Greetings from the Lazy Vegan

Here's a little story I want to tell...

When I first went vegan at the very young age of 23, I thought it'd be easy. I mean, for the first year, it actually was - I avoided all things McDaddy's and Wendy-fied, meaty, cheesy, and milky. Easy.

It all started with a book with a very controversial title that sparked a little conversation and ignited a fire in me I had no idea even existed. The moment I finished the last page of Skinny Bitch, I cleared out everything that had any of that milky, cheesy, eggy, meaty stuff out of the fridge and went cold turkey (no pun intended). I was pumped. Pumped about doing more for the environment; spreading the word about veganism and how it changes lives and saves animals plus the planet; I was totally stoked about the exploring the new flavors of my foods, and especially this new world of animal rights activism - everything I though veganism was about.

But, you know what? It only lasted a year.

I went to college in the small town of Stillwater, Oklahoma, where cows wear those atrocious yellow tags on their ear; where about half the student body is some sort of agri major wearing texas belts, boots, cowboy hats, and call Texas or Wyoming home sweet home. So I knew the moment I got accepted to Okstate that finding a single vegan things there would be a full scale challenge.

I did what any reasonable vegan would: bought in bulk. I went to Whole Foods, bought all of my favorite vegan staples, packed it in the trunk of my mom's car between the bed sheets and oversized couch pillows and headed to the land of agriculture and journalism (the latter being my major sweet major). For a little while - like my college career - my bulk items lasted. Unfortunately, once it was gone, finding vegan-friendly food was a real scavenger hunt - I don't much like scavenger hunts. Except for the cute little health food store tucked away in the same shopping center as Wal-Mart, my hunting days were far few and in between.

I gave up and went vegetarian. Lame, I know.

My stay at O-state ended after a year of beating myself up for not staying committed to the cause, and fattening myself up with all things dairy, sneaking in a few pieces of chicken along the way. I was a disaster, and most of all, I felt like a hypocrite.

That fire inside of me is still ablaze; I still want to spread the word. Now, after close to a year of gorging myself on...whatever, I'm back on my journey. This time I have a little help from the cornicopia of vegan and raw cookbooks, full of enlightening tidbits of helpful info and delicioso recipes!

The Lazy Vegan is here to chronicle my journey for you, enlighten you with information about our great, beautiful Mother Earth, share recipes, and reassure you that it's okay to struggle with this change a bit. You're still doing the right things by taking the first steps - just make sure they're well-informed baby steps.

Let's get started, shall we?

Lazy Vegan