→ Katie Bridges on going vegan THE CHALLENGE
With evidence stacking up that our excessive meat consumption is environmentally unsustainable, this card-carrying carnivore committed to join the growing vegan community in Canada (850,000 at last count) on a fully plant-based diet. THE STRUGGLE
Despite convincing myself (but none of my colleagues) that this would be a breeze, the assignment threatened to unravel on the first morning. No milk in tea for a Brit is tantamount to a human rights violation, plus the absence of butter or cream cheese on my bagel, or even a yogurt for breakfast was almost enough to make me throw in the
proverbial towel before 9 a.m. The importance of planning became evident. I went back to the drawing board, mapping out my meals for the week with all the intensity of a hangry woman scorned. I stockpiled fruit and vegetables, planned snacks with military precision and crossexamined every food label for rogue dairy (hello, 99.9% of grocery store soup!) I quickly discovered that with meat and, importantly, cheese out of the picture, potatoes were the real MVP. On Valentine’s Day – an event usually characterized by gastronomic excess – I found myself nursing a plate of fries, pining for a perfectly pink steak and a decadent dessert. Though I was wary of thrusting my selfimposed veganism on others, the roster of
I FOUND MYSELF NURSING A PLATE OF FRIES, PINING FOR A STEAK excellent plant-based options like Rosalinda, Vegandale Brewery and Virtuous Pie meant that there are now plenty of great choices for dining out with friends in Toronto. Like the moral of all good movie montages, I learned that the biggest hurdle came from within – my FOMO. My protein bowl from Kupfert & Kim might be delicious, but as soon as I saw my colleagues scarfing down poutine, my heart grew heavy with cheese-curd longing. My assignment wasn’t without digressions – to the surprise of absolutely no one, cheese was my undoing. One evening at a gathering, I strode, in a fugue state, straight up to a platter laden in dairy and inhaled several crackers worth of gorgonzola before I realized my mistake. I regret nothing. THE TAKEAWAY
One of the biggest surprises was how sluggish I felt. I had assumed that cutting out meat would reward me with boundless energy, but in my panic to find something suitable, I often fell into a pasta-bread-junk hole. There are plenty of grey areas here, and several vegans I spoke to confessed to drawing the line at honey and wine (bees are living creatures and the vino filtering process often involves animal by-products). With a longer commitment, I may have felt a healthier change – but even my short spell as a vegan pushed me to my limits. By contrast, going meatless was relatively easy and something I’ve since implemented for a few meals a week.
Suresh Doss on eating locally THE CHALLENGE
My goal was to try and stick to a “local only” approach to shopping for ingredients when
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