I do not think of myself as the stereotypical “vegan.” Prior to my transition into veganism in November 2009, I would have considered myself a stereotypical suburban housewife who lunched with friends eating grilled chicken caesar salads and frozen yogurts followed by shopping for designer handbags and shoes. That was until I read Jonathan Safran Foer’s “Eating Animals”, Alicia Silverstone’s “The Kind Diet” and seeing “Food, Inc.” in the span of one week. A little education went a very long way with me and that is what it took for the nickel to finally drop into the old gumball machine!!
Living on Long Island’s North Shore is not conducive to a vegan lifestyle. None of my friends or acquaintances are vegan and there is not a single restaurant that I personally know of in the area with an all-vegan kitchen. Furthermore, my two teenage sons are not vegan which makes dinnertime in my house a little bit stressful. How do I do it?
I cannot say that it’s “been a breeze.” It hasn’t been. But it has been one of the best decisions of my life and I have been lucky enough to have had the time and the resources to try numerous vegan recipes, cookbooks, restaurants, products and accessories and to figure out how to feed my non-vegan family at the same time. Staying “vegan and chic” has become sport for me and now I would like to share it all with you!!!
Debby
xoxox
I am so excited to be part of this vegan adventure with Debby! College friends, we both eventually settled with our families in the same town on Long Island. Over 10 years ago, I relocated to the West Coast with my family. Debby and I recently reconnected and, after catching up on all the news, we were thrilled to learn that we were both pursuing plant-based diets. We had each done a lot of reading and research on the many benefits of veganism and had both come to similar conclusions. Debby shared that she was so passionate about veganism, she was planning to start a website called “Vegan American Princess” to share all that she had learned with the world. I immediately thought it was a great idea.
A few days later, a package showed up at my door. Debby had sent me three books: “The China Study”, “The Kind Life” and “Food Revolution”. These books created an intellectual spark to my growing interest in veganism. As Debby was putting her website into action, I grew to believe that promoting the vegan lifestyle, and not just a “diet,” is truly an all encompassing vision.
It became apparent to both of us that veganism is more prevalent in Los Angeles than it is on Long Island. There are more veg-friendly restaurants and the people in my life seem to be more open-minded and truly interested in it. My family has been happily leaning into veganism with me and eats all of my vegan-cooking successes, failures and experiments. Unlike Debby, I actually know other vegans! Debby realized that my West Coast perspective would add an interesting dimension to “Vegan American Princess,” so when she asked me to blog with her I was thrilled!
I am excited to join Debby and put our ideas, thoughts, reviews, recipes and anything vegan-related out there in the universe to promote a plant-based lifestyle to everyone! We both believe that veganism can be the key not only to one’s health and happiness, but to many of the world’s problems. We hope you will share our passion, our vision and our prayers for the future.
Ellen
xoxo
