My First Time Making Oxtails… Of Course They Were Vegan
There are certain foods that just feel bigger than the plate they’re sitting on. Growing up Black and in the South, I’ve always understood that food can be one of those things. It’s family. It’s culture. It’s somebody standing in the kitchen making something they probably learned from somebody who learned it from somebody else.
Now, here’s the funny part: I have never had oxtails. Not the traditional kind. Not growing up. Not before becoming vegan. And until now, I had never made them either. So somehow, my very first time making and eating oxtails ended up being vegan. And I kind of love that for me.
Especially because these weren’t just any vegan oxtails. They came from Sunni Speaks Vegan, and once I learned more about Sunni and the intention behind what she creates, this little night in my kitchen started feeling like it had a much bigger story attached to it. Sunni talks about food as a love language and cooking as an art form, while using her work to reimagine dishes rooted throughout the Black diaspora in ways that are plant-based without losing what made those foods special in the first place. Her goal isn’t necessarily to convince everybody to become vegan either. She wants the food to be so good that, for a moment, you forget meat isn’t even on the plate.
That part resonated with me because one thing I’ve learned throughout my own vegan journey is that becoming vegan doesn’t mean suddenly disconnecting from the food or culture you grew up around. If anything, I think there’s something beautiful about figuring out how those traditions can continue evolving. Which brings us back to me, in my kitchen, making oxtails for the first time in my life.
And y’all know I don’t mind cooking. I just don’t like how much TIME cooking takes. 😂 If something requires me to spend half of my day standing over the stove, you’ve probably already lost me. Thankfully, Sunni’s Smackin’ Oxtails were pretty simple to prepare. They’re made with ingredients including mushrooms, vital wheat gluten, beans, vegetables, rice paper and seasonings, and they’re designed to be cooked in liquid like broth or gravy. Every order also comes with Sunni’s award-winning vegan oxtail gravy recipe. I browned mine first which is store-bought, got everything going in that gravy, let them simmer and served them over rice with vegetables. And YES, I know there was a lot of rice on my plate. Mind your business. I like rice. 😂
But when I finally sat down and tried everything together? Baby. Smackin’ is actually an appropriate name. The outside had that beautiful sear from the pan, the inside had this tender, meaty texture, and once that gravy had gotten all over everything, I understood exactly what Sunni was trying to accomplish. And because I’ve never eaten a traditional oxtail, I’m not going to sit here and pretend I can give you some side-by-side comparison. I can only tell you what was on my plate, and it was GOOD.
It also reminded me of something I think gets lost when people talk about vegan food. Plant-based eating doesn’t have to mean abandoning the dishes, flavors and experiences that connect us to where we come from. There was something unexpectedly full-circle about realizing that my first oxtail wasn’t something I ate before becoming vegan and spent years trying to recreate. My first oxtail was vegan from the beginning. I got to have that experience for the first time on my own terms, in my own kitchen, without an animal having to be part of the equation. And six years into being vegan, I still love when food gives me a completely new first.
If you want to have your own first, Sunni offers her Smackin’ Oxtails along with a more affordable option, the Smackin’ Oxtail Tips with 20+ pieces for $24.99. Just plan ahead when ordering since Sunni notes that orders have a processing period before shipping.
