Eden Cafe

I’ve already written about how important sexual health is to me, but another thing that is an important part of my life is my physical health and the health of the environment and animals. When I first realized this a few years ago I wondered what path I should take. Should I eat some grass-fed beef hoping it lived a good life? Should I eat only fish and buy into the sustainable fish marketing? After much thinking I came to the only conclusion that made sense – I had to go vegan.
While most people know what a vegan is, I’ll go ahead and clear it up. Vegans do not eat any animal product or any animal byproduct, nor do they use these products for other purposes. Whey powder in your hot chocolate mix? Nope. Gelatin in your nail polish remover? Not for me. Egg albumen in your taffy? No thanks. You get the point. If it comes from an animal, vegans don’t use it.
At this point in my life I was still living in a small town (around 16,000 people) and I didn’t know that many vegans. Fortunately, my friend Chris and I decided to go vegan together so we would at least have a support system. I’ll admit, I had no clue what to eat at first and neither did he. I guess we both bought into the stereotype that vegans only eat celery sticks and hummus, so we didn’t branch out much. But, after a while I started to realize vegan food can be even more interesting than the food I was eating before. It not only improved my physical health quickly, but it improved my knowledge in the kitchen. I learned to cook with ingredients I had never touched before like agar powder, arrowroot, hemp milk, carob chips, seitan, and even some vegetables like celery root, kale, porcini mushrooms and a ton more. Cooking became an experience I looked forward to instead of something that had to be done.
In between cooking and figuring out what to do with new ingredients at the farmer’s market, I began looking into ethical reasons to go vegan. In the U.S., the Standard American Diet (SAD) is based around animal products such as meat, eggs, cheese, etc. But are people really aware about what eating a piece of pork implies? Let’s put aside the issue of factory farms for a minute, as those are a topic unto themselves, and imagine that all meat comes from a smaller farm. The main question I asked myself was this – Even if the animal had an okay life and was fed well, does that give me a right to kill it when I have no need? Does that make it right? And I came to the conclusion that no, it doesn’t make it right. Which is why I actively protest against the “happy meat” fad that is going around right now. It doesn’t matter if your meat was fed grain or not, in the end that animal is still murdered. As a society, the United States no longer has a need to consume these products. We aren’t nomadic people hunting for our next meal. There is no excuse.
My life after going vegan has been nothing but great. My current partner even went vegan a few months ago after he listened to what I was saying and realized that it is healthier. In conclusion, if you have brushed off veganism in the past, I really urge you to give it a shot. Go to a vegan restaurant and see how great the food can be. Or just get a great cookbook and have at it! Even eating vegan a couple times a week will be better for you and also cost less than meat and cheese laden foods.
Saraid recommends:
Veganomicon by Isa Chandra Moskowitz
Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Romero
Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen by Donna Klein
Vegan with a Vengeance by Isa Chandra Moskowitz