When you hear the word "vegan," what comes to mind? Do you picture a skinny protein-deficient white girl daintily picking out big bunches of organic non-GMO kale from the Whole Foods? Maybe you picture complicated recipes with a thousand ingredients that could have just been made with a few animal-based ones? Or maybe you think of the expensive meat and cheese alternatives (looking at you, Impossible Burger 👀) that you could never afford to buy all the time so why bother going vegan?
Yikes! These images are enough to turn just about anyone off of giving veganism a try! The good news is that is not at all what veganism is! At its very core, veganism is "a philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude—as far as is possible and practicable—all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose." (Vegan Society) It is not about being holier-than-thou or perfect or white or eating restaurant-quality meals every day. It is simply about doing your best to not exploit non-human animals and refraining from consuming or wearing them.
One hope for this blog is to show different ways that you can also live far more simply as a vegan than the off-putting scenarios I described above. Food is primarily about nourishing your body and there are plenty of great, simple ways to eat delicious meals without a huge effort or expense. Each recipe we feature will be tagged with a difficulty and expense rating. We will also endeavor to flag any ingredients with known ethics concerns and let you know which brands we buy to avoid those.
I'll leave with one final note. There are as many ways to do vegan as there are vegans. You absolutely can be vegan in a way that is sustainable, delicious, inexpensive, and ethical to humans and non-humans alike. Our hope at the TFC is to show one way to do just that 💚