Floydflyte99's profile

More About Me

Reasons why I prefer to eat vegetarian or vegan:

After over 20 years as a vegetarian, I decided that the only intelligent way to eat in respect of the planet and other species would be to go vegan: that was ten years ago. I have never regretted it, and have found no real temptation to revert to vegetarian, although on occasions it is impossible to keep a fully vegan approach, but I do my best. I think vegan cuisine is more satisfying and better for my body, and with my partner sharing my commitment it is possible to eat vegan nearly all the time.

I joined HappyCow Members Community because:

The main reason is to have some moral support in helping us to keep to the vegan lifestyle, at least for eating. As we live in rural France, this is a daily challenge, although neighbours now accept without ridicule, and it is getting easier to find vegan-friendly restaurants, even in France. Other reasons are to feel part of a global vegan movement, and be able to share some of the struggle.

Here are some places I've been that I liked... and places that I would like to visit one day:

There are sanctuaries for vegetarian and vegan adherents all over, even in France. One of the places I most remember is the Kagye Samye Ling Buddhist community in Scotland at Eskdalemuir near Dumfries, which inspired me to try to be Buddhist (I did not succeed). I have been intrigued by the idea of visiting the Jain temple at Ranakpur, but have limited my ambition to going to the Jain temple at Antwerp so far.

Some of my favorite veg*n foods include:

Where does one start? vegetarian and vegan food combinations are almost limitless and unless one has an allergy (I cannot eat either mycoproteins nor most wild mushrooms) it is a cornucopia that excludes ever needing to think of "flesh". I think the classic Indian veggie Thali (copious portions of a variety of delicious pakoras, samosas, dhal, bhajis, with exotic chutneys, the wonderful Naan bread, and excellent salads of raw lettuce, shoots, spinach and seeds. The classic Lassi (dairy yogurt) we replace with Soy yogurt to aim at a vegan version, and prefer to do this at home to avoid the risk of food cooked in vessels used for meaty dishes.

Here are some books, movies, magazines, and my favorites that I would recommend to other HappyCow members:

The movie which got my wife and I confirmed as a vegetarians (and sowed the seed for going vegan) was The Animals Film in 1981 (I think there's still an IMDB entry for it) which was the first time we confronted the whole range of animal issues head on and knew it would change our lifestyle. Before that the old classic Soylent Green (1973) was what first turned us into vegetarians (nothing like a scenario of humans eating recycled humans to make you think veggie). Books: 1. Peter Singer's Animal Liberation (1975); 2. Mark Gold's Living without cruelty (1988); 3. Colin Spencer's Heretic's Feast (1992); 4. Peter Cox's Why you don't need meat (1992); 5.Victoria Moran's Compassion, the Ultimate Ethic (1985). There are a few I've read in French, German and Swedish but no translations found. Magazines (I wish they survived!) and plenty websites