What now?

So, the month has ended. What now?

I won’t stay vegan. For now. Maybe I’ll be a vegan in 2 years, maybe in 3 months. Who knows. For now, however, I’ll stay a vegetarian, but I will quit some things.

1. Eggs – no more grant Sunday brunches with boiled or scrambled eggs for me. The whole month I didn’t think about them, there just wasn’t a need for eggs. I will however probably eat things that include eggs.
2. Yoghurt – same as the eggs. I do love Greek yoghurt, but I’ve gotten font of the Alpro vanilla yoghurt. So why not skip out on a little dairy?
3. Cow’s milk – I didn’t drink this before this month anyway, so why would I start doing that now? Soy milk is heaven after all.
4. Cheese on pasta – it’s always been a bad habit to throw a whole lot of cheese on my bowl of pasta. This also gave me a bad stomachache sometimes and I didn’t really need it this month – I even ate two and a half bowls of vegan spaghetti bolognese last week, which normally doesn’t happen because I can barely finish a second bowl because of the cheese.
5. Non-vegan sweets – it’s not just unhealthy, I feel less than great when I’ve eaten them. By just looking at vegan or not vegan, a lot of sweets and chips can be eliminated from the list. Thankfully not all naughty things are non vegan, so you’ll be seeing me walking around with some Oreo’s and Doritos.

I do have one last tip: if you try a month, or maybe longer, of being vegan like I did, don’t go eating cheesy pizza and sweet cake the first day after. Yes, I made that mistake and my stomach didn’t thank me for it.

Love, N

The video I needed

So, I recently came across this video from a lovely person I’ve shared with you already, Madeleine Olivia. It’s her beginner’s guide to veganism with some tips. I thought I knew enough about veganism before starting this, as well as I didn’t think I’d like a video like this. If you look up ‘veganism’ online, a lot of the results are people being angry and judging eachother for the choices they make. This isn’t something I want to be a part of.

I do however want to be someone I’m proud of. Therefor I watched this video. Both to educate myself further and to see how she gives advice and takes on the subject.

Somewhat thankfully, she didn’t start accusing meat-eaters of killing animals and ruining the planet. Nor did she gave a whole list of reasons why dairy and meat is bad for you.

No, she was calm and a bit nervous. This made the video comfortable to watch and to take in all the info. I was just watching someone talking about something they’re passionate about and giving advice to those who were interested. No shouting, no accusations, no guilt thrown on me.

It was a true relief and amazing video, both educational and lovely to watch. Of course the content isn’t for everyone, it is confrontational. But it’s also based on scientific proof and that may be why it’s scary to watch. We’ll always be a bit scared of the unknown. Which is also why I think shouting at people to go vegan isn’t helping anyone. This will make them fear you more than the things you’re saying, in my opinion.

Love, N

Vegan Studentlife

In the beginning I said I’d be doing this as a student. Of course I have; I didn’t stop studying to go vegan. This brought some difficulties with it though.

As a start, I joint a studentclub in October. This gave me some amazing friends and experiences along the way, but with it comes a lot of alcohol and junk food. Disclaimer; junk food isn’t a real problem for me as a vegan since I normally don’t really eat a lot of it. Fries are now my go-to, since – spoiler alert – potatoes are vegan. I do realise that some people want a burger or something like that with their fries, preferably with a big dolup of sauce. Unfortunately those aren’t vegan. But thank the lord for vegan burgers.

Here are some ways to get some vegan junk in your trunk:

1. Jilles – they have an amazing black bean burger with delicious fries. It’s a great option to go to with friends who aren’t vegan.
2. Greenway – this is basically vegan heaven in a foodshop; everything is vegan!
3. Seli’s Noodlebar – they serve some great noodles, but you’ll probably have to ask which dishes are vegan.
4. Bavet – they only have one kind of vegan sauce, but it’s completely worth it. You’ll hav eto skip on the cheese again though 😦
5. Homemade – it’s always the best 😉

In case you’re more into healthier foods, or want a bit of variation in the food you’re consuming, soup is a great option. Just don’t forget to ask if they put cream or any dairy in the soup. These are some great, and fairly cheap soupbars.

1. Soup’R
2. Soup+
3. Soup Lounge

By now it’s easy to say no to cheese as a topping on soup for me. But I do miss it sometimes. I don’t think I realised how much cheese I ate before cutting it out. We’re used to getting cheese on our pasta and pizza’s, but there are some great alternatives.

1. Domino’s Pizza – they have vegan pizza’s now and the Margherita is great!
2. Pimpernel – it’s a healthshop, which also sells vegan cheese. I use the slices for grilled cheeses and find them delicious.
3. Again, homemade – a few days ago I used this recipe to make vegan sauce for Mac ‘n’ Cheese and made too much without any regret because it’s a great substitute. A great feature is also that I don’t feel like I just poured a whole bowl of greasy melted cheese in my mouth. – http://www.elephantasticvegan.com/nooch-cheese/

I hope this helps you, because when I started this I didn’t really know if I’d be able to enjoy pizza, pasta or going out with friends anymore. Now, I can assure you that’s not a problem.

Love, N

Update on the resolutions

I made some resolutions, but forgot to update you on how it went. Great job, N…

These were my resolutions:

1. Cook my delicious vegan Thai pumpkin soup again and share the recipe.
2. Cook vegan food with non-vegan friends.
3. Bake something vegan.
4. Share vegan inspiration for meals.
5. Try something completely new.

So number 1 was delicious as everytime, so here’s the ‘recipe’. I’m the ‘no measuring needed’ kind of cook, so ‘here’s my ingredientslist is a better use of words.

N’s Thai pumpkin soup

You’ll need…

• Pumpkin
• Carrots
• Union & garlic
• Vegetable stock (make sure it doesn’t contain milkpowder)
• Water
• Coconut milk
• Spices (I usually use turmeric, paprica, cayenne or chili, salt and pepper)
• Chili sauce (if you like a sweet touch, the one from Boni is vegan)

Just throw it all in a big pot, bring to a boil and let the vegetables cook. When they’re soft, just mix it with a handmixer and you’re good to go. I love my soup a bit thicker, but if you want it a bit more runny, just use more water. Same goes for creaminess; less or more coconutmilk.

Resolution 2 was also a succes; I made vegan pasta sauce inspired by the soup above and kind of made my friend Astrid taste it. I think her face says enough about her feelings. (PS : she didn’t speak for a whole two minutes while enjoying it with pasta, which is quite unusual)

For resolution 3 I made vegan brownies, using this recipe, but my foodprocessor suddenly stopped working so they didn’t turn out great. I also missed the sweetness and fudginess brownies have. I’ll probably try again though. Sidenote about brownies: I went to visit a friend in the Netherlands and baked non-vegan brownies for her and some friends. Somehow I was able to resist the gooey goodness. Pretty proud of myself for that.

You can find the inspiration from resolution 4 in one of my previous blogposts and in my Pinterestfolder; https://www.pinterest.com/willemsnienke/food/vegan/.

Resolution 5 hasn’t really been accomplished if you don’t count the vegan pizza from Domino’s. Besides that I also watched an episode of ‘Over Eten’ in which one of the show host tried to be vegan for a month,  just like me. This also inspired me to keep going. A new resolution I want to make concerning something new and a tv series, is watching a documentary about going vegan. I’ll keep you posted on that.

Love, N

Inspiration

Researching vegan foods and recipes as well as inspirational people is a joyful thing. Why? Because vegan food is very colorful due to all the veggies and fruits the cooks use. Therefor the pictures are stunning. This also gives me a boost to copy the beautiful dishes.

Pinterest

Here are some people who inspired me to start this experiment or who helped me find amazing dishes:

1. Kalyn Nicholson – she has some recipes, but it’s mostly her ‘coffeetalks’ and selfcare videos that inspire and help me.

http://www.kalynnicholson.com/ & https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-CZmKnJbjGWAzJd6cIVUMg

2. Madelaine Olivia – she has a lot of great recipes, some of which especially for students or people who live on a budget.

https://www.madeleineolivia.co.uk/ & https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4CpQoAPJNGGUPG92Fbwxqw

3. Jenny Mustard – she’s got a fully vegan lifestyle and makes some amazing dishes.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7fPf1yuGaYFmbxe0ZrshWw & http://jennymustard.com/  

Pinterest also has a great variety of pictures, helpful graphics and links to delicious recipes. Here’s my folder for inspiration, recipes and such: https://nl.pinterest.com/willemsnienke/food/vegan/

And at last, YouTube. It’s a great source for recipes and what’s very helpful is that a lot of the time, you already get to see how it’s supposed to look during cooking.

1. Mina Rome – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBy9QPDqagPyrdV_01-c9Xw
2. AnarchistKitchen – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUH231XSyHID_ZMOLNk8SIA
3. Fablunch – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkodM4DHUloJMgRjku7r_Vg
4. Liv B – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtuwIdM0Zx7xCiZSa_clRzw
5. Simply Quinoa – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKUDSBYR-rOFBflYGJ43Ixg

Hopefully you’ll find some great recipes and inspiration, just like I did. This week I’ll use some of the recipes from the people above, so I’ll link their recipes in thoses posts.

Love, N

Some resolutions

Starting this experience properly now, I’m going to make some resolutions for the next week. This because I’ll have a written idea of what I’d like to do and achieve this week.

Pinterest

1. Cook my delicious vegan Thai pumpkin soup again and share the recipe.
2. Cook vegan food with non-vegan friends.
3. Bake something vegan.
4. Share vegan inspiration for meals.
5. Try something completely new.

At the end of the week I’ll be able to look back on these and reflect on how the week has gone. Hopefully I’ll be able to do all of them.

Love, N

Let’s start over

I’m well aware of the fact that there’s already an article in Dutch on this blog, but I want a do-over. Why, you may ask. Well, I started this month full of enthusiasm, but during the holiday. This, plus the fact that I was home alone, made it unbelievably easy to cook and eat vegan foods. I loved it and felt great, but then my family came back from their trip in England and school started again.

Eating vegan as a student is difficult. I knew that before I started this, but it was part of the reason why I was excited to try it. I still am. But I’m going to be honest; last week (Sunday 4th till Thursday 7th of November) didn’t go great.

Reasons why it didn’t go great:

1. I went out with friends. Now, I’m not saying vegans can’t go out and party, of course they can. But somehow it’s so easy to say ‘oh, yes, I’d like sauce on my fries’ or ‘it’s just one slice of pizza’ when you’ve had a drink. I also haven’t found a vegan hangover cure. Yet.
2. Somehow I felt stressed about a lot of innocent things during the week. A someone who’s had difficulty with stress and anxiety, this didn’t make it easy to resist the urge to just blow this whole thing off and call it a failure.
3. Basic knowledge, a student’s eating-schedule can be a mess. And it was. There were nights where I ate dinner at half past 5, but I also ate dinner at around 10 once. My class schedule is pretty okay, but since some days class starts at 9:30 and others start at 14:30 sometimes I’d eat breakfast at 8 and other times it’ll be at 11. It was quite the mess.
4. I missed cheese and chocolate. But I’m determined to find a vegan kind of both of them.

But I’m a pretty optimistic person so let’s quit the negative talk and get on with this. There obviously were some great times during last week too.

Reasons why it did go great:

1. I tried Domino’s vegan Margherita pizza and it was delicious. The texture of the cheese was a bit creamier and there were no magical cheese pulls, but the taste was great. Sometimes the normal Margherita has a layer of grease on top of it, which I truly don’t like, but this one hadn’t so that was lovely.
2. I went out to dinner as a vegan for the first time. I went to Bavet, a cozy restaurant that serves all types of delicious pasta. They only have one vegan option, but it’s delicious. It’s called Hot Tomato, but you’ll have to ask them not to put cheese on top. I did miss the cheese to bind it all together, but the spice really helped to distract me from that thought.
3. I started the month with my home-made Thai pumpkin soup. Since it’s fall and pumpkins are in season I had to make this delicious soup. It’s one I invented myself, which also means measuring isn’t happening. But it’s an amazingly delicious choice for both dinner as lunch. I’ll probably share the recipe later on.

Now, my verdict of the past week.

Some things went really well, others didn’t. Thankfully I found some people who are the most accepting and supporting of basically everything someone does. Having their help and support really motivates me to make this month a fun experience. Not only for me, but for everyone I share it with. Also, I started watching a lot of vegan accounts on YouTube and there are some amazing cooks among them. This also gives me the inspiration to go on and stop making excuses to buy pre-made food instead of cooking a delicious meal myself. And at last, I feel better about what I’m doing and who I am when I’m eating healthy or vegan foods, so why skip on that great feature?

Love, N

Een groene maand

GENT – Het is 1 november. De eerste dag van mijn maand als veganistische student. Als vegetariër heb ik al een hele tijd interesse in veganisme. Dierenleed is iets wat ik absoluut niet vind kunnen en wat ik ook probeer te vermijden, vandaar mijn beslissing. De maand is een experiment en een ervaring, wat daarna gebeurt weet ik niet. Misschien word ik wel volledig veganist, misschien gebruik ik gewoon geen zuivel meer, misschien word ik terug vegetariër. We zullen het deze maand samen ontdekken.

Sinds bijna twee jaar ben ik vegetariër; geen vlees of vis dus. Tot nu toe is het redelijk gemakkelijk geweest aangezien ik daarvoor ook al niet zoveel vlees of vis at – sushi blijft wel een niet zo stiekem gemis. Koppigheid heeft zeker en vast te maken met mijn beslissing, maar het klimaat en de dieren spelen de grootste rol; voor mij staan wij als mens niet boven andere dieren, dus waar halen we het recht om ze op te eten alsof ze geen gevoel en leven hebben? Deze vraag en persoonlijke mening brengt al eens wat controverse mee. Zelf vind ik dat iedereen kiest wat hij of zij eet, dus dat uitgesproken  kritiek op andere levensstijlen overbodig is. Toch lijkt denken aan de dieren die rondom ons leven en het milieu dat ons leven geeft mij niet overbodig.

De komende maand zal ik dan ook mijn persoonlijke mening over het uitsterven van dieren en de klimaatopwarming delen. Natuurlijk niet enkel dat. Mijn ervaringen doorheen de maand en nieuwe ontdekkingen zoals maaltijden, recepten en restaurants zal ik hierop met jullie delen.

Een groot deel van deze maand zal mijn leven als student zijn. Zelf zit ik niet op kot, maar in Hotel Mama wordt niet veganistisch gekookt. Koken doe ik gelukkig al lang, graag en gevarieerd. Als student is koken toch niet altijd evident en uiteten met vrienden is altijd leuk, daarom dat ik dat mét hen – zowel de vegetariërs, veganisten als vleeseters – zal doen. Zo ontdek ik samen met jullie de opties in mijn mooie stad, Gent.

Ik zou zeggen, geniet ervan! Dat ga ik alvast doen.

Minute by minute. 

Foto van society6.com

 

 

Waar zijn vrienden voor?

‘Daar zijn vrienden voor.’ 

Het is een zin die vaak gebruikt wordt als reactie wanneer iemand zijn of haar vrienden dankbaar is en dat toont. Het is een zin die ik al jaren gebruik. Het is een zin die ik niet langer begrijp…

Want waar zijn vrienden voor?

Voor de avonden waarbij alle opgekropte gevoelens er na een glas te veel allemaal proestend en snikkend uit komen? Voor de ruzies waarbij alles persoonlijk moet gemaakt worden om toch de bovenhand te krijgen? Voor de ochtenden waarbij het even gewoon niet meer gaat en de schreeuw om hulp genegeerd wordt?

Nee. Ja. Geen duidelijk antwoord.

Er is geen duidelijk antwoord omdat er geen duidelijkheid is. Geen duidelijkheid over wie je vrienden zijn of wanneer ze je vrienden zijn. Geen duidelijkheid meer.

Het is een enorm angstaanjagend gevoel om die duidelijkheid kwijt te raken. Je verliest niet enkel die duidelijkheid, maar een stuk van die persoon en van jezelf. Een stukje hart breekt af en gaat voor altijd verloren in je lichaam. Je omschrijft de persoon niet meer als ‘vriendin’; je stelt ze voor als ‘iemand die je kent’. Ondanks dat je die persoon eigenlijk niet meer kent. Je vriendin of vriend is vervaagd en al wat achterblijft, is een gebroken versie van de vriendschap die er ooit was.

En de herinneringen.

De herinneringen zijn pijnlijk. Vooral de laatsten. Die voor de climax waar ‘vriend’ in ‘iemand die je kent’ veranderde. De feestjes waar je samen gedanst hebt. De concerten waar je samen hebt staan schreeuwen. De foto’s die je samen keurde. De uitstapjes waar je samen verdwaalde. Alles wat je samen deed. De screenshots van hilarische gesprekken staan nog steeds op je gsm, de foto’s van de gekke bekken hangen nog steeds aan je muur, de polsbandjes van de feestjes waar je samen naartoe bent gegaan zitten nog steeds op je prikbord geprikt. Je houdt alles bij. In de bijna zielige hoop er meer bij te kunnen hangen.

Maar je moet verder.

Je gaat verder. Je focust je op de vrienden die je wel nog ‘vrienden’ noemt. Je blijft niet wachten op de ‘iemand

die je kent’. Je blijft niet hopen op de ‘iemand die je kent’. Je hoopt op nieuwe ervaringen. Nieuwe herinneringen. Nieuwe vrienden. Want de wereld staat niet stil. Ze gaat verder.

Minute by minute.