The last day of the Vegan Challenge 3.0

So it has come, the last day of the Vegan Challenge 3.0. On this final day I won’t give you a recipe or a post about some more or less veganism-related topic. Today I just want to share some of my thoughts with you.

For 29 days, the entire month of February, seven friends and I have been vegan. For some, it has been a challenge I think, for me it wasn’t that big a change from how I ate and lived before. Before this month, I cooked only vegan food at home, but when offered or when eating out I would resort to being vegetarian. I wanted to call myself a vegan, because I believe in what I think veganism stands for, but at the same time I was not willing to entirely give up eating all animal products. I love cooking and baking, and there are few better things than to be able to try new foods and be inspired. I guess that I didn’t want to limit myself by being a strict vegan. Say what you want about how great veganism is, you are limiting the possible food experiences you can have. To me that was hard to give up.

So I didn’t limit myself completely. I didn’t say a steadfast no, but reasoned as I always have that it is what you do every day that matters, not the exceptions. But by not setting any rules, exceptions are way to easy to make. Instead of making exceptions when they were actually meaningful, I found myself following small non-vegan whims in my everyday life. To some of you this might not sound too terrible. Does an egg a week or a cookie here and there really matter? Not really, no. But this made me feel sort of in between. I wanted to be vegan, but at the same time I wasn’t ready to commit.

The foremost reason I believe in veganism is because from what I know it is the best way to make a positive impact on the current environmental situation. What we eat affects climate change more than anything else, but is also among the easiest things to change. It terrifies me to see where we are heading and what we are doing to our planet. It is unfair and wrong in every possible way. The only way we can do something about it is if we change our priorities, turn around and start walking in another direction than where we’re headed now. We all have to act, by taking however big or small steps we can. But each and every one of us has to take a step. For some that step might mean cutting their meat consumption and only having meat a couple of times a week. If everyone did that, it would make an enormous difference. But just because I have no meat consumption to talk about and don’t eat that much dairy it doesn’t mean I can just sit back and feel good about myself. We all have to take steps. For me, I think the next step is to commit and be a stricter vegan. No more meaningless exceptions.

This vegan month has shown me more than the previous ones that there are few things you truly have to give up going vegan. I made vegan pastrami, mac and cheese, the meatiest Bolognese I’ve ever had and perhaps above all, a vegan semla. If a semla can be so delicious and so vegan, anything can. For me there are no more excuses really, for not going completely vegan. Sure, there are some sacrifices, of course there are. But they are for a good purpose. I think we all have to give up some things for the sake of our planet. These sacrifices will be different for everyone depending on where the currently are. And I must say, with all the benefits of veganism, it’s not really about loosing but about winning.

I leave this vegan month inspired. And I hope that the 29 posts I’ve made on this blog have inspired at least someone out there. I fulfilled my goal, I posted something everyday, and even if I don’t know if there’s anyone out there reading this, I am proud of that. I’m going to continue posting recipes and posts on, to me, interesting topic, even though it won’t be once a day. I started the challenge by saying that a month is the perfect time to open your eyes and start new habits, and this time I feel that both writing here as well as being vegan has really stuck to me. So really, this is where my new vegan challenge starts. Thank you for reading.