Change
About a month or two ago, I finally went vegan. Uh oh!
I’d been toying with the idea of vegetarianism for about a year. Chewing on it. For a few weeks at a time I even managed it. But I kept going back to meat. I felt a little bad buying the big 1kg packs of chicken from my local, but I pushed that feeling down. I’ve had a rollercoaster of a year I thought. I don’t need this now. I can’t afford it. It’s too hard.
Sometime in early July, I was wandering the streets of Milan. It’s a long way away from home for me. Somewhere over 15 000 kilometers. Milan was so pretty. The Duomo was quite cool, and I did obviously have to buy a silk tie from the famous shopping gallery nearby.
On my way back from a nice afternoon in Sempione park, I stopped at a street demonstration. A few masked figures in black held televisions. The footage showed chickens being fed into a grinder. Alive. A few days old. Little chickens that looked much like the ones I played with when I was a child. One bounced around, trying it’s best to escape. To live. It failed.
I stood transfixed. I can’t pretend that I was totally unaware how industrialised and heartless animal farming has become. I knew little bits. But I was quite shocked by what I saw on those screens. Chickens fed into a grinder. Chickens in cages. Pigs in cages. Some minutes had gone by, there in that bustling Milanese avenue, the sun setting, when one of the demonstrators came up to chat. I was a little speechless to begin with. The thing is, I would call the RSPCA if I saw someone treating an animal — be it a chicken or a dog or a cow — in the manner that factory farms treat them. And I would feel quite righteous about it. And yet, who knows how many chickens have sat in cages to feed me. How hypocritical of me.
We talked for some time. I actually said that I was vegetarian. Sort of true, but not really. I felt so bad, looking at those screens. The demonstrator was skillful. Armed with plenty of facts and resources, they rebutted my concerns. Nope, veganism is not incompatible with heavy exercise. Nope, veganism is not hard or complicated. Nope, vegan food is not terrible. My excuses fell one by one. That evening, I resolved to myself that I would give veganism a go, when I returned home.
And give it a go, I have. Two months on, I am probably 95% vegan. I still indulge in some non-vegan treats here and there. I’m human. But I have gone from eating meat most days, and dairy several times a day, to not eating any meat, and only perhaps a few grams of dairy a day on average. There are some non-vegan muesli bars that I really like. I do also have some butter that I am finishing off.
And it has been transformative. It’s been truly a wonderful experience, and I am actually proud of myself for sticking with it. This is perhaps the first time in my life I have made sacrifices for a cause that I genuinely care about.
And yet it has been so easy. Seriously. Plant-based meat and dairy these days are impressively good. You just have to be willing to experiment a bit. Some brands are quite bad. Some are awesome. If you give up at the first hurdle, then of course you will not finish the race. I now have several recipes for dinner that I genuinely love. Vegan nachos. Several different curries. Falafel salad. Plant-based schnitzel and chips :)
And I feel healthier. My energy levels have increased, although admittedly this did take a while to get right. I struggled to get enough iron for a while, but I think I’ve got the right balance now. My knowledge of nutrition has skyrocketed; I’ve gone from a genuinely terrible cook to perhaps a mediocre cook (a huge improvement, I assure you). I’m exercising more than I ever have, and I reckon I’m putting on muscle faster too. I’m running faster. My mind feels better, clearer.
I’m so happy that I stumbled across that demonstration in Milan.
-Marc
