How we all got a taste for the vegan lifestyle and stuck to it
More than a million people have taken part in Veganuary since it started in 2014, switching to a vegan diet for the month of January. Linda Stewart asks four NI people why they decided to take part, and how they got on
‘Options are limited when you go out for coffee’
KIM and Billy Dixon, from the Ards peninsula, decided to try veganism after watching The Game Changers documentary which was released in 2018.
Kim (56) has now launched the One Earth vegan food service, delivering foods such as nut roasts, lentil and chickpea burgers, flapjacks and vegan mince pies to clients.
“I had been thinking about it for a long time — I used to be vegetarian, but I went off it,” she says. “But after watching The Game Changers I thought ‘do you know what, I’ll give it a go’. What convinced me was seeing what a difference it’s made to people’s physique and energy levels. I have noticed a big difference in my energy.
“I actually didn’t find it hard to do at home, because I enjoy making food. I bought a few cookbooks and followed them and now I make up my own recipes.
“My biggest problem is if we were going out for coffee, it’s really limited. We always say we’ll take our own but you never do.
“I make a lot of nut roasts — they have lots of flavour, and a lot of lentil stews and vegan burgers. We also take vitamin B12 supplements (recommended for people on a vegan or vegetarian diet). I made an appointment with the doctor pre-lockdown and he confirmed there was nothing I was low in.”
Inspirational speaker Billy (68) says converting to a plant based diet wasn’t as hard as he had expected.
“I’ve never missed meat or animal products at all,” he says.
“Kim has been brilliant, how she’s put meals together, getting the flavours in — that seems to be the key. It gives you more energy. The only thing I have to be careful of is making sure you get enough B12, especially as you get older. We just take the supplement and that’s it.”
KIM’S LENTIL AND CHICKPEA BURGERS (MAKES 6) WHAT YOU’LL NEED
Cup of chickpeas, drained and crushed
2 cups of cooked green lentils
Cup porridge oats
1 onion, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tbsp of tomato puree
1 tsp rosemary
Salt and pepper
Tablespoon of oil
METHOD
Fry onion in shallow pan. Add garlic, red pepper and rosemary and fry gently for another 2 minutes. Put chickpeas, lentils and porridge in a bowl, mix and add tomato puree and seasoning. When cooled, shape the mixture into rounds and fry each side for approx. 3 mins until brown.
‘I want to help the environment’
ECONOMICS graduate and half marathon runner Victoria Atkinson (22), from Ballygowan, who runs the Irish Vegan Runner blog, became vegan at 16 but fell off the wagon until three years ago.
“When I was 16, one of the girls in school turned vegan,” she explains. “Back then I would have eaten lots of cheese and chicken nuggets and she said to me ‘You could never do it’. I said I could and that was the first time I turned vegan — it lasted about a year.
“But I met a boy and I was sort of scared about what he would think. I went back onto dairy very slowly. We would have been at his family’s house a lot — he was a chef and I was worried about what people would think.”
However, three years ago, the veganism bug bit again.
“I got in contact with a friend who was vegan and we went to a vegan restaurant, and I thought ‘Why should I care what people say?’ So I decided to do it again, but this time I watched documentaries and did my research.
My main reason for being vegan isn’t really the animals — the environment is the biggest motivator for me. I want to help the environment (those promoting veganism say that being vegan reduces the demand for intensive agriculture, and producing meat requires more land and results in more carbon emissions).”
Victoria takes B12 supplements with folic acid, iron and zinc and says being vegan has made her more mindful about what she eats.
Part of the problem the first time, she says, is that she was eating the same things constantly, but now she has a more varied vegan diet.
“I started getting more into running and I was noticing my times getting better and my recovery between runs improved,” she says “I just feel full of energy all the time — my coach would say I’m hyper!”
Victoria uses a lot of tofu and tempeh (a soy product), and substitutes mince with lentils.
“I don’t really miss anything,” she says.
“It’s funny because if you knew me when I was a child I was the one who put away a bag of Babybel cheese or ate three bars of chocolate.
“It’s funny how things turned out.”
VICTORIA’S GRANOLA WHAT YOU’LL NEED
Oats, pecan nuts,
cashew nuts,
dried cranberries,
cinnamon,
maple syrup.
METHOD
Put a cup of oats in a bowl and mix with chopped pecan and cashew nuts, dates and a handful of dried cranberries with some cinnamon for flavour. Add maple or agave syrup to bind it together, spread on a baking tray and bake at 180 degrees for 15 minutes, before stirring and returning to the oven for 10 more minutes.
‘I’m a part-time vegan’
OUTDOOR recreation project officer Claire Mclernon (36), from Lisburn, describes herself as a part-time vegan who is about 90% of the way there. She is married to Michael.
Claire has always been keen to reduce her contribution to climate change and trying to go vegan was part of that.
“I said I was going to be a part-time vegan — it sounds like a cop-out but I know that realistically, when I go to my in-laws’ house and I’m handed a cup of tea, I’m not going to make them change their ways,” she says.
“If someone hands me a cup of tea with dairy milk, I’ll take it. Also, my husband is a coeliac and can only eat gluten free.
“I don’t like the term vegan — it implies all or nothing. I think the term sets people back from even trying, so that’s why I say ‘part-time’.”
Claire says sticking to a vegan diet is hardest in social scenarios, but it’s easier at home.
“We eat a lot of curries — those are our staples and you can get everything in a curry from a tin. Chickpeas are your chicken — they’re what I often use as my substitution for pro
‘I have to make sure to get enough B12’
tein. A lot of the curry pastes you buy are naturally vegan,” she says. “Sometimes I make a lovely Japanese noodle dish with tofu.
“I’ve had Chinese food in the last couple of months — I caved and had the honey chilli chicken. I felt really guilty but I then thought ‘really, when was the last time I had meat?’. But if you’re trying to go vegan, Indian takeaway is actually brilliant food for that.
“I would like to encourage anybody to give it a go. Don’t feel you’ve failed if you don’t stick strictly to a vegan diet — it’s about reducing your animal intake, so don’t beat yourself up if you can’t be strictly vegan.”
‘It was such a positive change to my life’
LURGAN-BORN singer Conleth Kane (36), who lives in London and has just released his new single, Emerald Isle, went vegan during Veganuary last year and is still going strong.
“I’ve always toyed with the idea of becoming vegan,” he says. “I would go out to restaurants and they’d maybe have a vegan option and I looked into going towards vegan last year.
“I set myself the challenge of doing either dry January or Veganuary — and I didn’t fancy doing dry January. I thought it was a good opportunity — a good start to the New Year and a new me.
“But I’ll never forget it — I went to a friend’s dinner party last year on New Year’s Eve and there was macaroni cheese and ham and steak. It was kind of like my final supper.
“We all stayed that night, got up the next morning and there was no food and no shops open, and I thought ‘So, this is my first day of being a vegan’.
“In the end he gave me a black tea and a pear and I sat there chewing on my pear and watching everybody eating their fry and wondering if I’d done the right thing. I had a hangover as well and I was really craving a fry. I just remember getting to 3pm and being absolutely starving.”
Luckily a couple of vegans he was working with gave Conleth a checklist of all the ingredients he should go out and buy — “the snacks, the oat milk, the almond milk, the egg-free pasta, lots of hummus”.
“But about four or five days into it, I started feeling that I was starting to get my groove — I knew what to do and what to snack on,” he adds.
“I noticed a change — I’ve been doing Bikram yoga for 12 years and there was always this bit of weight that I could never shift. I noticed my body ironed out a lot and I felt a lot more awake in the afternoon. I was full of energy all day long.
“I believed I was doing a bit for the environment and I felt that mentally and physically it was the right move for me.”
Conleth says his vegan lifestyle has given him the incentive to research cookbooks and Youtube channels.
“It gave me the drive to become a much better cook,” he says. “I make sure I get a supplement every morning — I use a brand called Viridian which is a really high quality multi-vitamin and mineral supplement formula.
“Sometimes when I go out with friends someone will order a steak and I’ll think ‘Oh that looks really lovely’ but I’ve gone so far now. I only intended to do 30 days but when I got to the end I was really liking what was going on — it was such a positive change.”
Conleth recalls visiting his favourite cafe in Lurgan, Cafe Vibe, for breakfast with his mum and dad, and wondering what to have.
“They just got creative in the kitchen and gave me this incredible vegan breakfast and now it’s on the menu!” he says.
CONLETH’S VEGAN BREAKFAST WHAT YOU’LL NEED
Mushrooms, spinach, asparagus, tomato, avocado, lemon, coconut oil, chilli flakes, sea salt, pepper, bread.
METHOD
Melt a tablespoon of coconut oil in a stir-fry pan Add chopped mushrooms and tomato and stir for 5 mins. Add the asparagus and spinach and allow it to simmer in a pan until it’s cooked to your taste.
Scoop the avocado flesh into a bowl. Squeeze in the lemon juice, then mash with a fork. Toast your bread, drizzle over the oil then put the avocado on top. Place the toast and avocado on the plate and pour the contents of the pan alongside the toast and season to taste with sea salt, black pepper and chilli flakes.