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[Guest guest]

Hi everyone.. I've been a vegetarian for about 12 years. I never

really wanted to eat meat growing up, but that's what was put on the

table and what everyone else around me ate so I did too.

 

I'd really love to go vegan but think it will be extremely

difficult. I'm a very picky eater so it's hard enough to find foods

I like as it is - and it's hard to find a vegetarian meal at a

restaurant, let alone a vegan one. I'm not good at cooking, so all

the vegetarian/vegan cookbooks out there are pretty useless to me

(plus since I'm so picky I usually don't like a lot of the

ingredients in the recipes). I'm a big fan of quick and easy

convenience food - I've been known to eat cheese bagel bites or

broccoli and cheese Hot Pockets or any other microwavable vegetarian

meal for lunch and dinner - but if I decide to go vegan that will

probably have to change.

 

I drink soymilk instead of cow's milk but still eat ice cream and

milk chocolate (it's hard to forsee a day when as a vegan I can no

longer eat KitKat or Caramello bars); I eat a lot of cheese (pizza,

mac n cheese, cheese ravioli, grilled cheese sandwiches, nachos...)

and the last time I tried vegan cheese it was disgusting.

 

I just found out that gelatin is made from pig skin, so I had to

switch from my beloved Yoplait yogurt over to soy yogurt, and now

I'll have to keep a careful watch on ingredient labels and go to

special stores to buy vegan marshmallows and gummy snacks... what a

pain in the @$$!

 

To make things worse, I am the only vegetarian I know - all of my

friends and family eat meat regularly. My husband is a big meat

eater which is something I'm not very fond of but we deal with it..

it's difficult sometimes to make meals together as everything has to

be separate. Sometimes I find it completely exhausting to be a

vegetarian when it seems like the rest of the world isn't, so I'm

glad to be a part of this group.

 

Krysten