After becoming Vegan earlier this year, VICE journalist and former Vegetarian, Hannah Ewens has grown tired of the army of “trendsetters” who’ve suffered a sudden desire to eat plants. And only plants. Frustrated that the true moral underpinnings of the vegan movement are being undermined by a generation of faddy eaters, Hannah wrote this: Clean Eating Is Giving Veganism a Bad Name.
NOT PLANT BASED asked her what it actually means to be a vegan, for a REAL vegan.
“After becoming vegetarian for ethical reasons I was always leaning towards becoming vegan. If you are vehemently against the mistreatment of animals and the fact that the meat industry contributes to the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation and food waste then you’ll quickly learn that the dairy industry is as bad, if not worse. It was just a process of educating myself until I couldn’t turn a blind eye anymore. I watched Cowspiracy and Earthlings and all those vegan documentaries and realised that for me personally, it was the right decision. At the same time as I was getting heavily into this, I was suggested a diet by a specialist I see at the hospital for a chronic illness which basically advised mostly avoiding eggs and dairy. That was the final push I needed.
My nan gets so upset when I explain it to her, I almost wish I’d not told her again and had the stomach to gob down a milky tea. I never ate a lot of meat growing up as my mum was vegetarian so she’d not cook it much. When I went to uni, I went vegetarian as I mainly only liked chicken and couldn’t really afford chicken that’d had a decent run, which led me to think about farming practices and alternatives.
“If you are vehemently against the mistreatment of animals and the fact that the meat industry contributes to the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation and food waste then you’ll quickly learn that the dairy industry is as bad, if not worse.”
Many turn to veganism for similar reasons to me – once you go veggie it’s the next logical step. Some probably go vegan because it’s a trend at the moment. However, there’s no doubt in my mind that some people definitely go vegan to lose weight or because they have a history of disordered eating. (Hello, clean eating.)
It’s unlikely you’ll lack protein on a vegan diet if you’re a lazy arse. But I started running a few months ago and had to start consciously thinking about it. I eat tofu, meat substitutes, chickpeas, beans and nuts mostly. If I’m cooking rice at home, I’ll try and have brown rice. Admittedly, I still need to up this. To be honest, I’m usually busy and grab whatever I can at lunch, which ends up being as good for my body as a kick to the stomach.
“Last supper? Eating myself into a carb stupor so I’d be rushing with endorphins before I kicked it…”
If I have time to cook (i.e. not buying shit food out while I’m working) I’ll have a big cappuccino with plant milk and peanut butter toast for breakfast; then fruit and brown rice or pasta with veg and meat substitute for lunch. Dinner is usually curry with tofu or chickpeas, or some kind of Asian food with noodles. I eat a lot more in the night when I get home from work. Most days I’ll eat chocolate, ice cream or something – because I’m an adult and do what I want.
I’ve put on half a stone to a stone since I went vegan. Unless you’re “clean eating” or following a strict vegan diet, you’re probably going to be eating a lot more carbs. I probably eat more junk food and for the first time in my life, I just eat what I want and however much I want without worrying about weight, etc. It’s definitely a misconception that going vegan means weight loss.
My last supper would consist of eating myself into a carb stupor so I’d at least be rushing with endorphins before I kicked it. I’d get drunk and have sushi, pasta, the Pad Thai from Home in Boxpark, Shoreditch, pancakes and chocolate ice cream with Oreos. I’d actually get everywhere I love eating in London to send me final samples to see me off. It’s the least they can do, really.
In an ideal world, veganism would be cool right now purely because of the benefits to the planet and other species. Somewhere along the line in the past couple of years, veganism and clean eating have become conflated, although they couldn’t be any different. Clean eaters cut out all kinds of foods – gluten and wheat, for example. However, because clean eating is often vegan, they can use the term. Vegans might eat some things you can find in a clean eating cookbook, but I can promise you a lot of the time their diet will just look like mine: a lot of gluteny pizza and sugary ice cream.
“Veganism and clean eating have become conflated…”
I hate “clean eating”. To me it reeks of classism with its expensive ingredients. The language surrounding it is no different to that of a hardcore, restrictive, weight-loss diet. I worry about “wellness” a lot and while I would never talk down other women for their dietary choices, I think the privileged women at the top with their cookbooks and TV programmes, the ones who have worked with publishers and media to make “clean eating” a big business that supports an unhealthy obsession with eating and restricting have a lot to answer for. These aren’t just my views – people like Ruby Tandoh have said it better.
A couple of times I’ve broken vegan by accident. I’ve been out and someone has told me something is vegan and it’s turned out not to be. Once, I went to see family friends we hardly ever, ever see with my mum as there was a new baby in the family. In the car the friend said she’d made a homemade quiche. My mum gave me absolute daggers and I knew if I said anything she would die of embarrassment and I’d be finished by her hands once we left. I ate the tiniest corner to be polite and mushed around it and said it was delicious. That kind of stuff just happens from time to time. I once had a bit of chocolate to see if my taste buds had changed – they had, it tasted weird and not very nice at all. Vegans reading this would probably say I’m not vegan because of this, but it doesn’t fuss me. All you can do is your best.”
