All The Reasons I Went Vegan
My decision to go vegan was a build-up. Having spent two years vegetarian, I quietly questioned whether eating and using animal products was a lifestyle that answered my ethical questions.
I was asking myself what ethical living meant to me, if I could be vegan, and how I would navigate this choice given where I lived.
As I asked these questions, I ruminated over how bizarre it would be when I told people I was vegan and living in Nigeria.
One of the major reasons I hesitated for longer than I should, was that I knew it would be hard.
Living in Nigeria, where the absence of animal flesh and products in a meal is considered unfortunate in every conceivable way, I knew I would become "the veganism explainer."
My family raised concerns about my nutrition, friends wondered how I would socialize, and strangers asked the most intrusive questions about my health, religious beliefs, and romantic relationship.
Veganism is so unpopular in Nigeria that the vegan community here is terribly small. Many Nigerians I have interacted with do not even know what veganism means and often think it is simply a dietary choice.
So as a Nigerian living in Nigeria, here are all the reasons I am vegan.
Ethical Living
Ethical living encompasses all the ways harm is minimized for good. It requires us to examine what causes harm, how it does it, and the best ways to ensure this is reduced. This includes environmental consciousness, the welfare of sentient life, and minimalism.
As a child, I always knew I didn't particularly like watching animals being killed. It was always such a shocking display of violence I did not know how to grapple with. During festivities such as Christmas, New Year, and Easter, it was customary to have animals kept in our yard for weeks and fed until the festivity eves when they would be brought out and slaughtered. I would cry and plead that they not be killed and be laughed at by my family.
After mourning and refusing to eat, my mother would come to me and say it is how we are designed to function. And that I would be sickly and malnourished if I did not eat animal flesh. So I would eat because my mother knew better and because animal flesh tasted like we were designed to crave it, even though it was such cognitive dissonance.
As I grew older and spent my time avidly reading philosophical books and seeing more TV than was appropriate, I learned about veganism. It made sense to me almost immediately. And even though I wrestled with the choice for a while, I finally became vegan because I understood that I wanted to live a life that contributed as little harm as possible, and in many ways, veganism answered that.
Could I be Vegan?
In the early months of being vegan, I realized I had adopted the brazen characterization vegans are famous for. Where every non-vegan must be convinced in every possible way to understand the ethics of veganism and abandon carnism.
My reality as a Nigerian made me examine this quite differently than I would have if I lived in a country with less poverty and unemployment, a constant supply of power, vegan options at restaurants, and a vast availability of vegan alternatives to necessary products.
Culturally also, Nigerians do not have a consciousness of veganism. The most affinity to veganism here is a few religious groups that practice vegetarianism and some traditional plant-based meals.
The challenge to being vegan here and in many other developing countries is that this lifestyle requires thorough intentionality that is not adequately supported by existing cultures and infrastructure.
These realizations allowed me to confront how realities play into this lifestyle choice and how I could afford to choose it because I did have certain privileges.
I can afford to cook my meals from scratch because I do not have a demanding job, and I like cooking. Buying some products like plant-based milk that is more expensive than cow's milk is something I can pay for now and then. Most of my everyday choices are intentional, and I eat to enjoy meals rather than just for fuel.
The fast-paced culture we are currently overwhelmingly immersed in also does not encourage veganism which is grounded in mindfulness.
All these and more are often reasons why considering a vegan lifestyle is inaccessible for some people even after they acknowledge that it is a beneficial life choice.
However, this reality does not make it impossible to be vegan. It only acknowledges that support is needed to choose and thrive in this lifestyle.
I will always encourage people to go vegan if they can. To choose less harm as the best choice. But I will also recognize the varying realities we live in and the need to make veganism accessible.
This accessibility does not only have to be in grand ways as much as we need more robust and systemic change to happen. The little ways matter too. Learning to build intentional and mindful habits will go a long way in fostering individual change.
How I would be vegan
After acknowledging that I could be vegan, I gathered every resource available. I identified where I could buy products and how I would balance my diet and found support communities online. This wasn't a foolproof plan; I didn't have it all figured out. But I had a plan that answered enough of the how.
As I learned and practiced more, it became easier. I figured out staples, budgeting for expensive products, and navigating the storage of perishable produce.
It has been two years since, and I am still learning and practicing daily.
These are the reasons I became vegan. Because I believed it was the right thing to do, I could do it, and I figured out how to.
The best part is that perfection isn't the goal. The goal is to try as much as we can to make deliberate acts of kindness for the good it will do. Because this prepares you for the times you will get it wrong and the ability to examine your choices and try again.
