I’ve been a veggie for 50 years, so shifting to being a vegan wasn’t a huge jump. Mind you, I really did like my cheese. I’m also a passionate cook. I love baking and make yummy puds and cakes for the family. So losing eggs was pretty major.
I can’t actually remember how it happened. I recall watching Cowspiracy and feeling totally sick. That was closely following by the Game Changers which puts a really positive spin on plant based eating. Then I suspect Veganuary rolled around and the die was cast.
Even John joined in!
John, my husband, loves meat, but was always happy to eat with me, so food at home was always veggie. He would occasionally get himself a steak and the turkey at Christmas was sacrosanct, but otherwise it was just when we went out. Interestingly he soon came to the conclusion that the real taste is in the sauces and often the meat element is pretty irrelevant.
The end result was that we were both very familiar and happy with veggie food. But still, when John decided to go for Veganuary too, I was really impressed. He was making a much bigger jump than me. So I always do my best to tempt him with really tasty food as a ‘thank you’!
I wasn’t sure where to start
My staple dishes were baked potato, cheese and salad, Quiche with cheese on top, macaroni cheese, frittata……. you get the drift. This was going to be a challenge.
I fell over the Happy Pear cookbook and that gave me a head start. So many tasty looking dishes to have a go at. And since I love to cook, I began to enjoy myself.
Full disclosure: I still haven’t entirely cracked making a sponge cake without eggs. Sometimes they work, other times they just fall apart and I’m not sure why.
Happy Pear was soon followed by the Bosh boys and then the Caribbean cooking of the Mcanuff brothers. I seem to go for pairs of good looking young men!
Not quite true: my grandson introduced me to Joanna Lee Molinaro who he followed on Instagram. She has produced a beautiful Korean Vegan Cookbook. It’s a very elegant book with some fantastic recipes.
That was about five years ago
We’re doing well and no temptation to return to veggie or meat eating. I have to admit, I do occasionally get us a bit of cheese as a treat. For John, Cambazola; for me, Manchego.
I’ve also found a source of truly free range eggs: If I can get up early enough on a Saturday morning, I go to the local flour mill for my fresh yeast. If I’m lucky, I can get half a dozen eggs from the family chickens that I see snuffling around on the grass beside the mill.
I treasure those, because the hens are happy and emissions will be minimal.
Half arsed vegan
I read a fabulous article in the New Year Guardian last year. The journalist was doing Veganuary for the first time, having failed to get going previously. She always felt she had to do it all at once and that just felt too daunting.
This time she was giving herself permission to be a ‘half arsed’ vegan. I loved that!
In climate terms, whatever we do is an improvement. So the idea of taking it one meal at a time appealed to me. Much better to do something, than to back off completely because it’s too hard.
So if you’re up for a try:
Have a go. Just do lunch each day or even your snacks. Pop into a bookshop and take a look in the vegan cooking section – see what appeals to you.
Do what you can and see how you feel. If you’re anything like us you’ll discover that the food is great. And not difficult to do once you get your store cupboard up and running
In restaurants you will always know where they have a real chef. And you may even find the food is better. According to John, cooking meat can be a lazy option. Vegan food sorts the chefs from the boil in the bag. Find a good one and the food will be amazing.
Let me know how you get on!