Note: This post was originally posted in 2006 and updated on February 11, 2023.
Many people ask me why I am vegan (pronounced `vee-gen'). Until my last two years as an undergrad student at the Eastman School of Music, I would never have thought I would become vegetarian, and certainly not vegan; I ate meat, dairy, and eggs like almost everyone else. I never entertained the thought of becoming vegetarian because I could not see the reasons behind doing something so “unnatural” or “extreme.”
I had two jobs while a senior in undergraduate school. The first was working at the front desk in the dorm during the summer. One of my tasks was sorting and alphabetizing incoming mail. I noticed that a few students were receiving a magazine called Peta, and I was curious, so I asked one of the students if it would be OK for me to look at it before I put it in the pile of mail to be put in boxes.
Looking through those issues of Peta that summer exposed me to some of the most shocking, horrific pictures I have ever seen to this day or probably ever will see. Many of the images were of animals being used for experiments and “product testing,” crippled animals left to die on the side of the road who were unfit for human consumption, baby calves taken from their mothers, multiple chickens in crates the size of record album covers, etc. These magazines disturbed me so much that I ordered a pile of books that discussed vegetarianism. I am usually only convinced of something by researching it thoroughly.
One of my most important books was Diet for a New America by John Robbins. I can gratefully say that that book changed my life for the better. I almost failed all of my classes at Eastman the following semester because I spent so much time reading about vegetarianism.
My second job during my senior year also greatly influenced me: I was working as a server for Eastman dining services. Obviously, after reading all of these books, serving ribs, chicken, hamburgers, and other dead animals became less and less bearable. People would ask me, “what's good today?" My usual reply was “nothing” or “the salad bar.” What I should have said was, “Your friend… he would probably taste just about the same as this pork chop if you cooked him the right way and used a little hot sauce.” I guess I was not cut out for a lifetime of work in dining services.
That summer, I was living very frugally. I still remember the exact moment I transitioned to becoming a vegetarian. I was going to the grocery store in MidTown Plaza in downtown Rochester, NY, to do my weekly shopping. I had approximately $20 in my pocket. I was standing in between the meat aisle and the vegetable section. I remember thinking I could buy two boneless chicken breasts and perhaps a steak or two, or I could use the money for a whole basket of vegetables and fruits. That day, I decided to try becoming vegetarian for a week. One week grew into two, and two weeks into two months.
Within the next few months, I gradually became vegan. I lost about twenty pounds, and believe me: I was not even trying. I love to eat. I not only lost a little weight, but I also felt better.
Original Patersonias cooler sign (grayscale version)
The more I learned about vegetarianism and cooked vegetarian food, the more I really fell in love with cooking. Eventually, I transitioned to becoming vegan, and then I met Victoria. We not only fell in love and were crazy for each other, but we immediately began dreaming up crazy business plans together. Both of us had always been dreamers and creators even before we met each other: she actually made a blueprint for a college when she was a little girl, and I was always trying to find ways to make money growing up. While I was dating her, I was working at a Kinko’s (started by Paul Orfalea), but then I was laid off, and I had to find a way to pay my rent. Since I loved vegan cuisine and always felt at home in the local co-ops and natural food stores in Rochester, NY, I started a little company called Patersonias. The main problem was that I needed an FDA-approved kitchen to sell my products legally, and I didn’t have a storefront. Victoria’s mom knew the people running the local soup kitchen, and they graciously let me use their kitchen at night when nobody was around. That was my life for over a year: going to class and composing during the day, and once or twice a week, making vegan pockets and cookies from ca. 11 pm to 3 am in the morning and then delivering everything with a box on the handlebars of my bike twice a week to the local stores.
My pockets and cookies were a hit and mostly sold out every week. In fact, one week, I was delivering pockets to the co-op, and as I was stocking the cooler, this guy literally pushed me out of the way to grab a handful, probably not knowing I was the one who made them! The pockets flavors included tofu and broccoli in a peanut sauce (to this day, I think my peanut sauce is better than anything on the market), a vegan chili pocket, a tofu scramble breakfast pocket, a mock turkey salad pocket, and a potato and pea curry pocket.
Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies (from my personal vegan cookbook)
This company actually went so well that one of the owners of one of the natural food stores offered to buy me out or partner with me. That was a turning point: I could have ended up having a company like Amy’s and probably be a multi-millionaire or a musician. I obviously chose the latter, but there are definitely moments when I wonder what would have happened had we taken that path. Perhaps we will revisit this idea someday, but there are so many fantastic vegan and vegetarian products, cookbooks, restaurants and stores that we would have to come up with some really interesting products in order to compete with everything that’s out there now, and it keeps getting better, year after year.
If you have never had a gourmet vegan dinner, you have no idea how amazing it can taste. One of my favorite pastimes is cooking vegetarian food for guests. I consider the meal a success if guests say they do not miss animal products or sometimes can not tell if the food I prepared was made with animal products! If you don't believe how good vegan food can be, try one of the recipes in cookbooks like Crossroads, Forks Over Knives—The Cookbook, or The Millennium Cookbook, and there are literally hundreds more. I am certain you will not be disappointed.
There are three main reasons someone usually becomes vegetarian or vegan: the first and probably most talked about is animal cruelty. You would have to be very ignorant not to realize how much pain and suffering animals go through in order to reach your dinner table. I find it interesting that humans process animal flesh in ways that are completely different from how animals kill and eat their prey; a wolf can not use a gas grill, and a mountain lion has no idea what barbecue sauce is.
The second main reason someone becomes vegetarian is to improve their health. Again, you would have to be living in a vacuum to not be aware of all of the positive aspects of eating a plant-based diet. The information is all around you. Almost without exception, there are only two times when you will read literature that supports an animal foods-centered diet: when the literature is from the meat, egg, or dairy industries or when the information is coming from an ill-informed, poorly-trained, not-so-up-to-date nutritionist.
Finally, people become vegetarian because they have figured out how much damage the large-scale consumption of animal products does to this planet. This reason was the single largest reason, at least initially, that I became vegetarian. I was appalled—and still am—at how much-wasted energy and resources go into producing animal products. The depletion of the Ogallala Aquifer is a prime example.
You might think that it could not possibly be that bad, but stop and think for a moment: where does a large portion of water pollution usually come from? Animal waste run-off is one of the largest pollutants in our drinking water. Most farmland is used for growing animal feed. A large percentage of our freshwater supply is used for animals. Many poor people in the world are starving and dying not just because of poor farmland and financial misfortune but because of our enormous greed. Deforestation (primarily for farming and overpopulated areas) is also contributing to global warming.
If everyone in the United States stopped eating animal products and we used the feed given to farm animals to feed people, there would be much less starvation in poorer countries. In fact, there would probably be no starvation in poorer countries. America is essentially hemorrhaging precious resources in order to fuel a careless, national desire for cooked dead animals.
A simple way to make a difference is to eat one vegetarian meal, or vegan meal if possible, in place of a meat-based meal you might normally eat. For example, eat a salad or vegetarian burger for lunch instead of a hamburger. Or, have cereal with fruit and plant-based milk for breakfast instead of bacon and eggs. If everyone in America did this, millions of dollars in resources every year could be diverted to people who are trying to survive, and our water bills, energy bills, and taxes could be lowered.
How could our taxes be lowered, you wonder? According to an article from an article by the Factory Farming Awareness Coalition, “American agribusiness receives about $38 billion annually in federal funding, with only 0.4% of that amount subsidizing the production of fresh fruit and vegetables.” If even half of that federal funding was diverted to vegetable and fruit farmers and businesses producing plant-based alternatives to meat and dairy, millions of Americans would be able to eat healthier meals and not feel compelled to use cost as an excuse for not becoming vegan.
It always fascinates me that our society uses a label for what seems to be an abnormal eating choice: eating a vegetarian diet. It always seems to me that it should be the other way around: vegetarians should be considered normal, and meat eaters should be labeled as "abnormal."
Although I am obviously passionate about being vegan, many excellent books cover much more information than I mention here. One of these books is the previously mentioned Pulitzer Prize-nominated book Diet for a New America by John Robbins. Another recent book is Vegan: The New Ethics of Eating by Erik Marcus. [Note: since I originally wrote this article, an avalanche of books and cookbooks have flooded the market supporting vegan and plant-based diets and lifestyles.]
In the end, a vegan diet is not the cure-all for all of the world's problems. We still need to curb overpopulation and emissions, and you still need to exercise. Obviously, you need to be mentally healthy as well. Eating a vegan diet will not do you much good if your life is full of pain and stress. If you choose to become vegan or vegetarian, you still need to eat a healthy diet. Just as there are some relatively healthy people who eat meat, there are unhealthy vegetarians. In the end, becoming vegan or vegetarian is only one step, but for me, becoming vegan has definitely been a step in the right direction.