Yesterday was world Vegan Day, it’s an event that usually passes me by unnoticed but this year is different. This year I have been going through something of a falling out with meat and dairy. Originally for health reasons, turns out they both do the same things to my digestion as gluten (possibly too much information there, sorry). Also there’s lots of research out there about the negative impact of dairy products on hormone regulation and with the issues I’ve been having of late it seemed sensible to test that out a bit. Finally, because of the gluten thing, I know just how much a change in diet can positively impact your health and mood. It is just unbelievable so I’m probably a bit more open to giving things a try than most.
But then more recently I found out about mass dairy farms and immediately wished that I hadn’t. It tipped me over the edge and I started giving serious thought to trying to go properly Vegan. I’m not (I am sure you are all relieved to hear) going to go on about it here though. I totally get that between the threat of nuclear obliteration from North Korea and the introduction of daily spelling lists from school a bit closer to home, no one has time for that. Still with it being Vegan day and all I though I’d have a bit of a chat about my journey so far.
I started out hugely sceptical. I assumed that I would need to trade all our clothes in for hemp home-made alternatives and would essentially never be able to eat anything normal ever again. This was made worse by a visit to a Vegan fair on a visit to Lichfield one weekend. The fair boasted all sorts of “street food” and lunch options. However, by the time I’d convinced MrP we should try the food there (only achieved by the promise of a McDonalds afterwards if he didn’t like it) practically everything was gone. I ended up with a salad that tasted like something you might find in the back of my fridge, just before I’ve got round to clearing it all out. I did discover Chilli Cheese, which is a ball of something that cost £5 and tasted nothing like cheese, it was lovely and strange and once it was gone I thought no more about it.
Well, that is until I got a cook book by Nick Knowles (yes that Nick Knowles from DIY SOS, I know, who’d have thought he was Vegan right?). It had some really nice recipes that look like normal food. He also suggested, if you were feeling overwhelmed with the idea of being fully Vegan, to take a kind of “flexitarian” approach. This meant just working out what works for you, whether that’s eating all Vegan at home and not when you’re out or just eating mainly Vegan most of the time. It was all acceptable, because at the end of the day who cares? No one is out there policing what you eat or making a decision about if you are being Vegan enough. This was an approach I thought I could work with!! My flexitarian approach looks a bit like this; working on being fully vegan at home, but not all at once so finding plant based alternatives one thing at a time. Out of the house anything goes.
So far I’ve discovered loads of things are Vegan, loads of really normal things too; chips, pasta, rice, jacket potatoes, noodles and crisps, to name a few. I’m currently working through the dairy list, cheese is a bit of a challenge. But then tea was and in absence of anything else tasting normal in it I now just take it black. Coffee, milk, margarine and yoghurts are done. There are some really nice plant based alternatives that work really well. I’ve also found lots of plant based alternatives for our staple meals, like bolognaise, chilli and sausages so far so good. Cakes have thrown me a bit but I have just had the dawning realisation that butter is essentially fat. Pretty much any other alternative can be used for baking and cooking, so that’s next.
The latest stumbling block I’ve hit is chocolate and that’s a tough one. I’m not sure how to get around it? I just don’t really like dark chocolate, or haven’t found one I like yet. Having said that wine is apparently passed through fish guts at some point in being made (who knew??). I’m not sure what’s going to happen with that. Also I don’t think I’m ever going to manage to give up eggs. But I’m trying not to think about those just yet or look to far ahead. I just get overwhelmed and feel the need to dress in hemp again.
Anyway, who cares, I am enjoying trying new foods and new recipes. I am thinking a bit more about what I’m eating and where it comes from, which has to be a good thing. The kids have barely noticed. They are refusing vegan offerings with the same gusto they refused meat based offerings. Which in some way is strangely comforting. MrP does no cooking or shopping at home so has been very carefully supportive of all the changes, whilst ensuring he gets a burger in some form or another at least once a week out of the house.
So if you have any advice or suggestions for plant based alternatives, Vegan or otherwise, let me know and if you see me wandering the streets with a burger in one hand and Dairy Milk in the other remember 1) I’m a flexitarian and can eat anything I like out of the house and 2) at that moment it was that or the hemp.
Females Forming Sentences 