Vegan By Association

Almost two years ago, a girlfriend and I decided to start eating healthier by cutting out red meats, fast food, and junk food from our diets. Several months later, I turned to pescetarianism, which is abstaining from all meats except for seafood. I LOVE sushi and crab legs (and Red Lobster! haha) so I find this diet best for me. But now living with all vegans and vegetarians, I find my self basically vegan by association.

My boyfriend is vegan, which means abstaining from all animal meats and animal products such as dairy and eggs. Aron, my roommate, is vegan as well and Oli, my other roommate, is vegetarian. I could buy seafood, but I just feel awkward doing that with all these herbivores about. And since Ashley is vegan and we cook and eat almost all our meals together, it's much easier to make one vegan meal then cook two separate ones.

Luckily, veganism and vegetarianism is rather common in England and the ample selection of garden foods in stores and restaurants reflect that. Almost everything vegan or vegetarian has a easy to find label on it, as seen in the picture above. And even on-the-go snacks have a variety of suitable foods. I remember in the states, I'd hardly ever see ready made sandwiches that were vegetarian. Over here, there is cheese & spring onion, tomato & mozzarella, avocado & cranberry - just loads of choices!

Even more surprising is my new found love of cooking. I'm continually amazed at how Ashley and I can make a lasagna with meat-like tofu substitutions and soy cheese, and the end result tasting like the real deal or better! I'm constantly searching the internet for vegan recipes and then trying them out at home. They don't always turn out very well though. For instance, last week I made a stuffed butternut squash, which took forever to make, that ended up tasting disgusting! Ashley ate all of it though. He's really sweet.


>>> Bangers & mash - an English classic, which is simply sausages (in this case meat-less sausages) and mashed potatoes.


>>> Spinach and chickpea curry, it looked better than it tasted, unfortunately.


>>> Vegan lasagna - I feel like food never looks as good in pictures unless taken with a really great camera. This was sooooo yummy though.

♡- Kristen