When I was in my early 20's I decided that I would become a vegetarian, I was around 20 or 21. I was dieting at the time and I realized that if I could go a week without eating much at all, then I could certainly give up meat. I always wanted to be involved in animal rights, I LOVE. Since I was a kid I just always loved animals. While I never got involved in animal rights protests or anything, I knew that if I could ever give up meat that I would. It was the strangest thing when I was a kid, there was never even an idea of giving up meat. The people that were stuck in the 60's and running health food stores were the vegans and vegetarians, the people in my neighborhood in Brooklyn, they were NOT the vegans.. So I never even had an inkling that giving up meat was a "thing". So in my twenties, I decided that I could give up meat and I did, and I never, ever, had a desire to eat it ever again. At the time, I didn't know one single person that was a vegetarian. In fact I remember going to Florida with two of my friends and walking into a Denny's where I asked for the spaghetti and meatballs without the meatballs because I was a vegetarian. The woman who took my order felt the need to announce to the entire staff at the top of her lungs "Y'all have to hear this" as I sunk down into my seat. Well, she came out with a plate of spaghetti with no sauce and some grey looking meatballs sitting atop it.. I sent it back, but I'm sure the meat was removed and the spaghetti returned to me. It's happened many times since then, although not as comically, even three years ago I went to ESPN ZONE in Manhattan and ordered the salad sans steak, the waiter brought the salad and there was the steak sitting on it.
In October of 2011 I read a blog post about veganism. I wanted to be vegan, but Parmesan cheese was my weakness, I ate it on EVERYTHING, salad, pasta, everything! But the blog talked about how vegetarianism wasn't enough if your real concern was the welfare of animals. I read that blog and thought about the dairy cows that are forced to spend their entire lives standing in tiny enclosures giving milk. The same cows who were given hormones so that they could give milk even without being pregnant. I read about the horrific treatment of these cows some sick and dying. I read about the male chicks that are all discarded, smothered in plastic garbage bags at birth because they are useless to egg farmers. I read about the chickens that lived in battery cages that were too small for them to even turn around, hens that spent their entire lives standing on cages. Stacks & stacks of cages. I watched Food Inc. and read the Omnivores Dilemma which explained that there were loopholes to the "free-range" term, meaning that as long as there was an open door at the end of the enclosure that these animals were kept in then it could be considered free range. These animals, however, never saw the light of day.
I'm not a perfect vegan, I try my best. I don't drink milk, eat cheese or eggs. I try to avoid foods that I know have these products in them, and when I can, I read labels. The truth is that it's not that hard, I love salads and I mean I really LOVE salads. The funniest thing is that I don't eat lettuce, and rarely eat tomatoes. When people hear that they look at me twice. I like spinach salad, mesculine salad, avocados. and I love mushrooms with tons & tons of garlic. I also love fruits and veggies, but I don't like the things I ate as a kid, I'm not a fan of carrots, peas, or green beans. I don't really like red delicious apples but I love other juicier varieties. I love kale, cabbage, heck last night I ate lentils, something I would never eat as a kid, and LOVED them.. What I realize that many people don't is that being vegan actually gets you to eat more of a variety of food. I eat hummus, cous-cous, quinoa, I eat wasabi, gandules, and have even made my own almond butter. These are things I would never have touched as a kid but now, well now the would of fruits, veggies, nuts, grains, they are open to me and I could not be happier.
So when you see a vegan and you ask them "What do you eat?" Get ready for a very long list of incredible foods!
