ask 10 vegans the same question and chances are you'll get at least 6-7 different answers. i want to draw attention to the elephant in the living room and ask my fellow vegans a few questions. please answer honestly, i won't judge you. i just want to hear your opinions.
1. sugar, do you use regular refined sugar? occasionally i do, but since going vegan i only buy turbinado or organic sugar. it's expensive! with all the baking i do-(about 2 cups worth a week), i'm considering going back to the good ol' white sugar.
2. honey, do you use it? i've done my best to stay away from things with honey in them, but have occasionally gone to a friend's house where they've made dinner for us and the dish has honey in it.
3. why does vegetarian cheese have to have milk protein in it-(i don't use it), and why does vegan cheese cost so damn much? i hardly use vegan cheese for that very reason. if i'm desperate, then i'll buy some follow your heart, but i found in my pregan days i was far too reliant on drowning everything in ranch dressing or cheese.
4. what about personal care products? what if you get a cosmetic item that's free? my family isn't in the financial position to afford vegan ingredients for food AND vegan personal care items. i use things that aren't tested on animals, and i'm still going to be using some items that i've had from my pregan days. any suggestions on cheapie items-(specifically baby products).
5. what about gossip? i don't think gossip is vegan at all. i say this because i was driven away from the vegan way the first time because a) i became vegan for the wrong reasons, b) i didn't have a good vegan cooking education, and c) i hung around some very self-righteous vegan douche bags that lived for making other people-(including other vegans) miserable. i still find the vegan community to be fairly cliquey, but i'm pretty happy with my blogging buddies.
6. many people view veganism as "radical" or "going too far." what aren't you willing to do as a vegan? for instance, i'm not willing to do crazy protesting things that would get me jailed and taken away from my family. i'm not willing to push for veganism in my family-(i've been given the blessing to raise our son vegetarian, but not vegan) so much that i would divorce my spouse because he isn't vegan.
discuss. thanks for reading and i look forward to your responses.
1. sugar, do you use regular refined sugar? occasionally i do, but since going vegan i only buy turbinado or organic sugar. it's expensive! with all the baking i do-(about 2 cups worth a week), i'm considering going back to the good ol' white sugar.
2. honey, do you use it? i've done my best to stay away from things with honey in them, but have occasionally gone to a friend's house where they've made dinner for us and the dish has honey in it.
3. why does vegetarian cheese have to have milk protein in it-(i don't use it), and why does vegan cheese cost so damn much? i hardly use vegan cheese for that very reason. if i'm desperate, then i'll buy some follow your heart, but i found in my pregan days i was far too reliant on drowning everything in ranch dressing or cheese.
4. what about personal care products? what if you get a cosmetic item that's free? my family isn't in the financial position to afford vegan ingredients for food AND vegan personal care items. i use things that aren't tested on animals, and i'm still going to be using some items that i've had from my pregan days. any suggestions on cheapie items-(specifically baby products).
5. what about gossip? i don't think gossip is vegan at all. i say this because i was driven away from the vegan way the first time because a) i became vegan for the wrong reasons, b) i didn't have a good vegan cooking education, and c) i hung around some very self-righteous vegan douche bags that lived for making other people-(including other vegans) miserable. i still find the vegan community to be fairly cliquey, but i'm pretty happy with my blogging buddies.
6. many people view veganism as "radical" or "going too far." what aren't you willing to do as a vegan? for instance, i'm not willing to do crazy protesting things that would get me jailed and taken away from my family. i'm not willing to push for veganism in my family-(i've been given the blessing to raise our son vegetarian, but not vegan) so much that i would divorce my spouse because he isn't vegan.
discuss. thanks for reading and i look forward to your responses.
8 comments:
I liked reading this on your post. I just had to blog tag you for this survey type thing going around.
check out my blog and you'll see what to do :)
veganview.blogspot.com
Love your blog!
1. Nope, I never use white sugar, but I will use cane sugar if I'm baking for someone else.
2. Nope, I don't purposefully use honey or eat things it's in. However, if I wasn't at home and I was starving and the best option I had was an item with honey in it, I would eat it and not feel badly.
3. I agree with you - it's just sometimes better to leave well enough alone and not try to find the perfect vegan cheese. I do like cheezy sauces, though.
4. I try to stay away from products that have animal ingredients in them, but I'm sure there are some products I use that aren't vegan. I really need to be better about this. Baby products are really difficult in this respect - we buy all of ours at Whole Foods, but we pay a pretty penny. I wish we could just use Johnson & Johnson No More Tears and leave it at that.
5. Sure, I'm guilty of gossiping. I don't feel great about myself when it happens, but it can be pretty difficult to avoid. That being said, I think I'm much better at finding and defending the good in people than I am at finding and pointing out the bad or scandalous.
6. Same as you.
1. I buy evaporated cane juice mostly, but sometimes I also buy turbinado. I never buy white sugar, but I'm opposed to eating it in someone else's baked goods.
2. I don't eat honey or buy it. But again, if I'm somewhere and all they have that's remotely vegan is honey mustard dressing, I'll eat it. I'm also not opposed to eating the wheat bread at Subway, and it contains honey. At home, I use agave.
3. I LOVE vegan cheese...perhaps better than I did regular cheese. I know that's weird. But I do. Its expensive, yes. But it's a sacrifice I must make.
4. I don't buy non-vegan personal care products, but I'll use free shit if it's questionable. If it expressly says "contains lanolin" or something, I won't. But if I don't know it's testing status, and it's free....I know it's not a personal care product, but I'm horrible about sticking with vegan wines.
5. I don't like bitchy, self-righteous vegans. They make us all look bad. I know a few too.
6. I am willing to get arrested at an AR protest, but haven't yet...knock on wood. Then again, I don't have a family to feed or anything...unless you count my pets, but if I went to jail, my friends would take care of them. Everyone has a key to my house.
Oh, on the white sugar, I meant "I'm NOT opposed to eating it in someone else's baked goods...
1. i don't use regular sugar. i really want to buy some beet sugar, but i haven't gotten around to it. i almost always sub all sugar with agave nectar (but i don't bake too terribly much)
2. no honey. agave nectar does the trick just fine for me.
3. i find that a little nooch and soy milk makes a great creamy cheese. sometimes i'll use fyh or tofutti, but not that often. i've found some great 'raw' cheese recipes that use soaked cashews or almonds... they are really good!
4. hmmm... i use those not tested on animals. and i don't buy anything that i can tell has animal products. and i agree about the vegan wines - i'm terrible about that.
5.i get really annoyed when people harass or get cliquey about foods (whatever it may be). my belief is that everything is a personal choice... i don't judge others, and i'd really dig it if they wouldn't judge me. :)
6. see #5. i think ever choice is personal, and therefore everyone has their own boundaries about what they are comfortable with. just because i don't protest or try to convert everyone i know doesn't make me a bad vegan.
thanks for the interesting blog!
1. we only buy unbleached fair trade sugar in the house, but i will eat regular sugar in candy and out of the house.
2. i don't buy honey, and don't like to eat it. i might eat some, say, if someone invites me to dinner and makes something that is otherwise vegan. i think agave is pretty great, but i only use it for the occasional squirt here or there, cuz it's pricey.
3. casein makes vegetarian cheese melt, that's why they put it in there. i usually only buy fyh if i'm making cheese grits for company. i tried the teese, and wasn't too impressed with it either...
4.we only buy cruelty free vegan body care stuff. do you live near a whole foods? their shampoo and condition is vegan cruelty free and as cheap as anything you can find.
5. i'm not into mean gossip, but i like some good informational now and again. yes.
6. i guess i consider myself more of an apron activist than anything else. i'm not sure what i'm willing to get arrested over...
xo
kittee
!.) I use white sugar. I just try not to buy CANE sugar, because it's bone-char whitened. A good percentage of white sugar is BEET sugar - more or less depending where you live - and it's not bone-char whitened. It's cheaper than cane sugar to, so most "generic" or store-beands are actually beet sugar unless they SAY cane sugar.
2.) I use honey. So shoot me with a vegan police gun. I don't discuss the why or why not with other vegans.
3.) I just don't even try to use vegan cheese. I just go without. I've gotten pretty used to it by now and even had to think the other day "Pizza has CHEESE?" Yeah, an odd moment...
4.) I use personal care items that may be manufactured by companies that test on animals, but I don't use actual items tested on animals
5.) Vegans ARE a clique-y little group of individuals and I honestly don't tell people outside of bloggerland that I AM one. Sometimes it's embarrassing to tell people I turn down food or cause it to be sent back and thrown away or wasted jut because of my ethics, when there are thousands of children dying of starvation every day. Yeah, I know a different soapbox alltogether, bt still...
Sometimes I think we miss the bigger picture in our all-fired quest to avoid every shred of miniscule-trace-by-product-questionable ingredient...
5 or whatever number, I lost track...I use personal care items that may be manufactured by companies that test on animals, but I don't use actual items they've tested on animals - if that makes sense. A lot of baby products are a waste of $$ anyway and you can make your own.
1. I don't buy refined sugar, but I will eat products that have plain sugar in them (like the occasional natural soda sweetened with cane sugar). I don't bake very much, so it doesn't seem too expensive (yet?).
2. I never liked honey, but I really like agave nectar! I avoid products that have honey in them but are otherwise vegan, but a few weeks ago my boss made some bars and brought me a bunch that had honey... I didn't have the heart to tell her I wouldn't eat them. I don't really see a problem with organic honey that doesn't gas the bees in the winter and all that, but I try to be a good vegan and avoid it.
3. I've heard the soy whey cheese is suitable for people who are lactose intolerant. Lame! Once in awhile I'll buy FYH for corn tortillas, but it doesn't seem worth the price. I'm too cheap to buy the other ones, though I have tasted most of them at vegan festivals and such.
4. I never really buy makeup, I still have lots from before I was vegan and wore makeup more. I got some lipstick from Mary Kay for my birthday last year that is supposedly vegan, but I didn't look into it. I buy the cheap shampoo and conditioner at Whole Foods that's vegan, and I find that one of the natural toothpastes they carry is always on sale (same with deodorant).
5. Portland is pretty cliquey with it's vegans. There's the AR activists, the xvx crowd, the hipster vegans, the PPKers, etc. I think it's prone to happen in revolutions!
6. I'm not willing to do direct action, but I love the Radical Cheerleading. It's fun to be the positive voice at protests/demos and try to get people in a good mood. We don't know if we want to have children yet (I don't want to think about it until I'm 30), but if we did I'm not sure how we would handle food. Hubby is pescetarian, and doesn't really care about AR but knows it makes me sad when he eats meat. He doesn't eat fish at home. I'm not sure if I would want my child eating dairy... certainly not eggs. I guess we'll tackle that when it comes.
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