This Vegan Journey

A Seed was Planted

I could never give up cheese! Yes. Once upon a time I too once said that oft spoken, very typical omnivore line. I'd never wanted to be a vegan. It was too..extreme. I mean, what the heck was left to eat if you cut out eggs and dairy too?! I did however, sometimes think about being a vegetarian.

That seed was planted in my mind when I was 17 and went to Honolulu on vacation with my sister. Someone on the street had passed me a book filled with Indian vegetarian recipes, and it expressed the spiritual aspect of vegetarianism, and how it is better to do less harm if possible to other beings. The idea struck a chord in me, and stayed with me, though not in a prevalent way. 

So the thought of being vegetarian stayed in the back of my mind for years. Every now and then it would surface, and I would comment out loud about it- only to have the idea shot down by people close to me.  An ex-boyfriend said that it was a natural part of life to partake of other lives. I thought that was a decent point. Another good friend said to me, "Elizabeth, you're so skinny already. If you become a vegetarian, you will disappear!". Silly as it sounds, that comment got to me. I thought,  "Oh no! I don't want to get any skinnier!". I'd been underweight for most of my life and hated it.  I spent most of my college years under 100 pounds. By my mid-twenties, I'd finally found myself in a healthy weight, and I did not want to mess with that!


Still..every now and then I would ask the question: Are humans meant to eat meat? When I met vegetarians or vegans, I always wanted to pick their brains. I'd ask them: "Why did you decide to become vegetarian?". I think deep down, I wanted to be convinced.

Can a Book Change Your Life?

In late November of 2009, just before the holidays, Alicia Silverstone's book The Kind Diet came out and was prominently displayed in bookstores. I'd just started doing private English tutoring for foreign students at bookstores, cafes and libraries around NYC. I was early for an appointment at Borders and had plenty of time to kill. I was looking for  reasons why I should go vegetarian, so I decided to see what Ms. Alicia had to share.


I found myself devouring her book. She made some compelling points about what it did for your health, even what it did for your heart (figuratively, though literally, too!), and about factory farming. Back then I hardly knew anything about factory farming. I did not ever want to be a vegan, but she also made a case for rejecting dairy;spoke about how the industry was cruel. Well!  I found myself looking at all the new, alternative foods she'd suggested and contemplated trying this out..and then I thought, "Wait, wait, wait! Am I really thinking about giving up cheese? And bacon?!". The answer was yes, I was.


Oh, I'm mostly vegan..

I was surprised to find that I didn't miss things like meat, cheese, and eggs as much as I'd thought I would. I should also mention that around this time, I was deep in cohabitation mode with my then long-term boyfriend. I (kinda) jokingly called us the dynamic domestic duo. We lived well together, and I developed a love for food and cooking as I never had before.Yes, funnily enough, I started exploring veganism as my love for food was growing. I had decided to try veganism gradually, but I found myself so fascinated with all the new foods I was learning about, that I ended up eating vegan 95% of the time.  I did that for about a year.

During that time, I also read up a lot about the reasons to go vegan. Environmental, ethical, health, etc. I was increasing awareness, day by day. I was amazed to find out what damage factory farming does for not just animals, but everyone.

But still. I held on to my seafood. And cheese. And occasional eggs. As many non-veg people have expressed to me in conversations, I too did not want to be restricted. Let's be honest. I'd say a vegan diet is restictive- and is not. On the one hand, you're not eating specific foods. There's no getting around that argument, sure. Though I want to emphasize that that is a choice. In that sense there is no actual restriction. There is freedom in deciding, consciously, what to put on your plate. And generally vegans eat a way more varied diet than those who follow the Standard American Diet...

Reaching out-and getting Vegucated

So, this new world was opening up to me; a new perspective; way of looking at the world-and I had no one to share this with! I wished I had other vegan friends who understood. So I searched meetup.com, because I figured they had to have vegan meetups in NYFriggin'C, right? Sure enough, they did. A block away from my then apartment, actually! That first event I went to, which was Vegan Drinks, I met Marisa Miller Wolfson. She is the writer, director and editor of the amazing film Vegucated. I told her that I was not vegan, but I was mostly vegan. That's great!, she said. She was very approachable and not judgmental at all. She asked me what kept me from going all the way. I told her about my reticence to give up certain foods. She listened with open ears.

Months later, I attended an event called "Go Radical in 2011". Marisa, as well as activists Mickey Z and Jasmin Singer, were speakers at the event. Marisa showed a clip from her movie about factory farming. I learned that male chicks were thrown in the dump, or ground up alive, because they were not useful. I cried. My mind was astir. I thought to myself: "I live in the East Village, the vegan mecca of New York City. I've been holding on to certain foods, but really, vegan cuisine has come such a long way, there's a great substitute for just about everything now..or will be very soon. Being vegan is so easy and accessible, why the heck not take the next step?". So I did. I approached Marisa after all the speakers were done, and told her I'd decided to do it. I was going to go vegan! She high-fived me. I was so excited. I remember stopping in Kate's Joint to order pickup, and calling my ex, telling him about the decision I'd made, and how thrilled I was about it.

Almost Two Years Now...

Veganism, for me, has been a great journey. It's worthwhile for all of us to ask questions about our actions and to find the answers most suitable to us. In my humble opinion, veganism greatly decreases the harm that can be done in our society, given our current conditions. And I realized that instead of asking "Are humans meant to eat meat?", the more appropriate phrase to ask was "Is it better to not eat meat?". Humans can live as omnivores as well as herbivores. That is biologically apparent. So I choose to make what I consider the better choice. Ultimately, for me, going vegan was more of an intuitive decision than an intellectual one. There is plenty of information out there about the environmental, ethical and health reasons to go vegan-but for me it's something that feels like the better choice.

Now, did I take on miraculous superhero powers from going to a vegan diet? I'll be honest (and everyone is different), I didn't experience much physical change. But I did experience what Alicia Silverstone has called in her book a heart opening. I found myself having spurts of joy, and warmth for others. Now granted, I also broke up with my ex within days of going vegan. Are these shifts somehow connected? Perhaps. I like to think, though, that veganism helped with this explosion of positive energy that I was experiencing. Also, I found myself being really excited and passionate about veganism. I said (and still say) it's one of the best things I've ever done.