Getting Started!

Hello World,

My name is Angela and I am a mom, make-up artist, meat-eater and meal-maker from Minneapolis. I am embarking on a new adventure very soon, to see if I can be vegan AND a foodie.

A little background on me: I was a vegetarian pretty much from age 4 until I was about 20 years old. I told my parents I didn't want to eat meat immediately after my mom brought home a bucket of KFC and asked if I wanted "a leg or a wing." I realized it was an actual animal, not just a food product with the same NAME as an animal. We grew up with lots of pets, my father was fond of animals, when I was a teenager I was active in learning everything I could about animal rights organizations and vegetarianism. I was vegan from about age 18-20 but I was a college student, I was broke and I was single, so most of my meals were French bread and olive oil. Then I got pregnant with my first son, and all I wanted was meat. 

I've gone back and forth between being strictly vegetarian and omnivorous ever since then. 

My reasons for wanting to try my hand at doing veganism the RIGHT way this time (not living off of French bread, my palette has matured, thank you) are not just that I want to be compassionate to animals. I do love critters, and I know that we as humans treat them really crappy. However, even if that isn't your bag, I think there are a million other reasons to cut meat and animal products out of your diet:

- The Environment: Our planet is also being treated really crappy. Lots of different and powerful influences will tell you there are steps you can take without really trying, like buying their reusable bags that you inevitably forget in your car when you go to the grocery, or buying corn-based fuel which is taxing on soil. The bottom line is that meat and animal products take up a lot of resources- they require plants to grow, they create a lot of waste, and they have lots of parts that are not usable. Going directly to the plant source instead of an animal one cuts out a lot of waste. 

- Health: Growing up I was always told that I needed three servings of dairy a day. I didn't really question it until I started learning more about nutrition. Milk turns a 200-pound calf into a 2-ton cow in about a year. It's not good for humans. It makes us fat. It's got lots of hormones in it that can do really bad things to us. It's also highly-addictive, it's wasteful (it takes 10 lbs of milk to make 1 lb of cheese) and most people can't digest it properly because it isn't meant for us to consume. This is coming from someone who is definitely a cheese-lover. In fact, just before I started this blog I ate a turkey and cheddar sandwich. 

- The Gross-Out Factor: Even though I can push out of my mind that I'm eating an animal most of the time, handling raw meat gives me a lot of anxiety because there is a higher probability of surface contamination than any other food. Also, knowing when meat and dairy expire is tough, and if you guess wrong, you can get really sick. Rotting fruits and vegetables are pretty easy to spot.

I'm trying to go about this whole experience in a practical and respectful way. My biggest pet peeve is preachy content, so I will try not to do that. My friend Jennifer is what I call a "happy vegan:" she has a blog of her own called Midwest Vaygun that really focuses on yummy food instead of propaganda, and I definitely want to do that too. Also, while I am accustomed to special diets because I have an autistic son who is on a gluten-free diet, I am a mama of a family of five, and will be doing this vegan thing alone. Daddy loves chicken and ice cream, the kids love cheese and hot dogs. I don't want to push them into something they don't want to do, but I DO hope that this will help us all expand our horizons and eat healthier in the long run. Since Lars and I have been together we have each gained about 20 pounds of "in-love chub." We affectionately refer to our bellies as our "cheeseburgers" or our "extras," I love cooking for him and he loves to eat rich foods. He's a picky eater and I don't want him to hate my food, but I do want us both to be healthy and happy with our own bodies. My focus won't be on weight-loss, but if it happens, that's great! I've got 15 more pounds of baby weight to lose and I am not the best about exercise! 

We have a trip to Philadelphia coming up (Lars' hometown) in a few weeks, and as you may know, Philly is home to some pretty great food that I don't want to miss out on. It's also Lars' birthday on the 26th and we will be having his birthday party at his favorite restaurant, The Amber, and I'd like to have a bite of their wonderful Lamb Pasanda before I commit to swearing off meat and dairy. I think August 1st is a great starting point, and it will only be a couple of days after we get back to Minneapolis.

I don't think it will be hard because I have a couple of great weapons in my arsenal: I have a great friend with a vegan food blog, I just bought Vegan Cooking for Carnivores (I'm so excited to try some of the recipes), I have signature dishes I make that could easily be veganized, and because of my son's special diet I have become pretty good at reading food labels and ingredient substitutions. 

I will be posting before August 1st because I want to get into the groove of writing, and I want to try a couple things before I get started and report their results. 

XOXO,

Angela