Ask a Plant-Muncher: "Are you veg*n because you don't like meat?"

I've got a confession to make. This may come as a surprise, seeing as I have not eaten it in over two years, but I love meat.

There was a time in my life when nothing made me happier than a big, juicy steak (covered in A-1 steak sauce of course). I adored going to restaurants like Fuddrucker's and Carl's Jr, indulging in a meaty burger. One of the best dates I have ever been on was at Marcello's, which is a chophouse in Albuquerque, NM. My date and I had porterhouse steak, truffled mac and cheese, and listened to live jazz. One of my favourite recipes was bacon-wrapped pigs in a blanket. (Pretty sure I have pics floating around somewhere.) So,yeah, clearly a meat aficionado here. So, what changed?

Well, like many people, I only liked meat a certain way. I could not stand seeing bones, cartilage, fat, gristle... Anything that reminded me that it was once a living being. Once, Mum ordered chicken wings from Domino's, I bit into a big fat vein, and went straight away into the bathroom where I threw up. Another time I got a steak which had been undercooked. When blood started running onto the plate I could not finish my meal because I was so disgusted. I also could only eat meat if I had been either heavily processed (like deli slices or bacon) or covered in sauce, gravy, or condiments of some kind. I knew a guy who was into bodybuilding who ate plain chicken breasts and spinach for dinner; I used to always tease him and say, "Put some barbecue sauce on that shit, bro!"

Over time I started becoming more disgusted with myself because I could not seem to keep up the same kind of cognitive dissonance like others around me. Why could everyone else eat sausage and eggs for breakfast and feel nothing, and I couldn't? I remembered the project I did on factory farming back in high school, and the revulsion I felt after learning about the horrors chickens go through for our chicken sandwiches and eggs. I decided to revisit that, but not after getting into a lot of debates with vegans and vegetarians on the Internet. One day someone sent me a message saying, "Watch Earthlings" with a link to the movie. Narrated by Joaquin Phoenix, the movie details the different ways animals are killed and exploited for human consumption. I forced myself to watch the entire thing (even though I was in tears ten minutes in).

I decided then and there that if I couldn't look my food in the face, I didn't deserve to eat it. I also could not, in good conscience, support the cruelty and horror involved in factory farming. Then and there I became a vegetarian. A few weeks later, I went even further and became vegan. Though I'm nowhere near perfect and I have the occasional slip-up, I feel like this lifestyle is the best thing that ever happened to me, and my only regret is that I didn't do it sooner.

Do I still crave meat? Yes, on occasion. Same way I crave cigarettes. (There was another time in my life when I was rarely seen without a cigarette poking out of my mouth). I know cigarettes are bad for me , make me smell awful, burn a hole in my pocketbook, change the way food tastes... But that doesn't mean I don't crave the comfort a cigarette used to bring. Meat, too, was a comfort food for me. No longer. All it takes it a little willpower and I am stronger than my tastebuds, cultural conditioning and societal pressure.

--M. Dos Santos

The 10 Most Annoying Questions You Can Ask a Vegan (Part One)

I have only been a vegan for a few months at this point. While I love my lifestyle because of the health and animal benefits, I will admit it can be a hardship at times. I see the world in a different light now. People seem to be distressingly ignorant about veganism, and it's hard to tell if questions are genuine curiosity or someone looking for a fight. I've decided to make an FAQ (Frequently Annoying Questions).

10.) "What exactly do vegans eat?"

People think vegans eat three things: tofu, grass and salad. I can assure you this is not true. I eat a lot of the same things my omnivore friends go: burgers, breakfast burritos, lasagna, pizza... You name it! Just about any recipe can be modified to suit a vegan diet. Not to mention a lot of favorite snack foods are already vegan. (I'm eating Buddy Fruits, which are a delicious fruit snack, while I write this.) I do eat a lot of things I would have never eaten before, like Tofurky (much better than real turkey), tempeh, quinoa (makes an excellent breakfast cereal), and so on. Vegans tend to eat a lot more fruits and vegetables too, as well as whole grains.

9.) "Why are vegans so self-righteous and preachy?"

We've all met them: The vegans who can't seem to shut up about the murder that is in a glass of milk, and squawk about the evils of buffalo chicken wings. I know, I'm one of them. Have you heard the saying, "There is no one as fanatical as a convert?" Most of us grew up believing that meat was good for us, we needed milk for strong bones and teeth, and eggs were a good source of protein and b12. Then, one day, we opened our eyes, Maybe we watched a factory farming documentary or visited PETA's website. And suddenly we were angry. We'd been fed lies about food our whole lives by people we love and trust. Many of us become activists, hoping we can stop other people from being sucked in by the meat and dairy industry propaganda. There are some vegans who didn't grow up that way and act like they did, self-righteously turning up their noses and acting like they're better than everyone. Some of us need to realise that not everyone is enlightened yet.

8). "Animals eat other animals to survive. So what's wrong with humans eating meat?"

How fortunate a lot of us are to live in wealthy countries where worrying about food is not an issue. Times have changed a lot, and we no longer need to eat to "survive"-- a plethora of food can be found at your local supermarket. In the wild, without the conveniences of technology and civilisation, doubtless we would need to eat whatever we could to survive, including meat. Alas, we do not live in the wild like our animal friends. We live in houses where we are protected from danger. We have vast amounts of food at our disposal. At this stage in our evolution, we eat meat for pleasure only, not for survival.

7.) "Do you ever miss meat?"

I'm sure this is something vegans get asked a lot, and the answer is different for everyone. For me, the answer is yes. It's hard not to miss something that was a part of your life for 25 years. I liken it to a smoker who quits. He knows smoking is bad for him, but he misses it because it was a stress reliever and a habit. I used to eat bacon and eggs on the weekend, it was one of the few times I'd see my mum during the week and she would cook this for me. At the same time, I know my health is better and I'm not killing any animals just so I can eat.

6.) "What if you were stranded on a desert island, and you had to eat meat or you would die. What would you do?"

I absolutely cannot stand these kind of questions. They're idiotic and distract from real issues. There are quite a few variations on this theme, but most of them involve eating meat or dying. Someone asked a vegan on a FB page one time, "If someone asked you to kill 10 animals, or 10 morally upstanding people, which would you choose?" Questions like this don't have any one answer because they have too many variables (e.g., how do you know the people were morally upstanding, what constitutes morals, blah blah). People only ask questions like this to start arguments. In response to the desert island question, I'd find some animals, figure out what they eat, and eat that. Also, I'd be making damn sure I get rescued.

I hope you found this post enlightening. If you have any questions, you can leave them in the comments below.

M.