How to Become a Vegan

After three decades as a vegetarian, this writer leapt into the vegan unknown.

Photo by Rustic Vegan on Unsplash

Welcome to Vegan Club. Remember the first rule of Vegan Club is you absolutely must talk about Vegan Club.

So you’ve decided to take the great vegan leap and adopt a plant-based diet. We won’t go too much into why you’ve decided to become a vegan, but not only is it the healthy option; it’s good for the planet and much better for animals.

Adopting any new diet can be tricky. But planning and a few tips can be of great help. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to become, and stay, a vegan.

I’ve been a vegetarian since I was 8 years old. It wasn’t something I thought about very much, it had become second nature. I can just about remember eating meat but not really. I certainly don’t remember what it tastes like. Why did I become a vegetarian? I went with my mother to a butchers shop and saw a severed pig’s head on the counter and that was that for me. A couple of stand-offs at home and school and I never ate meat again.

I was helping out a friend at a conference he was running and a few people had mentioned a couple of documentaries about the dairy industry and I just couldn’t stop thinking about it. I had become a vegetarian for various reasons and I realised that there was a disconnect between those reasons and by supporting…