For those of you that don’t me, which is probably 99% of you, I’ve been a vegetarian since I was twelve years old. At the time I had a very inspiring religious studies teacher, and her lessons on animal ethics spurred me to allign my principles with practice and give up meat altogether – I simply couldn’t justify opposing animal cruelty and yet still eat the very same animals I felt shouldn’t be hurt. To my parents dismay I’ve never turned back from that decision, never faltered or given into the smell of cooked bacon. Overall, my willpower has been very strong.
A few weeks ago I finally got around to watching the awesome and disconcerting documentary, “Cowspiracy”. In it, the meat and dairy industry are heavily criticised for their environmental impact, and it tugged at my heart strings because I’d never really considered this aspect before. It made me realise that whilst I’m making some positive difference as a vegetarian, that impact could be even greater if I gave up dairy. My diet also heavily relies on meat substitutes, mainly Quorn, and the documentary reminded me that as a processed food source, its environmental impact is similarly detrimental. Plants are the way to go, apparently.
So, straight after watching it I decided to give veganism a go. A trial run of a week along with my veggie flatmate Beth didn’t seem too daunting, as like I said, I have strong willpower. I decided to keep something akin to a food diary for the week, so here’s how my experience of veganism went down:
Day 1: Not going to lie, it’s been both an easy and difficult day foodwise, because I’m ill and bunged up with the flu. Skipped breakfast because I felt too nauseous, but made up for it at lunch with some vegan sausages from Holland and Barrett, oven cooked potato (baby and sweet) chunks and toast smothered in Vitalite, accompanied by a cup of Whole Earth’s organic, caffeine free coffee alternative with added soy milk. Mid afternoon I snacked on the vegan brownies I made a few days ago (Find out how to make them here) with a cup of tea (soy milk again, my new best friend). At dinner I was feeling even worse, so I just had a bowl of dried pasta with some tomato puree and vegetables mixed in. Overall not an adventurous food day, and basically just what I’d eat as a veggie anyway, but having an unopened box of Jaffa Cakes on my shelf whilst working isn’t exactly helping.
Day 2: Another not good day, not good at all. Skipped breakfast again due to that horrible ‘omg I’m going to vomit’ feeling, but once again made up for it at lunch by using the leftover brownie ingredients to make vegan pancakes, way more filling and tasty than normal ones – click here for my recipe. Dinner consisted of toasted pitta breads smeared with tomato puree and sweetcorn, and some boiled brown rice with mixed veg when I felt hungrier a bit later. Hoping to cook something properly tomorrow, my tummy needs substance.
Day 3: I almost feel normal and healthy again, my tastebuds have returned and a feel really hungry, like really really hungry. Toast and coffee for breakfast, taking it easy in case I couldn’t keep it down, followed by lots of orange juice. By lunch I was starving and had some vegan burgers I picked up from Holland and Barrett in some pitta bread with lettuce. Craved salty food and ended up walking to the shop for a big bag of crisps. Proceeded to eat the whole bag, #noregrets. Made an effort with dinner and ended up cooking something that resembled a vegetable and bean chilli for most of the flat. I chucked some kidney beans, chickpeas, green lentils, sweet potato and carrots into a pan to boil for 20 minutes, then fried it up with some chopped tomtatoes and paprika- paprika because I’m an idiot and picked up the wrong packet instead of chilli powder from the shop. Either way it was delicious, so I’ll definitely be cooking that again in the future.
Day 4: Oatcakes with vitalite spread on top for breakfast. Turns out I don’t like oatcakes unless coated in chocolate spread, but oh well. Vegan burgers in pitta bread again for lunch because they were so yummy yesterday. Made a sort of stir fry for dinner, only I didn’t know what sauce to use and ended up mixing a teaspoon of paprika into gravy (Holland and Barrett) which was surprisingly tasty and fried really well. Treated myself to a dessert of dark chocolate. Starting to think veganism isn’t too hard after all.
Day 5 and 6: The past two days have been a bit of a blur really, I’ve missed both breakfasts and just had snacks for lunch, instead my body is running on coffee as I seem to be in the post-flu ache phase in which I don’t want to do anything but sleep, coupled with the pre-essay writing phase in which my mind also just wants to sleep. Last night I had a concoction that I’m going to say was a casserole, but again it’s a case of chucking everything in and seeing how it goes, pulses and potatoes seem to be the staple of my meals this week. Tonight was just mixed vegetables and some couscous, followed by more dark chocolate. I must admit I’m excited to go shopping tomorrow, I need a bit more variety in my meals.
Day 7: So vegan week is over! I’m writing this in the evening, so I can say that now. More sausages on toast for breakfast, pasta and cheese-free pesto for lunch, stir fry again for dinner to use up the last noodles and veg. Overall I’ve eaten ok this week, and cooking has been easy, but I feel like if I did this in the long run I’d struggle more because I’m quite a heavy snacker and have still felt hungry after most meals in an evening, there’s only so much bread I can eat to make up for that. I’m still going to cut down on my dairy consumption, I’ve been fully converted to soy milk and Vitalite and anything frozen thats vegan instead of just veggie, but I don’t think I’m ready for the full transition yet.
I think it’s important to acknowledge that it’s a process that takes time; becoming vegetarian is very easy because you can cut out meat instantly, but there’s far more dairy in products than you realise, and unfortunately dairy-free alternatives still tend to be quite pricey. I hope that one day I can make the switch properly, but for now I’d say I’m a veggie on the road to veganism. It’s definitely an issue that needs talking about more, and isn’t as drastic as people make it out to be.