You are an addict!
Let’s face it. If you are vegan you are now a food addict. You are obsessed with food. You have discovered a world of rich delicious tastiness never before experienced by the average omnivore. As I am writing this I am eating Hot and sour soup with shitake mushrooms and bamboo shoots water chestnuts with a lot of flavor. As an Omnivore I would have never touched this. It would’ve seemed foreign and weird. Take me to Jack-in-the-Box. Of course, I shudder at the thought of hamburgers now. I cringe and feel a little ill when I walk past the meat section of the local supermarket. The scent makes me nauseous.But when I go to the produce section? Oh! It is a totally different story! And when I think back to high school and the burgers they sold in the lunch room…”Those aren’t real burgers! They are made from soy!” So, nobody ate them. I loved them and they were cheap! I will eat a soy burger over a hamburger any day!
I have experienced curry’s of a number of varieties.Thai, Hindi, Moroccan, Middle Eastern, you name. If I haven’t tried it yet, I will. I have discovered more ways to cook a potato. And I eat more now and weigh less than I did when i was an omnivore. I have had people tell me I could stand do gain a few pounds. But, they are generally overweight people who say this anyway.
And, I have discovered the joy of gardening. Not like before, when it was just sort of a hobby. We actually provide about 30% of our food from our own garden during the growing season. I have discovered making faux meats. Which messes with my Vegan sensibilities a bit. I mean, if i am so adverse to eating it, then why do I want an analogue of it? Soon I came to the conclusion that it was ok. Most of the dishes I was familiar with before I was vegan had meat in them. I love shephards pie. and turkey sandwiches. So, I have found some great substitutes.
The vegan who is addicted to food also loves to find new recipes! Everybody who blogs has recipes!(every junkie needs a pusher!) I usually try to avoid this on my blog since there are so many. Preferring instead to deal with the philosophies and other goings on behind veganism.
But, I cannot help but go to blogs with cool recipes. Because now I have discovered that I like cooking. I still get to BBQ. Because that is what guys do. We Barbecue. and sometimes we watch football. But, now it is zucchini and portabella mushrooms that I BBQ. and veggie kabobs. Of course there are the ‘Boca’ burgers, Tofurkey vegan Bratwurst, and various veggie burgers. But, as a vegan, one definitely learns to ‘think outside the bun’. Or even ‘without’ the bun.
This is the perfect diet for people who LOVE to eat. The perfect diet for people who love to experience new flavors. Even old flavors, too. Since everything we love to eat can now be veganized!
The hunt for a good place to eat…
Vegans hunt for cool restaurants, too! It is a challenge to find places which will cater to our lustful desire for vegetable decadence! Most places we have to ask that stuff gets left out. And then we pray that they obliged us. But, there are more and more places opening up all the time! Cathy and I have been dreaming about our own restaurant for a year now. But, then again, there are so many wonderful vegan chefs popping up that I would feel like we were merely jumping on a trendy bandwagon. I have long since lost the “hipness’ of being vegan. It is now a part of who I am. I am a vegan food addict. (Hello, my name is Bill, and I’m a Vegaholic!
“Hi, Bill!) Vegaholics anonymous…hhmmm….
Anyway,…
I swore to myself when I went vegan that I would only deal with the harsher issues. I could see the ramifications of the vegan diet as being the ultimate conclusion to an ever growing myriad of world problems. Global Warming. World hunger. Disease. The need for alternative fuels. Cruelty to not only animals but also to the human animal. This is understandable when one considers that not only do we not need these industries which exploit and kill animals for food, but that they are also contributing in a most heinous way to the pollution and disease of this 21st century.
Part of me (the self seeking side) wouldn’t be so concerned about it except that it is now creeping into MY food. Salmonella and e.coli and N1H1 are animal derived. Spinach and Tahini and Peanuts should not have animal disease in them. They are plants for crying out loud! But, I am also a lover of nature. Of God’s creation. And I can not condone the practices of the meat and dairy industries without compromising my faith, let alone my vegan sensibilities. (Besides, Eden was vegan!)
But, I want to get back to the food thing. The diet itself.
If I am obsessed with food, then at least my addiction is good for me! I am so much healthier. I haven’t been constipated in over a year. (TMI, right?) I have had only 1 short cold. Normally, I would get one in spring and one in the fall. This one lasted about a day. And it was probably because we got our AC fixed and I froze myself out! LOL! Being born in 1963, should I talk about viagra? C’mon vegan men! Speak out!Another cool thing about being Vegan?
It’s educational! When sincere folks want to know, then you gotta know what you are talking about. So, now I am addicted to research! I have learned about health and the environment and the rights and welfare of animals along with human and civil rights. All the interesting people that vegan and the variety of views and thoughts.
It looks to me like being vegan is getting more accepted and even popular to some degree. It’s kinda funny. There really is a sort of prejudice against vegans and vegetarians. I have my theories on why that is. But you know what? As far as I can tell, the world will be forced to go vegan out of our own sheer desire for meat, anyway! Once it is finally clear to everyone just how detrimental these industries are to humans and the planet;not just the animals being exploited for our own selfish gluttony.
Well, I may eat a little too much every now and again. But, I can feel somewhat satisfied by knowing that just my going vegan makes a tiny but significant impact on everything. Somehow that gets me excited.
…its like some sort of weird revelation or something…
