No meat, No Dairy, No Eggs, No Fun?

Vegans, the most dedicated, and often most outspoken of the meatless movement. As far as I could tell these people lived, ate, slept and breathed health and animal rights, sacrificing some of life’s most guilty dietary pleasures such as pizza, ice-cream and milk chocolate. Their sacrifice and commitment in the face of the common and easy dietary lifestyle really intrigued me.

Having done my research over this past month and realizing the damning correlations between our intake of meat and dairy and our deterioration of health and increase in disease has made me realize why someone would take such drastic steps to change their diet, but what I didn’t understand was how they stayed so dedicated to their moral decision. I couldn’t imagine how difficult it would be to constantly be surrounded by delicious and easy meals/snacks and have to turn a blind eye. I imagined being a vegan to be much like being a monk that had sworn a vow of celibacy but who also (for some reason) had to work as a boom mic operator in the porn industry.., just not an easy commitment to keep.

I decided I needed to investigate this subculture of veggie lovers to see how they lived, what they ate and how difficult it was for them to make the switch to such a constrictive diet. Since I was going into the last week of my vegetarian challenge anyways I thought perhaps the best way to really understand vegans was to push myself just a bit further and become one myself. I committed right then to swear off eggs and dairy for the remainder of my month and I started work on exploring the truth behind this less travelled lifestyle.

Hunting For Vegans

I went looking for vegans in my local community not really knowing where to find them; after all it’s not like they all wear signs that shout “I’m a vegan!” To my surprise it turned out that there was actually a new vegan restaurant (the first of it’s kind in Kelowna) that had recently opened, called the Naked Cafe. I was intrigued by the name if nothing else, I wasn’t really sure what to expect but it once again made me think of my poor tortured monk. I reached out to the manager and co-owner Olivia and explained my ‘vegan experiment.’ She was very excited to hear that I was giving veganism a trial run and was happy to sit down for an interview.

Revealing Conversations At The Naked Cafe

I walked into the Naked Cafe and was surprised to find that aesthetically it was fairly similar to most mainstream meat restaurants. It did have a bit of a bohemian feel but overall it still felt pretty normal. I walked up to the back counter where the menu board hung over the bar and reviewed their specials. “BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwich?” “Fish & Chips?” Bakon Cheeseburger?” “What the heck?! Isn’t this place supposed to be vegan?” I thought to myself.

I ordered the Fish & Chips and sat down with many questions running through my mind. Very quickly my order was delivered to my table and I was left looking at my plate confounded that my meal was somehow ‘vegan.’ I tired the fish and again was surprised that it actually tasted like fish! It even came with a delicious tasting tar-tar sauce for dipping…Now I was really thinking something had to be up and that I was either in the wrong restaurant or this food wasn’t what it advertised itself to be.

When Olivia finally got a free moment to come join me I was more than a little perplexed. She explained that this feeling was fairly common. “What you’re eating is 100% vegan but we do our best to make it so close to the meat equivalent that you can’t tell the difference. It’s actually becoming kind of a problem as many people will come in looking for the “vegan restaurant” and find pulled pork burgers on the menu and then turn around and leave, even though everything on the menu is actually vegan. Or we’ll have the opposite happen where someone will come in, order a meal and then leave not even knowing what they ate was vegan. They’ll come in days later super confused as they’ve obviously discovered we’re a vegan only cafe.”

I was pretty impressed, this was the first time I had tired a healthy meat substitute meal and it was actually pretty delicious; I had just assumed the two were mutually exclusive.

A Local Meatless Movement

The other thing that impressed me about the cafe was how busy they were. It was mid day and they still has a steady steam of customers lined up at the bar. I asked Olivia about this and she told me she had been delightfully surprised by this as well. “We only started this business a year and three months ago and we’re already looking into opening up a second location” she told me. “When we first opened we started out a little slow and we were budgeting to barely make it through the first winter. But once the word got out and we started getting on social media we connected with this entire community of vegan’s and healthy eaters. We did more business in the winter than we did our first summer and we’ve just continued to get busier as time goes on. It’s really exciting!”

I couldn’t believe that they were doing so much business in such a short time. From what I understood of the restaurant industry, this was almost unheard of. Olivia expressed that she felt quite fortunate to be in as good of a position as they were. “I feel like we’ve tapped into a community of people in the Okanagan that were wanting to try more healthy and socially friendly foods but didn’t have any options to explore. We get everyone from young people, to business professionals, to even seniors coming in on a regular bases. It’s very refreshing” she told me.

“The business is not without its drawbacks though. Being the first vegan only restaurant in town has made sourcing our ingredients extremely difficult. The Fish and Chips you are eating for instance we have to have brought in specially from Vancouver and our Wings we are still buying from the store. It’s definitely gotten easier as time has gone on but it makes it tougher to compete against other restaurants that can get food products at a fraction of the cost. We’ve had to be really careful to still offer our meals at reasonable prices.”

Olivia told me that she started the business with her two sisters Tegan and Tessa, because they all felt that they were tired of working in an industry that they knew was promoting unhealthy and unethical lifestyles. She felt like being a vegan herself meant that she had to try to do something that was different than what was currently being offered by the mainstream restaurant industry so they started Naked Cafe and have been overwhelmed with the positive response they had gotten from the community.

Since the restaurant opened even the girls parents had gotten on board with the vegan lifestyle and had all seen positive changes in their weight, health and energy after making the switch.

This all seemed so interesting to me. Not only had I discovered an entire community of vegans within my city but Naked Cafe had demonstrated that being a vegan didn’t mean you had to eat bland boring food all the time. And if given the choice between two meals that both tasted good but one that you knew to be harmful to animals, the planet and your body, wouldn’t most people opt for the plant based version? Olivia and the Naked Cafe were certainly betting you would. She even told me that all of their food was all natural with no strange chemicals or preservatives in it, which makes it pretty hard for meat to beat.

Leaving our conversation I felt a new sense of optimism about being a vegan for the remainder of my challenge. I went out to Choices Market (recommended to me by my vegan friend Nick who I had chatted with earlier in the month) to see what kind of delicious vegan alternatives I could find for myself. What I found was far more than I bargained for.

Searching For Alternative Options

Upon entering the store I tracked down the first nice looking lady I could find since I was pretty lost when it came to knowing the good meat supplements from the bad. Fortuitously she was actually a vegan herself and when I told her about my challenge she was more than excited to show me some delicious vegan meal options.

Below is a list of what I bought. It wasn’t cheap (I spent close to $300) but so far it’s all been very scrumptious.

Ramen
Black Bean Noodles
Almond Milk
Coconut Butter
Coconut Ice-Cream
Almond Milk Yogurt
Dairy Free Pizza
Veggie Chicken Wings
Veggie Pork Bites
Veggie Burgers
Veggie Fish Sticks

I’ve been pretty impressed with all of the options to stay on a meatless, dairy and egg free diet. Whether it’s Almond Milk (which by the way tastes better than regular milk and seems to have more calcium), vegan butter, vegan ice-cream or even vegan pizza, it seems this diet isn’t a constrictive as I once imagined. Like anything if you plan ahead and be creative you can actually get some pretty great results.

Less Is More – Vegan Life Lessons

The thing I will take away from this experience is not just a new perspective on vegans and the life they lead but also a more open mind when it comes to trying new things. Being a vegan has surprised me and made me realize I should step outside of my comfort zone more often. It’s allowed me to find new and interesting foods that I most certainly would never have tried otherwise.

I’ve often said that this journey has helped me to not prejudge things before I try them; looking back now I think that’s only half the battle. Sure you shouldn’t prejudge things, but to truly appreciate them you need to really give them a try. This is how I hope to approach life from now on; with open eyes and a willingness to explore.