Is is difficult being a vegan?

[inkpen]

Please forgive me if I ofdend anyone. I dont want or intend to.

Im in the UK and am considering relocation to the US (Redlands)or Cananda(Vancouver) but am a little sceptical about being a vegan.
Are vegan products readily available in supermarkets and resaurants? or do you have to go to specialist shops and avoid eating out?

As I say, please forgive me for my ignorance.
Any help/advice will be greatfully appreciated
Thanks
Caroline

[Gliondrach]

Hello, Caroline. No one could take offence at what you've written.

I'm sure that vegan products are easily found in Canada and the US. There have been mentions on this forum in which people have talked about buying things in supermarkets. They've also mentioned restaurants. There are also many health food shops over there, where everything you need is available. There are shops that sell Eastern and European foods that are suitable for vegans. Some people from over the water will post soon and will give you more detailed advice.
Good luck.

Regards,

Martin.

[weird2twiggy]

i'm a vegan in florida.

it's not hard to be vegan at all. however, i never liked eating out anyways- there's a restaurant that i go to - sweet tomatoes. they have really good vegan things.. but i dotn trust other people with making my food, so i dont go there - but i fyou wnated to go out you can go there. their food is excellent!

two health food stores i go to - chamberlins and whole foods market. they're both wonderful. they have great vegan food. vegan pasta, ice craem (they ahve vanilla coated in chocolate on stick - my favorite)... just everythign you could possibly want.

i dotn have a problem being vegan here at all.

if you have any more questions - feel free to ask.

[Korn]

Im in the UK and am considering relocation to the US (Redlands)or Cananda(Vancouver) but am a little sceptical about being a vegan.

Hi, I think the thing that possible might make it difficult for you is that you are a little sceptical about it. :)


Are vegan products readily available in supermarkets and resaurants? or do you have to go to specialist shops and avoid eating out?

The reasons there are health food stores and vegan/veggie food available in restaurants, is that people have been asking for this things in the past. So personally, I think the other way round: do I want to contribute to that change? Or do I want to wait until someone else has done the job for me, and not ask for vegan meals or vegan special products I might need until they already are available everywhere? In short, do I want to be part of what causes the world to change, or do I want to take a break from my viewpoints until the world has changed?

I live in an area with no vegan restaurants, but the non-vegan places are very willing to make something vegan on request (when enough people as for vegan menu entries, they'll of course add them). Almost all restaurants I have been to have a vegan entry or a lacto-vegetarian meal they can make a vegan version of.

You can eat vegan and still get (most of) what you need in regular stores. If you want high quality foods, or stuff that meat eaters normally don't eat, just go to a health food store. If there's no health food store nearby, it might be a good idea to buy more than what you need for the first few days if you can afford it when you visit one; this way you don't have to visit the health food store that often.

I have been living in US, but not in Canada, but I guess the situation varies from town to town in both places. Being vegan becomes easier ad easier, and the reason is that so many vegans have gone vegan whether it's difficult or not.

Don't forget that if you are vegan, or very close (as you let us know when you registered), it's going to be difficult for you to have a lifestyle and diet that you disagree with - probably a lot harder than the little extra work you might have in finding the few ingredients you may not find in the nearest supermarket.

[eve]

Hi inkpen, you ask if vegan products readily available in supermarkets and restaurants? or if you have to go to specialist shops and avoid eating out. Well I'm not in the US or Canada, but have been in both places, currently settled in Australia. The first thing to remember is that one can be vegan without buying any special foods - there's plenty of fruit, veges, beans, nuts, seeds, etc, and soymilk is available in all supermarkets nowadays.

As for eating out, like weird2twiggy, I don't really trust other people preparing my food, and in any case I like my own dishes. Where I live there are no vegan or veggie cafes or restaurants, though it is possible to ask for just a plate of cooked vegies - but on the other hand, I can cook my own! :D

[inkpen]

I dont understand why my post has been moved to new vegan? Ive been a vegan for 2 years now but lived in a vegan environment for many many years..

Im only new to being a vegan in another country as I have never travelled since I became vegan.

[harpy]

I have a vegan friend in Florida and he does manage to eat out quite a bit, mostly in "ethnic" places such as Chinese, Thai or Indian (though these are hard to find). Of course eating out in a place that's not exclusively vegan you are taking a certain amount on trust but that's true in the UK as well.

I've been over there a few times and it's been fine. I'd say the main difference between here and there is that where our friend lives there are few-to-no vegetarian restaurants, though that varies by region. On the plus side, restaurants in the US often seem to prepare the food from scratch so they don't have the difficulty some of ours have with leaving out specific ingredients. Buying stuff in the shops is no problem, they have magificent wholefood emporia with probably a bigger choice of products than we have.

[Cherry]

It did sound like you were new to veganism entirely.

I have never been to the US, but Canada is FANTASTIC for vegans!! I think partly because it's so multicultural, but Canadians also seem a little more advanced environmentally. In Toronto they have little fishes painted by all the drains to remind people not to pour nasty stuff down them.

I went on a sort of mini-bus tour from Vancouver to Banff, and we stopped literally in the middle of nowhere at a Youth Hostel. I was totally prepared for starvation, but when I told the owner I was vegan, she said 'no problem - the veggie burgers are vegan and we have soya milk, hang on I'll check the bread for you' and she cooked me my very own batch of fruit pancakes for breafast! Was like vegan heaven...apart from sleeping in a train caboose!

I didn't have a problem eating out in Vancouver or Toronto or Montreal. There were a lot of Chinese vegetarian restaurants where you can get gluten-based vegetarian mock meats.

If anyone ever goes to Montreal, you really MUST go to Chu Chai (Rue St. Denis) It's a vegetarian Thai restaurant and almost everything is vegan. Really really really fantastic.

[just_a_grrrl]

I don't find it difficult at all. The only problem I find is people who don't understand or think they are right and refuse to try to understand. I hate how it can be a life of defending your beliefs, but actgually living vegan isn't hard at all.

[Vegan Guy]

I have a place in San Francisco, California and one in a very small town outside Yosemite National Park called Mariposa.

San Francisco is GREAT! It was like a dream when I found all the places to go. They have Vegan "to go" places - that's "Take Away" for the non-Americans, LOL. - they even have vegan pizza places. I think I gained 5 pounds when I started staying there more.

The small rural town is harder to find things. I eat out just about every meal when there and the restaurants are very happy to make something for me. One of the nicer places apolagized for not doing better and said to call ahead and they would have a wonderful meal for me!

I've only been vegan for four months after being vegetarian. I spent a little time online learning about the brands available in the regular grocery stores here in the states. I found tons of information doing a google search and boards like this one here at this site.
http://veganforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2776

Once I doscovered Vegan Mayonaise and Seitan life was good! And I have gotten all my friends started on vegan ice cream. Its the best!

I agree with korn. I feel GREAT when I ask for a vegan meal! I'm making a difference and I can feel it. There's something very spiritual about thinking about life at every meal.

Being Vegan ROCKS! Go for it!

You'll feel the difference in your soul.

And to all the regulars on these boards. You guys crack me up.. That single vegan threade is hilarious. I'm laughing becuase being a new vegan I hadnt contemplated the change it would have on my current friends and who I'd be willing to date. So Im laughing hard at some of those posts!

Thanks for alll the other great info too.

Namaste

[eve]

I dont understand why my post has been moved to new vegan? Ive been a vegan for 2 years now but lived in a vegan environment for many many years.. Im only new to being a vegan in another country as I have never travelled since I became vegan.
Surely the reason is that your first post on this thread states:

Im in the UK and am considering relocation to the US (Redlands)or Cananda(Vancouver) but am a little sceptical about being a vegan.
Saying you're sceptical about being a vegan, is no doubt the reason your post has been moved to New Vegan. :)

[Seaside]

I have always disliked eating in restaurants too, not on account of being vegan, but I just don't like the whole idea, which is funny, because San Francisco is full of places to eat, even organic restaurants, which are more rare than vegan ones.

Round here, even plain old Safeway has vegan versions of processed foods. I like the Whole Foods markets best, because they have a bigger variety than even Mollie Stone's or Trader Joe's. Trader Joe has very good prices.

I always find it peculiar to classify food as vegan, though. I get my "vegan food" in the produce, dried beans, pasta, and bread aisles, just like all those non vegans who think "vegan food" is bizarre, exotic, and will make them sick, and apparently eat nothing but meat, cheese, and eggs. :confused:

Hi, Vegan Guy! San Francisco is a great place, isn't it! :)

[Vegan Guy]

yeah I just started staying here more. I love it.

I went to cafe gratitude for the first time a few weeks ago, herbivores and of course millinum LOL, Im making the rounds and now losing a few pounds!

Whole foods is where I eat just about every night lately. I love that store! Have you been to rainbow?

[Gliondrach]

Caroline, on second thoughts, don't go to the US. It's much too dangerous there. I've seen films about the place. In Chicago there are gangsters who drive around in cars machine-gunning people coming out of speakeasys. In Texas and Kansas there are homicidal gunslingers who pick fights with innocent people in saloons. On the plains there are Commanches and Cherokees who attack travellers - although, as their land is being invaded, perhaps they are justified. In Keystone, wherever that is, the cops hit people over the head with their truncheons for no good reason and then everyone laughs at the victims. And, whatever you do, do not go to Amityville. There is something supernaturally evil there. Sunnydale, in California, is even worse. It's not safe to go swimming off the East Coast because there's this huge shark who eats people.

Stay here where you'll be safe.

[sugarmouse]

i fidn it incredibly easy it just takes a lil more planning than vegetarianism...and it isnt as convinient.it is natural as breathing to me now..but then i have an advantage as i do not like eating out at all.
most large supermarkets near me are ok for vegan stuff..im naturally a vegan though..i have no concept of anything none-vegan being even classed as food!lol

[Seaside]

yeah I just started staying here more. I love it.

I went to cafe gratitude for the first time a few weeks ago, herbivores and of course millinum LOL, Im making the rounds and now losing a few pounds!

Whole foods is where I eat just about every night lately. I love that store! Have you been to rainbow?
No! How is it?

[Vegan Guy]

No! How is it?

Rainbow rocks! Of all the places that is the one you must go to. The entire store is vegan. A giant vegan grocery store.

finding that early really made it easy for me :)

[Seaside]

Rainbow rocks! Of all the places that is the one you must go to. The entire store is vegan. A giant vegan grocery store.

finding that early really made it easy for me :)
I must go there, then!
Being born in San Francisco, I am always the last one to do stuff. I still haven't walked across the Golden Gate Bridge. :rolleyes:

[moochbabe]

I love being vegan in the US, I think California makes it a little easier thn some midwestern states though. But like Ralphs and Vons (two American Supermarkets) carry a lot of vegan foods, and everytime I went into a local one near me I kept asking for vegan cream cheese...like the next time I went after asking twice I think, they had it! Stores want ur business, so if u ask for it, they'll get it for u! And most of the restaurants are really willing to accomodate, of course u run across the few that are snobby jerks, but then u just never go back to those ones! Good luck in either place u choose! :)

[Korn]

Could one reason that some non-vegans may think it's difficult being a vegan, be that an extremely small, but still existing minority of vegans seem to be keen on announcing that it is difficult? ;) Not long ago, I read on the front page of another pro-vegan site that being a vegan is a 'significantly difficult path to follow'. I couldn't disagree more.

(As with everything else - like learning to drive a car or use a bike or adjusting yourself to other changes in your life, there is a short - but interesting - transition period where you learn (to get used to) some new elements in your life.)

A more healthy attitude IMO would be to focus on how difficult it is to live against your own viewpoints, or how difficult it is to explain why you don't live according to your own viewpoints instead. If someone thinks it's difficult to be a vegan, why not just say that 'I find it difficult' than to announce that the vegan path is 'significantly difficult' to follow, as it would be some universal truth?

[moochbabe]

Korn, I agree completely. Each vegan faces different challenges, and some don't face any or at least minimal challenges at all. To say that something is difficult for everyone is like saying everyone has brown hair, or like saying everyone has hair period. I find that each struggle I face is really worth it in the end, and it would be far more of a struggle to try to choke down meat and animal products and act like I don't give a damn when I really do. Thanx for posting that Korn! :)

[Kiva Dancer]

Gliondrach - :D :D :D !!

I'm not sure where Redlands are but in US, some areas are much easier to be vegan in than others. In the area where I am, it's relatively easy for shopping and a bit harder in restaurants (we have no vegetarian or vegan places here). I'm also pretty lucky to have a couple of really good farmer's markets near me that have locally grown produce which makes it really nice. I'm not one for restaurants either so for me, being vegan where I am is pretty easy.

[Korn]

Korn, I agree completely. Each vegan faces different challenges, and some don't face any or at least minimal challenges at all. To say that something is difficult for everyone is like saying everyone has brown hair, or like saying everyone has hair period. I find that each struggle I face is really worth it in the end, and it would be far more of a struggle to try to choke down meat and animal products and act like I don't give a damn when I really do. Thanx for posting that Korn! :)

You're welcome! Meat eaters often announce (without even having tried to live like a vegan) how difficult being vegan is. Luckily, there are almost no vegan sites (I know only of one) that announce that it is very difficult to 'follow the vegan path'. If you're an aspiring vegan, have family or friends who make it clear for you how difficult it will be to go vegan, and then come across a vegan site which confirms this, I guess you aren't exactly encouraged to stop using animal products.

The way I see it, if a person is interested in animals' rights, health, environment, natural living, non-harming... it would be 'significantly difficult' NOT to become a vegan.

[foxytina_69]

i buy everything i need from the supermarket and do eat out without much difficulty.

i only need to go to a health food store for very special things like nutritional yeast.

[Mystic]

i buy everything i need from the supermarket and do eat out without much difficulty.

i only need to go to a health food store for very special things like nutritional yeast.

Same. I used to buy special stuff, but it got expensive. But I buy all my oatmeal, beans (canned & dry), nuts, bread, fruit etc from the supermarket. I can even buy choccie :p I must say, vegan stuff is becoming more readily available. Hell, a vegan version of tim tams now exist. Who would have ever thought that would happen (*nudging Happycow ;) )!!!!