The vegan diary - week 1
TODAY IS THE DAY I GO VEGAN! (FOR TWO WEEKS)
The challenge has been launched by our teachers for a university project about life in 2035. Indeed, climate and economical changes will for sure leed to rethinking the way we live and behave and certainly the way we eat.
First of all, you need to know a little bit about my family eating habits since they are quite peculiar.
My family is in fact divided into two opposing sides. On the one hand, there are me and my mom: meat and dairy lovers who can’t resist some Mortadella, Ragù or a big fat hamburger, not to mention bakery products. On the opposite side, there is my father, who hasn’t touched a piece of meat in years and my sister, who has been vegan for a few years before going back to a vegetarian diet. So, even though vegan and vegetarian diets aren’t something unknown in my family, I’ve always avoided it at all costs (let’s say it, I wasn’t encouraged by the horrible aspect of the veggie burgers my sisters used to eat during her vegan days!).
However, since lately I have been trying to conduct a healthier lifestyle and I’ve been trying to educate myself more about food and nutrition I thought that this would have been the perfect challenge for me, and who knows maybe it will change my mind about veganism.
This is how the first week went.
PREPARATION
Arrived at home from university, it was time to tell my mom the news. There was no need to say that she wasn’t really happy about it as her first exclamation was: “oh no! you too?!”. But anyway I decided to have my last meat meal in order to properly say goodbye to the old habits. Then in the evening, I decided to start documenting myself on how to survive the next two weeks. I started following some vegan Instagrammers to get some motivation and of course, I created a new Pinterest board with some easy recipes to start with (promising myself that I’m not going to be lazy as usual and actually try some).
FIRST STOP: SUPERMARKET!
First thing I did during the weekend was going to the supermarket with my mother and my sister (hoping for advice in order to buy products not too disgusting). Surprisingly I found out that apart from vegetables and fruits there were not too many vegan options even though the supermarket wasn’t too small. I started wondering how vegan people don’t get easily bored of the food they find in stores and I started being a little bit worried since I’m kind of a picky eater and I get easily tired of food.
Since I’m the worst cook ever I decided to try some products easy and quick to make such as veggie burgers (yes, I decided to give them a try despite the awful look!) and soups. I’ve also decided to buy food only for the weekend.
THE REAL CHALLENGE BEGINS
If eating vegan during the weekend at home was quite easy, the following days were the real challenge! Indeed, I went on a few days trip in Paris and I found out how difficult it is for vegan people to find vegan options, especially when you are in a foreign country and sometimes you don’t even understand fully what you are eating.
For breakfast, it was quite easy to eat vegan, in fact since I stayed in a hotel and I’m not a breakfast person I could satisfy myself with some fresh and dry fruits, tea, soy milk and cornflakes.
For lunch and dinner, It was not so easy and I need to be honest, I didn’t manage to follow a strict vegan diet but I tried my best not to cheat too much, indeed at restaurants, I tried to choose at least the vegetarian options.
BACK HOME
Once back home I returned to my strict vegan meals. The hardest part was to find good meal options to bring for lunch at university. Indeed, for the rest of the week, I’ve been eating salad and vegetables so I need to find new more satisfying options if I want to survive the next week at university! Also, I want to find new vegan snacks to keep me away from vending machines.
That’s it for the first week! I’ll keep you posted on how the weekend goes!!
