The past week has been interesting, while I have counted to not eat meat over the past week my dairy intake has been up and this is because I am moving out of the accommodation I am currently staying is and I had to eat a lot of pasta to get rid of the food. I was just curious does anybody know where to get vegan pasta or if that is even a thing. This weekend I have been celebrating my granny’s 70th birthday and we went for dinner in a place called Barbecue Cowboys. I have had food there before and it is very nice but when I was looking at the menu this weekend I realised they have no vegan option on the menu which I found very strange but it just goes to show that before this challenge I would have never seen this as an issue because it didn’t effect me. However they did have a vegetarian option which was nice and these were called loaded fries. They had smoked beans and coleslaw on them. I knew the manager very well as he used to be neighbour so I asked him why he doesn’t have any vegan options and he said to me that there is no demand for it. He also said that they have to keep to a certain amount of food as produce often goes off and they have to throw it out. To be honest I understood where he was coming from but I mean he still could have at least one vegan option.  

I have had an enjoyable last couple of days. I have been sticking to my challenge and have enjoyed some lovely vegan meals. This week I had a conversation with my grandad about my challenge and she was kinda baffled by my challenge she didn’t really understand why I would do such a thing, but it made me think about how culture and places you grow up in can influence your perception on things. I tried to explain it to him but he just said that it doesn’t affect him, now he did say it in a joking manner but I was still baffled by it. Often parents or grandparents can be role models for kids and more often kids opinions can be based of things they have heard. The biggest thing about sustainability in my opinion we need to make people more educated about it but not just the younger generation everybody should be. The problems we face can only be solved if everyone knows how to help we can just wait for the problem to effect us we have to work together.

The recipe for this is simple 

1. Get a tin of chickpeas and strain the oil out of the tin

2. Wisk the oil from the chickpeas until it is white and holds its shape

3. Add vanilla extract 1 teaspoon and 100g of sugar

4. Bake at 250 for 45 mins but leave in the oven for another hour

5. Break up the meringue and mix in a 150g of coconut yoghurt or however much you want

6. Finally cut up some strawberries and drizzle some honey over the top

I am now halfway through this challenge and I have to say that I am enjoying it very much. I have to say this challenge would have been a lot more difficult if it weren’t for the help of mum and my girlfriend having that support really drives me to keep going. I really haven’t missed meat at all and as matter of fact this is my first week were I haven’t consumed meat at all. This is one of my biggest achievements so far and I feel much better for it. Often we as human have the systematic approach to life but it is amazing to see when you do things outside of your comfort zone it is amazing to see how it changes you. Before I did this challenge I could never imagine not eating meat but after only 15 days I am really considering it as a long term thing. 

Since my last post I am pleased to say that I am currently doing a lot better at the challenge. On the weekend I went down to Gorey to visit my family and on Sunday we had a delicious Vegan friendly meal that my mum cooked. She made these lovely vegetable samosas and made a lovely rice dish with lentils and for desert we had eaton mess with chickpea meringue and coconut yoghurt, it was delicious. She helped open up my eyes to the different kinds of food I could use as all I have thought about cooking is vegetables and beans. Last week I found it difficult to adjust to non dairy goods but now I use flora and oat milk instead of other dairy goods and I found that they are just as good if not better. Last night I cooked vegetable fried rice and it was lovely. This week also came with it’s challenges as I went out with my mates on Friday and found myself eating a quarter pounder with cheese at 11:30 at night. Since then I have tried to stick to the challenge as best I could and overall, I would say that I feel better for eating healthier.

This is my first my post but I have been staying on track with my challenge. When I first started I decided to take things head on and on Friday I made my first attempt at trying to get something vegan which wasn’t exactly easy, as I soon figured out that Mace has very little to offer when it comes to their vegan options. I decided to get a falafel and lettuce roll with, no sauce and no butter however, I soon realized that this was a poor choice none the less I carried on with the challenge. I was hit with criticism by family and friends but my mum and my girlfriend have decided to take part in their own challenge and try to support me along the way. I also found that vegan food can be expensive but I didn’t let that stop me and last night I cooked a vegetable stir-fry. I have no started using almond milk in my cereal which has been interesting. This challenge is certainly pushing me out of my comfort zone. Along the way I hope to inspire more people to try and be more sustainable in their everyday life.