Post Punk Kitchen Forum

Similar to me. I've actually now been a non meat eater for longer than I was a meat eater which is pretty cool.

I would also like to know if growing up vegan was hard.

I've been vegan for 4 years, going on 5. I actually accidentally went vegan. I moved out of my place - I was moving in with my sister, but I stayed at my boyfriend's much more. I ended up staying at my boyfriend's place for over 6 months solid where there was no meat, dairy, or eggs allowed... Then one night, we went to a Vietnamese restaurant. I wasn't even thinking of ordering fish, but I saw it on the menu. Then the light bulb went off in my head, and I nearly shouted in the restaurant, "I'm pretty much vegan now, huh?! I haven't eaten any fish in 6 whole months! Wow..." And I've been vegan ever since.
And the fish lived happily ever after.
The end.

by the end of November I will have been vegan for 1 whole year WOOOT! I cannot think of any other decision I have ever made in my life that I have been so happy about or felt so much conviction for.

All you long term vegans best watch out though. I hear the 20 your mark is round about the time you develop serious back problems and morph into a self righteous, patronising, low carb, meat-centric, locavore activist who possibly writes a book or two of unsubstantiated claims 'justifying' your u-turn in moral choices. I might be wrong though.

Seriously, I have nothing but a lot of respect for long term vegans because not only have they followed through on the commitment but a lot of things have changed even in the past decade or so. 'Suitable/unsuitable for vegans' is on labels everywhere. Not that it's hard to check the ingredients but you know, its an indication that people are more aware now. I doubt many serving staff in restaurants outside of a big city would have understood easily no animal products please more than 15 yrs ago

I concur! Thanksgiving will mark my one year and I feel the same way.

I feel a bit awed and impressed by all of you long-term vegans who have been doing it for years. Not because it's so difficult, but because it wasn't so long ago that veg-friendly restaurants were unheard of and labels marked vegan weren't common. Knowing that it's becoming more prominent in the world is inspiring. At the Walk for Farm Animals yesterday, Gene Bauer mentioned that the number of animals slaughtered for meat last year actually decreased.

since i was 17, so i guess that's 16 years :)

It'll be 3 years next year. I always use February as my veganniversary - I made the decision to go vegan in January of 08, but I gave myself a transitional month to learn about vegan cooking, hidden ingredients, etc.

samesies! i grew up in a super small town and didn't know there was anything beyond vegetarianism back in the day. had i known, i would have been vegan.

my spouse and i became vegan january 1st of 2008 - it's been awesome and there's no go'n back!

I have been vegan for going on about 6 yrs now. But I have nothing on some people on here!! WOW! :)

This is why I became vegetarian at 4. I love my parents for going along with what they thought would be a phase when I was younger. Going vegan at 15 was so much easier than what I anticipated too. I thought I'd never survive without cheese but after a couple weeks I was beginning to think, why didn't I do this sooner. It is always a bit odd when people ask if I miss meat because I honostly don't remember what it tastes like.

Where are all of you finding all these things marked vegan? I see it occasionally on stuff like Boca, but never on anything that's not primarily marketed to vegetarians.