Conversations with a Vegan - Oh! the youth of today?! Our positive future it seems...

A couple of weekends back I decided enough was enough and it was time to broach the subject of my veganism in more depth with my friends and family.

I felt as though time had moved on, relationships had drifted and that although my life has changed quite significantly, I haven't fully included those people who I love and trust the most.

Consequently, it's not surprising that I was feeling 'Alone in Veganville' and that no-one understood me! How could they, if I hadn't taken the time to explain my new life?

I got some help and encouragement from some Twitter friends (thanks guys - awesome, as usual) and armed with spoon-dissolving strong coffee, bravely picked up the phone.

I got 6 no-replies and 12 answering machines.

Great.

 

Undeterred by the feeling that people have now started screening out my vegan-evangelising calls :( I left chatty, lively, 'hello'! messages and turned to good ole' email.

A (no-doubt plant-fuelled) brainwave then hit me to include a little Vegan questionnaire that I had recently posted - you know, just to see what THEY all thought about vegans and veganism.

I have to say - that so far - it's been by far the best approach I've taken to talking this through! Because their responses told me what they knew and how they felt about it all - giving ME the opportunity to dispel any myths, present the facts and explain just how much my new life means to me and why.

What a revelation! And to my further surprise, I had this rather lovely conversation with one of my younger family members - my beautiful 13 year old niece. What an utter joy.

See what you think, and, as always with these posts, I'd love to hear your constructive feedback, thoughts and suggestions.

And if you're facing some similar issues with speaking to friends and family - then I can wholeheartedly say that you too - SHOULD try this at home!

Enjoy.

Chantal xx

ME

Extract from original email I sent to people:

[Family news / waffle]

Also in other news, David and I have gone fully vegan now. Its been really interesting and our health has improved amazingly! We're really enjoying it. Im getting involved in some research about it all and actually would really value all of your opinions if you could spend just a couple of minutes each answering a few research questions for me???

I'll list them below.

Its best to just go with initial gut reactions and dont worry about offending us - we probably would have given some quite different answers a couple of years ago ourselves!

Anyway - hope you are all well and hear from you soon. Lots of love to you all.

1.    What do you think of when you hear the word 'vegan' ? i.e. what does it mean to you?

2.    What type of people do you think are vegans?

3. Who do you know that is vegan? (can be in your circles or in the public eye etc)

4.    Have you ever considered being vegan?

5.    What do you think has stopped you from trying a vegan lifestyle?

6.    What would tempt you to try a vegan lifestyle?

[if the answer to 4. is that you have already tried being vegan, but you are no longer vegan - please say why you gave up and what would tempt you to try again.]

NIECE

1. Vegetables

2.healthy

3.uncle and auntie

4.no

5.i like meat and I love cheese and chocolate

6.trying new foods

Hope this helps x

ME

Hi!

Thank you so much for answering these Q's for me - I'm doing a survey to find out more about how vegans are perceived. Its really interesting finding out what people think and know because there is a lot of incorrect information out there. Its important to me and your uncle that you know we havent changed (perhaps only for the better) and that we arent part of a weird cult or anything. 

If it helps, I can tell you a little bit more?

You're right we do eat lots of vegetables, but there are lots of grains that we eat too - things like rice you will be familiar with (I know you love a curry!), there is a vast variety of veg to get through so its never boring! There is also fruit of course and a whole range of herbs and spices. There are also many products on the market now that are like fake meats and cheeses and they are improving all the time - so if we ever fancy anything like that we can have it!
You're right about health too - did you think your uncle looked better? His doctors say his health has never been better :) Veganism is described as a plant-based diet and all of the foods that are good for the human body are in this diet and science is proving just how beneficial it is.

Lots of people have never considered trying being vegan for exactly the reasons you say. Like you, we used to love meat and cheese but over time just felt that living in the UK we dont need to eat these things (because we have other options) and that we'd therefore rather we didnt, because farming techniques are getting worse.
Fortunately, with a bit of learning I've been able to compensate by making lots of lovely new types of foods!
Veganism is about more than food though as well - we now don't use any products that contain an ingredient or component that originates from any animals and we don't buy any products that have been tested on animals. Of course this is better for the animals, but it turns out that its quite an environmentally friendly option too. We havent got rid of all our old stuff though - so we may still wear leather occasionally, but we make different decisions on new stuff we buy now. If you're still into design it will be something for you to consider in the future because people are moving away from using fur, leather, skins and feathers etc

It was interesting that you said trying new foods would interest you. I think your Dad said to Uncle D that you are going to be studying Hospitality Management at school - did he tell you thats what I went on to study at Uni? snap! I really loved it because there was a lot of variety in it. As part of the course I expect you will do some catering lessons maybe and also some menu planning?? It may even crop up that you have to consider customer types and different diets like vegetarian and vegan - which hospitality places need to provide now. So maybe knowing us as vegans could help??!!
If you are interested - for the last few weeks I have kept a food diary of some of the things we eat at home and you can see all of the pictures on my blog - I'll give you the links here

http://veggiesoup4thesoul.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/vegan-mofo-90-ways-to-show-compassion.html

http://veggiesoup4thesoul.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/vegan-mofo-real-freedom-food-week-2.html

http://veggiesoup4thesoul.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/veganmofo-compassion-is-fashion-with.html


Thanks again - shame I couldnt have come with Uncle D and seen you all - hopefully won't be too long until we meet up! 

Hope school is good and you're having fun as well as working hard!

Lots of love

NIECE

Thanks for that information. I am doing a lot of work in catering about different diets so it is very useful to know about veganism.

I am going to ask people in my class about some of the questions you asked me and so i will come back to you with my own research for you.

I am also going to ask my catering teacher if we can discus veganism in class and maybe cook some vegan meals.

Xxxxxxxxxxxx

ME

Hey - aw its a pleasure - and thank you for your lovely reply. That would be so wonderful if you could ask your friends what they know about vegans too - I'd be really interested to hear that. You see its quite upsetting that there is a lot of wrong info out there.
Hopefully your teacher will be open to the idea of discussing it in class - and you can ask me any questions any time you like (or uncle D) and I will answer you honestly and to the best of my knowledge. Of course I have lots of vegan food ideas and recipes too - for example I can now make a cheesecake without cheese or any dairy products or even butter in the biscuit base and it tastes just as good!! imagine that! its also possible to make cakes without butter or eggs!! its very clever how modern food products can be used - and its advancing all the time - so I may even have a more up to date idea than your teacher!
Have fun and let me know how it goes.
Its lovely to hear from you.

Chantal xx