05 January 2009

Being Vegan

I'm not going to lie. It's TOUGH. I read every label of everything I put into my mouth. I went out to eat today, at a vegetarian diner, but I felt as though I had to ask about every. little. thing. that. was. in. the. dish. It was a pain. But I had curry ketchup. And that was good. The ketchup was on a veggie burger. I probably could have said that first.

In general, so far, it's been a really great learning experience. I've been drinking homemade smoothies every morning, I'm cooking up a big vat of split pea soup tomorrow, and I'm excited to keep trying out recipes. There's a lot of support out there for vegans (and new-comers, so that's super extra special great), and a surprising amount of restaurants in the St. Louis that have multiple vegan options. I spent about an hour and a half researching that today. Sauce Magazine and Urban Spoon are both GREAT resources for that.

If anyone has any good vegan recipes, or restaurant recommendations, or general advice or thoughts, please throw them my way! I'm in the honeymoon stage of this still - it isn't a pain yet, but I'm wouldn't be surprised if I got sick of it before the end of January...

3 comments:

Bridgett said...

My sister, who had been a vegetarian already for several years, tried to go vegan her sophomore year of college. She lasted a semester--mostly because she was at Mizzou and still eating in the dorms (not a lot of choices).

What vegetarian diner?

Do you have a crock pot? Mike and I aren't vegan or vegetarian, but we eat very little meat--one of the things we do about once a week is vegetarian beans in the crock pot. It is so so much easier than on the stove (and doesn't smell bad as they cook). Drain off the water when they're cooked and toss in a jar of salsa and two tablespoons of cumin (and sometimes some salt, chili powder, etc). We then eat with cheese sprinkled on top, but that of course is not necessary.

And I have that vegan banana bread. I'll have to gather it up and send you an email.

Bridgett said...

Oh, and about labels. When we cut out high fructose corn syrup (a year and a half ago!), it was about 3 months of obsessive label reading. Then I figured out what did and did not have it, bought what didn't, and it was easier. Now it's only a casual glance at something new instead of every. single. item.

Laura B said...

You are a very brave human. I'm sure you are super sad that being a vegan means no more Gries food. haha.