Like most vegetarians and vegans, I wasn't born eating this way. It's a choice and journey.
My journey to becoming vegan did start in the womb, though!
I was born about week early and the family joke has always been that I was escaping the terrible food. The night before I was born my Mom had calamari for dinner. I nave NEVER liked (or eaten) seafood. Hence the family joke.
In my pre-teen years, I realized the horror of eating baby lambs. I mean honestly, how can you look at those sweet, fluffy little cuties, and then go about eating them?!
I promptly told my family I would not eat it under any circumstances. Since I was usually pretty obedient, the listened.
That was about it for big diet changes until I hit college where I met the man who would be come my first husband.
He educated me about the horrors of the beef industry and pointed out that the space it takes to raise one cow could grow food for hundreds more people than that one cow would ever feed.
Also, cows are so gentle and sweet!!
And with that, beef was gone! I never missed it.
Side note - being raised Jewish, I never had pork or shellfish, so I didn't have to lose those.
After cutting beef, that was it again for a while.
After two divorces practically back to back, I was on my own for the first time in my adult life and had to start really thinking about things in a way I didn't before.
I started taking martial arts and met a woman who runs an organic, free-range farm. Her chickens are like her kids. They come in the house, have names, hang with the family, and when they're sick, they eat better than some humans!
One day, she showed up at the dojo in tears because a hawk had gotten some of the hens. I realized, eating chickens is like eating someone's pets (never mind the HORRIFYING conditions of the poultry industry.)
Another chop of the metaphorical axe and chicken and eggs were gone. And if I'm truthful, I was VERY happy to give up eggs - they've always tasted and smelled a little like death to me so unless they were in a baked good of some kind I didn't eat them anyway.
That left me with turkey, the occasional ice cream, and cheese.
About a year or so (maybe less) later, I bought my house and very shortly after that I had a dream about turkeys being trapped in the basement and me having to call someone to come rescue them. In the dream, the turkeys brushed me on their way out of the house. It took having this dream on repeat for several nights before I figured it out, but when I did, turkey was gone from diet.
I took a look at my diet at that point and realized, the dairy industry is just as horrifying as the beef and poultry industries. It was tough, but I cut dairy. Now, there's lots of delicious vegan alternatives that are also gluten free (Daiya and So Delicious are personal favorites), but at the time, it was really hard.
Also, did I mention cows are incredibly gentle, sweet creatures?
As I delved more into the vegan path, I learned that horse hooves are used to make gelatin. POOF! Gone when anything with gelatin - that included my favorite candy (gummy bears) and any medicine with gel tabs.
Again, they're coming up with great alternatives now, but at the time, not so much...
I became more conscious of my clothes, my cleaning products, beauty supplies, etc. And within a year of giving up all animal products in my diet also gave them up in every other area of my life as well. Anything that used animal products or tested their products on animals was OUT.
I also swore off any petroleum based products. First, do you really want to put gas on your face and hair? Second, we all know how bad the oil and gas industry is for the environment - meaning it's bad for me and for the animals.
I also switch paper products to support companies that use recycled and/or plant new trees as part of their company policy, and removed virtually all chemicals from my life.
Then, because I'm crazy (in the good way), I started to look back at the supply chain of things. Many vegans still eat almonds and palm oil.
On the surface, these SEEM okay, but they're actually not.
Let's look at the almond industry first. They are absolutely HORRIBLE for the bee population. I tell you this as a beekeeper who puts the bees first and the honey and hive products second, and also uses no chemical treatments of any kind.
Commercial beekeepers typically use chemical treatments (many of which wind up in hive products, and all of which are not good for the bees) and when it comes to almonds commercial beekeepers are paid BIG bucks to transport their hives across the US.
Here's the thing, for bees, the entry to their hive is a GPS point in their head and everything is based on it. Moving their hive is very disorienting and not really recommended.
How would you feel if you went to bed one night thinking you knew what it looked like outside your house only to wake up the next morning to see it's completely different?
If you're the almond industry you don't give a crap!
Second, the almond industry, at least in the US, also sprays their crops. What's worse is that they do it during the DAY when the BEES ARE FEEDING. Many of them die during this process. Not only does it make no sense for the almond industry to kill off the very commodity they paid to bring in, it's also very clearly, to me at least, NOT VEGAN.
Want more on this? Watch Queen of the Sun.
Okay, now palm oil. The palm trees used to make palm oil grow in tropical regions. And guess who lives in them? Orangutans!!
In order to make palm oil huge swaths of palm trees are clear cut. At best, this leaves giant populations of orangs homeless (never mind the other environmental impacts). But it's worse than that. Many orangs are injured or killed during this process.
Once again, this seems pretty clearly NOT VEGAN to me.
Veganism is supposed to be about respecting the life we share the planet with.
If you're already vegetarian or vegan - thank you for considering your impact. I ask you to keep doing that and see what other changes you can make to your diet or lifestyle.
If you're a full on "I eat it all" person, I respect your decision. But I hope you'll consider the impact your choices are having on other lives and on the planet as a whole.
Some people say animals and plants don't have a soul. I say they're wrong.
Look in ANY animals eyes, including chicken, turkey, fish, you'll see a soul. If you can in good conscience and with love and compassion take that life, I won't stop you. Just please, truly think first.
For plants, they have a soul too and should be harvested with compassion (also not big ag if you can avoid it), but they're also far more easily replaceable and when grown sustainably/organically have a net positive impact on the planet.
Again, whatever you decide, please do so from a mindful conscious place rather than a place of ego, superiority, or mindlessness.
If you do that, I will support whatever choices you make.
My journey to becoming vegan did start in the womb, though!
I was born about week early and the family joke has always been that I was escaping the terrible food. The night before I was born my Mom had calamari for dinner. I nave NEVER liked (or eaten) seafood. Hence the family joke.
In my pre-teen years, I realized the horror of eating baby lambs. I mean honestly, how can you look at those sweet, fluffy little cuties, and then go about eating them?!
I promptly told my family I would not eat it under any circumstances. Since I was usually pretty obedient, the listened.
That was about it for big diet changes until I hit college where I met the man who would be come my first husband.
He educated me about the horrors of the beef industry and pointed out that the space it takes to raise one cow could grow food for hundreds more people than that one cow would ever feed.
Also, cows are so gentle and sweet!!
And with that, beef was gone! I never missed it.
Side note - being raised Jewish, I never had pork or shellfish, so I didn't have to lose those.
After cutting beef, that was it again for a while.
After two divorces practically back to back, I was on my own for the first time in my adult life and had to start really thinking about things in a way I didn't before.
I started taking martial arts and met a woman who runs an organic, free-range farm. Her chickens are like her kids. They come in the house, have names, hang with the family, and when they're sick, they eat better than some humans!
One day, she showed up at the dojo in tears because a hawk had gotten some of the hens. I realized, eating chickens is like eating someone's pets (never mind the HORRIFYING conditions of the poultry industry.)
Another chop of the metaphorical axe and chicken and eggs were gone. And if I'm truthful, I was VERY happy to give up eggs - they've always tasted and smelled a little like death to me so unless they were in a baked good of some kind I didn't eat them anyway.
That left me with turkey, the occasional ice cream, and cheese.
About a year or so (maybe less) later, I bought my house and very shortly after that I had a dream about turkeys being trapped in the basement and me having to call someone to come rescue them. In the dream, the turkeys brushed me on their way out of the house. It took having this dream on repeat for several nights before I figured it out, but when I did, turkey was gone from diet.
I took a look at my diet at that point and realized, the dairy industry is just as horrifying as the beef and poultry industries. It was tough, but I cut dairy. Now, there's lots of delicious vegan alternatives that are also gluten free (Daiya and So Delicious are personal favorites), but at the time, it was really hard.
Also, did I mention cows are incredibly gentle, sweet creatures?
As I delved more into the vegan path, I learned that horse hooves are used to make gelatin. POOF! Gone when anything with gelatin - that included my favorite candy (gummy bears) and any medicine with gel tabs.
Again, they're coming up with great alternatives now, but at the time, not so much...
I became more conscious of my clothes, my cleaning products, beauty supplies, etc. And within a year of giving up all animal products in my diet also gave them up in every other area of my life as well. Anything that used animal products or tested their products on animals was OUT.
I also swore off any petroleum based products. First, do you really want to put gas on your face and hair? Second, we all know how bad the oil and gas industry is for the environment - meaning it's bad for me and for the animals.
I also switch paper products to support companies that use recycled and/or plant new trees as part of their company policy, and removed virtually all chemicals from my life.
Then, because I'm crazy (in the good way), I started to look back at the supply chain of things. Many vegans still eat almonds and palm oil.
On the surface, these SEEM okay, but they're actually not.
Let's look at the almond industry first. They are absolutely HORRIBLE for the bee population. I tell you this as a beekeeper who puts the bees first and the honey and hive products second, and also uses no chemical treatments of any kind.
Commercial beekeepers typically use chemical treatments (many of which wind up in hive products, and all of which are not good for the bees) and when it comes to almonds commercial beekeepers are paid BIG bucks to transport their hives across the US.
Here's the thing, for bees, the entry to their hive is a GPS point in their head and everything is based on it. Moving their hive is very disorienting and not really recommended.
How would you feel if you went to bed one night thinking you knew what it looked like outside your house only to wake up the next morning to see it's completely different?
If you're the almond industry you don't give a crap!
Second, the almond industry, at least in the US, also sprays their crops. What's worse is that they do it during the DAY when the BEES ARE FEEDING. Many of them die during this process. Not only does it make no sense for the almond industry to kill off the very commodity they paid to bring in, it's also very clearly, to me at least, NOT VEGAN.
Want more on this? Watch Queen of the Sun.
Okay, now palm oil. The palm trees used to make palm oil grow in tropical regions. And guess who lives in them? Orangutans!!
In order to make palm oil huge swaths of palm trees are clear cut. At best, this leaves giant populations of orangs homeless (never mind the other environmental impacts). But it's worse than that. Many orangs are injured or killed during this process.
Once again, this seems pretty clearly NOT VEGAN to me.
Veganism is supposed to be about respecting the life we share the planet with.
If you're already vegetarian or vegan - thank you for considering your impact. I ask you to keep doing that and see what other changes you can make to your diet or lifestyle.
If you're a full on "I eat it all" person, I respect your decision. But I hope you'll consider the impact your choices are having on other lives and on the planet as a whole.
Some people say animals and plants don't have a soul. I say they're wrong.
Look in ANY animals eyes, including chicken, turkey, fish, you'll see a soul. If you can in good conscience and with love and compassion take that life, I won't stop you. Just please, truly think first.
For plants, they have a soul too and should be harvested with compassion (also not big ag if you can avoid it), but they're also far more easily replaceable and when grown sustainably/organically have a net positive impact on the planet.
Again, whatever you decide, please do so from a mindful conscious place rather than a place of ego, superiority, or mindlessness.
If you do that, I will support whatever choices you make.
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