Introducing the Hungry Vegan Society

Actual photo of the HVS as a child, during her epiphany.

Vegans: so easy to make fun of. So easy to dismiss as wackadoodles. God put animals on this planet for us to marry decorate old hotels eat. So what does one do when one of his longest-held best friends come out of the closet as a card-carrying, yoga-teaching, animal-loving VEEgan?

The HVS and I have been many things to each other over the years, including friends, confidants, co-workers, bike partners, mourners for our prospective parents and diners. In fact, I even knew the HVS was just the HS. So when the V got slipped in between the H and the S, I couldn't just scoff and walk away. I've been questioning my assumptions and knee-jerk prejudices ever since.

When I lived in England my junior year of college, I met lots of people who never met a Jew before. Before then, all the Europeans I met back home were the ones who were adventurous enough to explore the U.S. Now I was meeting the ones who were like most Americans, never bothering to get a passport and never venture far outside the comfort zone of their own town, city or state. But in all honesty, the HVS was not the first vegan I ever met. Yes, I was once a (very bad example of a) vegan.

It was the 90s, I was in college, we were all exploring our bodies and our minds. It was rebellious to be vegetarian, more so to go further and eschew all animal products. I've always been of a mind that animals and people are not equal, and while it is our responsibility to treat the world with respect, there is nothing wrong with slaughtering animals for the benefit of man. (I've since come to conclude that industrial meat production trades on cruelty in the pursuit of profit, but that's for another blog post about capitalism and other overly serious things.) My attitude was that perhaps not eating animal is healthier -- hey, a horse can have a diet of 100% hay and water and look how trim and massively muscular THEY are!

Try my all-hay all-the-time diet! 

But I did not eat hay all day. I ate potato chips. Lots of potato chips. Pasta. Rice. Bread. I was not a big fan of fruit and vegetables. Surprisingly, I never really lost any weight. I wanted to cut out meat (and eventually dairy), but I didn't want to change my eating habits or lifestyle.  I was vegetarian for a few years, vegan for a year or so, and I was on the slope back down vegetarianism (OK, vegan with an exception for DESERT -snort-) when I met the HVS.

Some people can defend their prejudices by claiming they have a token "black friend", and I can't say I'm that close to any vegans other than the HVS -- but that would be reducing her to "just a vegan". She's also a surly Israeli! (Well, not so surly since yogasizing her life....) As some one I hold dear and love, she has inspired me to cook many meals veganly. In fact, I really enjoy the challenge of cooking for her and my wifey enjoys it, too. I've dabbled in yoga over the years thanks to the HVS and as much as I'm wary to admit it, there is something to it I don't fully understand, particularly the effect of back bends on my state of mind.

I don't fully understand....how cheesy this graphic designer makes yoga seem.

Unlike my potato-chip driven quest for rebellion, the HVS seems to be healthier, happier and more on point that I ever was.

I dubbed my friend the Hungry Vegan Society while we were colleagues because of our shared fondness for lunch. My impression was that she seemed to allow her day to both be driven by, and derived a lot of fun from, her hunger and the acquiring of food. While we would go out together, her vegan requirements would actually make things more fun and slightly take me out of my comfort zone by proxy. I think part of my inspiration for going to culinary school came from seeing how she operated in the world. You can't see how big the world of food is until you find someone living in a country where they wear their underwear outside of their pants.

All citizens will be required to change their underwear every half hour. Underwear will be worn on the outside so we can check.

A few years ago the HVS took me to Babbo for my birthday -- I really wanted to go, but I was a little surprised because this was the place famous for putting beef-cheek ravioli on the radar, and other off-cuts that previously would have gone to waste or shipped over seas. The restaurant's service was top-rate, and was able to assemble a really good-looking off-menu vegan dinner for her while I ate my tripe and cheeks. The HVS is not some judgemental cliche of a fanatic or grating lecturer. The HVS is as cool cucumber, if not cooler, than any bacon-loving foodiot or omnivorous epicurean.

A foodiot in his natural habitat.

So there you have it. I am not a vegan, and I don't think I will ever be. I can't say that with certainty as long as there is someone in my life like the HVS, with just as much health and happiness as I have, if not more. As I write more on topics related to veganism (and topics suggested to me by the HVS), it'll be filtered through a starting point of curiosity and open-mindedness, rather than dismissiveness and snark. (oh, maybe a little snark!) And I have the HVS to thank for that.

TODAY'S COUNT: 2310
Started the day off right with getting laundry done and lifting weights. Had to skip last week's bike ride, felt good to move a little. Dinner was a little small by accident, but took houseguest M on a nice 2 hour casual bike ride around downtown, fueled by a large piece of dark chocolate.

Tomorrow....my monthly weigh-in. -sigh-

AM SNACK: 7:30am, iced green tea, 25 cal

BREAKFAST: 9:15am, steel cut oatmeal, water, 375 cal


LUNCH: 1pm, jerk chicken patty, soya patty, 700 cal
First time eating a "soya" patty from Golden Krust. Not good, a soy mince meant to mimic beef but ends up tasting oddly tofuey. Gonna try the spinach patty next time.

PM SNACK: 1:15pm, chocolate ice cream cone, 250 cal
According to the side of the Mr. Softee truck, a cone cane be anywhere from 190 to 270 cal. The cone felt on the heavier side, so I estimated bigger.

PM SNACK: 5:30pm, stuffed rigatoni, +/- 100 cal
Edie wasn't too into this dinner, I ended up eating 4 pieces before throwing it out. Realized it might not have been negligable, and did the math, and low and behold, a lot of those kinds of bites add up.


DINNER: 6:30pm, sauteed shrimp, steamed string beans, brown rice, 7oz diet sprite, 560 cal
String beans from today's CSA are slammin', only problem is too few of them. In a bowl sealed in plastic, microed for 1 minute, perfection.

EVENING SNACK: 8:30pm, dark chocolate, +/- 300 cal