Less Moo, More Mmmmmm

It's 2016 so unless you've been living under a rock thus far you'll have surely heard of veganism!  

Anyway I want to throw a disclaimed into this post right now in order to prevent you all from seeing the word vegan and automatically deciding to avoid this post like the plague...

Warning: cute pictures of animals throughout post

So disclaimer:  this is not a preachy vegan post that tears apart anyone who isn't vegan and aims to convert those to the dairy free side of life.  Also I want to put it out there that I am currently not even a vegan myself.

Okay so now we have that part out of the way we can continue merrily along.  So as I was saying, pretty much everyone has heard of the term vegan.  Not everyone is completely clear on the terms and conditions that come along with signing yourself up to the vegan lifestyle though.  Basically they include:

• Not eating any animal products (Including meat, dairy, honey and eggs... and yes meat includes fish)
• Not using products that are tested on animals.
• Basically aiming to live a life that is as cruelty free as possible.

Around March time I decided to stop eating meat and become a vegetarian and then for a period of roughly a month during May-June I decided more is more, go hard or go home and adopted a vegan diet.  This post will highlight some of the key things I learned during the period of my life that I, somewhat unintentionally, dedicated to veganism.  

Starting Out: The Power Of Documentaries 

Okay so veganism was never something that I really considered until the end of March this year.  After seeing Ellie Goulding live and discovering that she was vegan an interest in veganism was sparked deep within my soul but ultimately this only clarified to me that I definitely wanted to stop eating meat.  Then I learned that a girl from my work was a vegan also and suddenly veganism seemed more realistic and accessible.  I did some reading and it all sounded good and well but ultimately having just lost meat, which was a fairly major part of my diet, I found that the motivation to lose cheese, chocolate and cake was just not there.  

This is when the documentaries came into play.  I have always found it extremely easy, often a little too easy, to connect with TV and film and so after discovering the pro-vegan documentary section of netflix I was enthralled.  I suddenly discovered the benefits that a vegan diet reaped for myself, the environment and animals. 

The main documentaries that I found both very enjoyable and informative were:

Documentaries are always fun

1. Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret 
2. Food Inc. 
3. Earthlings
4. Vegucated

 

U ok Annie's Boobs?
That smile isn't reaching your eyes

After watching these documentaries I have never been able to look at meat or animal products in the same way, I don't mean that in like a dramatic or lame way... it's just a fact.  They really left a lasting impression on me.  I think that regardless of your diet choice these are interesting documentaries to watch, shining a light on some of the secrets of the foodindustry (both the animal agriculture side of it and the vegetable side).  Earthlings not only changed the way I looked at animals and their produce as food options but also changed the way I look at animals in TV and film, most of my fave TV shows and movies have started an animal at some point and now I cant help but question the ethics of this... 

I also learned that veganism is technically the term given to living a cruelty free lifestyle (so no leather, no makeup or beauty products from companies that test on animals, not using animals for entertainment purposes etc) rather than just a diet (apparently eating a 'vegan diet' is actually just living off of a plant bases diet and does not qualify you to call yourself a vegan...I don't know though I ended up entering the vegan section of tumblr and it was all very scary and a place I don't know that I'd like to visit again, everyone was very angry, horse riding was viewed as a sin, non vegans were called carnists...).  Obviously documentaries are always trying to sell some kind of idea or message and so tend to be pretty biased.  I know for a fact that although these documentaries were American based and claimed that all cattle raised for meat are kept indoors all of these lives there are cows kept in the fields beside my house that will face their demise eventually in a slaughterhouse.  I mean it doesn't make it any better but like yes the documentaries were biased to some extent.

The Honeymoon Period

The first suggestions when I
types "chickens and" into
google was chips :(

Starting out initially I found the vegan diet really difficult because I discovered that many vegetarian and Freefrom products contain egg or milk.  I was at a complete loss for what I could eat, more so for packed lunches at work than dinners.  However, after long I discovered falafel as a sandwich/wrap/bagel filling and it was honestly such a godsend!  I began discovering a lot of new foods that I liked and ultimately by taking chocolate, cakes and many types of crisps off of my snack options I found myself eating much healthier.  I would now turn to healthier cereal options (with soy milk of course) or fruit when I was peckish.  Further, I discovered that there were actually a decent amount of 'accidentally vegan' foods in the supermarket as well as vegan options of classic snacks. 

 Some firm faves include:

• Ready Salted Pringles
• Starburst
• Dairy Free Ice cream
• Oreos
• Popcorn

Over and above this I learned how to make vegan alternatives to pretty much anything I wanted to eat - My fave was the vegan banana bread.  By purchasing dairy free butter and cheese I could still have fajitas, stir frys, nachos, baked potatos, pastas...  The one negative was that I felt myself increasing my carbohydrate intake to compensate for the other foods I could no longer eat.  My shopping bill didn't even increase, probably due to the fact that I was buying less snacks.  Eventually I found that there were vegan chicken nuggets, sausages, sandwich fillings... Ultimately I discovered that it is very easy to eat a vegan (or plant based) diet as long as you are willing to travel to a proper big super market rather than the small local ones... Morrisons appeared to have the most vegan options.

The Downfall

Okay so thus far it would appear that I found it very easy to adapt to this animal product free diet but obviously something went wrong because as I stated at the beginning of this post I am no longer vegan.  So what went wrong?

1. Summer
2. Impromptu meals out
3. Work




Slowly but surely vegan options are becoming
more available.  Yass Ben and Jerry's!

4. Socialising

 I came into the vegan world loving life and then the sun came out and my friends wanted to go for walks to get ice cream... I would spend ages on the internet trying to find ice cream shops with dairy free ice cream options but ultimately there weren't many, I discovered I didn't like sorbet and also there were a lot of cute ice cream shops that my friends, and admittedly I, wanted to visit.  My will power was too weak in the end.  And then there was the discovery than it really isn't that easy to order vegan at normal restaurants, sometimes finding a nice vegetarian option is tricky enough!  Then there was the problem that I get all of my meals provided for free at my work and so although shopping vegan wasn't expensive it was of course more expensive than not shopping at all.  The soup always contained cream, you cant eat a jam sandwich for every meal, chips weren't always an option.  There were always soups, cheese sandwiches, baked potatoes, cheesey broccoli and cauliflower (ew cheese sauce = devils sauce) etc but rarely, if ever, a vegan option.  Lastly there were a lot of events taking place to celebrate the end of university and they always happened to be food based, again rarely with a vegan option.  

 There is a bit of a catch 22 with veganism.  Veganism would become more of an option for people if it became more accessible (the food was delicious and there is a vegan alternative for pretty much anything) however until more people turn vegan and there is a higher demand for vegan food it will never become more accessible. 

The Main Lessons Learned

Pigs are just the greatest

• Animal agriculture is the leading cause of climate change and the vegan diet is the best tactic to combat global warming (I'm not going into all the ins and outs of this because like I said this will not be a preachy most and if you really care about this point you can do your own research - watch cowspiracy.  For now just take my word for it, it's a truth fact)
• Humans are the only animals who drink other animal's milk and the only animals that continue to drink milk after they are no longer babies.
• Bringing an animal into the world only to cause it pain is always wrong.
• In Scotland veganism is not that accessible in main stream restaurants but is achievable if you chose to prepare your own home cooked meals
• The main problem with veganism is how preachy vegans can be and the way they come across to non vegans.
• It is very hard to not be consumed with veganism when you start and to not become the person described in the above bullet point
• You cannot force people to change and adopt a diet they do not wish to adopt.  You can not force them to listen to the information or care about the information.  It will only make veganism a less attractive lifestyle/diet.
• A lot of people, including my former self, really don't think twice about eating a dead thing.  
• Fish are important too.
• Free range doesn't mean free range and is still cruel.
• Pigs are 100% better than bacon.
• Cheese is very addictive and plays a much bigger role in my life than i ever realised
• Ice cream will always be my downfall.

La Favorita first pizza chain in Edinburgh with vegan cheese

To sum up/the moral of this story/for anyone who is still with me:  I would turn vegan again in a heartbeat if it became more accessible, I can be a very weak willed person and am a far worse person for eating animal products after gaining the knowledge that I have than people are who chose to live without that knowledge.  Using animals for our own personal gain is super selfish and not really fair, people boycotted Seaworld because it was exposed as being cruel but cows, pigs and chickens are kept in similar or worse conditions and nobody cares because these animals were raised to be killed/for their produce.  But is that right?  Is it right to bring a life into the world just to put it through pain and kill it?  I guess ultimately that's for individuals to decide, I know I don't agree with it... then again I'm sitting here with a Toffee Crisp in the fridge to eat later as well as having a cheese sandwich on my mind.  

xoxo