OH HI.
The meal pictured above is 100% vegan: Can you believe it? This spectacular thing is the Dutch Weed Burger (with fries and vegan mayonaise) and I am now obsessed with it.
I had it at Arq, a cute vegatarian/vegan lunch space in Rotterdam. I’d write a haht spaht blog about it for you but my MacBook is dead (and therefore so am I) so I don’t have any pictures.
Anyway. Apart from a lunch, a dinner out, a dinner at my parents and a McDonalds incident I’ve been eating vegan for two weeks now. Let’s do the whole Vegan Challenge Update thing, shall we?
LUCKY BITCH I’ve realized I have two major advantages with this whole eating vegan thing. Maybe even three as I have a brilliant vegan go-to blog (as well as their ebook.).
One, I was a vegeterian from 2008 to 2012. Although deserted, in this time I already figured out the good veggie burgers and that (raw) vegan food can actually be delicious.
Two, I am not a fussy eater. I realize that if you’re more picky, veganism must be more difficult.
CHANGING ROUTINES
- COFFEE: Soy lattes taste fine in my book. I have also started taking my coffee black at work.
- BREAKFAST: It’s mostly just a banana or two while I’m on the go. When I do have time it’s chia pudding or soy yogurt with fruit and granola, and I always made my chia pudding with almond milk anyway.
- ELEVEN O’CLOCK: I have coffee with a vegan muffin, a banana or a fruit bar.
- LUNCH: A big ass salad with a lot of veggies, even more now that I don’t add goat cheese or mozzarella to the mix. I add grilled red union for extra flavor, tempeh or smoked tofu for protein, sweet potato for complex carbs.
- FOUR O’CLOCK: Almonds, soy crackers, salt-pepper avocado or something else that’s salty.
- DINNER: At home when I’m the one cooking, no problem either — especially if I don’t mention to my boyfriend it’s vegan. Ignorance is bliss.
HOWEVER Eating vegan in restaurants borderlines impossible. Unless you go to a place that specifically caters to this audience, good luck finding anything that doesn’t at least includes cheese or butter. Same goes for family events and social occasions.
I’m not someone who asks for altered dishes when I’m a guest in a restaurant or at someone’s house. If I wanted to eat something else I should have gone somewhere else.
FAILURES So I had creamy mustard soup at my work lunch, a goat cheese salad for dinner with my coworker, a cheese crust dish at my parents place and -saving the worst for last-…a Quarterpounder at McDonalds while on the road.
I have no regrets, except for that last one; it was good but mostly really gross. The Dutch Weed Burger is way better anyway.
EFFECTS? Because the food is lighter on the digestive system, I was more alert and energetic during the first week. I think this effect might come back again. Other than that no differences. My skin looks the same, I sleep the same, I think the same.
UPCOMING WEEK I have three other social events coming up where I can’t will not eat vegan. At work and at home, I’m diligent as ever.
I’ll report back next week when I fucking feel like it. Bye!
sounds good so far! that burger looks ridiculously goood. it’s 9.40 in the morning and now i feel like having a burger! it’s nice to see what you eat during the day, with added options. i want to give it a try as well, but sometimes i feel a bit overwhelmed with all the information that is available and i don’t know where to start! so thanks 😀 good luck with the upcoming week!
xo, cheyenne
Lekker bezig babe! En je weet het: text 0900-V E G A N and I’m on my way to help you out!
Ah this is so nice to read! I’ve been eating vegan for almost a year now, so if you need any tips/advice or anything I’d be welcome to help. Not that I’m an expert or anything, lol. But I do recognize the struggles you describe in terms of the social aspect of eating vegan. I’m lucky that most of my friends are vegetarians and/or vegans, so that makes it easier to “demand” vegan foods when I eat at their place. For family dinners it’s more complicated though, there I really have to prepare and bring my own food or call the restaurant in advance. Although this can be a bit frustrating from time to time, I’ve learnt that the joy I get from sharing “my” vegan foods with non-vegan people makes it all worth it. For example, last year I prepared an all vegan buffet for my meat-loving family, and most of them were pleasantly surprised by the variety of dishes and taste of the food. So in that sense, sometimes it is worth it to stick to your guns.
That being said, I’ve made myself the rule that if I really, really, REALLY crave a non-vegan food, like for example pizza (which is actually totally delicious with vegan cheese or HUMMUS (!) instead of tomato sauce) or Tony’s Chocolonely’s easter eggs, then it’s perfectly fine to treat myself a little — if that means I can happily hop back on the bandwagon afterwards. So in that sense, to me it’s about maintaining a healthy balance between having principles and occassionally letting yourself go. But since the range of delicious vegan foods is so abundant (at least here in Amsterdam, but I know for a fact that it’s the same in Rotterdam), I rarely get “tempted” to eat non-vegan foods.
Okay sorry for this long and utterly uninteresting comment, I just had coffee and if one thing tends to make me excited, it’s people contemplating a (partly) vegan lifestyle. And of course just talking about food, in general. Bye now!
Great post!
I’ve never been vegan or vegetarian before, but I joined the vegan challenge nonetheless. I was worried as well about social situations, especially because here in Ecuador vegetarians are considered really weird, and people make jokes about them all the time as being weak-ass idiots… so going vegan is like, unheard of. I’ve had a good number of work dinners and lunches, and I’ve always found vegan food – of variable quality: sometimes a platter of grilled veggies (which leaves me rather hungry), sometimes a gloriously elaborate meal, and one time I had to eat just sorbet.
Hey, that sounds much less complicated than I expected:)! Somehow I always thought eating vegan would be difficult. So, thanks for this update:)! And now I am very curious for that burger, as it looks delicious! I think it works very well if you also are not too hard on yourself, like you did when eating out and just giving yourself some slack.
Good luck and enjoy your food in the upcoming week!
Hahaha.. I love this post! This is exactly how I feel about veganism. Whenever I’m by myself or cooking at home, eating vegan is so easy. My meals become less ‘complex’ and I quite like the idea that no harm was done to animals for me to have something to eat. Another great (and not so great) side effect is the amount of fruits and vegetables I eat when I eat this way. Last year, I ate strictly vegan for three months and it was monstrous how many bananas I could eat… My bank account was a little less content with this.
The hardest part for me was eating out as well. Especially because I’m picky when it comes to vegan food and even if they have any vegan options at all, I find them quite boring. Or maybe I just think that the vegetarian options would taste so much better and so I would certainly be depriving myself with a boring ‘fruity’ quinoa salad that leaves me wanting more. This is when I start to order cheesecakes for dessert and think ‘Fuck it!’ life is meant to be enjoyed in moderation. Oh, the life of a wannabe vegan..
Erg leuk om te lezen, en goed dat je dit probeert! Ik probeer zelf ook zo bewust mogelijk te eten, maar ik zou mijn eitjes toch wel missen, haha