introducing myself

[kareninDE]

hi there!

i found this board quite by accident- i was searching for a local vegetarian group, and found a listing for veggiemommie's playgroup on this site. well, i have sent her an email and i'm now hoping i can join this community. i can't believe i haven't found it before now!

i'm 25, married to a 23 year old wonderful husband, and have a 17 month old precious son. i've been vegetarian since i was 17, and after a month or so of dating and many debates, my husband went veg at the age of 21. of course, my son is also a vegetarian. i noticed that this is mostly vegan, but i'm hoping i'll be welcome here anyway.

-karen

[Sylver]

Hi! Welcome to the boards! This is a great place to be! Hope to see you around!

[Erin Pavlina]

Hi Karen,

Yes, vegetarians are welcome on the boards. Glad you found us.

How did your families react when they realized you were going vegetarian and going to raise your son veggie?

[kareninDE]

hi erin! thanks!

my family didn't know how to react to my going veggie when i was in high school- my mom didn't know what to buy, and i was very malnourished until i started buying my own food. my dad spends all of his spare time fishing, so he was a little appalled at the idea. but after several years, they finally figured out that i'm not going to "outgrow" it, and while my mom still only considers meatless lasagna and spaghetti as the meals she can feed me (and i'm not a big pasta person!), she is very supportive. my aunt found out i was veggie when i was 21, and she went veggie too. i'm really proud of her, because heart disease runs in the family, and i know that by eating right, she's more likely to beat the odds.

nobody wigged on my side when brendan came along, but keith's family is still freaked out. even though his sister has been a vegetarian as long as i have (and is dancing on the vegan side since her husband is lactose-intolerant), his family has caused a lot of stress when we visit them. when i was pregnant, they served an all-meat dinner (even the appetizers) and we had to go to a restaurant to get food, because i was starving! keith sort of snapped at his mother for questioning the amount of protein in brendan's diet, and we have grown to expect some really naive questions and comments from his family.

right now, i'm checking out books aimed at younger children and explaining vegetarianism. any recommendations?

[Erin Pavlina]

There aren't too many books on that subject. Well, none that I can think of at all actually. I hope to change all that in the near future! ;)

For the most part, our families have been very tolerant of our lifestyle choices, but it was hard in the beginning. I think you really hit it on the head when you said that over time families realize you aren't going to "outgrow" it and they finally come to accept it. I think it's that way for a lot of people.

[kareninDE]

yes, i've noticed a severe lack of helpful books! i'm trying to find copies of "cows are vegetarians!" and "herb, the vegetarian dragon", since they both came up in my search on amazon's site. i'm still hesitant to buy them based on some of the customer reviews.

i think i had it pretty easy with my family, especially when i compare my experience to my husband's. his family is always difficult when the subject comes up, but they have finally accepted that he's not going through a phase, either. it boggles my mind that people are sometimes actually offended by our diet! i mean, i thought i was choosing the LEAST offensive lifestyle, aside from veganism!

speaking of which, do you know of any soy cheese that stands the test for cooking? that and sour cream are our weaknesses, but we only buy soy milk now. we're trying to slowly wean ourselves and use minimal dairy.

[Erin Pavlina]

Toffutti makes a Better Than Sour Cream product that's pretty good. I actually prefer to make my own vegan sour cream. There's a great recipe in one of Joanne Stepaniak's cookbooks but I can't remember which one offhand.

As for cheese... the only cheese I've found worth eating is the Follow Your Heart Vegan Gourmet Cheese Alternative. Go to www.imearthkind.com to check it out. It melts beautifully and tastes great. Only problem right now is its limited availability.

[kareninDE]

thanks for the advice! if you find the sour cream recipe, please let me know. i would LOVE to find a vegan replacement. i'll check around for the tofutti cheese, too- there is a very vegan-friendly store nearby that might carry it.