im 20 and been vegan since 12 lol. my parents were not at all supportive

started when i was subscribed to pewdiepie and he made a video reacting to/making fun of a vegan lady criticizing him for eating meat. pretty much everyone was attacking her but her arguments actually made me reflect and check out her channel

Veganism is so much damn easier than your average omni realizes. It requires a step out of that major comfort zone of carnism that most of us end up growing an attachment to from an early age, and that's what psychologically makes it sound insanely restrictive and challenging.

I realized that once my sense of ethics began overriding that attachment to carnism, I actually find it, in some sense, more difficult to be a carnist, not less. Veganism is very second nature to me, and I do not see animal flesh and secretions as food anymore. I do not see animal skin, fur, and wool as clothes anymore. I don't see horses as animals to ride or elephants as astounding entertainers either.

To clarify, this isn't me saying that things like meat "taste bad" (because for some reason, people think being vegan comes with the notion that you believe animal-derived foods don't taste good). However, it really is me saying that the source of said good taste puts me off of it immediately.

Some of the people I grew up knowing but have not talked to in ages, including my late mother who passed before I even went vegan, would be baffled to know that I now have such a strong commitment to veganism because, beforehand, all of my favorite foods consisted of some kind of animal product. Even without fancy mock meats and dairy alternatives, which I won't deny that I enjoy, I'd take being vegan over being a carnist any day of the week. Eating a plate of beanis, potatoes, and broccoli brings me more peace, comfort, and satisfaction than that plate swapped with fried pork instead of beans and the potatoes and broccoli smothered in cheese, and that was a very common kind of meal for pre-vegan me to eat with a smile on my face.

They sell vegan banh mi. We have options.

Yeah I really have no patience or respect for "but it's haaaaaard " for two reasons. First off, not being vegan is simply morally unacceptable, idgaf how hard it is. I don't care if your options are eat animals or hike 20 miles up a mountain in a blizzard to get the world's last bean. When there's an option, murder is obviously the incorrect choice

Secondly, it just fucking isn't hard.

It's probably slightly harder if you don't know how to cook at all.

Still not that hard, and vegan food is much faster to make than carnist food anyway.

I also went vegetarian -> vegan in my teens in suburbia, been vegan for most of my life at this point. I don't understand when people I organize who seem like they should get it, don't.

It makes it really hard for me to take them seriously, and more often than not I find that their cooking skills suck too

Meat and cheese are literally the most expensive food products out there.

People will literally go out with their limited food budgets and say "okay I need food, I'm gonna buy 4 packs of chicken wings and 3 packs of pork steaks"

Total lack of imagination.

I consider myself an easy mode vegan because I was raised vegetarian and my mother was always experimenting with dairy and egg replacements growing up.

People tell me "A lentil burger? My kids would never eat that!" They would have if they grew up with them. What do you think kids eat in India? Hella lentils.

Now we have this "just egg" and miyoko butter that's actually getting affordable and it's literally indistinguishable? Like what?

I do wish my grocery would stock non sweet plant milks though. Even when they say they aren't sweet they usually are. The shelf stable silk soy and homemade oat and hemp milks are the only things I've found that you can make a savoury dish with.

Without subsidies on animal ag these would even be cheaper in comparison.

Nooo doubt! I'm 24 years vegan this month, and there are way more options in grocery stores and restaurants than there used to be. As a result, I am more frustrated than ever when I'm in a place with few or no vegan options (certain airports, for example).

100% true. It was incredibly easy to give up meat and 99.9% of animal products but I'm sadly still a liberal (vegetarian). I've found dairy to be such a culinary crutch and have had a hard time giving it up, even though I greatly reduced my intake of it for both ethical and health reasons.

In the end I guess since I was able to just drop most animal products with no issue and switch my diet over, I can do the rest too. Hell, I'll commit to it now that I'm thinking on the subject, there's no real reason why I shouldn't

(Aside if any cool vegans here can hook me up with a good like seitan salami recipe or brand I'd be so fuckin thankful because that flavor is basically the only meat product I've had any sense of craving for since I gave it up years ago.)