After having been away on vacation for a week and having been sick with an esophogus rupture (long weird story) the week before I know I have been a little MIA from this page (although I have been super active on twitter so take a looksy especially if you are going to Orlando anytime soon). I apologize. I haven’t really been cooking anything new, so I figured I would tell you about how things have changed since I went vegan.

Sunday I went to brunch. The same restaurant I go to brunch with my family for various “events” or special occasions and sometimes just because. Abe & Louie’s is a upper class steak house on Boston’s Boylston Street just blocks from the Marathon Finish Line and across the street from Gucci and the Prudential Center. It is a lovely restuarant however it mainly produces meat and seafood which clearly may be an issue for us vegans. So each time I chat the waiter up and I get veggies and potatoes  sauteed in olive oil with some salt and pepper and I am good. This time however they said they now have a dedicated “secret veggie platter’ just for folks like me. I was so suprised as to how things are changing for us vegans out there. Maybe I am still on the “secret” menu but at least I have a menu now. The only obstacle for me is that going to these events can sometimes be trying and depressing. I am a vegan and I am starting to love being vegan however, I was not a vegan convert by choice and despite all logic and reason, I do still crave omnivore menu items. The dessert is when I started to feel like I wanted to cry. It is not that I want to eat the cows milk cheesecake or the butter laden cookie, its just that I want to eat something other than the fresh berries. I want to be able to have an indulgence option too. And it sucks that I don’t. So for all my “vegans” that converted for health reasons or by allergy or force. I am right next to you frowning at food options and dinners out. The moment that I knew I had to stop moping was when my husband realized I was getting upset. He asked what was wrong and I told him and he said well then after this we will go to “True Bistro” in Somerville and get you dessert. It was nice and kind and I love him for that moment. However, I wasn’t going to do it because I knew I didn’t need the calories but it didn’t substitute for the moment being lost. The moment when everyone is enjoying their dessert chatting and grinning about how decadent and creamy their dish is and I am sitting with a cup of black decaf coffee.

So is it hard to be a vegan? yes. It’s less difficult to shop and cook than it is to deal with the emotional backlash sometimes. My brother and sister-in-law are judgemental of my veganism and everyone else now works around it. I just wish sometimes I could say that just because there are vegan “options” on a menu doesn’t mean I want them. Just like their are omnivore and carnivore options on a menu but that doesn’t mean you like them.  What is a girl to do? Say no I am not attending? Or eat her roasted brussel sprouts and deal with it? I ate my veggie and I participated and I felt horrible for feeling disappointed but I was. Plus they forgot my potatoes this time.

How do you feel about going out to omni-centered parties and dinners?

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Inspirational Boston Based Quote of the Day:

“If you step back and look at the data, the optimum amount of red meat you eat should be zero.”

— WALTER WILLETT, M.D., of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, director of a study that found a close correlation between red meat consumption and colon cancer.

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XOXOX,

The Hippie Gypsy