Sometimes I write-up recipes… sometimes I declare a Vegan MoFo hero… Today I wanted to do something different. My alma mater (Pomona College) once asked me to write an article on being a vegetarian family. It was a lot of fun, but I’ve often thought back to that article I wrote a few years ago and the fact that we’re now vegan, and I’ve always wanted to send them some kind of addendum or something. So here it is…

In a recent issue of VegNews, the author responded to a common question that vegans (and vegetarians) get, “Where do you get your protein?” The author’s reply was, “Where do you get your fiber?” I thought that was hilarious, but it really made me reflect on my personal journey to being vegetarian and then vegan… and the questions and problems I encountered. Making the choice to be vegetarian or vegan is an important one.  In general, people make this decision because they want to improve their health or impact the world through their nutritional choices. When you have a family, this decision is even more important because it affects a greater number of people.  For my family, that includes my wife “Sweet Potato” and two daughters (twelve-year-old “Dumpling” and nine-year-old “Baby Corn.”

I was one of those people who chose to eliminate meat in my diet because of health considerations.  At the “wise” age of 15, my grandmother survived two heart attacks and my great-grand uncle passed away of a heart attack.  In an effort to decrease my risk of heart disease, which I feared might run in my family, I hastily chose to become a vegetarian.  In hindsight, this probably wasn’t the best thought-out decision in my life; my lack of nutritional knowledge and inexperience in cooking helped me become little more than a “pasta, chips, and soda vegetarian” (plenty of carbs, sugar, and salt).  The truth is that I entered the herbivore lifestyle without any grand visions of saving the world or any living creatures.  At that stage of my life, I thought that it was all about free choice.  After all, one person’s favorite meat is another person’s sacred animal.

My decision to be a vegetarian didn’t last long.  Like a junkie trying to shake a habit, I fell off the wagon relatively easily.  About four years later, during a bout with mononucleosis, I began eating small amounts of chicken and fish again after the college campus (witch) doctor recommended that I add animal protein to my diet to “boost” my energy level.  Although I began to eat more meat, I still felt exhausted, and I discovered something interesting; somehow, in my years of eliminating meat, I had lost a taste for it.  I struggled for the next few years, eating some chicken and fish and wondering if my lack of energy (now diagnosed as chronic fatigue syndrome) really meant that I had too little meat in my diet.

By the time I’d finished college and was preparing to marry, my fiancé and I had eliminated chicken from our diets, and I enrolled in a nutrition course while working for Marriott Corporation.  I’d also begun reading Diet for a New America by John Robbins.  In our daily lives, we decided to choose vegetarianism once again, and, unlike my decision as a naive fifteen-year-old, the chips, soda, and pasta, were replaced with whole grains, legumes, fresh fruits, and green leafy vegetables.  On occasion, when we were out with our parents, we grudgingly ate some seafood, but those instances were becoming few and far between.  As I contemplated the fact that I really did not desire the taste of meat, I also realized that I felt more endurance than I had in the previous five years.  My increase in education, experience, and cooking ability had truly helped strengthen my resolve, and the ability to lead a normal, active life was strong.  Perhaps more importantly, I had also learned about compassion for all living creatures, and I felt the need to educate others that being a humanitarian didn’t mean sacrificing flavor or variety of food.

After seven years as strict vegetarians, we’ve spent the last three as vegans. Going meatless has gotten both easier and more difficult for people nowadays.  For sure, there are many more vegetarian and vegan restaurants that have opened in the past few years.  Additionally, other restaurants are offering more vegetarian and vegan-friendly options.  Waiters are more knowledgeable and seem to understand that lard, chicken broth, fish sauce, oyster sauce, and bacon bits are not vegetarian.  A huge variety of beans and lentils are available in more and more supermarkets.  And, of course, there’s a booming industry of mock meats made of soy, tempeh, and wheat.  You don’t even need to visit Whole Foods, Trader Joes, or smaller natural foods stores.  Tofu and soy products are readily available in warehouse superstores, big-name supermarkets, and fast food chains.

Living a life as cruelty-free as possible was essential to us. It wasn’t always easy (you try finding youth-size vegan running shoes), but we feel we’ve made the right choice.  At the same time, things have gotten a little more difficult because of an increase in information and awareness.  Food companies are much better about labeling their products, and my knowledge of hidden meat products has improved with the help of more books and magazines.  Being a vigilant vegan means being willing to read all labels.  Gelatin, rennet, and animal shortening are easy ingredients to spot when label reading.  Learning that some emulsifiers like lecithin and mono- and di-glycerides are sometimes derived from animal ingredients added a new dimension to my label reading.  It’s a time-consuming process, but one that we believe in strongly because, for us, the consumption of animal products like gelatin, rennet, or fish sauce, is tantamount to eating an animal’s flesh.

Ultimately though, regardless of how easy or difficult it is to be a vegan family, it’s a decision we don’t regret.  Our kids are growing up healthy and happy, and they’re athletic, intelligent, and appreciative of all creatures great and small.  They’re living proof that a vegan diet doesn’t stunt physical, mental, or psychological development.  In the future, I know that I can’t force them to be vegan, but I can do my best to educate them on nutritional and humanitarian issues that surround the choice of consuming meat.  I jokingly say that I’ll take them to a slaughterhouse before they make their own decision, but the truth is that, from a humanitarian standpoint, they need to be aware of the impact of the meat industry.  Nutritionally, we want them to understand what constitutes a well-balanced diet so that they can make good choices that affect their health.  I don’t want them growing up to be “chips and soda” vegans or omnivores.  Been there, done that.  It’s all about making healthy choices… for yourself and the environment. Go vegan, save the world.