barefoot vegan sept_oct issue.pdf

Photo by Joel Capolongo
“I love telling people who
ask about my diet how
much more I enjoy everything
about food now; from
shopping to cooking,
prepping, and purchasing a
ridiculous number of vegan
cook books. It feels like it
has so much more meaning now
and I take pride in the
meals I prepare. I never
felt this way as a meat
eater…not even as a
vegetarian for that matter.”
Tell us about how you became vegan…
I was 16 years old when my parents told me that they
wanted to become vegetarian as a family. My brother,
Josh is five years older than me and he introduced the
idea of vegetarianism to my parents. When they found
out that he had already become vegetarian they were
immediately worried about his health, as they thought—
at that time—that eating meat was necessary for optimal
nutrition. But instead of telling him why he was wrong or
shunning him entirely, they did what awesome parents
do: they researched the heck out of vegetarianism. I think
they were looking for a way to prove to him why this diet
was bad, but instead they came to the undeniable
conclusion that not eating meat is a much better way to
live.
So, there we were in 1999 transitioning to vegetarianism
as a family. I wasn’t particularly thrilled, but decided to
give it a go. I went off to college and my parents kept up
their research, joined a local vegetarian group and
continued to learn about the influence that diet has on
health, the environment, and animals. Every time I came
home for a break or holiday there was something new and
“healthy” in the refrigerator—or worse, something
missing. I still remember coming home one summer to no
more milk or cheese. It was gone and I was devastated:
not the ice cream!
By the time I finished college my parents were full-on
vegan and I was still chowing down my beloved dairy ice
cream and cheese pizzas. Aside from the fact that I had
maintained a vegetarian diet, was eating vegan meals
when visiting home, and gifted vegan-labelled
sweatshirts, stickers, and buttons whenever my parents
were given the opportunity, I couldn’t fathom giving up
dairy. And then, in the summer of 2006, at a veg event in
upstate NY, the sea parted and in walked Registered
Dietitian, George Eisman. Despite the fact that my
parents had at one time or another gently provided the
same information that Mr. Eisman presented on this day,
once I decided to listen and truly understand how very
bad dairy was for my body and for animals, I was done
with it. That very night I ate my last cheese pizza and
never looked back. Well, I might have looked back once,
or five times, but never did go back. It took me a good
year as a relatively unhealthy vegan to start doing even
more research—like learning how to prepare meals
instead of buying ready-made ones. But some new
reading material (hello VegNews Magazine) and a change
in my environment (hey there, Boston) soon helped me
learn how to live a healthy vegan lifestyle.
In the fall of 2007 I moved to Boston for graduate
school. I joined the Boston Vegan Association and started
working part-time for the New England Anti-Vivisection
Society. The friends that I made in these two
organisations led me to so much support, inspiration, and
so many new resources that being vegan became a cinch.
I love telling people who ask about my diet how
much more I enjoy everything about food now; from
shopping to cooking, prepping, and purchasing a
ridiculous number of vegan cook books. It feels like it has
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