Holiday dinners as a vegan - past & present

in #health5 years ago

ul775ptwzj.jpg

For the 4 years that I’ve been vegan, I have always dreaded attending family dinners (or group dinners in general) - especially holiday themed ones. I’d always be asked the same questions like: What do you eat? Where do you get your protein? Don’t you miss the taste of meat? etc. It seemed like the questions wouldn’t end until I left the house.

I’d hear the same jokes and be made fun of year after year. I would be treated like the weird one… for not eating animal flesh or their by-products. I always wondered why I couldn’t just blend in, to eat my food like everyone else, and enjoy conversation that’s not based on what I’m eating.

The type of food at my family dinners were all animal product based. There usually wasn’t even a side dish of vegetables that did not contain butter. The first couple of years I would request my grandma to omit animal products from vegetable dishes, but she never really wanted to “sacrifice the taste of the meal” for the rest of the family. This is when I started to bring my own food to family gatherings - and I brought enough to share with them. This was to ensure that I had something to eat that didn’t have animal products in it, and to show them that plant based / vegan foods can be very tasty as well. Once I started doing this, I heard a lot less criticism from my family, and they were able to start understanding what I was saying when explaining the reasons for eating and living this way. My grandmas & cooks of the family were initially offended that I didn’t want to eat what they prepared, but they started to understand my reasoning after a couple years of being vegan.

I’m not really the activist type of vegan. I don’t really mention it to people unless I’m asked questions about it. I now enjoy answering questions about veganism when people ask because I’m much more educated on the topic now; and feel comfortable/confident in educating other people. I made it clear to them that I do not appreciate being berated with questions at the dinner table - and will politely ask to talk about it after the meal. I just want to eat in peace.

Unfortunately, I’m the only vegan / plant based person in my family. One aspect of family dinners that still bothers me to this day is knowing that many of my family members are chronically sick with many issues - and still eat ‘foods’ in abundance that contribute to their illnesses. It is very sad for me to watch and experience, especially when I have the knowledge of how to heal the body naturally.

I made the choice to move away for the winter with my partner to Terra Frutis - a fruit based permaculture farm/community in Southern Ecuador. The community is a strictly vegan food only community; so this Christmas dinner was quite the opposite of what I’ve experienced in the past. Back home in Minnesota (USA) the temperatures can drop down to -40 degrees fahrenheit in the winter season, with up to 12+ inches of snow on the ground. While here in Ecuador, the daily average temp is around 80-85 degrees fahrenheit with mostly sunny days and some rain at night time. I have a beautiful view of the mountains/rainforest from the kitchen and, one of the best parts: the people here completely understand and support my choice of being vegan.

r26owtamic.jpg

Every dish at our Christmas potluck was made only with whole plant-based vegan foods: Fruits, vegetables, nuts/seeds, legumes, or grains. To some people this type of eating may sound limiting or boring - but with at least 50,000 different types of edible plants to eat, one of my favorite pastimes is to create plant based meals & treats with new flavors in the kitchen.
Some of the foods at our potluck included: Fruit salad (papaya, banana, passionfruit, jackfruit), the best mangoes I’ve ever had (pictured), zucchini noodles w/ spicy hemp seed dressing, garlic tahini sauce, tomato/mango dressing, Chanta (palm fruit), steamed sweet potato, cabbage, beets, carrots, Salad made with greens/herbs from the land, & Aguaje (peach palm fruit, pictured).

uwp154368s.jpg

2vb4tqmtnx.jpg

In conclusion - I’m very grateful for this new experience on Christmas. If you’re having a hard time at family dinners as a new vegan/eating more plant based, just know you are not alone and that it will get better over time. There are many fantastic resources & documentaries for educating and helping people transition to a vegan diet on the internet if you come across someone that is interested. A favorite of mine that comes to mind is ForksOverKnives.

I highly recommend bringing at least one vegan dish to share with the whole family. Our cultures are largely centered around food, and many families use it as a way of connecting. Doing so could also ‘plant a seed’ - inspiring family/friends to try more vegan / plant based foods. So I find it very important to share tasty, creative vegan foods with my family & friends whenever possible - especially during the holiday season dinners!

I hope you have a beautiful New Year :)

Sort:  

You have been 🙏 curated by @njord

Let it be. No judgement. That's the first place to start. The more resistance you create by trying to "teach" someone, the more it persists. Just bring a great vegan dish along, eat nothing else with no apology and no need to say anything. IMHO.

Here in Thailand if you turn up ANYwhere wearing only simple pure white clothing, you will only be served vegetarian-vegan food, the premise being that you are making merit. Never questioned by anyone and the gesture applauded. I think most of it is cultural, rather than your personal family.

Enjoy the moments. Focus on what's great and you will get more of that.

Happy & Healthy New Year to you!


Leading the curation trail for both @ecotrain & @eco-alex.
Together We’re Making This World A Better Place.

Click Here To Join the manually curated trail "@artemislives" to support quality eco-green content.

ecoTrain

That sounds like a fantastic holiday menu! What a lovely way to spend the season. I totally agree that each year gets better and better. I still bring a number of dishes, but both mine and my boyfriend's family makes a good amount of vegan dishes to share, as well. I think his mom is more afraid of me not eating enough, so she especially makes sure I have plenty so I'm not "too skinny". Enjoy the rest of your stay in that beautiful place!

That's good to hear that your family prepares a good amount of food for you and that it gets better for you guys as well! Do you/your family have some favorite dishes that you bring?

My grandmas had the same worry - that I wasn't getting enough food. But after eating this way for 4 years, they realized that I'm even happier and healthier than before I went vegan :)

It's kind of funny that as a vegan I feel like I'm always wanting to try something different, whereas before we always made and ate the same things. Now I often make a new variation each year, though I pretty much always bring some kind of kale salad to make sure there's something green on the table. Other than that it's pretty much free reign what I want to make! :)

Congratulations @solsticefoods! You have completed the following achievement on the Steem blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :

You received more than 10 as payout for your posts. Your next target is to reach a total payout of 50

You can view your badges on your Steem Board and compare to others on the Steem Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word STOP

Vote for @Steemitboard as a witness to get one more award and increased upvotes!

I do know what that is like, but I tend to just laugh when they ask me questions around protein and health, I just say, Do I Look sick to you?
Love everything that you have included in your potluck xx


This post was shared in the Curation Collective Discord community for curators, and upvoted and resteemed by the @c-squared community account.
If you are a community leader and/or contest organizer, please join the Discord and let us know you if you would like to promote the posting of your community or contest.
@c-squared runs a community witness. Please consider using one of your witness votes on us here

I really enjoyed reading this! And sounds like you had a fantastic holiday! =)