I Don’t Know That I Could Ever Be Vegan… Part 1 (It’s So Much Pressure!)

August 7, 2015

It’s Friday! Time for another veggie/vegan challenge post!

If there’s one thing on this blog I’ve learned, it’s never say never. (Except when it comes to carrying a child, ’cause I’m absolutely never doing that! :-))

But I’ve learned the rest is subject to change. I never thought I’d be a vegetarian, and look at me now. So, I won’t say I definitely won’t be officially vegan. But I do find it tough to imagine.

Anything is possible. Vegan people exist in the world. I know that if something is wildly important to someone, she’ll be able to make whatever sacrifices are necessary to accomplish the important thing. For some people, that thing is being vegan.

For me, I don’t know that I’m willing to work that hard on this. How far does it go? There are people who argue in message boards whether you’re allowed to eat anything with sugar in it – as it seems much of the sugar in the United States is made with some form of bone char.

Some people think that’s getting a little too picky. Of course I don’t think people should be eating much sugar, but this is America! Sugar is put into practically everything. It’s hard to escape from it completely.

So, where is the line? If I say I’m vegan, I want to be vegan. I don’t like to fail at things. It feels like with all the small amounts of butter and sugar in things, at some point, I’m going to trip up.

Yeah, you can buy vegan snacks to your heart’s content and always keep them on you (and you should). You can go to vegan restaurants when you get to choose the restaurant. Even when you can’t choose, you can almost always get salad or vegetables practically anywhere.

But what about when you’re with your friends and you’re ordering in a pizza? If you can convince them to get half the pizza without cheese (as many pizza doughs don’t have egg in them), can that be enough? If some butter is used somewhere in the glazing of the crust, do I really have to be that far removed from the group I’m with that I can’t eat pizza (even when people are bending over backward to forgo cheese)?

I know you might think, “order your own thing from a vegan restaurant.” Or, “let them eat pizza, and you have a vegan snack – since you should always have them on you.”

Okay, well, I don’t want to.

I don’t want to have to go that far out of my way. And maybe that makes me not cool or dedicated enough.

I know it’s okay to be different from the people around you. And many times in life, I like being different. But sometimes I just don’t want to feel like I have to set myself apart as a vegan.

Also, what about when you’re at big events? At the Emmys (I know, I know, always an excuse to bring up the Emmys!), there was cheese on the salad. The vegetarian dish seemed to be made in a cream based sauce. And the dessert had a marshmallow quality.

At charity events, I’ve seen many vegetarian options and not many vegan ones. (I’m sure some of it depends on how important you are, or what events you’re going to.)

I know some people can handle super-veganism all the time. But I don’t know that I’m one of them. If I’m at a big event and everyone’s eating the same thing. I want to be okay getting the vegetarian option and calling it a day.

Some people in vegan message boards point out that it’s hard to truly never use anything made with any animal products. Are there no animal products in the car you drive? What about the airplane you travel in? Where is the line?

I don’t know. But I do know that since I hate failing, I don’t think I could ever officially say “I’m vegan.” I wish there were some word for, “I try hard. I ask to have things made without butter. I’m mindful and generally responsible, but when put in certain social situations, I may eat things that contain some dairy.” But I guess the only words for that are vegan failure who isn’t dedicated enough?

I get this feeling that no matter how hard I try, I’d slip up in some way (or many ways). And that’s very stressful! So, right now, I’m feeling like it would be very hard to take on that label.

And I’ll pick up here on next Friday’s veggie/vegan post.

I'd love to hear from you! So whaddya say?