One Year as a Veggie

“I could easily be a vegetarian” were the six words that I repeated again and again for years before one day in early January 2017, spurred on by that new year motivation, I made the commitment to cut out meat and fish from my diet for one whole month. Finally making this decision was a huge step, made much easier by the timing that marked the end of the Christmas holidays and the start of a new university term away from home. There were plenty of things that always held me back from pursuing vegetarianism as a teenager, like my total lack of cooking skills, my parents’ reluctance to change their eating habits and my own comfortable ignorance to the impact that my diet had on the world. Living away from home at university ultimately stripped away all of these excuses, so after spending my first year learning how to cook chicken, boil eggs and fry vegetables – and hang my head in shame for the fact that I had never done any of these things before – I started to consider the idea that finally, trialling a vegetarian diet didn’t seem like such an impossible task.

I used that first month to completely immerse myself in vegetarian cooking by buying just about every kind of meat-alternative quorn out there and packing my meals full of vegetables. It was really important to me to keep the trial-month positive by not having to sacrifice my usual meals and favourite foods, so I kept it simple by sticking to meals like chilli, fajitas and pasta bakes. As well as going back to basics with my cooking, I made it my mission to watch just about every documentary available to me about vegetarianism and veganism, the food industry and the environment. I’d always been vaguely aware that eating meat had a negative effect on the planet but I’d quite happily avoided finding out the facts, feeling much more comfortable about living in ignorance than having to change such a big part of how I lived my life. Cowspiracy, Vegucated and Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead were huge game changers for the way I saw the meat, fish and dairy industries and really opened my eyes to the damage our diets can cause. I started to find that it was much more difficult to ignore the hundreds of legitimate and proven facts thrown at me by the documentaries than it was to actually make a change for the better.

And so, my trial-month of vegetarianism never ended.

Eating out was challenging at first; it was a difficult change to suddenly only have 20% of a restaurant menu to choose from when I had been so used to having my pick of everything there was to offer. It was made harder still by the fact that I had always been anything but a fussy eater – a lover of seafood and smoked salmon and chorizo and fried chicken, always up for trying the strangest of things from boar to venison, to snails or to veal. My only saving grace was that I had never especially loved red meat which definitely made the transition a lot easier. This past year has really opened my eyes to which restaurants make a deliberate effort to cater for all dietary requirements and made me wonder why some just don’t bother at all. Back at home in the North, Ezra & Gil and Fig & Sparrow have been firm favourites for a mid-Manchester-shopping lunch break. I’m also hoping to make many more visits to Humblest of Pleasures, in Hebden Bridge, for their delish all-day breakfasts with major insta-appeal once I go back to university in September. I’ve been pleasantly surprised by a lot of chain restaurants like Leon, Pret a Manger, Wagamama, Wahaca, Turtle Bay and Wetherspoons – just to name a few! Just this weekend, I visited By Chloe, London's latest addition to vegan dining, for a dirty burger and fries sent from heaven. It makes my heart so happy to see these chains announcing their brand new vegan/vegetarian menus; the demand is clearly worth the investment and it’s so impressive that such huge corporations are taking note and accepting that they have a responsibility to offer an alternative.

It’s so rewarding to know that I contribute to the rising statistics in demand of vegetarian food – just this week it was announced that almost a third of evening meals sold so far in 2018 have been vegetarian! It makes me feel very fulfilled to know that I’m doing my bit for the world too; in just one year I’ve saved thousands of pounds in CO2 emissions and avoided eating hundreds of animals. I’d like to think that by choosing not to eat fish or meat, I’m playing an important role in normalising the vegetarian lifestyle. Since I’d never been especially clued up on the environmental benefits of vegetarianism before this past year, I’d also never given much thought to the moral or social benefits of it either. Being a vegetarian has made me a much more compassionate human being. I’ve never considered myself to be an animal lover – my love of animals pretty much starts and ends with my infatuation for cats – but over the course of the year, the treatment and welfare of animals has started to make me particularly angry. What I’ve been finding most baffling are the double standards; where the death and consumption of one animal can be justified while the death and consumption of another animal is considered absolutely abhorrent. My perspective has taken a total 180 degree turn – the way I see it, if the consumption of dog meat offends you, so should the consumption of lamb. If the mistreatment of orcas in captivity makes you mad, think also about the hundreds of thousands of turtles and dolphins that die each year as a result of bycatching, the term used to describe the unintentional catching of unwanted species in fishing nets that are often thrown back into the sea either dead or fatally injured.

For fear of sounding a little ‘preachy’, I’d urge anyone reading this – when the time is right for you – to explore all of the benefits that vegetarianism and veganism have to offer and make a decision that is right for you. For a multitude of reasons, restrictions to meat, fish and dairy intake aren’t a viable option for many and I would hate for anyone to feel ashamed for choosing – rightly so – to put their health and wellbeing before anything else. Nobody is perfect, and I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve had plenty of lapses in judgement and moments of weakness during this past year. There have been many a gelatine sweet, the occasional smoked salmon and cream cheese bagel and during the two one-week holidays abroad that I took last year, I ate fish every day.

This year, I have three objectives:

1. To tighten the reigns on my diet by avoiding more ‘hidden’ animal products
2. To keep exploring vegan options with the eventual aim of reaching full veganism. 
3. To have fun with food

I’m not making any promises to myself because the last thing I would want is to feel restricted in any way. I love food and ultimately, if I want to eat something then I only have myself to answer to. Nevertheless, I’m going to be much more conscious about the food I choose this year in a way that I wasn’t in 2017 by turning down the offer of marshmallows on my hot chocolate, checking the ingredients before picking up a baked camembert and saying no to the parmesan boy and his delicious sprinkling of smells-a-bit-like-feet goodness in a restaurant. I’m also going to be more mindful about dairy free options too; I’ve been buying milk alternatives like Rude Health’s almond and coconut milks for well over a year now, but on the rare occasion I do pick up a hot chocolate while I’m out and about, I’m going to be more conscious about remembering to ask for an alternative while I’m ordering! I’d also like to start experimenting with vegan cheeses this year – something I’ve avoided up to this point – by trying out different supermarket’s ranges and getting to know what works well in different recipes. Ultimately, I just want to keep enjoying food like I always have. I love eating hearty dishes full of fresh vegetables – for the first time in my life I’m actually getting my five-a-day and I feel better in so many ways for it. I don’t consider being vegetarian to be a sacrifice, but if I did then I’d still feel that the sacrifice was worth the reward.