Coming out vegan

In 1990 I came out of the closet. That is the year I told family and old friends that I was gay. I knew earlier, and there were a handful of very close friends who knew.

I'm not sure where the term came from regarding the closet, but my life before coming out was dark, lonely and I always had a feeling of being trapped.

I believe there is power in coming out. Not only power that one finds, but power in changes that it makes in the world. I have always felt that people who know and love gay people find it harder to hate them, kill them, vote against their rights or condemn them.

These days I use the term coming out of the closet for all sorts of different things. I think when we as vegans come out as vegan we can totally change the world. What I mean by this is basically be open to talk about our veganism with complete strangers. Not in an annoying, condescending way but in  a matter of fact way.

It's a great way to be a voice for the voiceless and you never know who you might meet and befriend. We get emails from vegans all of the time who live in areas where they are the only vegan. I wonder if they really are, or if they just don't know all of the other vegans. I remember feeling the same way when coming out and being somewhere in the world or even on my ship when I was in the Navy and thinking I was the only one.

There are a lot of us out there. Imagine the changes we can make in the world when we meet each other and grab a meal together. Or plan a potluck or meetup. Or ask our local market to carry more vegan products. Or plan a protest.

As many of us who are out and about and  talking about our veganism and why we're vegan, there are many who go about their plant-based life with little conversation about. We can be a voice for the voiceless by letting the whole world know.

Thanks so much for reading. And to our readers who feel alone in their vegan adventure: You are not alone. There is an amazing vegan community, however big or small, out there.

Another Meatless Monday post

Recently I read about another restaurant in Denver that has started offering something special for Meatless Monday. I loved reading about it, a three course meal offered at Ace. Ace is not a vegan or veg restaurant, but they do have one of the areas top vegan chefs, Jesse Moore. I'm just excited that the whole Meatless Monday idea is going strong.

I think Meatless Monday is an amazing way to build relationships and to spread the value of offering vegan dishes. I dream of a day when our city of Lakewood embraces the idea and restaurants throughout the city offer vegan and vegetarian specials every Monday. It would be a win for everyone as Monday is typically not a busy night at restaurants and people interested in healthier food choices would have plenty of places to choose from.

Imagine going to your favorite restaurant and asking them to do something for Meatless Monday. You and your friends would promote it and before you know it Monday night could become one of their busier nights.

There are other ways to support Meatless Monday and to engage people into thinking about not consuming meat for a day: 

Bring a breakfast treat into the office.

Invite a group of co-workers out to lunch or plan a vegan potluck for lunch.

Plan a group dinner in your home. We've heard from our blog readers around the world who have hosted Meatless Monday dinners, one even having 25 friends over!

Create a community Meetup for the first Monday of every month. Choose a different restaurant each month and create an online community of people who are interested in joining you. You might be surprised to see a gathering go from five people the first time to 15 a couple of months later.

Meatless Mondays are awesome opportunities to not only show off how delicious and healthy vegan food can be but also a great way to be a voice for the animals.

Thanks for reading and please keep your Meatless Monday stories coming!

A step towards veganism in 2012

As all of our readers know, Mike and I are vegan. We are both vegan because of animal issues, in that we just do not want to be a part of how horribly animals are treated to become food. And since we abhor violence, we certainly don't want to pay someone else to inflict violence against animals so we can eat. The benefit of this for the animals is clear, and the benefit for us is that we get to go crazy with amazing food choices as well as just being healthier.

We get a lot of questions about being vegan, not so much as to why we're vegan but how one can start the process of being vegan. So here are some thoughts about steps one can take if considering veganism.

Try a Meatless Monday. This is pretty simple and has become a world-wide event. Just don't eat meat on a Monday. If you want to go a bit further, go meatless every Monday!

Go to your library and check out a vegan cookbook. There are literally hundreds to choose from. The second part of this action is to actually prepare a meal from the cookbook!

Look for a meetup in your area. There are hundreds of vegetarian and vegan meetups all over the place. Some are potlucks and some are at a restaurant. If you are really interested in trying vegan food and cannot find such a group, start one. We have done vegan brunches where most of the folks who attend are not vegan yet everyone brings a vegan brunch item (you can check out our blog post about this). The food is always delicious and people who are not vegan realize how wonderful vegan choices are.

Check out a local Asian Bistro or Chinese restaurant and ask them to make you their best tofu dish. You might get really surprised!

Switch our your mayonnaise for a vegan version. Our favorite is Veganaise. I can eat it by the spoonful!

Read some vegan blogs. We have several linked from our blog. They are great learning sources and definitely empower you.

These ideas are just a start. Veganism is an incredible way of life and if this is your first attempt to try veganism you'll be blown away by the amazing food choices you'll have as well as all of the incredible flavors and textures that await you.

Let us know if we can help!

Thanks for reading!