Just Peachy! – Day 30

One month. It was my anniversary yesterday but I did not celebrate. Instead, I was in boring meetings about my future from 9:30am to 6pm. I’m lying, they weren’t boring. Adulting is terrible 8.5/10 times but on the rare occasion that things work out even better than you planned, it’s like you’re floating and fatigue doesn’t even feel that tiring anymore.

Afterwards I went home and decided to try the jar of pesto I bought from a vegan supermarket. It was devastatingly disgusting. It tasted like a cross between bitterleaf soup and peanut butter with an inadequate amount of salt and garlic. Vegans can eat most store-bought sundried tomato pesto but the basil ones are made with cheese so that presents an obvious difficulty. My search for an edible dairy-free version continues though. I shall not grow weary.

So far veganism is hard… but it isn’t? Let me explain. Giving up meat has been easy. Easier at least. I miss them sometimes but I haven’t had to employ a great deal of self-control to eliminate beef, chicken and eggs from my diet. The task of avoiding processed food that sneakily contain animal products however, has been nothing short of arduous. I am now that person who spends 2 hours at every aisle just reading lists of ingredients. Any snack that “may contain milk” is off limits even though that basically means it was produced in a factory within the vicinity of milk. Manufacturers are legally bound to put that warning whenever a minimal level of contamination is possible. Presumably this is more relevant to people with allergies and not vegans in general but I don’t know… I haven’t decided if this reasoning is just me trying to find loopholes. The whole thing can get quite confusing. Thank God for popcorn. There is no ambiguity there and I’m glad that I still have my favourite snack. It’s the little mercies that are the most special.

Other than that, it’s been fine. I’m enjoying the time I spend learning new recipes. I just ordered beans, quinoa, chia seeds and so on in bulk and I’m looking forward to the delivery! I can’t wait to start making my own hummus and falafels from scratch. I have this idea for moi-moi that will blow your minds!

I don’t see any signs of me quitting. I am now comfortable with the knowledge that this will be a lifelong commitment. For now, being vegan feels like being left-handed because the world isn’t designed to accommodate our convenience but I’m positive that will change in a few years. My advice to anyone thinking of going vegan is not to waste time looking for plants which taste like meat. There are none. Just know that you’re giving up meat and get used to it.

Love,

Aisha.

P.S. They don’t tell you how gassy and bloated you get in the first few months (don’t ask me about the science I’m not a nutritionist). I keep excusing myself in the middle of things to go to the bathroom. People must think I have the longest bout of diarrhoea ever.