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 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.
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