Why become a vegan?

This year (2014) has seen a great change in my cooking.... last year I was a vegetarian who occasionally ate fish. I ate far too much cheese and was addicted to butter.  This year I decided that I needed a drastic change to my diet; something that would re-invigorate my love of cooking and appreciate some much maligned ingredients.  Starting from New Years Day I became a vegan - you probably noticed all my posts about vegan things so it is nothing new.

I think I had better explain myself..... well people do keep on asking me. 'Why become a vegan?' .  My answers are many and varied.  I seem to have a new answer every single time.  Now, this is not due to indecisiveness or waywardness. It just is complicated. Like a super complex knot of knitting that you have to unpick.

Here are just some of the reasons I have given:

1. Eating too much cheese!
2. Dairy product not good for my respiratory health....  whenever I got a cold I just had to avoid dairy or I would feel even more blocked up. What would it be like with no dairy?
3. Adventure - I wanted to explore a whole new culinary experience.
4. Dairy product potentially giving higher risks to breast cancer (Japanese and Chinese diets showing significantly lower rates of breast cancer).
5. I had been flirting with veganism for some years and thought I had better just go for it.
6. Experimentation - I wanted to see if I could make this work in a relatively busy life.
7. Challenge.
8. Environmental - the increasing proof that a vegan diet was lighter on the planet.
9. I was going off fish through all the bad experiences I had with fish during 2013 and I really should not eat so much dairy.... now I am an all or nothing kind of gal so that meant no dairy!
10. Just all of these reasons mixed all together.

Well I am now the majority way through my experiment and it has been tough. You have to look at every label! I now know intimately the various methods of filtration for wine.... whether it be through fish finings, casein (milk product) or gelatin.  I know which bread is safe generally (pitta and ciabatta), which supermarkets are on your side (Marks and Spencer, Co-op) and which are tragically appalling.  I know the best vegan cheeses (Vegusto's no-moo piquant), and some great alternatives to eggs (flax seed is so good).  Cakes are tough for vegans but then I was never to fond of them anyway.  I have been addicted to kale and I have never had so much hummus in life than this year.  (If someone was to come up with a great alternative to hummus that could easily be made/bought by cafes I am sure it would be a money-spinner. I love hummus but every time you go out to a cafe?)
It has been a revelation!
Vegetables have taken on a new lustre.... Kale is the must go vegetable.  Just kale and garlic and I have a meal (well, almost).  Cauliflower has become invaluable; just roasted or left raw as 'rice'.  Carrots (in particular a variety called purple haze) have elevated my stock making. When you have to rely on the great vegetables you just look out for some different flavour.  This purple haze carrot has transformed my pho to this luscious purple broth..... ahhh! Spring onions griddled in a pan with the roots on are devine.
Shall I continue?  I will let you know 1st January 2015!