Got milk?

Challenge: To be a vegan for a week. This meant no meat, eggs, honey, dairy or anything else that would upset the animal kingdom. It also meant not wearing leather or anything made from animals, although ties bearing pictures of animals were acceptable (although frowned upon). I was also required to cook a vegan meal for a friend.

Difficulty: 3/5

Skills developed: Learned how to make my own vegan bread, cookies and chick pea snacks...

Overview/Rant: For those who don't know, the philosophy behind veganism is that you live a lifestyle which does not cause harm to any animal, not just the cute ones. Veganism is, fundamentally, about being a hard-core vegetarian. Where vegetarians can get off saying "Ugh, do you know what they did to the animal you're eating?!" Vegans can say "You drank some cows milk? DIE DIE DIE!!!" Between vegan and vegetarian, when it comes to who's got the biggest cucumber - vegans win out... although argument could/should be made for the fact that not eating meat is, kind of, a lose-lose situation anyway... 

Okay- you've probably noticed by now that I am not a poster boy for veganism. Maybe it's my taste for blood and flesh that my parents instilled into me from an early age (how dare they) or maybe it's our natural instinct to eat other animals. Now- I haven't read Richard Dawkins "The Evidence of Evolution" for the sole reason that I don't need to be convinced of the blatantly obvious, but, I'm fairly sure, at some point, the argument was made that humans are designed to eat other animals. We’re part of a food chain. If a bunny had razor sharp teeth I’m sure he’d rip our f*$king throat out... or has Monty Python taught us nothing? Basically, if you’re trying to sell me onto the idea of vegetarianism/veganism solely on it’s immoral, then I’m not sold. Animals are supposed to eat other animals. Does the cheetah eating the antelope think of stopping once in a while to eat the grass and dig into some tofu? No, they know what they were designed to do. We’ve been designed to do the same. Or can someone explain to me what I’m doing with these canine teeth in my mouth?

On the positive side of veganism, and moving away from my ranting digression, there is a serious upside to becoming a vegan. In studies comparing vegans and meat eaters they found that the vegans have a lower body mass index, lower levels of cholesterol, lower levels of saturated fat and lower rates of hypertension, type 2 diabetes, prostate and colon cancer. So, while we meat eaters may be laughing now, they’ll probably get the last laugh in the end... mainly because we’ll have keeled over from massive meat induced coronaries.

Personally I did pick up some helpful things from trying out this challenge. I now read the nutritional labels and I understand more of what is going into my body and how that will affect my health. It has, without a doubt, improved my knowledge of what to eat. I also learnt how to make my own bread, cookies and chick pea snacks (although that last one has a lot left to be desired in the flavour department). Finally, I learnt that the key thing to any meal is the spices and flavours used, rather than the meat involved. A well spiced dish can be nourishing and delicious without the need for meat (yeah- I said it).

Dinner for two: On the Tuesday I cooked a dinner for my friend MEATUS MAXIMUS (name changed to protect identity - ha). I cooked brown rice, peas and sweetcorn covered with soy sauce. There were also spicy roast vegetables and spicy wedges. The meal was very well received, although there was a comment that the roast vegetables were too spicy and there was SEVERE disappointment at the lack of tofu. For desert there were vegan chocolate cookies, which by all accounts were friggin AWESOME. Overall the meal cost approximately €10. All recipes were got from http://vegweb.com/

Hardest parts: Remembering not to wear leather stuff (and I look so good in my gimp outfit). Remembering not to put milk into tea. Shopping, as nearly everything has something to do with animals. Not thinking about meat. EGGS, my god I missed eggs...

Recommendation: Definitely think about trying this- I would recommend trying it for longer if you're really really interested. If properly prepared you could easily live like this for quite some time and not really miss meat. Although you would need to do some serious research to make sure you're getting all your vitamins OR, alternatively, stock up on vitamin supplements. Honestly though, if you’re looking for the health benefits with a bit more option then I’d recommend going vegetarian instead. It makes everything much easier, and you can still maintain your air of superiority over us meat eaters.

Conclusion: It was a challenge at times, more so out of inconvenience than anything else. Snacking proved a major bitch as I generally was left to snack on celery and carrots... yum-tastic! I think two weeks of this would have done my head in. I may think about trying to be vegetarian again in the future, but probably, definitely, not vegan. I gave it a 3/5 because it required a lot of preparation and planning, but overall the implementation was fairly simple once you’d done the grunt work.

Special Thanks: Mummy for the vegan shopping and for the cooking advice. Thanks to Yvonne Keane for the suggestion.

Next challenge: Develop a video game in a week. I’m currently deciding between a point-and-click adventure or a role-playing-game. Any suggestions for plot, storyline or genre then please post em! I’m going to see about getting webspace to set it up as well so that ye lot can all play it. Also please keep sending me only challenges! Mucho gracious! 

Random thoughts: Something to watch out for me thinks...