Opting out of Shavuot recipes made with milks from animals, doesn’t mean you’re missing out on delicious, creamy desserts. As Jews, a group of people that are disproportionately lactose intolerant, along with a plethora of Jewish teachings about supporting animal welfare, it makes sense to me to opt for delicious, healthy, and humane Shavuot recipes that are dairy-free (added bonus: they’re easy!). As the holiday that celebrates the giving of the Torah, it is befitting that it begins in Genesis 1:29 with the ultimate declaration for way of eating deeply connected with the land. “And God said: ‘Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed – to you it shall be for food.'”

Ironically, the dairy humans eat is from cows, goats, who are plant-based animals. We can have enough nutritional sustenance through a plant-based diet while also enabling these animals to not spend their lives solely producing milk for our benefit. There’s lots of easy ways to insert plant-based dairy into recipes (e.g. swap out cow milk for almond milk in a cake recipe, try vegan yogurt in your smoothie, or use olive oil instead of butter for your pancakes).

I prepared a delicious but simple chia pudding recipe for Shavuot that can be prepared with a range of flavors and toppings to the neutral chia based. At the bottom, find previous Shavuot recipes including vegan ice cream, vegan blintzes and bourekas! Continue reading →