I’m coining a new term to describe my attitude towards vegetarianism and veganism: convenience vegan.
I agree that eating a vegan diet, rich in whole foods is one of the best and most sensible things you can do for your health. I started my journey towards being a vegan when my wife became vegan 4 or 5 years ago. Since she was eating vegan, I was pretty much going to have to start eating vegan, at least for home-cooked meals.
Once we started cooking vegan, it became apparent that it wasn’t as boring or burdensome as one might expect, especially when there are such great transition products as Gardein.
Going completely vegan has always been hard for me though if for no other reason than that as a result of my job, I am often in some fairly remote places where it is not easy to come by a vegan meal, so in such situations I’ll “allow” myself to have a vegetarian meal because there’s no other sensible alternative. I’m not opposed to this because, whereas my wife and children are “ethical vegans”, I am more of a “dietary vegan” and so giving me the leeway to have a 99% vegan diet is still a huge win for me, for the animals and for the environment.
And this is what a “convenience vegan” means to me. Where it’s possible and not overly burdensome to do so, I will eat vegan. Where getting a vegan meal either means driving 20 miles to the nearest Taco Bell for a plain bean burrito or finding the nearest field and grazing, I will give myself a break and go for the much-more-available vegetarian option.
