There was a ton of food at the vegan meetup - the food was delicious (pakora and lentils were my fave) and almost everyone at the table had seconds (why did I snack beforehand?!), but most nourishing of all was the FOOD FOR THOUGHT!!!
I've been processing the experience over the past few days, and here are some things I didn't fully realize before the event. I guess I had sort of heard about these things in the past, but our enlightening conversation made the following points very clear to me:
1) Vegans amongst us! I don't know what I was expecting - maybe a restaurant full of 20-something pale emaciated hippies/hipsters wearing shirts that say "I'm VEGAN." I came in the restaurant and saw there was a big communal table set up with some people seated already, and I was really unsure if that was the vegan group because they all looked really, really normal. Like a sample of people you see on the subway during rush hour- just regular folk from all walks of life getting on with their lives. I thought vegans were these rare diamonds in the rough, but the truth is there are probably more vegans out there than I realize because you can't wear a t-shirt that says "I'm VEGAN" every day. Of the people at the meetup, I would never have guessed that any of them were vegan just by looking at them. I guess it's like when you discover someone you've known for a while and assumed is American is actually Canadian, or on the show Battlestar Galactica (above) who is a cylon!. Which brings me to....
2) Vegans are diverse! The group definitely was very diverse across age, race, gender, religion, profession, body type, local, visitor... as mentioned before, the kind of diversity that you see when you ride the subway in NYC (which is a big part of why I love living in NYC). I guess the answer to the question, "What does a vegan look like?" is "Anyone who wants to be a vegan!" Because all these people from different backgrounds all have come to the same conclusion - Vegan is the way to go. That's very heartwarming that being vegan is something universal that can bring folks together!
3) Diversity among Vegans - I'm talking about why these people chose to be vegan, when they decided to change their lives, and how and what they eat. I guess the only thing they have in common is what they don't eat (animal products).
Why (some people do it for multiple reasons, some people did it for a single reasons and just get added benefits):
- Health Vegans
- Animal lover Vegans
- Eco Vegans
- Longtime
- New
- Future (Wannabegans!)
What vegans actually eat:
- Vegan junk food (often the animal lover vegans)
- Organic/raw/high carb fresh fruits and vegetables (often the health vegans)
- Fancy vegan versions of animal dishes
- Normal stuff, just minus the animal products
How
- Strict vegans / Vegetarian mostly vegans
- Raised vegan or in vegan community / Stand-alone vegans (first vegan in family/community)
- Activist vegans / quiet vegans
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