2013 the year i went vegan

Country Life

I have spent the last month in a small country town called Moree. It’s in New South Wales, Australia. If you’ve never heard of it look it up. It’s an isolated little town with a very strong meat eating culture. I knew this before I came, but was naive in thinking it wouldn’t matter. Though there has been a lot of “oh vegan” and “so what do you eat then” everyone has been very accommodating. Moree does have a little health food store called Three Apple Organics, which was a delight to find. The owner was so lovely and showed me all of her vegan stock. I even tried coyo for the first time (delicious by the way).

So the reason I’m here is community placement for my Nutrition and Dietetics degree. We have been working on a project for a school in a neighbouring town (only 1 1/2 hours drive) that encourages kids to eat healthy. It has been such a fun project to work on it’s going to be hard to leave next week. Although I am very much looking forward to being with my husband again and being able to choose between a multitude of vegan takeaways. 

This experience has definitely opened my eyes to how fortunate I am. Now I can also appreciate that when people from the country say “but it’s so much harder out here” that they are right. It is hard, but it’s still doable. 

First Hurdle

After 2 weeks of being vegan I have finally faced my first of probably many hurdles.

I went out to dinner with my mum and a few friends. The restaurant was picked by someone else and had no vegan options or opportunities to modify to vegan. So I ordered chips (after checking they were vegan) and a bowl of green veg. When the meals came someone questioned my choice and before I could answer my mum piped up and said in a sarcastic tone “she’s a vegetarian”. Someone then pointed out that there were vegetarian options on the menu. I proceeded to explain that I was actually vegan. The conversation was left at that.

After dinner I was asked if I wanted to go for some ice cream. I then had to remind them that ice cream was in fact an animal product and i therefore didn’t feel like joining them (plus I had somewhere else to be). It was then questioned why I don’t eat dairy when no animals are killed to produce it. I began to explain what I knew of the dairy industry when I was interrupted again by my mother who told me I was wrong, asked me where I heard that and reminded me she is the wife of a farmer. I tried to explain to her that I had actually done a lot of research before committing to being vegan. I reminded her that Dad had not only not been a farmer for 25 years but that he was never a dairy farmer. I also informed her that the demand for milk has meant that the industry has changed dramatically.

What a futile attempt at educating. I ended up saying “why ask a question you don’t want to know the answer to” and stormed off. The minute I tried to justify the reason I don’t consume dairy everyone got defensive and made me feel like a complete idiot and extremist weirdo. It’s so frustrating. So I just posted a video of dairy cows being slaughtered on her Facebook wall. I will be interested to see if she actually watches it.

If anyone has any suggestions on how to deal with family when they get like this I would love to hear them. Thanks :)

Earthlings.