How to Use this Website

General Formatting

Major Sections of this Site

This site has three major sections. Here is an overview of each section:

• Plant-based foods and their use
• Comparison of plant-based and animal-based diets
• Reference material about using plants for human nutrition

Page Formatting

The site uses a number of formatting conventions to make browsing easier.

• Page style is kept simple. Layout that is clean and easy to read is more likely to be understood. A simple layout is also more likely to understood by web browsers past and present. As noted before, the goal is to create a reference work, not make a fancy website.
• Quotes are noted in a distinctive format, to alert you that the following information is taken from an outside source. Here is an example of a quote.
  Well done is better than well said.
  — Benjamin Franklin
• Definitions are highlighted wherever practical. Here is a definition of the technique for dicing.
  Dicing is cutting food into small cubes of about 1/4 inch (6.35 mm). First, make matchstick or Julienne cuts, and then cut crosswise to make uniform pieces.
• References are cited in square brackets. The reference links to the reference page which has details about the source material. In this sentence, there is a reference to John Muir's work My first summer in the Sierra: [FiSum] .
• Footnotes are called out in the text with a superscript number.  ¹  Footnotes appear at the very bottom of the page. They are used to present additional information, or discuss topics that don't fit into the main flow of the text.

Discussion Sections

Plant-based foods and plant-based cuisine

The topics in this section cover the various aspects of using plants as food: what plants are used as food, how they are prepared, and how plant foods fit into the overall food economy. Listings of edible plants, cooking techniques, recipes, and nutrition facts are the bulk of this section.

This section includes a discussion of plant-based food economics from agriculture to home economics. Also topics of special interest to vegans are discussed here, such as non-animal substitutions for common flesh products.

Comparison of plant and animal-based foods

The social, nutritional, economic, and safety aspects of vegan and Standard American diets are compared and contrasted. These two systems represent two fundamental world-views, each with vast impact to ourselves and the world in which we live. A rational scoring system is presented to form a quantitative basis for making judgments of relative merit.

Resources Sections

References

Sources for statements of fact or prevailing opinion are listed here. References may be discussed in some detail if they need more explanation or are worthy topics. The reference includes what we consider to be enough information to let you go to the source and see where the information came from. If the information is available online, a link is included to the originating site.

Further information

Recent years have seen an explosion in the American public's interest in all things food and cooking [NewRe] (Update: see [SalFTV] to read about the second food network. Amazing.)  ²  . The number of online resources, from U.S. government research sites, to trade groups, professional and amateur sites (including this one) have multiplied dramatically. Here we present our collection of resources, both vegan and not. A site may or may not be a reference if listed here.

Notes