My 6 week vegan experiment

It’s not all about the avocados

A few years ago I tried following a vegan diet, more driven by curiosity than anything else.

I had quite a few friends and acquaintances who were vegan, or heading that way. I lived in Brighton at the time and being the self-declared UK capital of the alternative lifestyle, it was the ideal background to my vegan journey. Vegan cafés were easy to find, vegan food shops were everywhere. It couldn’t be easier, right?

Hold your horses

I have a chronic auto-immune condition, so I needed to be very careful to make sure I was eating properly. Vitamins, minerals and all the other nutrients that I took for granted when eating meat, fish and dairy had to be found in vegetables, pulses, vegan cheese, milk substitutes and so on.

This is where it got… tricky.

The struggle I had was multi-faceted.

I could buy vegan convenience foods such as fake bacon, fake burgers and so on without even thinking about it (Brighton had it all way before anywhere else, I think). This could mean that the time I spent on cooking was no more lengthy than when eating my usual diet.

Alternatively I could avoid these foods and rely totally on vegetables and pulses (let’s not mention tofu). This involved a huge amount of creative thinking, which I was not averse to, and also a huge amount of cooking time, which I was. This wasn’t because I was lazy. My morning commute-work-evening commute pattern often resulted in a 15–16 hour day (that’s a whole other story) so my time was limited and my physical and mental energy even more so.

I tried the ‘cook from scratch’ approach for a few weeks, but it soon exhausted me. I spent commuting time researching recipes which was initially enjoyable, but soon became a burden that I began to resent. Quite frankly, I also got bored of the meals I was producing. Don’t get me wrong, I love veggies and pulses and have for most of my life, but I didn’t really want to spend all that precious time trying to curate new and exciting meals, and then more precious time making them (or failing miserably at it).

The compromise

I struck a balance between the two approaches but didn’t feel entirely comfortable about it. I ate some convenience foods along with pulses and vegetables. It was OK. But I was riddled with concerns.

I was (probably naïvely) alarmed by the sheer amount of packaging involved in the fake meat and other convenience foods. Then there were the dubious, hellishly long lists of ingredients these foods contained. I also wasn’t a big fan of the amount of soya involved.

The conflation trap

I have already written about conflation in this article on a completely different topic. And yet here we are again.

Veganism is often perceived as being eco-friendly. I don’t think it’s always the case. As well as the over-packaging of convenience foods, the massive carbon footprint that arises from importing exotic fruits and vegetables (avocados anyone?) that many vegans consume can have a hugely detrimental impact on the environment. It bothers me.

Side note: I’m not saying that a vegan diet is worse for the environment than a meat, fish and dairy diet. I am saying that assumptions lead to over-simplification which can be misleading.

Turning from food to other aspects of vegan living, vegan leather is another product that causes me concern. It’s for the most part simply plastic, which is a by-product of the petrochemical industry and therefore harmful to the environment. I’ve witnessed vegans attacking others for wearing leather, whilst refusing to understand that the plastic alternative is riddled with issues of its own.

With the best will in the world, even if the plastic involved is bioplastic, which is mostly made from renewable plant materials, the global production capacity is so small compared to the petrochemical global production capacity that it’s a drop in the ocean.

Tricky, tricky, tricky.

How did I do?

I hated vegan cheese. Every. Single. Brand.

Seriously though, I would have much preferred to cook all of my food from scratch but didn’t have the time to commit to doing that whilst working and commuting, no matter how hard I tried. The convenience foods weren’t all that tasty and many of them weren’t great from a nutrient point of view either.

It just didn’t work.

For me.

Polarisation

I have no issue with people opting for a vegan lifestyle, whatever that means to them. It could be food only, or the whole hog (pun intended!). I don’t expect or need people to explain their life choices to me. It’s their business.

However.

Like much of anything these days, views on veganism are hugely polarised. That’s not conducive to proper conversation. It doesn’t lead to education, it doesn’t allow people the space and freedom to change their minds (adults can do that, you know). I think that shouting at someone, telling them they’re wrong and pushing them into a corner only forces them into digging their heels in and defending their life choices even more stridently.

Stalemate.

Let’s talk

I am truly interested to know what your thoughts are on a vegan diet or a vegan lifestyle.

How do you approach it? How easy do you find it to source sufficient quality food to be healthy? Is it expensive to do so in your corner of the world? How do you reconcile leather alternatives? What are your thoughts on being vegan and any overlap with being eco-friendly?

What could I do better if I try eating vegan again?

Let me know! Let’s talk.