Showing posts with label vegetarian. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vegetarian. Show all posts
Thursday, November 1, 2012
DONE!
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Vegan Month - Reflection
I only have a few hours left in my vegan month. It seems like the perfect time to reflect a little about what I have learned these past 31 days about my diet, relationship with food, and veganism. To start, a few lighter points:
- adding lots of Earth Balance margarine to anything will make it more delicious. When in doubt, add this/more of it.
- Vegan month quickly became "eat as many cakes/desserts/treats as you want because, hey, it's vegan! It's gotta be good for you!" I have no regrets.
- Vegan baking really isn't hard. No eggs - no problem. Egg replacer works great or you can just find recipes that don't have eggs in them at all.
- The vegan substitutes like mayo, cheese, milk, etc. do take getting used to, but they aren't bad! I really wasn't into the Daiya cheese when I first tried it, but by the end I was putting it in a lot of stuff. Even on the pizza it started to grow on me. So give them a chance, meaning try them over and over again to let yourself adjust before deciding if you like them or not.
- Peanut Butter Nanaimo bars. *drool*
Overall, the month was great. It really wasn't something that I had to "get through" and really was something that legitimately enjoyed. Of course it was hard sometimes. Mostly when I was out and hungry and had to go that extra step to find something that I could eat, but in the end that was probably for the best. It made me PLAN my meals so that in the end I was eating FAR healthier than I was before. I really liked that this month got me back into the kitchen even more and trying things outside of my comfort zone.
I was really impressed with all the options I had. most restaurants could put something together for me (within reason - I was selective to begin with though). There were lots of GREAT substitutes too - from coconut or soy milk "yogurt" and ice "cream" to the cheese products. My landlords even gave me a spice to simulate egg flavour in tofu scramble (which I haven't tried to make yet, but I tried the spice and it was CRAZY how similar it was).
I think what struck me the most was how I really didn't feel deprived of anything. There were lots of things I could eat. If anything, having to read ingredients and think out meals was a really positive thing, not at all something that frustrated me. I care about what is in my food and I liked taking that extra step to find out what was in it.
Was there any cheating? Nope! I think there may have been one or two ACCIDENTAL incidents (one where a sales person told me something was vegan, I ate it, and then when I went to get it another day a different sales person said it wasn't vegan. The other was me mindlessly licking yogurt off my finger at work - oops).
Will I stick with it? 100% every day? I don't think so. But I definitely will choose to eat vegan whenever possible. Most dairy-free subtitutes are here to stay: nutritional yeast instead of cheap-ass cheese in foods (lasagna, burritos, etc), coconut or soy milk "yogurt" and ice "cream", almond milk, etc.
Cheese - yes, they will be introduced back into my diet, but as something that is featured, not thrown in. If I am going to eat cheese I am going to eat GOOD cheese and I am going to ENJOY it. Blue cheese, goat's mil cheese, artisan cheeses that are all rennet-free: these are what I want. Cracker Barrel - peace out.
Eggs - yes, but again in moderation and as a featured food, not an ingredient. I know now that baking is easy without eggs so why waste them in baked goods? I would much rather have them scrambled, poached, or prepared in a way that I actually get to taste and enjoy them. And yes - I will be going back to my egg lady :)
That's it! Tomorrow I get to cross off my first, FULLY COMPLETED goal!
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Nutritional Yeast canz be Cheeze?
Just a quick little update for you kiddos.
Dinner Wednesday night was vegan lasagna. I missed class so I could stay home and do homework (yeah...makes sense, right?) and I decided since I was home I wanted something hearty, baked, and nom-tastic. Especially considering that last night all I had for dinner was a vegan PB Nanaimo Bar.
So I surveyed my kitchen and decided on Lasagna. I have been curious about the nutritional yeast I got in my vegan swap package so I decided to make a cheese sauce to mix in to the lasagna. The recipe I used ended up going something like this:
Dinner Wednesday night was vegan lasagna. I missed class so I could stay home and do homework (yeah...makes sense, right?) and I decided since I was home I wanted something hearty, baked, and nom-tastic. Especially considering that last night all I had for dinner was a vegan PB Nanaimo Bar.
So I surveyed my kitchen and decided on Lasagna. I have been curious about the nutritional yeast I got in my vegan swap package so I decided to make a cheese sauce to mix in to the lasagna. The recipe I used ended up going something like this:
- Put a spoonful of Earth Balance margarine in a pot and melt it.
- Mix in 3/4 cup of unsweetened almond milk and a spoonful of flour to thicken. Whisk.
- Dump in 1/2 cup+ of nutritional yeast.
- Pinch of basil, oregano, thyme. Stir.
- Layer cooked noodles, thawed chopped spinach from a forgotten time that you found in the freezer, frozen veggies (I used a stir fry mix) and tomato sauce in pan.
- Pour cheese sauce over it.
- Sprinkle daiya cheese on top
- Bake at 350 until it is all hot.
- Eat.
- Get seconds and eat again
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Before |
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About to be nom'd |
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Vegan Food Swap - The Haul!
I had mentioned before that I was participating in a vegan food swap this month, in honour of Vegtober and my vegan-goal. Well, I arrived home today and found my package waiting for me!
First, it must be said that I could not have be paired with a more enthusiastic partner. Sarina, whose blog Earth Given Kitchen is an AMAZING resource of eating inspiration and recipes, was excited to learn about my Vegan-month and decided to theme my goodies as things that would make me want to STAY vegan. So I knew it was going to be awesome.
Well, she did an AMAZING job. I received:
First, it must be said that I could not have be paired with a more enthusiastic partner. Sarina, whose blog Earth Given Kitchen is an AMAZING resource of eating inspiration and recipes, was excited to learn about my Vegan-month and decided to theme my goodies as things that would make me want to STAY vegan. So I knew it was going to be awesome.
Well, she did an AMAZING job. I received:
- Gingersnaps - with an great recipe to turn them into a graham-style pie crust
- Green-Vibrance - for a morning health boost
- HOMEMADE chocolate-pear granola!!!! (I am munching it as I type...so good!)
- Hemp hearts - with some ideas to incorporate them into various recipes
- Camino Almond Butter chocolate bar - which was eaten immediately (and therefore not pictured)
- Nutritional Yeast - with lots of suggestions on how to use it
- Assorted Teas
- A lovely note complete with a photo of my not-so-secret crush, Jason Segel. A million bonus points!!!!!
Seriously - what a lovely, well rounded and DELICIOUS box of treats! I have decided to use the Green-Vibrance, Hemp Hearts, and Nutritional Yeast in recipes that she suggested so that I can let my package reach its full potential. That means that tomorrow I'm going to have the GV in a breakfast smoothie (can't wait!), Wednesday I'm making hummus with the Hemp Hearts, and Friday night, the grand finale, will be my first ever nutritional yeast experience with homemade vegan Mac and "Cheese" - Exciting!
A HUGE thank you to Sarina for the thoughtful, delicious, and diverse package of goodies. I am definitely going to participate again next month in the vegan swap! Will I stay vegan? That, folks, is the subject of a future post...
A HUGE thank you to Sarina for the thoughtful, delicious, and diverse package of goodies. I am definitely going to participate again next month in the vegan swap! Will I stay vegan? That, folks, is the subject of a future post...
Labels:
cooking,
diet,
vegan,
vegan food swap,
vegetarian,
vegtober
Monday, October 15, 2012
Vegan Dinner
Today has been one of those days. No, not one of THOSE days, one of the other kind - it has been completely wonderful. Work was awesome, and then I had the most amazing evening with a friend discussing life-stuff. I just feel like I am firmly in the right place. Things are moving a little more slowly on the career-front than I would like, but I am in a really good place otherwise. It is pretty awesome.
Then I got home tonight and decided to try out the recipe for vegan burritos that a friend had sent me. Hollllllllllllllly they were GOOD. These are definitely going into the permanent rotation. And surprisingly fast! I used the Carrie-style of cooking which is best described as "throw stuff together without measuring, stir, and eat" and it worked marvelously! Check it out:
Sooooo tasty. And filling. And healthy. I also added some vegan cheddar cheese into the burrito filling, and as I expected it was MUCH better in something that taking a leading role. It was yumtastic. Can't wait to eat it again for lunch tomorrow!
Then I got home tonight and decided to try out the recipe for vegan burritos that a friend had sent me. Hollllllllllllllly they were GOOD. These are definitely going into the permanent rotation. And surprisingly fast! I used the Carrie-style of cooking which is best described as "throw stuff together without measuring, stir, and eat" and it worked marvelously! Check it out:
Lime-cilantro rice, black bean and corn burrito filling, guacamole |
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Vegan baking
So last night I stopped by the grocery store on my way home to pick up ingrediants for Lara bars (more on that in a bit). While at the store I found myself looking at the vegan cheese. I have yet to really try many vegan substitutes, not just because I'm scared to (I am a little scared of them) but also because based on my experience with vegetarian meat substitutes they just aren't the same as the real thing. Meat eaters will try veggie burgers or veggie "chicken" nuggets expecting them to taste the same and when they don't often times the substitute it written off as "not good" when really, if viewed for what it is and not what it is trying to be, it is pretty good. Does that make sense? So I didn't want to try vegan cheese because I knew it would be expecting cheese, and when it failed to be exactly like cheese I would think it was gross and never go near it again. (The other reason I've been avoiding it is that on a whole I think "fake" foods should be eaten in moderation and it is a better plan to go with whole, real food as often as possible.)
ANYWAY. I figured I should at least try it, so I picked up a package of "mozzarella" and decided to make some pizza.
I whipped up a dough (does anyone have a REALLY GOOD pizza dough recipe? Mine is fine, but nothing spectacular) and got ready to let the vegan pizza experiment begin.
Then I realized I had no veggies in the house because they all went into the failed stuffed peppers. My solution - cut up the leftover peppers (of which there were many) and throw those on the pizza.
In the end it looked enough like pizza for me to feel okay with this. And then it was time for the "cheese"
I'm clearly excited.
The verdict? It looked like pizza and it mostly tasted like pizza. As I expected the vegan cheese wasn't BAD but it certainly wasn't cheese. It tasted mostly like cheese-whiz and so that was pretty icky. But I can see it being better IN something than ON it, maybe burritos or something like that.
My other vegan food experiment last night was to make some Lara bars. So while my dough was rising I pulled out my food processor. I am a BIG fan of these things and I have been buying them more now that I have to go from work to school with no time for a proper dinner until 10:30pm. The problem is that they are a little on the pricey side. So I did a quick internet search and found some really simple recipes. I decided to try this one, but also copied quite a few from Chocolate Cover Katie's collection.
As is always the case when I cook, the recipe quickly flew out the window. I processed down about half my package of dates, along with some water to soften them up. Then I threw in about 125g of salted cashews (half the package), some brown rice syrup (1/4 cup?), some vanilla (2 tsp?), a dollop of natural peanut butter (1/2 cup?), and a handful of almonds. All that got processed into a paste and then shaped into bars.
Guys. They are perfect. Identical in taste to something you would buy as a Lara bar - not too sweet, not too nutty, just delicious and healthy. I am pretty excited.
ANYWAY. I figured I should at least try it, so I picked up a package of "mozzarella" and decided to make some pizza.
I whipped up a dough (does anyone have a REALLY GOOD pizza dough recipe? Mine is fine, but nothing spectacular) and got ready to let the vegan pizza experiment begin.
I'm clearly excited.
The verdict? It looked like pizza and it mostly tasted like pizza. As I expected the vegan cheese wasn't BAD but it certainly wasn't cheese. It tasted mostly like cheese-whiz and so that was pretty icky. But I can see it being better IN something than ON it, maybe burritos or something like that.
My other vegan food experiment last night was to make some Lara bars. So while my dough was rising I pulled out my food processor. I am a BIG fan of these things and I have been buying them more now that I have to go from work to school with no time for a proper dinner until 10:30pm. The problem is that they are a little on the pricey side. So I did a quick internet search and found some really simple recipes. I decided to try this one, but also copied quite a few from Chocolate Cover Katie's collection.
As is always the case when I cook, the recipe quickly flew out the window. I processed down about half my package of dates, along with some water to soften them up. Then I threw in about 125g of salted cashews (half the package), some brown rice syrup (1/4 cup?), some vanilla (2 tsp?), a dollop of natural peanut butter (1/2 cup?), and a handful of almonds. All that got processed into a paste and then shaped into bars.
Guys. They are perfect. Identical in taste to something you would buy as a Lara bar - not too sweet, not too nutty, just delicious and healthy. I am pretty excited.
So good! So over all I think my night of vegan cooking/baking went pretty well!
Monday, October 8, 2012
Makeover Makeover
First of all, Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you all had a great day.
So after my book making DIY afternoon at Hanji on Saturday, I made my way home via Home Depot and arrived paint in tow. I decided that it was time to turn my ugly bookshelves into something I could actually stand to look at. As previously posted, I like the paper-painted look, so I used a variation of that and whipped up something. I think I did a pretty good job! Check it out:
So after my book making DIY afternoon at Hanji on Saturday, I made my way home via Home Depot and arrived paint in tow. I decided that it was time to turn my ugly bookshelves into something I could actually stand to look at. As previously posted, I like the paper-painted look, so I used a variation of that and whipped up something. I think I did a pretty good job! Check it out:
Primed, painted and pasted some decorative paper on the back.
Everything back in place - looks nice, no? (Ignore the dining room chairs.)
Next to the drawers that I found on the side of the road. Quick paint job and some new hardware made a huge difference. Painted these in "Forest Glen" - the picture doesn't really do the colour justice.
Primed, painted, and a change of hardware. Not bad.
happy in its new home.
I also did my night stands, but I think I will wait to reveal those unti my bed frame is also done.
Besides, I'm exhausta-pooped from making dinner all day. It was great though! With the exception of the stuffed peppers, which were not great/done on time (stupid lying recipe!) But hopefully my homemade brown bread rolls made up for it.
And the highlight of the meal? This vegan, gluten-free pumpkin pie. Pecan crust, delicious pumpkin filling. And look how pretty!!!!!
I used this recipe from Oh She Glows - the pecan crust and classic filling. Delish! (And so pretty).
It was a great night with friends, even if the food wasn't spectacular (stupid lying stuffed pepper recipe - seriously! Not cool!) I haven't had people over really at all since my break up, so it was nice to have other people around in my space. I think I was a little starved for socialization.
I'm super pleased with how this weekend went - I got a lot done around the house and made some yummy food, had friends over and was reminded of all the things I have to be thankful for.
Labels:
craft,
DIY,
thanksgiving,
vegan,
vegetarian,
vegtober
Saturday, October 6, 2012
Weekend!
Hey everyone! I am going to take the weekend off from blogging here, but don't worry - there is lots of blog-worthy things in the works. A few teasers...
- My first two furniture makeover projects - I bought paint, paper, and new hardware so I'm going to see what I can do. I will do my best to take pictures throughout, but this is less a "how to" and more a "can I?" kind of thing.
- Nerd alert! I'm cataloguing my library. Yes, I'm going to write about it.
- Thanksgiving is this weekend and I'm cooking a vegan feast.
- I have something coming in the mail to tell you about...
- Two things coming in the mail actually! Exciting!
- I made something this weekend. I'll be blogging about it tonight at my other blog. Check it out out.
Thanks all. My weekend will be spent writing, reading, painting, and watching Freaks and Geeks on Netflix, because I love Jason Segel.
Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!!!
Labels:
DIY,
goals,
reading,
thanksgiving,
vegan,
vegetarian,
vegtober
Monday, October 1, 2012
I've become that girl on the subway... |
If you thought my first #Vegtober dinner would be fancy, you forgot that I never get home before 8:30pm. Sandwich with veggie meat, veganaise, and guacamole. Delish. |
Happy Vegtober!!
I also ate my last non-vegan meal last night, which may or may not have included an entire package of goat cheese. Overall, I'm really excited about this month. I don't think it will be hard, but mostly that it will definitely be inconvenient (meeting friends for meals, finding foods while I'm out, etc.)
I am continuing to collect vegan recipes, and if you have one please share it! If you share it here you can enter a silly little contest to win an awesome book (see below). For those who commented last night, the contest just opened TODAY so comment again so you can win :)
Oh - happy electric shock update: I feel SO MUCH BETTER!
And last call for October birthdays - if you want a card, speak now!
That is it for today. Make sure you enter the contest (mostly because I want your recipes). Also check out Erin's blog - she is joining me in the #Vegtober challenge and I can't wait to see/try some of her recipes.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Contest! With Prize!!!!
You know what my blog hasn't done yet? Had a contest.
So Imma have one! Here are the deets:
a Rafflecopter giveaway
So Imma have one! Here are the deets:
- Post a comment below with your favouite VEGAN recipe - get an entry
- Tweet about my awesome #vegtober project and your contribution to it - get an entry (you can do this every day)
Midway through #Vegtober I will randomly draw a winner. What could you win??
How about this copy of Inside by Alix Ohlin?!
It was the only book this year nominated for both the Rogers Writers' Trust AND longlisted for the Giller prize, so you know it is gonna be good!
And just to spice it up I will make you a pretty little card to go with it. All I'm looking for are some yummy vegan treats, so help me out, yo!
Blogger Fail / September Wrap up
Yeees, I have been neglectful. What can I say? Real life got in the way. Real life like work, school, more work, errands, and work (again).
Things are trucking along though. For those of you reading this via Facebook, you are likely aware of my nutty electric shock injury (gas stove ignitor got me and messed up some muscles in my neck. It hurts. I slept for 15 hours last night). That has been a real bummer. I made a trip to Ikea yesterday to puck up some "make my apartment a home" stuff and had to leave in a hurry because I was in so much pain. Even now, almost 48 hours after the initial injury, I am hurtin' - my head is in a permanent tilt to the left, which sucks but makes me seem like a more caring, sympathetic person I think :) Before you tell me to go to the doctor, I am going to. Tomorrow.
Right - to the wrap up:
Things are trucking along though. For those of you reading this via Facebook, you are likely aware of my nutty electric shock injury (gas stove ignitor got me and messed up some muscles in my neck. It hurts. I slept for 15 hours last night). That has been a real bummer. I made a trip to Ikea yesterday to puck up some "make my apartment a home" stuff and had to leave in a hurry because I was in so much pain. Even now, almost 48 hours after the initial injury, I am hurtin' - my head is in a permanent tilt to the left, which sucks but makes me seem like a more caring, sympathetic person I think :) Before you tell me to go to the doctor, I am going to. Tomorrow.
Right - to the wrap up:
- Running has been put on hold. I REALLY want to start again in October but between my doctor telling me to pull back and now not being able to turn my head, I may have to be a little patient on this.
- Vegan month starts TOMORROW!!!! I have done a bunch of research, have some recipes in waiting, and I've pretty much indulged all my dairy loves over the past week, so I'm ready to go! Expect to see a lot of pictures of food over the next month. The highlight? Cooking my own completely vegan Thanksgiving dinner next weekend. Gulp!
- Quit my Job - not yet. Apps and skill development in progress.
- No drinking - not a problem. (side note: the Bookstravaganza event I went to earlier this month was open bar - OPEN BAR! That one kind of stung)
- Knitting - it is really coming along! Slowly, but surely. Check out my scarf progress (at bottom)
- Make a quilt - still trying to find a sewing machine. I think Santa may bring one for me...
- Volunteer - putting this one off until later in the year.
- Apartment decoration - doing okay. Got shelves (still need to be painted) and have worked on my work area a lot (photos below). I really want to tackle the kitchen organization next and then once my sewing machine and I meet, there will be a lot of textile work.
- Yard Sale - in spring
- Vancouver - no progress
- Print 20 photos per month - On my way to print these today! I'll post a photo of the photos later. The thing that I learned this month about this one is that if I want to print photos of things, I need to TAKE photos of things. So events like dinners with friends, markets, outdoor festivals, etc - take pictures of things that I will want to keep.
- Dinner Party - scheduled for later in the year
- Chicago - planned for later
- Surprise Party - I can't write about that anymore...
- Cards for B-days/Anniversaries - Yeah. I sucked up this one this month. Going to make a point of getting on top of October.
- Mail a letter - sending it today!
- Get a Dog - Need to think of something new for this one...
- Go to Dentist - scheduled for later
- Retirement Fund - totally forgot about this one. Shit.
- Book/movie/album recommendations from family - they are slowly coming in! I'm excited to get started
- Journaling - I may amend this one to journaling specific days. Maintaining this blog daily as well as trying to work on my other one is a big time commitment. So I may need to cut back on this one and focus more on the book blog. Don't worry, you will you still get to hear all about this exciting stuff (</sarcasm>)
- Rock Climbing - I have that scheduled for a particular month. I can't remember which one or find my yearly schedule...I should get on that.
- Birthday date - check!
- Poetry reading/book event/concert - went to Bookstravaganza all myself!
- ass-kicking glass - scheduled
- Call my sisters - going really well. It is hard to schedule with them but we are talking a lot more.
- Beginners art class - I found a book binding workshop yesterday! So I am going to do that, but I also want to find an actually weekly class that runs for awhile.
- Boston - scheduled
- Credit Card - app sent in. Waiting.
- Museum memberships - going to get these in October
So there you go! I think I'm doing pretty well, all things considering.
Now enjoy some photos...
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Labels:
books,
bookstravaganza,
DIY,
drinking,
goals,
job search,
knitting,
running,
stamps,
vegan,
vegetarian
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Vegan-izing (Not a Lecture! I promise!)
I was speaking to someone about the vegan project I'm embarking on next month and it got me excited to write about it here.
I was asked what motivated me to make try out veganism after 16 years of sitting comfortably in my state of vegetarianism. It does seem odd, to me anyway, that I would decide to eliminate one animal product from my diet but not any others. Why the divide? What was the difference?
To answer this question I first need to tell a little story about how I became a vegetarian in the first place. If you did the math right, you figured out that I was 13 when I made this lifestyle choice. To say I "made a lifestyle choice" would be a pretty impressive stretch. I was 13. I didn't make lifestyle choices. I am more than willing to admit that at that age I enthusiastically followed trends. I liked what my friends liked and what my demi-god older sister liked (though I would never admit this at the time). So when my friends all decided to declare that they were VEGETARIANS!!! I was more than happy to say "me too!"
So as you can imagine I didn't stop to think about why I should or shouldn't be a vegetarian in that moment, I just did it. I stopped eating meat. I kept at it after the near-immediate realization my mother hated it; I was at the time close to 5 10" and barely 100 pounds soaking wet, the last thing she wanted was for me to stop eating anything. But it stuck.
Since then I have obviously found many reasons to choose this lifestyle - one doesn't stick with something for 16 years just to piss their mom off (at least I don't...I love my mom!) I have since learned a lot about how meat is produced and many of the environmental, social, ethical, and health impacts that this production can have. It has become clear to me that meat is something that I am simply not comfortable eating.
I often get defensive when talking to meat-eaters about my choices when they claim they could never give up meat because "it tastes so good" or they would "miss it too much." I feel like the pleasure of a food shouldn't nullify the negative impacts of its production. And 99% of the time I don't feel deprived of anything by not eating meat. It doesn't have to be about not eating something and can easily be reframed as just eating different things. And I have maintained for a long time that you don't have to give up meat; reducing consumption can drastically impact the many of the negative impacts of meat production, as well as increase your over all level of health. It doesn't have to be hard!
The problem is that dairy and egg production is just as bad. And slowly, in the past 5 years or so, I have moved towards a more vegan diet. Milk was the first to go, and my consumption of dairy in general dropped dramatically - yogurt, cheese, ice cream, etc. Once you let your body show you just how lactose intolerant it really is, you very quickly learn to watch what you eat. More recently eggs have been what I have been hung up on, until I found Eggy Weggs which brings local, happily-raised chicken-laid eggs to my neighbourhood. But still, this move to veganism feels natural in a lot of ways.
The ironic part is that those meat-eater arguments up there are the exact thoughts that have kept me from really giving veganism an honest attempt. Give up goat cheese?! Blue cheese?! But where will I eat? How will I bake? It is going to be such an inconvenience! Etc. etc.
So I just decided to do it. To put my mouth where my...mouth is? That's not right, but you get the point. And I don't know what the end result will be. I may decide to go back to buying my hippy eggs and eating cheese, I may not. But I do think that I owe it to myself to see what my vegan life would look like and what kind of changes it brings about. So am I bummed about giving up goat cheese for a month? Totally. Will it suck? Not at all. I am excited for the challenges of what is sure to be a fun and eye-opening experiment.
I was asked what motivated me to make try out veganism after 16 years of sitting comfortably in my state of vegetarianism. It does seem odd, to me anyway, that I would decide to eliminate one animal product from my diet but not any others. Why the divide? What was the difference?
To answer this question I first need to tell a little story about how I became a vegetarian in the first place. If you did the math right, you figured out that I was 13 when I made this lifestyle choice. To say I "made a lifestyle choice" would be a pretty impressive stretch. I was 13. I didn't make lifestyle choices. I am more than willing to admit that at that age I enthusiastically followed trends. I liked what my friends liked and what my demi-god older sister liked (though I would never admit this at the time). So when my friends all decided to declare that they were VEGETARIANS!!! I was more than happy to say "me too!"
So as you can imagine I didn't stop to think about why I should or shouldn't be a vegetarian in that moment, I just did it. I stopped eating meat. I kept at it after the near-immediate realization my mother hated it; I was at the time close to 5 10" and barely 100 pounds soaking wet, the last thing she wanted was for me to stop eating anything. But it stuck.
Since then I have obviously found many reasons to choose this lifestyle - one doesn't stick with something for 16 years just to piss their mom off (at least I don't...I love my mom!) I have since learned a lot about how meat is produced and many of the environmental, social, ethical, and health impacts that this production can have. It has become clear to me that meat is something that I am simply not comfortable eating.
I often get defensive when talking to meat-eaters about my choices when they claim they could never give up meat because "it tastes so good" or they would "miss it too much." I feel like the pleasure of a food shouldn't nullify the negative impacts of its production. And 99% of the time I don't feel deprived of anything by not eating meat. It doesn't have to be about not eating something and can easily be reframed as just eating different things. And I have maintained for a long time that you don't have to give up meat; reducing consumption can drastically impact the many of the negative impacts of meat production, as well as increase your over all level of health. It doesn't have to be hard!
The problem is that dairy and egg production is just as bad. And slowly, in the past 5 years or so, I have moved towards a more vegan diet. Milk was the first to go, and my consumption of dairy in general dropped dramatically - yogurt, cheese, ice cream, etc. Once you let your body show you just how lactose intolerant it really is, you very quickly learn to watch what you eat. More recently eggs have been what I have been hung up on, until I found Eggy Weggs which brings local, happily-raised chicken-laid eggs to my neighbourhood. But still, this move to veganism feels natural in a lot of ways.
The ironic part is that those meat-eater arguments up there are the exact thoughts that have kept me from really giving veganism an honest attempt. Give up goat cheese?! Blue cheese?! But where will I eat? How will I bake? It is going to be such an inconvenience! Etc. etc.
So I just decided to do it. To put my mouth where my...mouth is? That's not right, but you get the point. And I don't know what the end result will be. I may decide to go back to buying my hippy eggs and eating cheese, I may not. But I do think that I owe it to myself to see what my vegan life would look like and what kind of changes it brings about. So am I bummed about giving up goat cheese for a month? Totally. Will it suck? Not at all. I am excited for the challenges of what is sure to be a fun and eye-opening experiment.
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