So here it is! Oy Vegan’s first post! This is very exciting for all of us here at oyvegan.com. This is a blog for vegans and vegetarians everywhere. Look out for recipes, restaurant reviews, mensch of the month spotlights, interviews, tikkun olam projects, and more.
Why am I embarking on this journey of blogdom? I should first say that I am a lifelong vegetarian — I was raised veg — so I’ve never eaten meat or fish/seafood in my life. People ask me if I miss meat or if I was ever curious growing up. It’s a valid question, I suppose, if you eat meat. The thing is, I never looked at it that way. I never cared to try meat because, in short, I knew what meat was.
If you think about it most kids love animals. All of our favourite cartoons growing up featured talking animals. If kids actually knew that those animals were going to be stuffed full of hormones, fed their own meat and blood in many cases, and shoved into tiny cages where they would live in torture, amid feces and disease until the day they were slaughtered for human consumption, I’m sure they would run screaming from their plates. Simply put, I wasn’t lied to. From day one I knew that meat equalled animals and that I loved animals. I was completely happy with my lifestyle and, surprisingly, most kids didn’t really care or say anything about it. The people who gave me the most crap about it were their parents! People didn’t know what to feed me when I came over to play. I was a served a whole lot of peanut butter sandwiches in my day. Oy!
Over the past month I have become vegan. I’ve made the switch for a number of reasons: health, the environment, and treatment of animals. I hope to explore all of these in upcoming posts. Luckily, I have a boyfriend who, in the beginning, was even more gung-ho about making the transition to veganism than I was. Together we have embarked on a journey towards a happier, healthier, and more peaceful life. I have to say… I feel great! I’m not bloated anymore (cheese made me bloated) and I have a lot more energy!
This blog is about making the world a better place one oy vegan at a time. We’re all connected. Every living being on this planet. If we think that we can systematically torture and kill millions of animals and it won’t have an impact on the environment and the health of those consuming the product, we are sadly mistaken.
In these days of awe, between Rosh Hashonah and Yom Kippor — we can look at our life and our world and see it as a whole. We need to start looking at the bigger picture and guess what?! That bigger picture is NOT money. It’s our health, our happiness, and our earth.
So let’s keep it real and keep it veg! Oy Vegan!
Jamie

We would love to hear your feedback, so please e-mail me with any questions you might have at jamie@oyvegan.com.
(please note this entry was written the week of Oct 3rd 2011)