Ask A Vegan Pt. 9

I have never felt so lucky in my life. I have a wonderful little home, a beautiful fast and awesome bike, I have a chihuahua who eats poop and licks my face (yuck, but cute lil' girl nonetheless) I have creative freedom to be who I want, act however I want and say most anything that comes to my head without any judgement, and I have all of this because of Timmy. I mention him in my blog...A LOT, but with good reason. He is the peanut butter to my jelly, the Ron to my Hermoine (yeah, I went THERE) and he is the coconut cream in my coffee. I love this boy/man like crazy. One thing I think about a lot is that I am o fortunate to have a man who is Vegan, I have dated other dudes who were always trying to get me to eat a steak, would make fun of my food choices and would get pissed off because I wouldn't want to eat at certain restaurants because they served bunny or foie gras, but not my Timmy. He makes me dinner, he encourages my choices and he backs up my beliefs. It is a relief to share in this with him because when you think about it, eating is something we do every four hours or so. Imagine getting ridiculed by someone you liked every four hours, not so fun huh? I feel good with him, he is funny, likes good music (except for hi weird British 80's pop phase he is currently in) he loves my cats even though he is allergic, he picks me up from work when it is too hot to bike and he even goes to concerts with me even though he is the oldest one there. (: So enough mushy mush stuff, here is the real Timmy...

Name: Timmy
Age: 39
Location: Tempe,AZ
Website: none



How long have you been Vegan?
This time, for about 2 years ( I was vegan from 1992-2000, then I got lazy and started eating cheese again). I have been vegetarian for 20 years, 2010 is a cool year, because it means, I have now been vegetarian/and or vegan for more of my life than not.

What made you decide to go Vegan?
I originally became interested in vegetarianism because a lot of hardcore bands I was into were veggie/vegan and would put pro-veggie literature in their albums. At the time I was mostly interested for health reasons, animal rights and the environment were minor concerns. I had never heard of factory farming (hey this was 1991 after all). A (vegan)friend loaned me “Diet for a New America”, BY John Robbins. After reading it, I really felt like there was no choice, but to go vegan (I found the chapter “America the poisoned” to be especially disturbing).

How do you feel health wise with this diet choice?
I feel great. More energy, less allergies.


busted wing

Are you open about your Veganism?
Sure, but as I get older I am less inclined to argue with anyone about it. I generally have a good memory for facts and figures, and if someone is genuinely interested I have no problem sharing this information.

If so, are you involved in any activism i.e. protests, leafleting etc…
I think some of these types of activism end up as either Preaching to the choir, or annoying those not interested. I don’t like people trying to push their beliefs on me and I certainly don’t want to do that to other people. I think living by a positive example does much more to interest people. Veganism is great because it encompasses a compassionate lifestyle, it is also earth friendly and healthy, and people may be attracted to it for any of those reasons.

What does your family, friends, co-workers think about your diet?
I have always been the weird one in the family, so they are used to it, and I am lucky to a few vegan co-workers to share food with. (Notice he didn't mention his super awesome girlfriend...sigh)


Timmy and friends

What advice would you give those interested in becoming Vegan?
Take it slow, get some vegan cookbooks, connect with other vegans and don’t beat yourself up if something nonvegan slips by you.

Would you eat at Mc Donald’s if they carried a Vegan burger?
Short answer is NO. Long answer is more complicated. I'm not really sure which I dislike more; the amount of dead animal they serve, or the business of making cheap chemically processed foods devoid of any nutritional value. I like cooking, and I guess I am lucky that I don't really have any reason to seek out or eat fast food, not everyone is lucky though. I think a lot of younger Vegans, people newer to Veganism or people living in small town with n other Vegan options would be interested in Vegan burger from McDonald's.(Do a Google search, there are a lot of people looking for Vegan fast food options). So while I have no personal interest in the Mc Vegan, I'm not completely opposed to it either.


Ignore the bad word

What is your least favorite question that you are asked about your diet?
“Where do you get your protein?”

What is your favorite dish?
I love pizza, and anything I can put barbecue sauce on.


hummus pizza

What do you typically eat at Thanksgiving?
Usually Tofurkey. Last year we had field roast from Whole Foods.

If I could make you any flavor cupcake in the world what would it be?
MMM, chocolate filled chocolate covered chocolate.


kissy kissy

Please share your favorite Vegan recipe.
I don’t have a recipe cause Jon is a lazy bastard and he already used my Barbecue Tofu recipe on here a few weeks ago.