Raw or cooked as long as it’s vegan:
It was the night before Thanksgiving in 2016. I had spent the past three weeks immersed in vegan documentaries while I was preparing for the annual feast. That’s when it happened. On my third trip to the grocery store, for some bovine excretion filled concoction, I realized that I just could not take it one more second.
I did an about-face drove home in an adrenaline fueled rage and upon slamming the door behind me, I announced< “I’m vegan!” My husband’s response? “But, you got the butter right?”
Since that day, I have chosen to live a life free of animal suffering. At first, it felt like learning nutrition from scratch. It was all about finding the “right” substitutes and wondering if brand A would taste more like bacon that brand B. Ultimately, after my first year, my husband (yes, joined me on my quest) and I decided that it’s not about what tastes like animal products, it’s about what tastes good.
Once we realized this, a whole new world of amazing foods materialized. We were vegan junk food connoisseurs. We had a brand for everything, ice cream, burgers, hot dogs, sausage, egg replacer, the works. But, we soon realized that the overwhelming idea that a vegan can eat anything and still be healthy was absolute garbage. One year and a couple of jiggling bellies later, we realized we needed to change our diet.
We discovered this wonderful raw vegan place in a neighboring town, Nucleus Raw Foods. It was heaven! We ate there at least three times a week, but we soon learned that wonderful food comes at a high price tag. So, I decided to become a raw foods expert. I gave away my slow cooker and replaced it with a dehydrator and a top-of-the line juicer. Within weeks, I could make cashew everything and my fingers were permanently stained purple from all the beet juice.
This health binge lasted me for another year, and it was one afternoon while debating with a junk-food vegan on social media that it shouldn’t matter what we decide to eat as long as we are sparing the animals and the environment. In my desperate attempts to be the best fad-diet cook of all times, I had forgotten that November night and the pledge that I had made. From that point forward, my husband and I have pledge to live a balanced vegan lifestyle. We are always looking for new and exciting recipes to try. My most recent adventure has been veganizing all of our favorite recipes, and I have become particularly skillful with seitan. I purchased a new slow cooker and have mastered tacos el pastor. So friends, in this rainbow filled journey of veganism, I ask you all one thing: remember that we started this journey with kindness in our hearts, so it is important that we save some of that kindness for each other. It is only with kindness that we can band together and build our community!