Perhaps 2021 is the year of Veganism

So many of us here at Equinox Kombucha are taking on Veganuary, each one of us has our own reason why, so we thought we’d focus on one and ask Laura, our in-house Writer why she’s ditching the dairy.

As a devout vegetarian, I will, as I do every year, step into the pleather shoes of a vegan throughout January. My annual endeavour is something I consider sticking to way beyond the end of the month, but as most veggies will confess, it’s the cheese that pulls me back to the less worthy title of Vegetarian. I wish I could stick to veganism. I wish I didn’t love cheese.

Sometimes when I’m eating cheese, I’ll over think it, I’ll start thinking about where it came from and how it’s made and make myself feel a bit queasy. Perhaps I should just keep over-thinking and then I might be able to stick to veganism. I’ve been a veggie for 29 years now, but 18 months is my dairy-free record – broken by a cheese board.

My fridge is packed with meat and dairy alternatives, each product is consciously chosen, and it all sits in there with the cheese section. Perhaps my inability to give up cheese is similar to other people’s inability to give up meat? I’ve always tried to stick to the idea that everyone has the right to make their own decisions and if they want to eat meat, that’s up to them. But with the climate crisis hitting the headlines almost daily along with our concerns over animal welfare, I’m struggling to keep my views to myself.

I come from a family of animal-loving meat eaters, which to me, just doesn’t make sense. Surely if you loved animals you wouldn’t be able to eat them? I struggle to understand that someone can sink their teeth into a chunk of meat without a thought of the pain, suffering and of course, the death that led to it sitting on their plate. Perhaps some people are better at disassociating the gruesome reality, perhaps they’re better at just not thinking about it. But not me. Moby once said could you look into an animal’s eyes and say to it ‘My appetite is more important than your suffering’? When I first heard this quote it really struck a chord with me. Because I realised this is the question that I’m not asking animal-loving meat eaters. This is the question I have been trying to keep quiet for so long – the one I’m trying not to ask because I’m sticking to my ‘everyone has the right to their own decisions’ mantra. But now, now that our planet’s heating up to worrying temperatures and animals are slaughtered in astonishing numbers, I’m not sure I can keep it in any longer.

So this year, I am once again taking on Veganuary, but perhaps this is the year that it sticks, perhaps this is the year that I try and take a few folks with me, perhaps I will be asking that question to my animal-loving, meat-eating family, perhaps you’ll join me too.

Perhaps it’ll generate some interesting dialogue and some new choices. Perhaps we’ll understand each other a little better. Perhaps we listen to our planet and what she needs. Perhaps.