Taste bud transitions

1447: 

When I decided to dip my toes into ‘the chilly waters’ of a plant-based food regime I started by putting soy milk on my muesli.  I began to cook tofu and falafel and plant-based burgers.  It was all different.  It was a shock, and yet my taste bud revolt lasted all but five minutes.  The 'chilly waters' were in my mind.  Partly I feared the unknown and partly I resented denying myself products which others would still be enjoying.

Because I was afraid of turning back to familiar foods I had to use bog-standard will power.   After a life time of cultivating my taste buds, I couldn’t re-educate them overnight.  Thankfully, the taste-test was short-lived, but I wouldn’t have known that before I started.  Thankfully, the driver here wasn't about food preference, it was this whole cruelty-to-animals thing.  That was more prominent than anything else, and I still think for most people it’s the most powerful persuader.

         

I was determined to succeed in the food switch-over because I'd become convinced about the whole ‘no-touch-animals’ idea.  And the more I considered how certain foods come to us the more I saw animal foods as grey and ugly.  It was that 'greying'  that mainly got me over craving my favourite-foods (and snacks!).

         

I came to appreciate subtler food experiences.  The taste blast of cheese, the richness of egg-based foods, attractive but nutritionally-empty confections and cakes - I was ending my relationship with so many foods which I'd relied on.  I found myself eating whole foods that weren't laced with sugar, salt and fats.  There was a world of new  flavours, new textures, and especially new good-feelings about the cruelty-free-ness of the food itself.  Food, and later clothing, no longer had to be tinged with guilt, since they were all governed by vegan principles.