What starts out as a handy tip about making vegan curds turns into a deeper contemplation about unconscious restrictions. How we stop ourselves from doing stuff, without even realising it!

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What? They’re swingers? Ha! That caught your attention, didn’t it? grins I’m not here to gossip. Sorry. 😛 People’s intimate lives are none of my business (to know or to judge).

But there is something I’ve made my business to shamelessly dig into for two decades now. All the juicy, intimate, minute details in the life of…VEGAN CURDS! laughs

Often when I’m teaching/sharing, I’ve repeatedly learnt that something that’s suuuuper obvious to me can be incredibly surprising to someone else. So I’ve stopped considering anything too small or irrelevant to mention. (When you subscribe to my newsletter, the welcome e-mail you get is all about this.)

So what’s this tiny, seemingly inconsequential titbit about vegan yogurt swinging I want to tell you?

Any plant mylk curd can be used as a starter culture to make a different plant mylk curd!

Yup. Coconut curd cultures itself beautifully in peanut mylk. Peanut curds dance just as delightfully in soy mylk. Soy curds can intimately settle into the embrace of mixed nuts-seeds cream…you get the idea.

These polyamorous cultures have a happy life of mixing with each other. Living, growing, spreading love in peace, joy and mutual respect. (Animal milk curd is not allowed in this harmonious community. Grr. It’s a creepy perv that usually effs up the eco system!)

Now, this info might’ve blown your mind. If it has, then go forth and bravely experiment with the cross pollination of vegan curds. But if you’re like, “Duh Sus! What’s the big deal? Everyone who’s ever made vegan curds knows this.” They actually don’t! So the next time you’re explaining to someone how they can make vegan curds, don’t forget to mention it.

But as I said right at the beginning…

This episode isn’t just about making vegan yogurt at home, it’s about the way people think

Why did this question even come up? Why did I even feel like sharing this information about how one kind of plant-based yogurt can be used to culture another kind of plant-based milk, so that you get fresh curds, and all of that?

It had never occurred to me to think otherwise when I started experimenting with making curds. Initially I’d only make soy curds, but then, once I learnt about peanut curd, cashew curd and all of that, I didn’t even hesitate or wonder. I just took a bit of the soy curds, a spoonful of it, and used it to culture the peanut milk to make curds.

But then later I noticed, so many people in my dairy alternatives workshops or just in casual conversation, anyone who’s interested to make vegan yogurt or has tried it, and it hasn’t come out very well, a lot of them would ask me, “hey, so it’s okay to use one kind of plant-based curd as a starter for another?” And I’d be like, “yeah of course!”

This restriction of believing one kind of yogurt cannot be mixed with another kind of yogurt, that it may not even work? That’s not a restriction somebody else put into these people’s heads. They did it all by themselves. To the point that it didn’t even occur to them that they can mix these things.

Now, when it comes to yogurt fermentation and culture, maybe it hadn’t come to my mind to restrict myself. However…

I know that there are many other areas of life where unconsciously, without even thinking about it, I’ve put restrictions on my own self

And I’m sure you can think of several examples for yourself too!

When I was newly married, for the longest time, whenever I’d visit relatives on my husband’s side, I’d dress a certain way. I’d think, “no, I cannot wear cut off pants, I cannot wear sleeveless dresses. I have to wear only churidars.”

All kinds of crazy restrictions, and not a single person in their family, including him, ever said to me, “you should dress this way, you shouldn’t dress that way.” *laughs* I did it all by myself! Put this thought into my mind about how I should and shouldn’t dress.

It took a while for it to dawn on me, “oh, I’m the only one stopping myself, nobody really cares!”

This was an unconscious restriction just based on things I’d seen in the world

At our restaurant, I had a very different approach to the way I dealt with my team or my customers. The kind of a close relationship I had with everyone, the friendly vibe I carried…compared to one of my other business partners.

He’d be very formal. He wouldn’t even eat lunch in front of customers. lf guests were dining and it was lunchtime, I’d grab at a table, get the food served to me, and be eating at my own table. But he’d be like, “no, no. We’re service providers, we cannot be eating in front of the customers.” He believed we needed to maintain a certain level of formality and distance.

Neither one of us came from the food and beverage background. But I had certain thoughts, I didn’t think I shouldn’t be myself. And he had certain restrictions in his head like, this is the way you should be and this is the way you shouldn’t be. Again unconsciously.

We all have unconscious restrictions in our heads, but if I must share an example that’s a kind of close to the metaphor of the vegan curd cultures…maybe you specialised in something, maybe you studied a certain thing while you were in school or college, or even out of your own interest at some point in your life. And you believe, “that’s not related to the kind of work I’m doing right now, so it’s useless!”

If you think about it, sometimes there are talents and learnings from one field which are useful in other totally unrelated fields

An artist, for example. The way they create art. If they start running a business, it’s not like they should just drop the art. They don’t have to be like, “okay, I can never use my art again!” Instead, how about thinking, “I can maybe use those talents. I’ve learned the way colours work with each other, the aesthetics, the design. I could bring that into my current business and see where I can fit it in.”

And that unique blending of totally unrelated areas, talents, skills? That’s what’s going to make your business, your brand stand out for what it uniquely is!

So, homework for you. Think about whatever work you’re doing right now in your life, whatever project you’re working on. It could even be something you’re doing on your own at home or in life. You know, in terms of relationships, families, and stuff. Or it could be an art project or a hobby. Something creative.

Then think of something totally unrelated from your past, from before this time. You could probably pull and use that knowledge and experience in whatever you’re doing right now.

See where you can mix unlikely things, and notice what kind of results that yields

How does that make a difference in whatever you’re doing right now? It could be as an end result on the project itself, or in the way you work, the way you feel. Or on the way you organise something, the way you approach something, the way you look at something from a different point of view. It shakes up your perspective a bit.

So try that, and think of what kinds of unconscious restrictions you’ve placed upon yourself. How are they stopping you from moving ahead in your life? Or even just stopping you from peacefully, joyfully living your life? Simply because you believe those restrictions exist without even considering otherwise.

All right. That’s it for today.

Sign up for my newsletter, The Feel Good Tribe. We’ll catch up again next week. Talk to you again. Take care. Bye.

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Susmitha Veganosaurus

“I read voraciously, find humour in most things, and I’m most in my element when I’m teaching, writing, and playing with clay. I believe authenticity and kindness are the key to a joyful world. Sign up for my free newsletterwhere I share Life and Business Tips, Vegan Hacks, Holistic Guidance, and more.

Vegan cuisine and holistic business building are my two biggest passions. If you’re looking for guidance with vegan cooking, or want to grow your conscious business with joy and fulfilment, explore ways we can work together here.”

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