A Take On Veganism

What Veganism means to me and how I view the life style. Call me vegan, Pescatarian, or Flexitarian; it doesn’t matter to me.

On September of 2015, I decided overnight to abstain from consuming animal products and I decided to become vegan. I had watched the Youtube video, A 101 Reason To Go Vegan, by James Wildman and was instantly convinced I needed to change my lifestyle. My father had been vegan for a couple of years at that point, and honestly till then, I thought the man was crazy. At a young age he had exposed my brother and I to healthy eating and had us watch documentaries like, Food Inc when I was in elementary school. Being stubborn and immature, I ignored my father's advice on eating healthy or plant based. I was such a picky eater that eliminating meat and cheese from my diet would leave me with very few options. I wasn’t ready to make the change until I realized the impact of a living a vegan lifestyle had on the environment and our health.

Fast forward to today, I still follow a vegan diet with some of my own personal tweaks. I’m not saying my way is better of worse them others, I’m just going to state what works for me and hopefully it can help you. Living on Oahu and being vegan isn’t the easiest compared to being vegan in places like Los Angeles or Sydney, Australia, so I have to make due with what I have. This mean I do most of my own cooking and when I do eat out, it's mostly either at Whole Foods or Down to Earth food bars.

It wasn’t really until I started traveling that I decided to stray away from a strict vegan diet and transition over to something more sustainable. For instance when I was in the Philippines, there was like amazing local bread called Pan de Coco. Pan de Coco is a soft and subtly sweet bread filled with sweetened coconut. The bread is baked in a handmade oven, fueled by burning coconut husks. One of the locals insisted that I tried it, and he didn’t have to ask twice. The experience alone won me over. We pulled off the side of the road to a makeshift oven and ordered a bag full of bread. The Filipina auntie pulled the hot bread straight out of the oven and handed it to us. Pan de Coco isn’t vegan considering there is milk and butter in this pastry, but I don’t regret eating it at all. This was a cultural experience I will forever remember, and provides me with inspiration to recreate Pan de Coco without animal products at home (recipe coming soon). When I am offered the opportunity to try a new food, and have a cultural experience like this, I think it is worth it even if it might have milk or dairy in it.

Would I do this with meat like chicken, pork, or beef? No, probably not. I haven’t had meats like this in three years now, so at this point I find them unappealing and I fear I will become sick after consuming them. Fish on the other hand, is another story. Being half Japanese and living on a island with an abundance of fresh fish makes it really hard for me to stop myself. Though it is a rare occasion, I do eat fish once in a while. My reasoning behind it is simple. Fish is something that I really enjoy and I don’t believe it is bad for me or the environment if I have it once in a while.

For the love of food and culture, I am willing to bend the vegan rules a little bit. At the end of the day I know I have good intentions and that I am trying to live a more sustainable life. I think veganism should be about creating a more sustainable way of life by making the transition away from animal products as easy as possible. If that means you have to make your own tweaks to do so, then be it. Life isn’t about perfect, but the effort to come close and journey there. Let me know in the comments below your thoughts of veganism.

101 Reasons To Go Vegan by James Wildman https://youtu.be/YnQb58BoBQw