the road to vegan

Guest Post for Manna by Kip, the Messy Vegetarian Cook

Vegetarianism hit me fast and hard at the age of twelve. I was attending an open day at the Maryland Department of Agriculture when it happened: whilst chewing on a sample of fish, I turned around only to come face to face with its brethren in a tank. I spit the fish into a serviette and have never since conceived of animals as a source of food.

It was at age 29 I realised why people became vegan. I felt bombarded with information which begged me to change my diet; my father randomly explaining to my mother the specifics of dairy manufacturing (really, I'd never thought about it), the sudden acquisition of vegan friends, the realisation of human rights implications in relation to farming animals... It was information overload.

Desperate to source information to prove the possibilities of what I considered to be a humane vegetarian diet, I spent weeks in sorrow when I found nothing. How could I give up cheese? I was devastated.

But then I remembered something. I'd already spent years of persuading people I ate a more varied diet as a vegetarian than I ever did eating meat. I knew at that point the same would go for adopting a vegan diet. Doors don't close when you eliminate something from your life because, as hard as it is to realise initially, being forced to seek out new grub can only add to your cooking repertoire.

That's now my mantra, and I'm now proud of the fact that I can now go weeks, even months without repeating the same meal twice. My kitchen has become my own personal chemistry lab. I'm at the point now where I see a meat-centric recipe and automatically imagine how it could be 'veganised.' I've learned to make my own soy milk and tofu, craft dairy-free ice-cream that goes down a treat with the most voracious of milk fans, and to bake. Oh my goodness, the baking. Never in the history of my life have I encountered as many delicious baked goods since veganism hit me.

I enjoy the challenge of convincing people of my conquests, and I feel like the facts have won over many a member of the opposition. My mother is now vegetarian and my husband takes pleasure in a predominantly vegan diet. I've even spotted veggie mince in my very omnivorous mother-in-law's freezer!

Going out to eat? Hardly a problem with the proliferation of outstanding vegetarian restaurants (like Manna)! Everyday it seems like the concept of animal-free seeps further and deeper into peoples' everyday manner of relating with the world. Ideas like meat free Monday have left restaurant menus with plenty of room for vegetarian choices and the boom in veggie alternatives urge an understanding that even the meat and two veg aficionado has alternatives.

The point to these words, to my own account, is this: while it may seem difficult to change, I believe it's within everyone's grasp to not only go without, but also enjoy a meat free diet. Why not give it a try, even if just a few day a week to start, just to prove to yourself it's possible? Who knows, you might learn something (and you might enjoy it)!