meat/carnism
Background: I come from a bengali family so my diet basically consisted of curry with various different meats (lamb, chicken, beef, duck, pigeon and sometimes fish) with some sides like potatos, lentils, flatbread etc. My parents have mostly moved away from meat due to their health but I feel like I’m only getting worse. My university advertises meat and non-vegan foods a lot so it feels impossible for me to switch/don’t know how to switch.
I really want to stop eating meat and sometimes I’m able to not eat meat for a couple days but it doesn’t last because I just give up whenever my parents cook something really nice or I’m eating with friends.
So how do I start a vegan diet and actually stick to it? Mostly looking for starter vegan foods that I can use to wean myself off from my carnism while studying at university.
While some people are adverse to it, there’s a ton of meat substitutes that are very similar and scratch the same itch as their animal derived counterparts, I’m not sure what other countries it’s sold in but if you’re in the states most of Gardein’s products are excellent, I especially like the breaded chickn tenders and orange chickn. Curry is super easy to make vegan just by replacing the meat with tofu.
Eating out/with friends is always going to be difficult to be honest. It’s almost easier to just eat beforehand unless they’re picking the restaurant with you in mind.
As far as snacks or easy meals I enjoy just boiling a bag of frozen edamame and sprinkling on some salt. Hummus is also easy to make in large batches that can be eaten for several days.