Laxen on Twitter @jacoblaxen.