“WHAT? NO MEAT?”
My friend’s shocked reaction was totally understandable when he heard that I ordered from vegan menu.
Background
I have always been a meat eater. And I also believe in “survival of the fittest”, especially in the food chain, which we human have the privilege to enjoy ancestors hard work climbing to the top.
I love meat, all kinds of meat (except lamb due to taste preference). A little too extreme.
That indulging trip to Texas in August 2016, I set myself a plan to try one of the best Texas barbecue joints every day, which of course was accomplished. Yes, Texan smoke meat every, single, day.
I love the protein overload, the juiciness and tenderness (if cooked right, of course). So, why stopping?
To my knowledge, majority of the vegan community chose this path due to some kind of animal welfare or environment protection. But hey, your puppy/kitty is never the same as farm-raised beef cattle. Pets are, though may sound cheesy, for human’s entertainment and emotion support, whereas farm-raised animals serve only one mission, which is to reach to a certain criteria so that it can be processed as human’s food.
“Animals feel pain” sure, this is right. But according to a podcast episode by BrainStuff called “Are Plants Conscious“, apparently plant hurts too. They just don’t scream so nobody knows!
Eating is eating, don’t need to give any reason for what you choose to eat to make yourself feel better. As long as you are eating healthy. Yes, here is the catch.
I do believe in plant based nutrition. Go on Google and type in “Plant-based diet benefit” or something, there are tons of info there and much more convincing than listing to me explaining.
Like I said in the beginning that I have been eating meat my whole life. I have also tried different types of diet, including Ketogenic diet which carbs are strictly limited. For some reason I just have this itch to try something different and see how my body react, or if there’s going to be any obvious change at all. When I am still young and have the ability to adjust and adapt to new lifestyle easily, I should be open to gain as much diver experience as possible.
The idea of blogging this process is adapted by a book I recently went through. It’s called Rejection Proof by Jia Jiang. My experience is nothing related to strengthen mental ability in facing rejection. It’s the idea of “blogging to keep yourself on track” made me decide to write it out publicly to ensure that I actually follow what I have set for myself.
Former Disclosure
Since my motive has nothing to do with the “la-la-land ideology” of freeing animal from pain, I should call it more as a Plant-based diet instead of Vegan.
- I am still allowed to eat non-flesh animal product, such as eggs and dairy.
- However in order to get a full experience, I will try to get rid of those as well.
- If I feel good after the 4 weeks, I may decide to continue. But we’ll see.
Week 1
My first week start with a order from a Vancouver local meal prep delivery Movement Food. This is the first round of launching their newly developed vegan menu. I have been ordering from them since last year when I got too busy to cook for myself.
Instead of using meat, they sub it with seitan – a type of gluten that is high in protein content and has a texture quite like meat. There are voices from different perspectives about this meat substitute, whether it’s too high in gluten or too heavily processed, nothing can be perfectly good and, hey, I need my protein!
To be honest, I quite like them! Even more than meat…. They are flavorful and don’t feel heavy like after eating real meat. The chef behind Movement Food did a pretty good job at making them taste good.
I used to order salad with chicken or beef from Be Fresh Local Market…. This time I tried the option with Tofu… Well sure not as flavorful as meat but I guess that’s where Vegan’s get protein from?
The week finished off with a dinner at Heirloom Vegetarian restaurant. I have seen their Egg Benedict being nominated multiple times as one of the best brunch spots. But I have never planed to come until I started trying this vegan thing…
Overall, we were pretty amazed at how fake meat is processed so well that we barely notice.
Oh, I also had a vegan cherry chip ice-cream. I was allowed to have egg and dairy but the selections at Earnest today just didn’t have regular cherry chip… Vegan option is made from coconut cream instead of milk cream. So everything have a little coconut hint and it’s less cream/heavy.