I had a really tough week, and had to deal with a bunch of bullshit, so I was pretty upset last night and this morning. My husband treated me to breakfast … it was Nikki’s Vegan Polenta, Vegetables, Cabbage and Black Beans Breakfast from Boogaloos in San Francisco California USA.
I’m not strictly vegan or vegetarian, but unlike most vegans and vegetarians, I take the time to show the whole world what I’m eating.
The reason I do this is so that the over 90% of people who are not vegan or vegetarian can see that they can also enjoy wonderful vegan or mostly vegan and/or meatless meals.
If it doesn’t make sense to you to say that you won’t ever eat certain foods again, you don’t need to say that. You can continue to eat meat, fish, cheese, dairy products and eggs when those are what is most readily available, while ALSO intentionally choosing animal-free meals when those are available and make sense for your nutrition needs / food allergies / food budget, and so on.
In other words, there’s no harm at all in choosing an animal-free meal when it’s available and has enough protein and other nutrients, and is affordable, allergy-friendly, easy and no less convenient, etc.
As an example of that, at Boogaloos, they had about 80 things on the menu, and maybe only five of the meal options could be made fully vegan. Still, that’s quite a few options, since most places have zero. It wasn’t any more expensive for me to order a vegan option versus the other things that were there. The vegan options did include things like tofu, soy chorizo, or beans, as protein sources, and also vegetables and other things that fit in with my nutrition goals.
Now, my husband ordered a meal with eggs and dairy products and meat (pork chorizo), like most other people ordering food at the restaurant. But I think that many of those people could have ordered something like what I did, and they could’ve been equally happy.
I imagine a lot of people are thinking, “it’s breakfast so we need to order cheese and eggs and meat.” It’s a habit. Then, when they bring out my plate, other people from other tables sometimes remark things like, “Wow, that looks really good, I didn’t realize I could order that.”
On the other hand, my husband obviously knows the vegan options exist. He’s usually stealing things off of my plate because it’s tasty … but he still insists on ordering meat and dairy products and eggs for his breakfast, generally speaking. So what it is, psychologically, I really don’t know. Nonetheless, I continue to put this out there, showing people what is possible.
Once again, here is my wonderful vegan breakfast. Delicious crispy polenta, with spicy tomato sauce, black beans and vegetables, including spinach, cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, and cabbage. The vegetables were cooked to perfection, slightly crispy on the outside.
To some people, this doesn’t look like breakfast at all. I get it. However, for me, what a wonderful and nutritious way to start the day.
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