Several years ago our family became vegetarian, then vegan. Mostly, anyway. We don’t force the kids to, especially since there are so many food-related activities at school. And I find it difficult when there are work parties and lunches. But at home we are, because we can control what we eat at home.
The reasons for veganism can vary. For me it’s not that I object to or refuse to eat meat. I just don’t agree with what they put the animals through in order for them to become our meat. And since I can’t really control what is done to my meat, and since our current circumstances allow for it, it’s easier to just not eat meat or animal products. I don’t need to eat animals, so I don’t. That could chance, perhaps, but for now I am a vegan.
Of course going vegan is easier when you have options. Most people think about going vegetarian and wonder, “But what would I eat?” American cuisine is currently so fixated on meat that it’s hard for anyone to imagine what else there could be.
My wife has spent the last ten years learning to answer that question. She has found lots of wonderful recipes, most of them fairly simple, to the point that I don’t really miss my former diet. We eat well, and we we eat delicious food all the time. You’d probably be surprised at just what is possible on a vegan diet.
Anyway, one of her goals this year has been to start a vegan recipes newsletter. Published every other week, she presents three or four vegan recipes, with pictures of food we are about to eat ourselves (which has slowed down many a dinner while she takes just the right shot). Each edition is delivered by email.
Every recipe is kid-tested and father approved. While there are some special ingredients involved at times, we steer clear of anything you can’t find at your average grocery store, or might be overly expensive (we’re on a budget, too). If you’re looking for gourmet recipes with hard-to-pronounce ingredients that can only be found at a specialty organic market, and can only be afforded on a six-figure income–that ain’t us. If my wife had tried to go that way I’d have told her “no”.
But if you’re thinking of trying vegan cooking, are curious about what we eat, or are just looking for something new to try once in awhile, drop us a line and we’ll put you on the mailing list. If you change your mind, drop us a line and we’ll take you off. It’s as simple as that.
Want to sign up? Email me at
with the email address you would like us to use. We won’t ever use your address for anything other than emailing the newsletter and perhaps the occasional survey to see what we can improve.
As a side note, it seems like any time a vegan talks about veganism the commentors crawl out of the woodwork to complain about vegans “telling them what to eat.” To this I can only laugh.
For one thing, I’m not telling you what to eat. I’m offering you something different if you’re interested. Don’t be vegan if you don’t want to.
But I will tell you this: pay attention and look around. We are told what to eat every minute of every day, and seldom by anyone who doesn’t have an agenda that benefits only them. We’re told to drink our milk, eat more beef, eat more chicken, eat ‘the other white meat’, eat more greens, eat more “superfoods”, eat less, cut salt, watch cholesterol…the list goes on and on. It ain’t just the vegans, pal! Everyone cares about what’s on your plate these days.