Thanks for this—this and an earlier post you wrote have made me, as it were, examine my privilege, since I’m one of the lucky vegans who genuinely seems to pay minimal costs, of any kind, from being vegan. This might be a combination of being taught good nutrition principles by my (pescatarian) parents, lucky genetics, living in vegan-friendly places, and having a reasonable budget for food. I’m in favour of people going some but not all of the way to vegan, if full veganism is massively costly and especially if it gives them health issues or makes them feel bad and undernourished day to day. I’m interested to hear people’s stories (both positive and negative) about dietary change and what was hard about it, what they wish they’d known, etc
I’m a little jealous of the “minimal costs of any kind” bit, though I’m also very glad it’s worked out that well for you! :-)
The only costs for me have been convenience (I don’t have any vegan/vegetarian/etc family or close friends, and where I live there are few to no vegan options at most venues). For example, I went to a friend’s wedding recently, and spent ~9 hours at the event with nothing to eat, which was mildly inconvenient. This was totally doable (I pre-ate because I guessed this would be the case, and if I had ex. unsteady blood sugar I would’ve just packed myself a couple snacks).
I think the vast majority of people can be vegan at low cost & high taste & high health, but for some of us it’s more inconvenient than for others.
Thanks for this—this and an earlier post you wrote have made me, as it were, examine my privilege, since I’m one of the lucky vegans who genuinely seems to pay minimal costs, of any kind, from being vegan. This might be a combination of being taught good nutrition principles by my (pescatarian) parents, lucky genetics, living in vegan-friendly places, and having a reasonable budget for food. I’m in favour of people going some but not all of the way to vegan, if full veganism is massively costly and especially if it gives them health issues or makes them feel bad and undernourished day to day. I’m interested to hear people’s stories (both positive and negative) about dietary change and what was hard about it, what they wish they’d known, etc
I’m a little jealous of the “minimal costs of any kind” bit, though I’m also very glad it’s worked out that well for you! :-)
The only costs for me have been convenience (I don’t have any vegan/vegetarian/etc family or close friends, and where I live there are few to no vegan options at most venues). For example, I went to a friend’s wedding recently, and spent ~9 hours at the event with nothing to eat, which was mildly inconvenient. This was totally doable (I pre-ate because I guessed this would be the case, and if I had ex. unsteady blood sugar I would’ve just packed myself a couple snacks).
I think the vast majority of people can be vegan at low cost & high taste & high health, but for some of us it’s more inconvenient than for others.