RE: How I went from being a hardcore meat eater to a passionate vegan
Thanks for commenting @svoboda :) You bring up an excellent point. I went through something similar earlier this year. A couple of months after my boyfriend and I moved into our new place here in southern Chile, I had baked a vegan apple cake for a neighbor of ours as a token of respect, and about a week later she baked us a Chilean style pastry which did contain some dairy in it. Of course, she was unaware that we're both vegan because I hadn't brought it up yet up to that point. It felt wrong to me to reject her thoughtful gift (or worse yet, throw it in the trash) so we did eat it out of respect to her, however, I did bring up the fact that we're vegans in casual conversation about a week or so after that event which she was receptive to.
Social situations are always tricky but nowadays I make it a point to let the host know ahead of time about our dietary needs or at the very least, bring something that we can eat ourselves and share with the guests (or just eat before heading to a social function). This usually prevents awkward and uncomfortable situations from occurring.
Actually, no, I haven't read that book but I've heard about it many times! I'll be sure to add it to my reading list. Thanks for the suggestion! :)
Oh wow you live in Chile! So cool, where so? My boyfriend spend an exchange year in Santiago and he is a vegetarian too. He had some of the same problems you mentioned. Chileans love their meat :P Do you always cook for yourself or have you found some good places to eat in Chile?
We live in Valdivia which is about 740 km south of Santiago. I just moved here from the US last December and I love it down here! It's very green & lush, and a lot less hectic than Santiago.
That's really cool that your boyfriend lived here for a while! Hahaha, I know! Chileans are nuts about their meat & dairy! It's especially hard to find basic things like bread that don't contain dairy in it (which is really frustrating). We have one little vegan shop in town, though, and plenty of farmer's markets that sell cheap produce so that's a huge benefit.
Most of the restaurants here are notoriously bad in quality and service (and very few have vegan options available) so I tend to cook most of our meals at home. In fact, one of my goals is to open a solar vegan restaurant in the future and I'm currently enrolled in a plant-based cooking course to get certified so I rather enjoy making yummy things with plants! :)
Yeah I heard that the gastronomy level is not too high, but that means there is still place for improvement. Since my boyfriend enjoyed his time in Chile so much we are thinking about moving there once I finished my studies here.
That's exactly how I'm choosing to look at it... as an opportunity for improvement. That's one of my goals.
Wonderful! You're studying Hotel Management and Hospitality, is that right? Feel free to hit me up if you ever decide to visit southern Chile down the road.