Taste buds and will power

1129: 

When I decided to dip my toes into ‘the chilly waters’ of a plant-based food regime, I started putting soy milk on my corn flakes, began to cook tofu and falafel. I was experiencing a taste bud revolt. But was I missing something? Did I have cravings?

I found that this doubt lasted all of about five minutes, after which I realised it was all going to be okay - the vegan-food bit.  The chilly waters were only in my head.  I was fearing the unknown.  I was resenting denying myself products which others would still be enjoying.

           

To get over the initial glitches, and particularly to get used to new tastes, I had to use bog-standard will power, to get over being afraid of turning back to familiar foods.  And I had to be patient, because after a life time cultivating my taste buds, they weren’t taking kindly to being re-educated overnight.

Once this taste-test was settled, once I saw for myself that food-matters weren’t going to be so much of a problem after all, then the main hurdle was out of the way.  Then my will power didn’t have to be focused so much on food, and I could concentrate on the whole cruelty-to-animals thing.  

I think this is the most powerful persuader. I liked what Sam de Brito said in his article in last Sunday’s paper (I always avoided vegans - now I am one).  He said, “You feel like you have come upon genocide everyone is trying to hide and ignore. And you can no longer keep quiet”.

The curtain really falls on old familiar foods, as they seem greyer and uglier. One is drawn to subtler food experiences - eating whole foods, and foods that aren’t so sugary, salty, bloody, fattening or rich.  One is experiencing for the first time, new flavours, new textures, and seeing food through ethical eyes adds to the overall enjoyment of eating.

Food, and later clothing, come to serve as a daily springboard to a potentially more wonderful world which is coloured by vegan principles. You probably do feel a bit righteous, but it’s mainly a feeling of relief, in no longer being part of the animal holocaust.