Hello! My name is Monica and I’ve been an intern here at Peartree Languages for more than two months now but maybe you already know something about me from the first blog post I wrote.
Today though, I want to talk about the most important decision I’ve ever taken in my life around 9 years ago: becoming a vegan.
This was a decision made mainly because of animal suffering but also because of the direct link between human starvation in the third world countries and the intensive animal agriculture. Knowing that animal farming is also the major cause of global warming, only made me draw a clear line on where I wanted to stand.
Only recently I’ve checked on thevegancalculator.com how I have contributed to saving both the environment and non human animals simply by becoming vegan and amazingly I discovered that I’ve been able, among other things, to save 9200 square metres of rainforest, 14 million litres of water and about 3300 animals! Incredible, isn’t it?
I know the word ‘Vegan’ may sound a little scary for those who know little about it but I promise you it is not and actually it is quite easy to get around.
You have lots of ingredients at our disposal on a daily basis. And most certainly you have had vegan food (unknowingly) more than once in your lifetime.
I can give you a general idea of the food a vegan can eat and cannot. Also, since I am temporarily living in a host family, I’ve seen how easy it is to include vegan dishes into the weekly meal routine.
Basically, a vegan person doesn’t eat any animal products, including dairy, eggs and honey (so no beef, no chicken, no bacon, no dairy milk, no butter, no dairy yogurt etc.). You might need to check the labels if you are not sure.
Here is a list of the food a vegan can eat:
Ideas for Breakfast:
Ideas for dinner that I really enjoy:
When you feel like dining out, you can find some excellent vegan restaurants or Coffee shops here in Cardiff. However you don’t really need to look specifically for vegan places, almost every restaurant has at least one vegan option to offer nowadays.
For example, last Sunday I went to this newly opened coffee in Clare Rd called “Wild Thing”. The atmosphere and the staff were the loveliest. My friend had the whole-food bowl and I had the savoury green peas pancakes. It was delicious!
You should definitely give it a try!
Hopefully, my suggestions will make it a little bit easier for anybody who wants to give the vegan diet a go! Cheers!
This was a decision made mainly because of animal suffering but also because of the direct link between human starvation in the third world countries and the intensive animal agriculture. Knowing that animal farming is also the major cause of global warming, only made me draw a clear line on where I wanted to stand.
Only recently I’ve checked on thevegancalculator.com how I have contributed to saving both the environment and non human animals simply by becoming vegan and amazingly I discovered that I’ve been able, among other things, to save 9200 square metres of rainforest, 14 million litres of water and about 3300 animals! Incredible, isn’t it?
I know the word ‘Vegan’ may sound a little scary for those who know little about it but I promise you it is not and actually it is quite easy to get around.
You have lots of ingredients at our disposal on a daily basis. And most certainly you have had vegan food (unknowingly) more than once in your lifetime.
Basically, a vegan person doesn’t eat any animal products, including dairy, eggs and honey (so no beef, no chicken, no bacon, no dairy milk, no butter, no dairy yogurt etc.). You might need to check the labels if you are not sure.
Here is a list of the food a vegan can eat:
- Every kind of Fruit and Vegetables (fruit juices and dried fruit too)
- Whole Grains, Cereals (all cereals like rice, brown rice, pasta, noodles with no eggs, bread).
- Vegan bread can easily be found in big supermarkets as well as in many local bakeries
- Pulses: Beans, lentils, chickpeas, soya bean, peas etc.
- Nuts, Nut Butters (peanut butter is fine!) and Seeds
- Plant Milk and Non-dairy Yogurts (oat/soy/rice/almond milk)
- Any kind of vegetable oil, coffee, dark chocolate, spices
Ideas for Breakfast:
- Non-dairy milk
- Yogurt
- Coffee
- Fruit juice
- Rice/corn cakes
- Bread
- Jam
- Porridge made with oat milk + porridge oat + nuts + dried fruit
- Muesli (you can find vegan ones quite easily)
Ideas for dinner that I really enjoy:
- Pasta with tomato sauce or vegan pesto (you can find it in the “free from” section of your supermarket) or any kind of homemade sauce you can make from vegetables.
- Rice (risotto) with any vegetable you like: mushrooms, peppers, butternut squash, asparagus, onions, etc.
- Boiled brown rice or white rice with Dhal. Dhal can be made with lentils + sweet potatoes + onions or a mixture of lentils, chickpeas, onions, spinach.. and, if you want, add some spices... you can get creative! My host usually prepares a larger quantity of it so he can freeze it and have it ready for later meals.
- Soups (butternut squash, parsnips, carrots..)
- Salad
- Boiled/steamed vegetables.
- If you are having Sunday dinner: roasted vegetables (+oil/salt/pepper), steamed vegetable. At Tesco you can find some vegan burgers made from cereals and vegetables.
- Finally... add some seasoning (mostly salt and vegetable oil) to taste to your recipes!
You should definitely give it a try!
Hopefully, my suggestions will make it a little bit easier for anybody who wants to give the vegan diet a go! Cheers!
0 comments:
Post a Comment