Eager Vegan

It began with a one-month self-imposed challenge to cut meat from my diet, with the exception of chicken on occasion and retaining seafood. Over a decade later I find myself a happy, healthy, lacto-ovo vegetarian who no longer eats any formerly living creature, fish, fowl or otherwise. However the thought of also removing animal by-products, in other words adopting a vegan diet, has lingered with me as I am aware of the distress felt by the animals from which these products are factory farmed. 

My great friend Lee had taken this step in recent months and I thought "What better way to try the lifestyle change than while visiting her in Melbourne?" For it is a lifestyle change and I needed to learn to do what she does, and how she manages. This week was to begin upon my arrival in her city last week. 

Day One started poorly as in my hunger following an overnight train ride I popped a sea-salt, chocolate caramel bite I had on me into my mouth. The problem? Milk chocolate. Drat! Okay, starting now. 

My very next meal choice was then stymied as I found a super delicious sounding focaccia sandwich that easily met my former vegetarian terms - but came, on the menu, with halloumi cheese. The temptation was far too great and I just couldn't bring myself to order it removed. I shifted my start time to when I would meet up with Lee later that day and savoured each bite. 

That meant my introductory meal with Lee came that evening as we ordered in to The Old Bar. Forced to decline a slice of Justin's pizza (obviously with cheese) I tucked into tasty Thai noodles and spring rolls. Too easy!

Showing off her vegan kitchen skills Lee fed us a tasty tofu scramble with lentils, couscous and who knows what else combining into a wonderfully tasty breakfast the next day. Other awesome meals she prepared (and I'm not just being polite, they were really good) were a vegan pesto pasta and stir fry. The former contained something commonly used to replace cheese (Parmesan cheese in the pesto) and was surprisingly effective. 

Being fed at home was simple but eating out had more challenges. At lunch with a friend from last year's Australian Contiki tour I faced a conundrum. We'd already wandered for ages, finally settling on a cafe and taking a seat. When I ordered the sandwich without mayo I was informed they were already prepared and it couldn't be removed. My options were to make us get up and search out another place, or order the only vegan option (soup). I turned a blind eye and ordered the mayo infected sandwich. My excuses being that my convictions were not strong enough for these inconveniences, as I'd already dragged out the restaurant selection with someone I didn't know that well, and was much hungrier than soup would satisfy. Failure number three.

There were a few triumphs. On Valentine's Day a large group of us went to Intention of Love, a yum cha restaurant that had a vegan option for nearly every item. I'd never really had yum cha at all but was interested in the steamed buns, dumplings, rolls, and five elements soup. Many of these are traditionally filled with minced meats but as this restaurant's name and intentions state - their love extends to animals and healthy human bodies so these were replaced with fake meats in all cases. And in most cases were quite enjoyable, the dumplings especially. The vegan equivalent of a testicle in the soup however wasn't enjoyed at all (primarily for the mouth feel).

Other dilemmas occurred as I ordered a phyllo pastry with sundried tomato and capsicum (red pepper to those in North America). And ricotta cheese apparently. It really pains me to see things going to waste... so I ate it anyway.

One other hang up was after begrudgingly ordering the porridge, for it was one of the few options on the menu and I dislike ordering away from the menu,  I discovered it unsweetened but served with... honey. Dammit - I'd even turned down the milk. 

Another difficult thing for me to do is to walk away without - so I was happy too find a nutty nougat bar with dark chocolate that did not contain milk. This was at a chocolate shop whereas most prepackaged chocolate bars do not meet the requirements. Gelatin is another sticky situation when it comes to lollies, ahem, candies.

Another amazing meal out was also pleasantly named, Lentil-as-Anything. Volunteer-led, in a convent kitchen, they serve up about five dishes along with salad and rice at every lunch and dinner time, each day of the week. Its self-serve, eat-until-you're-satisfied and pay-what-it's-worth-to-you model is a fantastic idea that makes it accessible to all, regardless of income. Not only that but much of the food is vegan, all of it vegetarian and all tasty. Despite vegan options I made the concession that it was my last night and that as I'd already decided I would not be carrying on the diet so I partook in it all. 

I resoundingly failed my challenge to restrain from eating any animal by-products for even six days. The experiment did prove that the limitations of a vegan diet are not compatible with my personality and characteristics. Or I'm just greedy and lazy. I really do not want my experience to dissuade others from attempting to eat as a vegan for it is a wholly sustainable, healthy and animal-friendly way of life. I resolve to maintain my vegetarian diet and plan on implementing many simple strategies to cut back on ingesting animal-based foods (replace dairy with rice milk, remove butter and eggs altogether from my grocery cart). With a more elongated time period, and progressive changes I plan to move toward a vegan diet. 


"Animals are my friends... and I don't eat my friends." - George Bernard Shaw