It's been over six months now, since I've crossed over to the green side. Christmas Eve was the last meat-based meal I had with my family, and while I can't honestly say I never looked back at first, it's been one of the best things I've ever done for myself on so many levels. As I wrote in my
Me, In A Nutshell post, I've been a big animal lover since I was a little thing, and have always cared about and been involved with animal rights and wildlife conservation organizations. I also really love nature and care about the environment and all that other tree-hugging hippie stuff. So the decision to adopt a plant based diet into my life had many contributing factors.
I got through the initial frustrations of not knowing what to eat or cook, and doubting whether I'd made the right decision or not thanks to Alicia Silverstone's book,
The Kind Diet. I absolutely love her as an actress and even more so for being such an avid animal rights activist, so I thought her book was the perfect intro for my new veg life. I highly recommend it to any veg-curious people looking to make the cross over, or just to anyone who likes to eat! There are some really delicious
recipes in there and a few of them have turned into my specialties, like the
Vegan Avocado Alfredo and
Alicia's Mushroom Pizza. Quinoa and kale have become my new favorite things to cook with, and I love that I feel satisfied and satiated after a meal and not painfully full with a food baby. I also love that I no longer feel like I need a nap or like I have to unbutton my pants after I eat (you know you've done it.)
RIGHT: My own creation, Summer Salad w/ Avocado & Strawberries and Black Bean Chipotle Quinoa Salad. LEFT: Alicia's Mushroom Pizza.
Since I stopped eating animals, my dedication to animal rights and wildlife conservation has felt more complete since I feel that my love and respect for all animals has come full circle by keeping them off my plate. This year I attended the
National Animal Rights Day in New York. The
Los Angeles group had demonstrators hold animals that had died at the hands of humans as an act of solidarity, compassion, and demand for animal rights. While it was tough to see some of the images, and hear some of the presenters speak about the plight of animals in this world, I'm sure I would have felt a lot worse if I still continued to contribute to their suffering by eating them.
I also got to indulge my artsy side by attending
Waves of Change - A Benefit Art Show for Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. It's so great when so many things you love are combined. It was such a fun night filled with beautiful artwork, vegan food and wine, and new friends. I love the ocean so much I sometimes think I was a fish in a past life. And when other kids were playing house, or cops and robbers, I spent every summer as a kid in the water pretending I was a mermaid, so the conservation and well being of the ocean and all it's creatures holds a special place in my heart. Check out some of their amazing
campaigns and
get involved or check them out at their
next event! I'll probably see you there!
This Spring, while many of my friends were looking forward to Spartan Races or Color Runs, I was getting ready for one of my favorite events at the Bronx Zoo. This is my third year participating in
The Wildlife Conservation Society's Run For the Wild! and this year's event was probably my favorite. Not only because it was to benefit elephants, but it was also sponsored by
Amarula (a very delicious liquor from South Africa.) Elephants are one of my favorite animals and they need all the help they can get right now, so I was really glad to see the
Wildlife Conservation Society fundraising and advocating on their behalf. Become and ele-friend and
donate some peanuts for this cause. Also, tell congress to support conservation programs that elephants depend on by
signing this petition.
I got to explore more into my newly plant based world by attending a really cool event in Soho called
The Seed - A Positively Plant Based Experience. I ate a ridiculous amount of delicious food that the average meat eating person would probably not even realize was vegan. I also got to hear some amazing speakers, like vegan ultra-athlete,
Rich Roll and animal rights activist and right hand woman to Russell Simmons,
Simone Reyes. While they've both been hard core vegans for years, they both have different reasons for following a plant based diet. Rich credits his ability to conquer Iron Man triathlons to plant based nutrition, while Simone is a warrior goddess for animals everywhere, imploring you to keep them off your plate, out of circuses and test labs, and out of your closet. Both of their talks were equally moving and inspiring.
A big reason that it's taken me so long to become a vegan is because I thought I would feel deprived. I really love food, and one of my favorite things to do is try new restaurants. For the longest time I thought this would be a pain being a vegan, but not in New York! And not with chefs like
Daphne Cheng from
Suite Three Oh Six! The awesome peeps from the Seed-Positively Plant Based, invited Iron man Triathlete, best-selling author, and
Vega formulator,
Brendan Brazier to a dinner party which I attended. I didn't get a chance to talk to Brendan too much during dinner because I was completely taken away by how beautiful and delicious all the food was. Every one of the seven courses had a new vegetable, root, or herb that I'd never tried before. One would think that cutting dairy and meat out of the kitchen would be limiting in creating new dishes, but not for this Chef! I mean, think about it, there are only so many things you can do with an animal carcass, so it was difficult to surprise my former meat eating self in the past. But now, there are so many herbs, roots, and sea vegetables that I've never even heard of, that each new thing I tried was like an adventure! Each dish was equal parts art and engineering with amazing new flavors that were equally loved by my eyeballs and my belly. I can't wait to try more of Chef Daphne's
culinary creations!
Last week I made the long overdue trip up to see some rescued farm animals at Catskill Animal Sanctuary. It was so great to see them running around enjoying the sunshine and their freedom and knowing that that's what they'll get to do for the rest of their lives. It's different then going to a regular farm where you see cute little piggies and chickens and you realize the next time you'll see them is on your plate. Even those types of mom and pop farms don't really exist anymore. In this country alone, 30 million cows are raised on factory farms just for food. That's why this place is so special because you know what the fate of these amazing animals would have been had they not been rescued by the good people there. I loved all the animals there so much I'm going back to visit them at their
12th Annual Shindig - A Festival of Vegan Living next month!
I've been asked a few time if I had my own farm where the animals were treated kindly and got to play in the sunshine and pasture until their hearts content and then were killed quickly and humanely would I eat meat? First of all, being humanely killed is a contradiction in terms. What's humane about killing? So the answer is no, I still wouldn't eat animals. Knowing me, if I had my own farm animals I would love them all, play with them, and have birthday parties for them like I do for my dog. (Don't laugh. My dog is the coolest. If you met him you'd want to come to his birthday party too.)
So my friends, it's safe to say that this is my new way of life now. I'm happier than I've ever been and I've made so many new friends in the NY vegan community. I look forward to many more days of plant based goodness and good friends to share it with (both two and four-legged).
Much love,
Sue
