I Accidentally Went Vegan
6 months ago, I stopped eating meat. What happened? (+ meal suggestions and book recs!)
TLDR: Growing up as a meat-eater in a barely-seasoned household, I never knew how tasty food can be. Exposure to different cultures and cooking techniques has opened my world and made veganism possible for me. And preferable. I’m saving money, feeling good, and learning a lot.
So, I grew up in a white American family in the South. We love our fried chicken, our tex-mex, our fast food, and cheese. When we ate "healthy" it was often a chop of chicken or pork, with mashed cheesy potatoes and boiled green beans on the side. Salt and pepper for seasoning. No sauce. Not very appetizing. I struggled to enjoy food growing up, but my parents are set in their ways and insisted we eat just like them.
One time when I was little, my mother gave me a PETA magazine for kids, and I read a comic story about the life of a cow intended for slaughter. You got to know this cow from birth, watch her try her best to enjoy her confined life, and then her baby was taken away to be made into veil, and at the end she was taken to the slaughterhouse too. I was horrified - I'm talking gut-wrenching cries. But my parents said we need to eat meat anyway, so I pushed down my discomfort and willfully forgot what I read.
I had constipation on a regular basis when I was growing up, and food always felt like a chore rather than an enjoyable experience. When I went to college and left my family, my digestion immediately improved. My gut was smooth sailing, and I made a lot of international student friends who shared their food with me, which was so damn tasty and unlike what I grew up with.
I'm 24 now, and I had zero intention to go vegetarian when last year started. At first, I just wanted to eat more beans and rice, for health reasons. The leading causes of death in my family are diabetes and heart attacks. Too much meat and not enough fiber is a death diet. I didn't want that to be me, but I also wasn't taught to cook besides boiling and using the oven, so it's been a struggle to practice cooking new food in a reliably tasty way.
So here I was, trying to perfect my bean cooking, when I started reading articles about the environmental impact of animal consumption.
Animal agriculture pumps out more greenhouse gas emissions than every form of transportation combined. It uses massive amounts of water, power, and land, causing soil erosion that decreases food quality over time, and increases the severity of natural disasters. Between all this and the pollution that infects our waterways and communities, it became clear to me that animal agriculture as we see it now is not sustainable in the slightest.
Then I started to think, well, I like plant milk products anyway. I don't need dairy. I like meat, but I can try phasing it out. And I hardly eat eggs anyway, so let's try out this vegan thing.
I didn't think I would commit. I just wanted to see if I could go without meat and feel fine. I like to test my discipline. I started out with not keeping meat at home, and only eating chicken when I ate out. My weekly chicken sandwich from the local café became every 2 weeks, and then once a month. And then I read a book that made me never want to eat American chicken again.
I kept reading things during the switch: about how nutrition climbs the food chain, public health, sanitation, water pollution, illegal labor practices, the pain of animals, the link between pandemics and animal consumption, and about how the foundation of racism and colonization is rooted in seeing other species as inferior.
People think it's our right to control animals, exploit them, and eat them. Compare black and brown people to animals, call them another "race" separate from white humans, and BOOM, you can justify chattel slavery and subjugation for centuries. Modern white supremacy STILL describes people of color with animalistic traits. Devaluing other forms of life and their autonomy has led us to devalue human life as well. Aside from all those reasons, my gut has felt so much better on a vegan diet that I can't go back.
In the beginning I relied a lot on fake meat freezer food to substitute what I had already been eating. I wasn't familiar with tofu and tempeh yet. I liked fruit more than veggies, until I figured out how to sauté and air-fry them. (My air fryer and rice cooker have been integral to my food journey) Now some months have passed, and I have learned new skills and tried new foods!
Some of my favorite meals I've been making are inspired by South Asian, East Asian, and Latine cuisine. Such as:
air-fried tofu with stir-fried broccoli and garlic, over rice with a Thai peanut and sesame sauce.
fajitas made with plant-based “chicken”, garlic, onion, and bell peppers, served in corn tortillas.
red curry lentil burritos with sauteed bell peppers, garlic, and roasted potatoes. (Perfect to be meal-prepped and stored in the freezer!)
I want to try cooking West African food next - specifically an egusi soup to go with fufu!
Some fiction and nonfiction books that have helped lead me in this direction:
Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer (This made me realize how disgusting factory farming is! Unsanitary conditions for animals results in unsanitary meat which results in poor nutritional value and health problems. Could not eat meat after reading this.)
Meathooked by Marta Zaraska (Incredibly informative, and helps me understand more clearly the social, economic, and cultural pressures for why people consume animals so much more now than humans did for millennia. It helped me understand my own biases and where they came from.)
Barn 8 by Deb Olin Unferth (This is a fiction book about a bunch of disenchanted food workers and activists conducting a heist/rescue mission of 1 million egg-laying chickens off a factory farm. Entertaining, informative, and big-hearted!)
My Year of Meats by Ruth Ozeki (More fiction, about a documentary TV show being filmed in America to encourage Japan to buy our meat. A lot of insight into hormones, marketing, consumerism, culture, and gender differences when it comes to eating and preparing meat. All grounded in a satirical and emotionally moving story.)
Racism as Zoological Witchcraft by Aph Ko (Nonfiction critical theory and movie analysis. Using the movie Get Out as an example, she recalls the history and present state of black people being “animalized” and how this has justified their exploitation. She argues that by understanding our relationship to violence inflicted on animals, we can add another dimension to our understanding of white supremacy. Very eye-opening.)
I love to read, but my curiosity can be my downfall. I often bite off more than I can chew. I overwhelm myself with information that I can't easily integrate into my life, but I still pressure myself to make change ASAP to stay in line with my values.
But eating vegan surprisingly hasn't been that hard to incorporate. I thought the price of groceries would be an issue, but I’m actually spending $100 less per month than I was before. I am lucky that my local grocery store has a decent amount of vegan options, and dried bags of beans, lentils, and rice are dirt cheap nearly everywhere. Fresh produce is more or less affordable depending on where you live, but frozen veggies are an option that’s just as good but more convenient. Aside from having less options at restaurants, and having to refuse animal foods from friends, switching to plant-based has been easy-going.
The hardest part for me has been just getting used to new food. The taste and texture are different. Plant-based proteins have to be cooked differently and stored differently. You've gotta learn tricks to make sure that fresh produce doesn't go bad before you eat it. (The freezer is your friend.) It can be trial and error to recreate your favorite meals in a vegan way, but it's so satisfying when you figure it out.
I haven't been perfect about going vegan. I did buy canned tuna salad a couple times, and I tried some cheesy goldfish crackers I used to eat a lot of when I was a kid. The tuna was not as good as I remembered, and the cheese was a terrible mistake. I have always been a little lactose intolerant but now when dairy hits my stomach it immediately makes me sick. No more cheese for me. I mourn.
Every time I have gone back to try animal products it's been because of nostalgia. Food is an emotional experience, and I don't think we acknowledge that enough. It's a huge part of why people can be so resistant to change what they eat. Food represents culture, memories, and comfort. I had such a negative experience with the food I grew up with that I think that's part of why making this switch has been exciting for me.
Before making this switch myself, I was only familiar with veganism through the concept of "white veganism". I learned from online activists that there was a problem with some white people caring more about the suffering of animals than the suffering of their fellow man. I learned there was a problem with disregarding people's cultural practices to offset the harm caused by systems that the dominant culture created. I learned there was a problem with one-size-fits-all diet advice when food deserts and digestive disabilities exist. These are still problems and it's why advocacy for veganism should be approached differently than attempting to shame people.
Valuing life is important but let's be real about how detached we are from how our food is made. I don't think animal suffering is enough to convince most people to stop eating meat. It wasn't enough to convince me. Our societal pressures to eat it are strong, and there are economic and marketing incentives too. I believe that progress is more important than perfection, and we should applaud people for reducing their meat consumption at all rather than shame them for not giving it up altogether.
Overall, I think if we want to make veganism a preferable alternative, we have to emphasize why mass animal agriculture is harmful to society. We have to focus on all the ways that it harms PEOPLE. We have to stop farming animals in unsanitary prisons to protect PEOPLE from pollution and infectious disease. We have to eat more legumes, vegetables, and whole grains to protect the health of PEOPLE. We have to change our relationship to what we consume because how things are produced impacts PEOPLE. We have to design a food system based on strong moral values in order to protect our collective spirit. We all deserve better.
At this point, asking me why I don’t eat meat anymore is the wrong question. A better question is "Why would I go back to eating meat?" Why would I put that in my body now that I know how unsanitary it is? Why would I eat the products of mass suffering? Why would I eat something that's expensive and pollutes the environment and my body? Why would I accept exploiting animals if it's used to justify exploiting humans too? No thanks. Pass the tofu, please.
So that's my story. That's how I accidentally became vegan, by learning too much about how exploiting animals hurts human beings too, and the globe at large. I didn't mean to go down this road, but here I am, and I feel better for it. This is a logical extension of my values, I’m saving money, my body feels fantastic, and I have peace of mind.
I think that prioritizing your health is an act of resistance in an economy that's designed to make you sick. I don't know if writing this will convince anybody to follow my lead, but I'm happy to share my story. To show what is possible. Thank you for reading.