By Leo Babauta
Despite what many non-vegans believe, being vegan isn’t a huge sacrifice, a practice of suffering and not being able to eat anything good.
Actually, being vegan is really fun.
It’s fun because you are not only lifted of the guilt of participating in animal suffering… you’re learning new things! You get to try new recipes, learn about new ethnic cuisines, learn about nutrition and new weird vegetables and grains (spelt? quinoa? red kale?).
It’s an exploration of food and health, and the more you learn about the ethics of animal suffering, and the incredible waste of eating animals, you become more and more glad that you’ve made the change.
Even if you only do it for a week, it’s something new, different, interesting.
Vegans, because they start out by wanting to ensure that they get adequate nutrition on a very different diet, tend to inform themselves about diet more than most people do. It’s good to learn about what you put into your body, rather than just eating it because you’re used to it.
Make the Vegan Challenge Fun
So how do we go about making this week-long vegan exploration as fun as possible? Some ideas:
- Get friends and family to join you. Doing it with others makes it more fun.
- Find other people doing the challenge on the forum. Share stories and recipes, ask questions, help others out.
- Explore new recipes. Challenge yourself!
- Explore new cuisines. Try Thai, Mexican, Vietnamese, Japanese, Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, Ethiopian, French, Italian, Indian, and many others.
- Cook vegan food for others.
- Try vegan restaurants in your area. Or look for vegan-friendly restaurants (try Happy Cow) and give the vegan options a try.
- Try baking some vegan desserts. Yum!
- Try opening your mind to new tastes, and changing your tastebuds. Make it a challenge.
- Explore some vegan blogs and books.
- Explores some vegan prepared foods in supermarkets or health stores. Sure, they’re convenience foods and not always optimally healthy, but they can be yummy treats on occasion.
- Make a game out of it. Give yourself points for trying new foods or recipes or restaurants.
