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What being Vegan means (and doesn't mean) to me...A Thread.
On October 29, in a hostel in Copenhagen, I decided to switch to a plant-based (vegan) diet. This wasn't a wholly uncomfortable move as I'd been an ovo-lacto vegetarian for most of my teens and early 20s--a time when...
On October 29, in a hostel in Copenhagen, I decided to switch to a plant-based (vegan) diet. This wasn't a wholly uncomfortable move as I'd been an ovo-lacto vegetarian for most of my teens and early 20s--a time when...
...I was a very fit HS/college athlete. I made the decision--the culmination of weeks of consideration and research--for one reason, I felt gross. Being overweight, overworked, and recently diagnosed with high blood pressure had me reeling. Moreover, confronting the reality...
...that I didn't have the energy or stamina to take full advantage of my first trip to Europe was devastating. But more to the point, realizing that was part of the troubling trends of health conditions that disproportionately affect women was too much. https://www.self.com/story/black-women-health-conditions
I convinced my Dr. to give me a month before putting me on medication for high blood pressure. I figured I would try the change of diet and if there was little or no difference after 4 weeks, I would take the meds and adapt a healthier omnivorous diet. It was 6 months before...
...I was able to get back to the doctor's office. I didn't know what to expect, but I DEFINITELY did not expect the changes we observed in my BP and bloodwork, nor did I expect to see a host of other small benefits that came along with the change. Was it all good? No. I'm...
...farty AF and it's a pain in the ass to go out to eat with me. I have to be extremely deliberate about protein consumption and I miss using my grill and smoker as I used to when I was a woman with a separate "meat freezer" in my laundry room. I also miss TF out of cheese.
However, it's been an extremely positive change for me. Perhaps the most positive came with another major life change. My wife and I purchased our first home together this spring. We moved into a 70-year-old house in need of substantial renovation that was exactly half of the...
...square footage that we moved out of. But we gained an urban property with a comparatively massive yard. I have long been a casual gardener and former keeper of chickens. Our new place and my new diet, however, presented me with a possibility I have never felt was accessible...
...to achieve, on land that is my own, some small measure of fos sovereignty. To cultivate with my hands and my labor foods that might be the core of my sustenance, reduce my reliance on global agribusiness, and contribute meaningfully to my community's... https://www.ehn.org/black-farming-food-sovereignty-2645479216.html
...health and wealth.
So far it's been a comedy of errors, a fantastic journey, the most frustrating sh*t ever, and a learning experience the likes of which I have never known...all tucked into the enclave of my back yard.
You will notice that I have not said anything...
So far it's been a comedy of errors, a fantastic journey, the most frustrating sh*t ever, and a learning experience the likes of which I have never known...all tucked into the enclave of my back yard.
You will notice that I have not said anything...
...about proselytizing to others about my cruelty to animals. This is because I do not align myself with that variety of veganism. While I do not condone poor conditions for animals and I am VERY concerned about the environmental and public health impacts of large-scale meat...
...production, I could and would raise and slaughter an animal to eat if I wanted or needed to--something that I think a lot of everyday meat eaters could not say.
Here's where I am going with this...a LOT of people are like me. In fact, recent studies revealed Black folx...
Here's where I am going with this...a LOT of people are like me. In fact, recent studies revealed Black folx...
...are three times more likely to be vegan or vegetarian than white folx. And more to the point, they are more likely to have adopted veganism for health reasons or as acts of political and community resilience than for concerns about animal cruelty. https://civileats.com/2020/08/26/is-the-vegan-movement-ready-to-reckon-with-racism/
Why the thread?
Well...I feel like I have been seeing more vegan-related f*ckery than usual lately. People making equivalences between meat-eating and the transatlantic slave trade, people claiming that meat-eating is more harmful than racism, hell...people just making out...
Well...I feel like I have been seeing more vegan-related f*ckery than usual lately. People making equivalences between meat-eating and the transatlantic slave trade, people claiming that meat-eating is more harmful than racism, hell...people just making out...
..all vegans as tofu loving dingbats who are deluded about the taste of chicken. News flash...I know what chicken tastes like and I can still smoke TF out of a brisket even though I haven't eaten one in a while. I'm just reaching for some higher sh*t. https://civileats.com/2019/11/22/portraits-of-new-york-citys-black-vegan-movement/
So at the risk of push out some "not all...." hashtag, I am going to ask that you consider what kind of narratives you are reproducing when you fail to acknowledge the cultural diversity of veganism. When you dunk on young, white IG influencers without also acknowledging how...
prevalent vegetarian and vegan cookery is in the cuisine of India and Ethiopia, in non-Western religious traditions, in communities of color who are LITERALLY planting the seeds of resilience by undoing our legacy of food deserts and diabetes. https://www.ted.com/talks/ron_finley_a_guerrilla_gardener_in_south_central_la?language=en
So...yeah...I'll laugh along with plenty of jokes. I will concede that the lowly hummus wrap was the lowest of the 16-seeds in the great sandwich poll tournament of 2020. Tofu is not steak and cauliflower is not chicken...I get it.
But don't erase us. We're doing future sh*t.
But don't erase us. We're doing future sh*t.
Apologies, many typos and exclusions up there including:
- returned to Dr. after 6 WEEKS, not 6 months.
- chose veganism in Oct 2019. It's been more than a year now!
- "food" sovereignty, not "fos" sovereignty.
- so so many others.
- returned to Dr. after 6 WEEKS, not 6 months.
- chose veganism in Oct 2019. It's been more than a year now!
- "food" sovereignty, not "fos" sovereignty.
- so so many others.
