Me & Veganism

the wolf is in the wrong.....

but this is acceptable? help me out here!

Although I’m not the biggest animal lover (animals actually make me quite nervous!) I’ve always been a sensitive person and the idea of eating animals always made me uncomfortable from as long as I can remember.  

When visiting farms on school trips from primary school, I always found the idea of farmers and shepherds caring for their animals as if they’re family, only to then kill them for food totally strange, akin to eating one’s own pet or the witch in Hansel & Gretel who pretends to offer refuge to the children when really she plans to eat them.  I never understood why in children’s’ stories the wolf would always be depicted as ‘big and bad’ for wanting to eat other animals but it was supposed to be ok for humans to do so.

I also never liked the idea of bringing something to life for the purpose of killing it. But it appeared to be the ‘done thing’ & there was mention of animal sacrifice in God’s name in the Bible after all so I always wondered if I was just strange for feeling this way.*

*I have since discovered there is such a thing as an ‘empath’ or ‘highly sensitive person’, which is basically the opposite personality type to a psychopath [or sociopath if you’re American].  I totally am one! for more on this see my blog:
 http://samanthathesanevegan.blogspot.co.uk
/2015/05/depression-part-2-food-mood-and.html

I was brought up on a typical British meat and potatoes diet & thought I despised all vegetables. What vegetarians ate was a complete mystery to me.  Through friends, I started to discover different ways vegetables could be prepared through trying different ethnic cuisines such as Chinese and Indian.  At the age of 16 I read a book about factory farming and discovered how horrific it was and also the hidden cruelty of the egg and dairy industries and from then on I knew I wanted to be vegan. Being a child I had no control over what food I got to eat at home but started to choose vegetarian food at school dinners.  I was still highly unfamiliar with vegetarian food on the whole and knew there was no point trying to go vegetarian if I didn’t know what I was doing. As a result I began to push the thoughts of factory farming to the back of my mind, telling myself I would go vegetarian when I went to university. 

When I did go to university I lived in catered accommodation in my first year and the vegetarian options were often really poor.  I also found that when eating out the vegetarian options were usually full of cheese which I didn’t like the taste of and was ethically at least as bad as meat. Because of this and wanting to conform, for a while I found myself slipping back into eating meat sometimes out of my own choice.  In my second year I lived in a house share and so finally had a kitchen but I really didn’t know how to cook at all & didn’t know any vegetarians who could show me the way.  As a nutritional therapy student now, looking back I am appalled at how I used to eat! Oven chips, instant noodles, bagels + very few fresh vegetables.  Back then I thought I was being good because I was at least eating fruit and drinking fruit juice!  I didn’t know how to replace the protein in meat but I started to drink soya milk & I began to venture into the vegetarian sections of supermarkets trying out different meat alternatives. 

2004: Finally meat free! But not healthy! 

I eventually went vegetarian at the age of 20 in my third year of university when I thought I knew enough meals to make although at the time I was highly reliant on processed meat substitutes and did not eat anything like enough vegetables. When I moved back in with my parents after university I was still eating some eggs and dairy.  I had never liked the taste of eggs and never bought them myself but ate them in the form of cakes and quorn products that my mother would buy for me. Having had a milk allergy and lactose intolerance as a child, dairy products had never been a major part of my diet but I did build up a tolerance to it after a while and ate it sometimes in the form of desserts, snacks and pizza.  Although I was aware of the cruelty of the egg and dairy industries I wasn’t ready to make the leap and my parents were already upset that I’d basically rejected most of the food I was brought up on.  But I continued to gradually try new foods and tried to obtain information about the vegan diet from animal charities. 

It’s hard to pinpoint the first time I tried going vegan but around the age of 22 I met another vegan girl for the first time and this inspired me to give it a go. I never found it particularly difficult taste-wise, as I have never really liked cheese or eggs but inconvenience, comfort eating, going on holiday and wanting not to be difficult at other people’s houses have always been my pitfalls.  So I’m afraid to say that if veganism is a marriage, I’ve been an incredibly unfaithful spouse and had many affairs with cake, chocolate, desserts and sometimes pizza.

The book ‘Vegan Freak, being vegan in a non-vegan world’ by Torres & Torres is great but it comes down pretty hard on half-arsed vegetarian/vegans like I was for so long.  I understand that the word ‘vegan’ should not be misused but not being able to stick to veganism is not always to do with lack of willingness to give up certain foods.  Vegans face constant criticism and ridicule and if you’re someone with low self-confidence it is difficult to be surrounded by the 99% of people who do consume animal products.  You can feel really alienated and different, which is especially hard for those who, like me, were bullied or never fitted in at school.  

I think that because the animal charities feel so strongly about animal rights they are afraid of emphasising the reality of how impractical being vegan can sometimes be.  Unless you work in central London or another vegan-friendly big city, often for lunch there will be practically nothing that resembles a proper, balanced meal you can have for lunch and so you can end up: a) spending lots of time preparing food which is difficult for people with very busy lives or b) eating something like hummus & pitta bread or peanut butter sandwiches, which is not ideal.

Also, when meeting for example, a partner’s family for the first time it’s hard to make a good impression when you say you can’t eat any of the food they have made, which is a big deal in some cultures. When you don’t know other people who are vegan it can be difficult to keep up the motivation to stick to the diet. In short, the transition can be lengthy and challenging. That being said, choices for vegans are steadily improving, I absolutely love food and certainly don’t see veganism as puritanical in the slightest!

I have since started to attend London vegan meet-ups and changed my attitude towards ‘being difficult’ at other people’s houses. On my nutrition course there are many people on diets that differ strongly from the typical British diet for example, paleo & gluten-free diets. Many people have to eat a special diet because of allergies, diabetes, weight problems, religion or other reasons and there are plenty of people who are difficult just out of pure fussiness.  Given that there are strong ethical and environmental reasons for veganism and whilst there are some foods I don’t like, there is still a very broad range of foods and flavours I do like (Chinese, Thai, Japanese, Indian, Middle Eastern, Italian, Spanish Tapas, Mediterranean food in general, Caribbean, Mexican, Latin American) I don’t see why I should feel that I am ‘being difficult!’

My 10 year vegetarian anniversary will be in November and now that I have the knowledge and correct attitude, I aim to give veganism the commitment it deserves.

Mauritian gateaux piments mmmmm