How To Not Eat Animal Flesh, Eggs or Milk Products...For One Friggin' Meal!

Over the years, I've heard a lot of people say that they are sympathetic to the suffering of animals raised for food and maybe even see the injustice of killing them, but they could never give up eating meat, dairy or eggs because they just like the taste of them too much, they're accustomed to them, being vegan is just too hard or because they think that what they, as one person, eat doesn't matter anyway. It's an admission that there is some cognitive dissonance involved in their continued consumption of these products. Many vegans, including myself, used to dismiss the possibility of going vegan for one or all of these reasons. Once I allowed myself to truly relate to the suffering of animals and their desire to live, those foods started to lose their appeal. (Imagine if someone told you that your favorite foods were made from puppies or kittens.) My excuses fell away and I found that I didn't know how much cognitive dissonance I had until I felt the relief of its absence. I also came to realize that what I eat does make a difference. By myself, I am reducing the demand for thousands of animals to be killed in my lifetime, and, together with hundreds of thousands of other vegans and others who often choose to eat vegan, I am increasing the demand for vegan food. I know that many people who see the raising and killing of animals for food as something less than ideal prefer to maintain that cognitive dissonance than go vegan. However, anyone can choose to boycott the products of animal suffering and death at some meals even if they don't at every meal. Each meal that one eats vegan makes a difference. For those for whom eating vegan meals or eating them more often seems difficult, I present options and instructions on how to accept this challenge one meal at a time.

Step 1. Determine your criteria for the food you eat. You can try something quick to make or convenient to buy or have fun creating something in the kitchen. This is a great opportunity to try something healthier, more "exotic" or "weird" than you usually eat, or to treat yourself to something special.

Step 2. Choose a method of procurement for said meal. You can get a ready-to-eat or ready-to-heat vegan meal at a restaurant or grocery store (see VegGuide.org), whip something up quickly from vegan convenience foods or prepare a meal from a recipe or recipes. There are many vegan recipes online and in books at your library (if you're not ready to buy one yet) or you can modify an existing recipe to be vegan by replacing non-vegan ingredients with vegan ones. You don't have to make a lot of food, spend much money or get more of any ingredient than you think that you'll use. There are recipes that make smaller quantities and/or use ingredients that you probably already have on hand or already use and only a package or can of something else, if anything. Consider buying or making enough food to share with another adventurous eater or a vegan you know. Better yet, enjoy a vegan meal at a vegan meetup near you!

Step 3. Eat said meal. Take pleasure in knowing that (almost) no animals were exploited or killed to produce it. New and different foods can take getting used to. Don't expect vegan imitations of nonvegan foods to have the taste or texture of the originals (though some of them do) or measure them by that standard. They can taste good in their own way. Don't judge a food by your first reaction to it. Try to experience the taste and texture of it and then decide if you like it. It really is possible to acquire a taste for something, not just learn to tolerate it. I know a vegan who told me that when he first tried a dish with nutritional yeast (a dried, non-active yeast with a cheddary/nutty flavor) in it he hated it, but now he loves it.

Step 4. Consider what you liked about the meal, and how, if at all, you would prefer it be different. If you didn't like what you ate or what you prepared didn't turn out like you expected it to, don't assume that the next vegan food you eat or prepare won't be better. There is as much variety in the taste, texture and ease of preparation of vegan foods as there is in nonvegan foods. Try something else!

Step 5. Repeat often!