Vegan - just the word itself can strike fear into the heart of any red meat eating Alberta-born boy like myself. The very mention of the word elicits a state of dismay...why would someone put themselves through that? How on earth can they possibly stay standing by eating only vegetables for three meals a day? When will they learn that a well cooked medium rare steak, properly rested, is, in my opinion, one of the great gifts to the food world? These are all questions that run through my mind whenever the word is uttered.
Then to add to the fear is the much maligned appearance of the common adult North American vegan – you know what I’m talking about - crunchy, patchouli soaked, dreadlocked, pale as chalk, tofu munching, living on Commercial Drive in their communes with their 'organic gardens' and 'free-range whatchamacallits,' playing in drum circles and chanting to whomever it is they chant to. Typing that made my blood run cold. Give me my little slice of hipster nirvana on Main street any day.
Okay, so I might be exaggerating and sensationalizing, just a little. I watch a lot of Fox News, I can’t help it. The fact of the matter is Vegans do get a bum rap a lot of the time. You only ever remember the extremists; those that akin you to Satan when you tell them you like hamburgers. Us lowly carcass eaters have all been at the receiving end of a condescending sneer and an excerpt from some vegan manifesto. We’re so dumb, won’t the vegans save us from our troglodyte ways? I think these encounters turn a lot of people away from even investigating this healthy and kind alternative.
Well I for one am no longer afraid, I won’t be dissuaded by the odd holier than thou retort, I want to know why so many people swear by this way of eating, and living. I want to experience the purported health benefits. I want to test myself; can I live without my beloved bovine? So here begins my journey into the unknown, the world of vegan chocolate cake (the horror!) and eggless brunches, and hemp hearts (WTF?).
You may be asking yourself, ‘Cody, what spurred this decision to abstain from ever so tasty meat?’ That’s a good question blog reader. The short answer is love. But I’m going to give you the long answer! So make yourself comfortable.
While I have always had friends who were vegans, it was just never something that appealed to me. I consider myself to be a foodie. That’s right, I say things like, “big, bold flavours” and “good job on that brunoise.” And for a long time I was a single foodie looking for love....
Then I met my soul-mate, Angie.
Our first date was of course at a restaurant. There was a charcuterie platter with finely sliced melt-on-the-lips prosciutto, house made dried chorizo that lit the palate on fire like the sting of some tasty, tasty firecracker, salt cured venison so fresh you could swear you taste the grass, and finally a duck terrine that I'd give up my first born to have again. I think there were some veggies on the platter as well, but whoever remembers those? Main course was the best rack of lamb I've ever had (and still have yet to beat). Follow that up with some amazing wine and It was the best dinner I've ever had....be right back…must take cold shower…seriously Best. Meal. Ever. It was love at first bite. Yeah I went there.
This shared love of fine foods, along with the other essential ingredients like love and trust, bloomed into a beautiful romance, and one day after many meals together, on a out-of-the-norm Vancouver afternoon last September (and by that I mean not raining), we wed. As newlyweds food still plays a major role in our lives. We continue to try everything, new restaurants, new cuisines, new recipes, the list goes on. We love food. Meat always has a spot on our plates. However, we have started to notice that there seems to be more of us to love. Our ‘skinny’ jeans ain’t so skinny anymore. My 18 year old 'don't worry about that entire McCain's Fresh'n'Delicious, I got this' metabolism is no more sadly. You can stop hating me, I can no longer eat whatever I want. Le' sigh. This lead us to start exploring diets, researching 'super foods' and fiddling here and there to try to get better stuff into us but nothing has really stuck.
Ang, also being a lover of Oprah (sorry babe, I had to spill the beans) came across an episode one afternoon about a woman who after a devastating cancer diagnosis began to change the way she looked at food; her name is Kris Carr. For those that don't know who she is I'm sure I'll get more into this with future posts so I won't get into the whole story just yet, but I have to say when she first mentioned who she was and that she was a...wait for it...vegan...I cringed a little. First reaction (of course in my head): 'Oh crap, the veggie-heads have started brainwashing Ang!, what the hell am I going to do!'
This was a couple weeks ago and Ang and I have had some pretty long conversations about this. I've started reading Kris's book 'Crazy Sexy Diet.’ So far I'm only into the first chapter introducing who she is and how she got to where she is now so nothing really to report as of yet. However If you're a male reading this you'll need to get past the 'you go girl!' mantra that is peppered throughout (at least) the first chapter. But once you do, you realize what she is teaching. It does cross the gender boundary and you'll find yourself silently whispering 'I will go girl!'
Along with this I've also agreed to take her 21 day cleanse. All vegan and raw vegetables…all three meals…for three weeks...crap, what have I gotten myself into? I can hear my mom....keep an open mind, body, and spirit........keep an open mind, body, and spirit...sure, I can do this.
So here is our blog, and my first at that, basically a mind dump for the next few weeks while we partake on an adventure of sorts. I can tell you now that I myself have got my doubts that I'm not going to slip once or twice, but I know this isn't going to kill me. Hell, if anything I've read so far is true it's only going to make things better for the both of us.
But man, am I going to miss meat....and cheese...#$%# I forgot about cheese!
-Cody
