Since reading my March 6 post (Am I Becoming a Vegan?), several of you have asked how our attempt to convert from carnivorism to veganism, skipping altogether the transitional step of vegetarianism, is progressing. Well, after getting off to a somewhat rocky start, both Dawn and I are still on program. Of course, we’ve been subjected to some mild heckling and a generous amount of good natured ribbing from family and friends. My son, Rick, for example, called last night from San Diego to describe how great the steaks he had on the grill looked, smelled and were definitely going to taste. Yet we’re undeterred. In fact, we’ve both commented that, now that our bodies are becoming better adjusted to certain foods (no, we haven’t revisited brown rice), we’re feeling great!
However, our conversion hasn’t been without its share of obstacles. Aside from some pretty impressive grumbling from our digestive tracts, learning to be a vegan entails frequent trips to the grocery store with long lists of unusual ingredients neither we nor many store employees have heard of. Searching for unfamiliar items and reading labels to assure they contain no animal products takes far longer than we’re used to.
On one recent shopping outing to our local Nugget Market, I was armed with a lengthy list of twenty-five or so necessary ingredients for recipes Dawn wanted to try. After scouring aisles for nearly forty-five minutes with only marginal success, I ran into Store Director Randy Wehman who offered to help. After perusing the list and scratching his head (I couldn’t even tell him what recipes the ingredients were for!), he recruited two more employees, one a vegan, and between them found most of the things on my list. That’s customer service with a capital “C” and yet another reason we love this store!
So we’ve persevered. And we have to admit, almost all the meals we’ve prepared so far have been delicious! Of course, I’ve admittedly avoided revisiting the dreaded brown rice since nearly exploding after eating it the first time. But I know I can’t avoid it indefinitely; my appointment with the evil stuff is looming. And there have been a few other unpronounceable things I suspected of causing digestive problems since we began our quest, but I can’t say with certainty which parts of the meals were actually the culprits. So trial and error have become additional necessary adjustments along the road to veganism. I’ll keep you posted as we continue the journey.
By the way, I’ll be preparing “Popeye Pasta” for dinner this evening. Wish me luck!