And you may also probably know that I like to push buttons wherever buttons can be pushed and just saying the word "veganism" can get his feathers ruffled so I like to throw it around quite a lot these days. Things like:
Waiter: Would you like some freshly grated parmesan on that?
Me: I sure would...but he can't. He's practicing veganism.
Or when he is about to eat something shouting: Wait! It's got honey in it - is that allowed on veganism??!!
Aren't you sad you don't live with me? Don't I sound like fun to be around?
Anyhow, I think that living with someone who has decided to be a vegan is hard. You sort of have to travel through several stages to get through it. No, I'm being serious. Now pretend you love cheese. That's not hard to imagine, because it's so delicious and creamy and smooth...and now imagine that you and your friend eat cheese together all the time and it's one of your top 3 favorite things together. Your heart beats a little faster when the "let's just eat bread and cheese for dinner tonight" words are uttered.
Now imagine your friend says they are no longer going to eat cheese with you. They'll sit and watch you eat cheese and they'll look at the cheese and maybe sometimes smell the cheese...but they will never eat the cheese with you ever again.
Are we all wiping away tears?
So, that's how I've been feeling the past few weeks. And I've moved through several stages:
DENIAL: There's no way he'll stop eating cheese with me! He loves me too much to do that!
GUILT: Maybe if I hadn't eaten so much cheese in front of him, he wouldn't feel the need to stop.
ANGER: Screw it. I'm eating cheese in front of him ALL DAY LONG.
DEPRESSION: I guess I'll just go eat cheese in the closet. Alone.
And now that I've worked through all those stages, I've come to ACCEPTANCE. I moved forward and even made him a batch of peanut butter vegan cookies as a token of my recognition and cooperation of our new less delicious but healthier life together.
(Just for clarification purposes I want you all to know that he has not in reality "converted to veganism". He is just eating very little animal protein. He says that he will still sometimes eat cheese with me.)
5 comments:
This is hilarious! I was actually going to do a post about this soon because of my recent desicions to possibly become vegan... Did he start this because his brother is sorta vegan now? I was just talking to your sister in law about how they eat. My mom is a vegan and my brother in law. I am trying really hard to want to convert to veganism, but oh my morning lattes are not the same and ice cream calls my name daily. But I don't really care for meat so that part is easy...and dairy kills my stomach, but in stomach pain vs enjoying my dairy? dairy wins!
Ok enough of my rambling...I love this post!
He watched Forks over Knives and the next day started eating vegan. I went vegan with him the first week and it was surprisingly easy. I guess the hardest part was figuring out what to cook the kids for dinner since a plate of grilled veggies would be fine for us...but not them. We're adapting. I've got a post for next week that shows what we ate for dinner this week. It's really not as bad as I'm making it out in this post, I like to add dramatic flair :) I have noticed that dairy and meat give me a stomachache as well, so that's a sure fire sign that is not the right way to eat. But why oh why! does it have to be so delicious!!!!!
Cooking vegan is not hard, however, it's much harder to get all your amines etc... You have to be really aware of what you are eating: kale nuts etc to make sure you are getting all you need. One complaint of surgeons as to people who eat vegan is that they are anemic which is hard for emergency surgery. Some are so anemic that they can't do the surgery but have to wait. I never have looked into it why it is, still on my todo list.
Right now I have a problem with gluten... so figure out how to do gluten free vegan... That's just too much - LOL. So we are eating less meat but better meat and more fish and chicken. That's for Tony, I am happy without the meat. And you are right, cheese is much harder... Wine and cheese belong together...
Love your dramatic flair! I can see right through it so just appreciate it for the purpose intended. Exactly how I would feel. Things are to be enjoyed with someone else who is enjoying it as much as you! Well... life is as it is. Frusterating at times and Worse at others. Having to feed my middle kid gluten free and dairy free right now while his gut gets back on track and we figure out his real issues. No fun when everyone else is eating ice cream, but... he's a trooper,
Great post Jessica! I've been referring to Zack as "my vegan friend" in this Zooey Deschanel voice & I just get that "I don't care what you say" Zack look. Great fun for me at least :)
Seriously though I don't get stomach pains from meat or cheese & I totally love milk, whole milk. But because of hearing of things like the percentage of pus "allowed" in milk I don't drink it like I used to. And I hated the thought of almond or rice milk cause you can't "milk" an almond or a grain of rice!! Yet this week I broke down and actually bought Almond Breeze to have with my granola & felt like a double standard pharisee. Boy do we need Jehovah's promised new order...I wonder what that whole inheriting a land flowing with MILK & HONEY foreshadows for then...hm. You're an awesome writer Jess!
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