About

Hi, my name is Sara Dagan, a cook, and an avid storyteller. One of my hobbies is vegan cheese making, such as Camembert and blue cheese for private consumption.

In the past, I have been involved in coaching and teaching based on the Biographical Counseling method (professional counseling that focuses on the meaning behind the events in one's life story). I have written articles and two books; Recently I discovered the world of photography.

What you will find in the blog

Food and Story is a vegan food blog; where I post Plant-based recipes, generally healthy and always delicious; Vegan Recipes that have been tried and improved to the perfect result. I will share with you a variety of tips, hacks, and recommendations along with thoughts, insights, and stories.

Cooking and me

My exposure to the culinary world began following a respectable collection of cookbooks: I traveled around the world on the wings of the stories that accompanied the recipes; I discovered cultures and experienced tastes, smells, and colors.

Loves to entertain, feed and pamper. Cooking for me is a meditative activity.

Food & stories

After a long period of trial and error and improving hundreds of recipes in my kitchen lab, I feel it's time to share my experience and connect my two great loves - food and stories.

Food relies on stories and traditions. Recipes reflect cultures, evolve according to the socio-geographical environment, and are upgraded on the 'shoulders' of other recipes. Behind every recipe - like everything in life - stands some story. Story and food are great means of conveying messages and connecting (or separating) people to one another and to the environment. Religions and the food industry know it very well …

Man essentially loves stories. The fabric of life is based on stories. To me, the story is the food of consciousness! Information conveyed through a story, is embedded much deeper than any theoretical material and dry facts.

So why I became vegan

Until about 10 years ago, there was no chance that I would adopt a vegan lifestyle - the selection was limited and sucked. I love food too much to give up delicious, exciting, and varied food.

Following the rise in the number of vegans, plenty of raw materials emerged, followed by foodies who began to share groundbreaking ideas and discoveries, such as chickpea water and ingredients that change the perception of culinary reality, such as vegan lecithin, pea protein, cocoa butter, brewer's yeast, coconut oil, Miso and much more.

Vegan creativity is skyrocketing, whether it’s in “molecular” cooking (by the way, is there such a thing as non-molecular cooking?;) That almost accurately recreates the flavor and texture of yolk and a vegan fried egg, or nut cheeses with real molds like Camembert and Roquefort.

This is just the tip of the iceberg; The world of veganism activates the imagination and opens us to new realms of ingredients, flavors, and textures.

Veganism provides a perfect alternative to the production line of processed food.

My choice of vegan lifestyle stemmed from two reasons: health and the eradication of the food industry as it exists today. I was exposed to the Holocaust of Animals through activist Gary Yurovsky; I have learned the industry turns them into brand products and imprison them in appalling conditions. The “modern” era makes monstrous use of technological knowledge. The abuse and massacre have reached unprecedented proportions.

When the animal abuse stops, when we can get to know the full story behind each ingredient and the way it went to the plate, when we know for sure that we only get the excess that is not necessary for the animals themselves, then I see nothing wrong in eating eggs and dairy products from chickens and goats.

Hand on heart: I still have glitches from time to time (eggs and butter are my weakness); However they are getting fewer and fewer; I am not fighting them. I strongly believe that change should come, naturally, from within! Nevertheless, I have no doubt that despite the occasional stumble I am definitely affecting the food industry.

Change the story

The story works on the conscious part as well as on our unconscious. The story is able to ignite the imagination, influence our emotions, desires, and decision-making process. A story can make us think independently and equally disconnect us from conscious and informed thinking - depending on the story.

The food industry makes cynical use of our natural attraction to stories and their tremendous impact on us. Through packaging and other advertising channels, it presents, alongside pastoral images of happy animals in the meadow, seemingly innocent stories made up by skilled copywriters. The way to eradicate this industry is with the help of the same tool with which it grew - the story! By revealing the true story of what is happening in the concentration camps for animals.

It's time to change the story. It's time to get rid of the unscrupulous manipulations of the food industry. It's time to expose the taste buds to new and exciting culinary adventures, to a much richer selection than the arbitrary options provided to us by conventional food culture. It’s time to be exposed to a sustainable alternative.

It's time to write a new story!