What it’s like to become vegan

[Guest guest]

http://ocolly.com/2009/04/15/what-it%E2%80%99s-like-to-become-vegan/

 

By Valerie Hill

The Current Writer

Published: April 15, 2009

During my stagecraft class, she grabbed my hand and started to put her gold ring

against my skin.

 

" What are you doing? " I said.

 

" I want to test you for anemia, " she said.

 

My classmate wasn't attacking me because I had told her I was pregnant or that I

had sat down on a thumbtack and had been slowly leaking blood for a week.

 

It was because I told her I was vegan.

 

At the tumultuous age of 13, I drastically changed my diet and values.

 

I eliminated all animal ingredients and byproducts from my food, clothes and

everything else.

 

About a month before the stagecraft incident, I was sitting in the

orthodontist's office.

 

After my braces were in place, the receptionist told my mother I could eat soft

foods like Jell-O. She also said to be careful because a vegetarian, who they

had treated before, fainted.

 

I had only been vegan for a few weeks. I already had anemia and the vapors like

some stereotypical southern belle.

 

I have learned a lot of things in the seven years since I decided to adopt

veganism into my life. First thing I learned: Jell-O definitely isn't vegan.

 

I tried to ask my mother a question while the new braces painfully moved my

teeth.

 

" Wah are mah uffer opshons? " I said.

 

I was stuck eating oatmeal for days because that was the only thing we could

easily find that didn't have " gelatin " or " milk " in the ingredients.

 

Nowadays, I am a bona fide expert in speed reading the small print on ingredient

labels and finding secret vegan foods hidden among all the other boxes and bags

on grocery aisles. I was initially amazed with the vast galaxy of animal-derived

ingredients that I never even knew existed.

 

Ambergris?

 

I believe that is a rare stone or gem.

 

Bonito?

 

It's probably some kind of Dorito chip. Although there's no point in even

bringing up Doritos — vegans definitely can't eat those.

 

Grocery stores, restaurants and fast food chains are the biggest change I

encountered. There are grocery aisles I don't traverse anymore; it shaves

minutes of my trip. And I don't even waste the gas going to McDonald's. I've

also gotten accustomed to having only one or two good options on menus at

restaurants, but I take it with a grain of salt.

 

Mostly because a large dish of salt is one of those few menu options.

 

My observations gathered from these encounters are not meant to be a complaint

to others about how hard vegans have it. There is no soapbox beneath these

words.

 

All I want is to offer a comical vignette of some situations vegans might

encounter that they would not have expected; to give people a small glimpse into

a world they might not know about.

 

If there is some moral lesson to put here, it would be that respect is the

simplest and most noble understanding we can give to one another — respect for

one another's morals, values and what we all feel is the best decision.

This story was published April 15th, 2009 under The Current. Permalink.