Why I Focus on Vegan Food (& Why Labeling Things Is Not What Matters)

Maybe you've noticed that, in the past few months, I have been posting almost (if not entirely) vegan recipes. Or maybe you've noticed nothing at all, which is cool; I don't really intend you to see the food I talk about as vegan -just delicious food you can make too.

If you know me in real life, by this point we've probably already had the discussion on why I call myself a vegan these days (and what that means)...

chili stew with avocado dip (all vegan) courtesy of JO and my roomie

I guess a purist would definitely disqualify me as a vegan because I do eat organic eggs and honey -not to mention I still wear leather and silk... Still, I use this word in my daily life because it's the easiest way to communicate to others that I don't want to eat animal products.

I went "vegan" for 2016 because I wanted to challenge myself, but actually I'd been consuming less and less dairy and meat already. Most of my staple meals were vegan, and when I did have meat or cheese or something like that, it was usually a special occasion, or eating out, or a friend was cooking -when I did cook for myself, I was already opting for vegan meals a lot of the time. 

The arguments for consuming less (or no) meat and dairy are many, ranging from the environmental cost of raising farm animals, to the health arguments (which I am personally still not 100% convinced of), to the ethical dilemma that animal cruelty poses. I agree with many of these arguments, and noticed that I'd found myself consuming animal products mostly not out of choice but by default, or because it was easy: a friend had made me bolognese for dinner and I didn't want to say I would only eat meat if it was organic, or I would overlook the fact that my favourite ice cream probably contained industrially farmed milk, cream, and eggs that came from unhappy animals pumped full of chemicals and fed questionable feed.

veggie rolls

So when I started telling people I was vegan and didn't eat any animal products any more, I actually felt relieved: I had found a way to describe and justify my reluctance to eating animal products -one that most people recognize and respect, even if they don't fully understand. Although I believe that you should always stand behind your choices, it's a little bit easier for people to accept that I'm a vegan than if I told them that I will eat eggs provided they're organic... That's the part where people often feel like I'm "cheating", and I feel like I'm betraying some 'vegan cause'. 

Everyone has to decide what feels good to them and personally, I knew from the beginning that I would continue to eat eggs. The difficult part is standing behind your choices when they don't neatly fall under a label that justifies you in the eyes of others. I'm happy eating plant-based meals almost 100% of the time, but the truth is that if I crave a burger, I will probably suppress that urge rather than go get a nice organic patty, because then I wouldn't be a 'vegan' anymore, and then people would stop taking me seriously when I tell them that no, thanks, I don't want to eat [x]. This is something I really want to work on, because I don't want to be my diet to be about restriction, but about choice. If I feel that I can't have something I want to, I will end up frustrated instead of feeling good about what I eat. Ultimately, I don't want what I eat to be about following a strict guideline, but about choosing what feels right to me -and hopefully other people can learn to respect my choices.

Yep, I eat organic eggs! (with sweet potato fries)

So far, my priority has been trying to make this vegan thing as easy as possible for my friends and family. I also haven't really been shoving the label 'vegan' in front of every one of my food posts. I don't want to make it all about veganism -I just want people to taste food, think it's delicious, and then realize that they didn't need any animal-derived products in order to enjoy it! Instead of preaching, I try to just show my friends that consuming less (or no) animal products is doable, affordable, and delicious. When I make dinner plans with them, I make it a point to prove that vegan food doesn't have to feel like punishment or like an unsurmountable challenge. I find cool eateries with vegan options, or -if they're cooking for me- I help them come up with ideas of things that are vegan-friendly... and I do my best to treat them to a vegan feast from time to time. In short, I try not to make it about why I eat this way, and why they should too (everyone has been curious, but my point is to let them ask me rather than giving them a lecture) -which is also why I hadn't talked about this till now on the blog, either. I just want people to enjoy food that happens to be vegan...

And it's been going quite well, actually! I think I'm quite lucky to be surrounded by such nice, open-minded people. In these past few months, people have shown interest in my reasons for going vegan, double-checked with me to make sure I could eat whatever they cooked, and been really accommodating and sweet about what is probably a pain in the ass to them. I'm thankful to them for trying to understand, and I hope that they learnt something new -even if it's just that you don't have to be a vegan to enjoy tofu, as is the case of my roommate :)

Halva, a traditional Greek dessert that happens to be vegan!

It's my birthday this weekend and I'm celebrating it by having my friends over for dinner. There will be wine, good food and an amazing cake -I'm currently getting so worked up about the latter, because I want it to be perfect and put all non-vegan cakes to shame!... If you're still reading, thanks for hanging in there, I needed to put this out there... and you're totally invited for a slice!

PS. Let me know if you'd be interested in my go-to sources of inspiration/information for vegan recipes/ideas/food... I just realized this when making this post, but Jamie Oliver has been saving my social life these past few months (when there's panic about what vegans eat), and a few other people have as well, so maybe a post on this could be useful to others?