January 6

By Alice Shopland, founder of Angel Food

I’m marking Veganuary 2025 by publishing a blog post a day.

I’d always loved the challenge of cooking within certain parameters, and I jumped into learning about vegan cooking. As well as wanting to eat well myself, I felt a big responsibility to present veganism in a positive light to friends and family, because veganism seemed pretty close to miraculous in terms of its huge positive impact on animals, humans and the environment.

There were very few vegan cookbooks available in Aotearoa New Zealand back in 2004, and of course, this was in the time before Facebook (imagine!). Vegan food blogs, mainly from the United States, were vital sources of information and inspiration, as were Aotearoa New Zealand-specific email chat groups. Veganzchat was the biggest and busiest of these, a great source of information but also a hotbed of ludicrous ideas, rabid conspiracy theories and vicious arguments. One guy insisted that semen was a great source of B12 and that regular vegan orgies would ensure we all got our ration of B12. He may have been joking or he may have been trying his luck, I really don’t know.

The other email chat group that had a big impact on me was Vegfamilies, which was a mixture of vegetarians and vegans and which I fondly remember as consistently lovely, supportive and sensible. With veganism being so far outside the mainstream 20 years ago, it was a relief to hang out, in person or online, with others who shared a similar worldview. Veganism is still not ‘normal’ today, but at least most people now have some idea what it means and they’re less likely to be prejudiced against it.

One of the things that was discussed many times in those groups was society’s cognitive dissonance when it comes to animals: how it’s accepted that you can love animals but still be involved in their exploitation. For example, most people say they love animals but in fact, it is usually only pet animals they love. Someone in New Zealand might be disgusted by the consumption of dog meat in Korea, but not consider the pig that died for their bacon sandwich. It’s easy to criticise the habits of other cultures, but harder to examine our own culture and make changes. Although I want people to wake up and care about farmed animals, I believe we need a good dose of cognitive dissonance in our lives: it's essential for maintaining one’s sanity. Absolute moral consistency is not achievable. If we were to care equally about all the ills of the world, we would all collapse into sad little puddles and be no use to anybody. Being human is complicated: we need empathy but also need to limit our empathy.

Becoming vegan and staying vegan in a world where animal exploitation is the norm has been an emotional journey. Initially, there was exhilaration at the feeling of pieces falling into the right place and being part of making things better. This was followed by frustration that most people didn’t want to know. I’ve mostly not fallen out with people, but I have felt distanced from many formerly close people because they don’t share the worldview that is a key part of me. Now, after two decades of living vegan, my emotional boat is mostly on calm waters. I feel incredibly frustrated that people are concerned about climate change but fail to make the connection with animal agriculture and their own food choices, but I know that people will not change until they’re ready. I also feel guilty for not having done enough to make a difference, not having said the right things to the right people at the right time to help them embrace veganism.

I appreciate how becoming vegan has enabled me to open my heart and embrace my naturally caring self. I was raised to be quite unemotional and was more comfortable with sarcasm than sentimentality, so this has been a scary process that is still ongoing.

I did not go vegan for my health, but I did notice two immediate positive impacts on my health when I made the change. Firstly, my skin, which had always been prone to pimples, was much clearer. Secondly, I caught fewer colds and when I did get a cold it was milder and less gunky. I put both of these impacts down to my formerly high dairy consumption. When I do get sick, I take the relevant medication regardless of whether it is vegan (hens’ eggs are often used as a growth medium for vaccines and many tablets contain lactose). I’m not comfortable with it, but because we live in a society where animal use is generally considered okay, the vegan options are limited. I do my best to live a vegan life in this non-vegan world, but I don’t think it’s productive for me to neglect my health by declining the medicine I need.