Well now, I suppose I should start this off at the beginning. Hello, my name is Renee. I live in a tiny little village on the northern Oregon Coast. I am an artist and I am vegan. I was vegetarian for 12 years before going vegan. I have been vegan for three years now.
I tried to go vegan when I first became vegetarian. At the time I was living in another small town far away from resources. At that time as well, the internet was not as easily accessible as it is now. To this day the place where we lived only has dial-up service! Oh yes, we. I will get to the we in a moment...
I was not successful at becoming vegan with that first attempt. Looking back I would say I just did not have enough information to be a healthy vegan. Like many vegetarians, I relied fairly heavily on dairy products in my diet. So how did I become vegan and why? I would love to be able to say that I had learned about the horrific circumstances the animals that provided my dairy products endured and that made me change but at that time I was still uninformed. The simple reason why I became vegan was that dairy made me ill. It turns out that not only was I lactose intolerant, but down right allergic to dairy. The allergy was getting worse as I got older. This time when I went vegan there was an incredible amount of resources available. I also began to learn about the way we treat animals in the food, clothing, and entertainment industries.
It has not been hard for me to eat a strict plant-based diet. I did not miss the dairy, since it made me sick. There was no way I wanted to go back to feeling that ill. Since I started three years ago I have done a lot of reading. I have read cook books, nutrition books, animal rights books, and books on the politics of food. In addition to books, I dove into the wealth of information available online.
At this time, I don't think I will be putting up a lot of recipes. Never fear! There will be plenty of talk about delicious vegan food! There are so many incredible vegan cooking blogs and websites out there already, so I will be referring to them as interesting things pop up. I will be putting up a list of my favorite blogs that I follow and any resources I use.
Now, about that “we”. I live here with my husband and dog...who are not vegan. We have been married for 26 plus years. I was not vegan or even vegetarian when we were first married. That said, my husband eats a mosty vegan diet. That is, since I do most of the cooking he gets vegan meals. He also makes his own soy milk! He does occasionally consume animal products. My dog alas, did not thrive on a vegan diet so does not consume one now.
Tomorrow I will introduce you all to my little town and the incredibly beautiful area in which we live. I will be explaining a bit more of the why it is a challenge to be a vegan in this area. Those challenges have made it necessary for me to tweak the way I eat, in a good way. I will be talking about a healthy whole foods diet, what you need, how much it costs, and where one can find good food in this area.
One cannot live in this incredible environment and not include it in ones lifestyle. The environment where I live is strong, and a relatively rugged and isolated area, It is also stunningly beautiful and I absolutely love it. Living on the wild Pacific edge of the North American continent has its challenges, but I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else at this time.
-Renee
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