Why Vegan?

When I first became a vegan (a person who refrains from consuming any animal products, including dairy and eggs) eleven years ago, I found it really hard to cook for myself. I missed cheese like you wouldn’t believe and not being able to eat egg salad sandwiches was a real game changer for my lunch breaks. The few vegan cookbooks I could find called for ingredients I’d never heard of and when I was finally able to track some of them down, I couldn’t afford them. I did feel amazingly good, but I struggled to find easy vegan meals to feed my growing family. My, how things have changed since then!

My kids are now 10, 8 and 6. Vegan cookbooks and recipe blogs abound. Restaurants and grocery stores are catering more and more to plant-based lifestyles. “Vegan” is becoming a household name. And I’m intent on feeding my kids the healthiest and yummiest food to be found in our delicious world. As I read about food, watch documentaries about food and engage in the “Food Revolution” discussions going on all around us, I am convinced more than ever before that a vegan diet free of all animal products is the healthiest choice for our bodies and for our planet. I also think it’s the most delicious kind of food out there. The fact that it’s a lifestyle compassionate toward animals is the butter-free icing on the vegan cake.

I love to cook and I love to watch other people enjoy my food. Some of the recipes you’ll find on here have been borrowed and adapted from others, and some are completely my own. I’m no chef but my husband and kids think I am so that’s pretty cool. I hope that some of the ideas you’ll find on this blog will inspire you to try cooking and eating vegan, even if it’s only for one meal a week! I always try to make my food easy to prepare and easy to serve… to kids and adults alike.

Thanks for visiting One Happy Table. May yours be happy as well.

–Lauren