Any time I meet up with friends who I haven’t seen in a while in any sort of dining situation, the first question they ask me is, “What are you eating these days?”

This, my friends, is because I’ve been an on-again, off-again vegan for about two or three years. Right now, I’m on again, and I’m really aiming to keep it that way.

In case you’re unfamiliar with the term, vegan basically means foregoing any and all things that come from an animal, whether it’s meat, dairy, eggs, wool or leather, and is usually born out of ethical, environmental or health concerns.

The vegetarian thing (which usually means one still eats dairy and eggs) has never been very tough for me to adhere to, as I was always pretty grossed out by the concept of eating meat (insert wildly inappropriate joke here). But vegan is another story, where it becomes a little trickier to navigate when dining at restaurants or in the homes of friends and family. With the right motivation, though, it doesn’t have to be that complicated.

If you’ve never experienced the joys of good vegan cooking — and I’m not talking about a flavorless block of tofu all by its lonesome — then maybe you don’t understand why I would want to get back into it, once and for all.

For starters, I feel very strongly about the issue of animal rights, though that’s a topic of discussion for another day. I also feel so much better when I’m eating a healthy vegan diet, as opposed to a dairy-and-processed-foods-laden vegetarian diet. I’m not saying that’s what all vegetarians do, but that’s pretty much the pattern I fell into.

Most importantly, I feel like I’m more myself when I’m vegan, and whether that’s because I’m standing up for my beliefs or because I’m just generally in a better, guilt-free state of mind, I couldn’t tell you. Either way, though, I’m looking forward to cooking up some absurdly delicious veg dishes again (like herb seitan croquettes, Cajun yam fries and chocolate beer cupcakes with Irish whiskey buttercream).

And in a phrase I coined on a summer trip to Vegan Treats, a veg bakery in Bethlehem, with Weekender editor Nikki M. Mascali, I’m looking forward to spreading the word that “Vegan-ness is happiness!”



 

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