مکالمه

Vegan Conversation

Kristin: You know, we’ve been talkin’ about vegetarianism but being a vegan is a whole different story.

Joe: Yeah, you’re right, I mean it’s a totally different ball game, for sure.

Kristin: Yeah, you’ve been one for a while now.

Joe: Yeah, I have, I mean, y’know, it was a little more difficult when I first started.

But, y’know, at this point I don’t even have to think about it. It’s just second nature.

Kristin: Yeah, I can imagine. Well, you know Chris that you met just a couple of weeks ago?

Joe: Yeah, yeah, I know who you’re talking about.

Kristin: He’s, he’s the first vegan that I ever met. I actually met him, uh, right after I graduated from college. I still wasn’t even a vegetarian and he was already a vegan at that point.

Joe: Did you even, like, know what a vegan diet entailed at that point?

Kristin: Yeah, it’s hard for me to think back that far, but, probably not. I probably learned about it through him.

Joe: Yeah, because I don’t think there, it was, uh, something that was very popular… Kristin: No.

Joe: …at, at that time.

Kristin: No, it wasn’t. I will say, though, that there were, um, one, oh actually there were two vegetarian restaurants in Athens where I was going to college. And, of course, Athens being like San Francisco, a lot of the restaurants had vegetarian options. But shortly after meeting Chris, there was a vegan restaurant that actually popped up.

Joe: Oh yeah?

Kristin: Yeah, it didn’t, didn’t stay very long, but just the fact that one actually came to Athens was pretty surprising.

Joe: There wasn’t enough interest.

Kristin: I guess not.

Joe: Yeah.

Kristin: Actually, though, I didn’t even think the food was that good.

Joe: Yeah, okay, well that’s even worse ‘coz then people who actually go in there who aren’t interested in becoming a vegetarian get turned off even more to the idea.

Kristin: Yeah, that, and I think it was just kind of a little pretentious which doesn’t go over very well in a college town.

Joe: No, you’re right. Well, I mean, I remember when I first made the switch over to being a vegan. I didn’t do it, y’know, just… I didn’t go cold turkey. I mean I, I was dating someone who decided that she wanted to cut dairy out of her diet. So, ‘coz we were both vegetarians already and we ate together pretty much every night… So I found that I wasn’t really eating much dairy at all to begin with. So I thought, well, y’know, maybe now’s the time to give it a shot. Let’s see how it goes. So I decided I was gonna do it for a week or two. And, uh, after about, y’know, maybe five days, I decided I really wasn’t missing the dairy. So I made the decision to just, y’know, turn over a new leaf and decided, I’m not gonna eat dairy anymore.

Kristin: Oh, interesting.

Joe: Yeah, it went really well. Y’know, one of the things that I’ve found most interesting?

Kristin: What?

Joe: When you tell somebody that you have a vegan diet, especially if they’re not a vegetarian already, the first thing they say is, “Well, what do you eat?” Kristin: Right.

Joe: And, y’know, what I’ve realized? The reason they say that is because they look at their own diet. They remove all the meat. They remove all the dairy. And then they look at what’s left. And they see, there’s really nothing else left for them.

Kristin: Yeah.

Joe: They don’t consider what else there is to eat, they only consider what… Kristin: Yeah.

Joe: …there is to eat that they currently eat that isn’t meat or dairy.

Kristin: Right, right.

Joe: Yeah, so, but how ‘bout you? I mean you, you were in a diet, or, you weren’t doin’ the vegan diet all that long when we first met.

Kristin: No, I wasn’t. In fact, I think that, um, AJ at one point had decided that he wanted to become a vegan and so that started making me think. Hmm… Y’know, considering that, the reasons why he was and thinking about it… But, but at the same time thinking, no, I love cheese. I love dairy way too much. I mean I gave up seafood. That was enough. I’m not giving up dairy.

Joe: Yeah.

Kristin: But then actually going and living in Korea. Japan for a short time… Thailand for two and a half years… And, y’know, the, dairy is pretty non-existent in those diets. I did give it up for those times. And so when I would come back to America I would think, y’know, I could do it. I did it for the, the amount, the stints that I was there. I can do it here. But I would find myself going right back into eating cheese and drinking milk and…

Joe: Yeah, that seems to be the nemesis of anyone going vegan. Uh, because, especially if you started out as a vegetarian…vegetarians like cheese [laugh] is what I’ve found. So, uh, it’s…

Kristin: Oh my god, for me it was…

Joe: …to suddenly give it up is difficult.

Kristin: …for me it was cheese, yogurt, sour cream, aahh… Joe: Oh, y’see, I’ve never really liked sour cream.

Kristin: Oh, I loved it.

Joe: But I always did like cheese. Y’know, I loved brie and brie and baguette and brie and crackers.

Kristin: Yeah.

Joe: But, y’know, there’s, uh, there’s non-dairy cheeses out there as well that, y’know, taste pretty good. And they, they’re really a good substitute.

Kristin: Yeah. Well, I’ve been vegan now for just about a year. And, y’know, when I met you it had been about four months only at that point. And I thought I was in over my head. I mean it was really tough at first. In fact, I don’t know that I would still be doin’ it if I hadn’t met you. Simply because you opened me up to a lot of restaurants here in The Mission, where I’m now living with you, that have a lot of vegan options.

I didn’t have that available to me downtown where I used to live. Plus, um, you cook…y’know. I didn’t cook. So you’re teaching me how to cook vegan, um. I was eating mostly like… When I wasn’t eating out at restaurants, I was just making maybe rice and then having avocado and nuts and salad. And, that was my main staple, pretty much. And even when I was eating out, I would, I thought that I could go to a Mexican restaurant and just tell them no cheese and that I was safe. But come to find out, I was getting guacamole a lot of times with sour cream.

Joe: Well, y’know, suffice to say, I was really glad to meet you as well. And one reason was that it was great to finally meet someone who was on the same page as me as far as diets go.

Kristin: Yeah, I agree.