I am used to hearing from old vegetarians, that after many years they are now “almost vegetarian”, they just eat fish now or only eat organic chicken and beef. After 31 years of being a vegetarian I am changing my diet- I have moved on to being a vegan.
When I first went vegetarian at 15 I had a friend who was a vegan and it just seemed like a step too far. I didn't think I would ever have the discipline to follow a vegan diet. When I first heard of Meat Free Mondays a few years ago I looked at it smugly thinking I am already doing my fair share for the planet. I thought about going vegan on a Monday and by doing so I was reminded just how much dairy I consume on a daily basis. To go vegan one day a week I had to prepare to cut out milk, butter, cheese and eggs.
My reasons for going vegan are the same reasons I became a vegetarian all these years ago. I am concerned about the treatment of animals in the meat industry and I am concerned about the environmental destruction which is carried out to enable the world to eat cheap meat. Being a vegetarian I always secretly felt guilty about drinking milk but where do you draw the line? Over the past couple of years I have had a number of conversations with a friend, Simon, who I meet at environmental events and festivals. He tried to convince me to take the next step and go vegan by reminding me of everything I already knew about the dairy industry. If Simon was a catalyst the tipping point for me going vegan has to be meeting my girlfriend who I knew had been a vegan for many years. I decided at first to become a stricter vegetarian and cut out milk from my diet but once I cut out milk and cheese the only thing left was eggs, so why not go the whole way?
On my vegan Monday’s I had bought in soya milk but on becoming a vegan I started to drink Oat milk in my coffee and tea. If I had discovered oat milk years ago I might have became a vegan earlier. In hot drinks it is no substitute for milk, I actually prefer it as it tastes a bit creamier. Oats grown in the UK are more sustainable than imported soya, so it doesn’t just taste better it is better for the planet as well.
Becoming a vegan has required me to restrict my diet but with planning I don’t really miss anything except some cheese and cakes. My waistline should have benefited from a reduction in cakes and biscuits, pastries and cookies but becoming vegan did not required me to cut out Irn-Bru and beer, my remaining guilty pleasures. If you need to look about for a restaurant that serves a variety of vegan food you will probably find that such a restaurant is probably a better place to be. Glasgow was recently voted the most vegan friendly city in Europe and Edinburgh has a number of good choices so there is no reason being a vegan should restrict eating out.
I shop less in supermarkets as there are more things I can’t eat than what I can. I have had to shop more in small independent wholefood shops and now buy more local food and I cook more from scratch. My cooking skills had to increase from a very low base and I can now cook more than my three basic dishes. I love pizza but haven't found a decent pizza without cheese in a local shop so I have made my own with different flavours to offset the missing cheese. To date I have bought pizza bases so the next step is to make my own and make pizza from scratch.
If you are already a vegetarian why don’t you try being a vegan one day a week or simply reduce your milk and cheese consumption. It is not as restrictive as you would think.
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