HOW I BECAME VEGAN

I have been wanting to write this post for a long time. At the same time, I knew it would not be an easy task, similarly as being vegan is not always easy. But it is so important to me personally, that I could not imagine any better way to spend my time than writing about this topic.

If you're reading this post, whether you're vegan, vegetarian, or meat-eater, I don't really mind. I want to point out that this is my personal story and based on my own experiences. The purpose of this text is not to judge anyone, make anyone feel more or less worthy, but simply tell my own story.

My first step towards veganism was when I was about 20 years old, more than 10 years ago already. Me and my boyfriend at the time decided to quit consuming meat, mostly because of the environmental reasons: we were aware that the meat industry was very harmful for the environment and wanted to do our part. Instead of just preaching about it, we wanted to take action.

Luckily, many of our friends were into similar beliefs and sooner or later decided to support the same lifestyle, either by becoming vegetarians or at least being veggie-friendly. (Which meant, eating vegetarian food and going to vegetarian restaurants, instead of always searching for meat options, was not a problem for them.) It was a common belief (at least in my social circles) that vegetarian diet was better for so many reasons, so even if you didn't go full vegetarian/vegan, it was a good thing to do, to support it one way or another.

"she was weirdly satisfied seeing us going back to eating meat, even if it was just that one night"

Of course, not all of it was easy. Our families were wondering why we didn't want to eat meat anymore; what was suddenly wrong with this food we had so gladly accepted for so many years of our lives? What was wrong with traditional home made food? Was this just some new trend we wanted to follow, and maybe later we would go back to "normal"? Why didn't we like meat anymore?

The problem was not liking, not at all. After one week of successfully being vegetarian, it happened that it was Saturday night and we went out to party with friends, came home at 4am, and the only option there was to eat was a pizza. Pizza with meat. And we were starving. So we ate the damn pizza, and it tasted soooo good! The only reason why we felt bad about eating it, was because my boyfriend's sister was laughing at us: she found it funny how we were so weak and could not keep up the vegetarian diet when we were drunk and starving. I had a feeling that she was weirdly satisfied seeing us going back to eating meat, even if it was just that one night, that one pizza.

Next week we continued the vegetarian diet normally.

Ever since becoming vegetarian I started to notice that the challenge was not only changing my diet and lifestyle, but the real challenge seemed to be something completely unexpected and surprising: dealing with other people. I was surprised to notice how something that I deeply believed to be a better way to live, seemed to be such a big issue for so many people around me: I had to explain my choices over and over again, I had to justify my lifestyle to people who I barely knew, and many times, I was made to feel guilty about it.

All of it always felt really contradictory to me. (A decade later, it still does.)

As much as there was resistance, there were also many things that made it all easier. In Finland at the time, there were already many people who had decided to follow similar lifestyle: mostly people who I already admired; hippies, punkers, alternative people and misfits of the society - the kind of people I had always felt more related to. It was not something completely weird to become vegetarian, it was an option that was partially supported by school cafeterias and several restaurants, which obviously made it so much easier.

"that's when my mom started to always have vegetarian meatballs in her freezer for our visits"

With time, also my family started to realize this was not just about a trend that would pass. This was something much more, something that I believed in. Also my brother had turned vegetarian, and that's when my mom started to always have vegetarian meatballs in her freezer for our visits. (Thanks mom!)

My next big step, a step deeper towards the vegan lifestyle, started to happen around 2016, when I had decided to go to India to study yoga. I had been into yoga for some years and decided I wanted to become a teacher myself. In this period of my life, I became much more spiritual, meaning that I started to see many things in life with different eyes. One of these things was our relationship with nature and animals. Without going too deep into the topic right now, I started to respect all the creations of the nature with similar love as I used to have only for my own species, and it became more and more important to me that every living being should be treated equally.

I understood that not everybody has to be "animal lover" in the meaning that I was used to hear it: mostly from people with pets and caring for domestic animals. It was not about loving animals, it was about respect.

It was only a matter of time when I would re-consider my own dietal choices: Was vegetarianism enough? I was still eating eggs and dairy and sometimes I would even eat fish. I was still participating in the type of cruelty that I didn't want to support, which basically forced me to face the fact that the only diet that was in line with my personal beliefs was veganism. It was the only way I could truly live the way I believed to be right.

So I became vegan in the spring of 2018.

"Veganism seemed to be about so much more than what I decided to choose on my plate"

Becoming vegan for me meant that I would have to stop consuming eggs, milk products and also pay attention to other areas of my consuming habits that I had not really considered too much before. I had not thought about leather in my shoes and jackets, the animal testing in my makeup products or about the ethics of going to zoo, as innocent as it had always sounded like before. Veganism seemed to be about so much more than what I decided to choose on my plate.

Until that moment, I had always thought that I can give up meat, but I could never stop consuming dairy. I loved cheese way too much! But there was also a moment when I realized this was all so much bigger than my love for cheese. This was about saving innocent lives, including my own. (More and more research has shown that dairy is actually unhealthy for grown-up humans and has been scientifically connected with breast cancer and other health issues.) I noticed how it became so much easier to imagine my life without cheese (and other dairy products) just by thinking that I was doing something much bigger, something so much more important.

In the process of becoming full vegan (I decided to do it little by little, instead of cutting everything in one night), one really important factor for me was finding motivation by becoming aware of all the reasons I was doing it. I had never been too much of the person who watches all the videos and documentaries of animal cruelty, I didn't want to see them, I was saving myself from suffering. Later on, I understood it was a ridiculous thought: What was my suffering compared to that of those animals? My personal crisis for having to give up cheese had never sounded so ridiculous in my head, and I was wishing I had known everything I now knew since long time ago.

Now, in 2020 I have lived in Mexico for 3 years. When it comes to veganism, Mexico in 2020 is a completely different story than Europe in 2020. Sadly, based on my experience, I can say that the awareness here in Mexico is not even the same as it was in Finland ten years ago when I first became vegetarian. This is why my personal journey as vegan has been definitely very different than it would probably have been, had I become vegan in Finland, for example.

But I believe everything happens for a reason and everything has a purpose. This too, must be for something. So the moment that I started to experiment more with vegan food and also share my cooking in my social media channels, I realized that no matter how unaware people might have been, many people were also showing big interest towards my diet and my cooking. I was glad to notice that a picture of my vegetable soup would get more and more people ask me recipes, and also with time, people became more and more interested about veganism in general.

Last year I decided that I want to start writing my own vegan blog. I wanted to share all my recipes with people who had been interested about them, and I wanted to make it easier for people to approach the plant-based life. After all, I had noticed it myself how, especially here in Mexico, it was still very hard, for so many reasons.

It took some time for me to figure out how to best build my blog and how I wanted it to be. At the same time, I was in the middle of a storm in my personal life and tried my best to keep the focus in what mattered most. Luckily, I had many people around me that made it possible, close friends and family, but also people that I barely knew, which warmed my heart more than you can think of. I felt that the whole universe was supporting me, and I knew it, it was up to me if I wanted to make this dream come true.

 "the whole universe was supporting me"

I'm proud and glad to say I have made this blog to become part of my life now, a bigger and more important part than it might seem in the first glance. It combines my passion for vegan lifestyle, cooking, writing and photography, and I could not be happier to see how people have been receiving it. The dream is barely starting, but it is starting strong.

Right now I am in a new stage of my life. At this stage, I find myself barely getting my personal, professional and social life becoming in balance, I am starting to find my place and purpose in this world and in this life. I'm curious to see what the future will bring, but at the moment I am happy to be doing something that I truly believe in. I am happy and I am grateful.


-Niina

As usually, questions and comments are welcome. :)