April 11, 2010, would have marked four years that I became a vegan. I say would have because in the beginning of December 2009, I started transitioning into being a vegetarian.
Why the change?
It all started when a waiter at a local restaurant screwed up my request for no cheese on my salad. As I debated internally on whether to make a "fuss" about it and send the salad back, I just kept quite and ate it. Why did I give in? I honestly have no idea, but at that moment, somehow I rationalized with myself that it was ok (it's not like it was a piece of dead chicken in my salad...it was only shredded cheddar cheese.) And boy, at that moment, that cheese looked so good, that I gave in to my craving for it.
Now throughout my stint as a vegan I've always craved things vegans shouldn't really be craving: cheese, fish, chicken, ice cream, buffalo wings, etc., etc., but then again I've never been a traditional vegan (I've never denied the true awesomeness of how delicious animals taste...I just made a very conscious and ethical decision not to eat them.)
I've always taken pride in my complete commitment to veganism. It was really a test of my will power and a test to see if I could be faithful to a cause and passion that I believed in so strongly that I was willing to make personal sacrifices for. And while my heart, emotion and passion rage on, my body is beginning to revolt against the restrictive lifestyle.
And since I don't have any desire to return to an omnivore diet (I could never eat meat now without feeling guilty) and in efforts to not completely sabotage my four years, I decided that being a ovo-lacto vegetarian (vegetarian who also eats eggs & dairy) would be the best option for me, at this point in my life.
This new transition into being a ovo-lacto vegetarian, will be held with the same high standards that I kept for myself as a vegan. That means I will only consume eggs and dairy that have been ethically produced from: organic (cage-free, grass-fed hens) and (grass-fed humanely raised cows).
And just because I'm not, as a friend likes to say, a "pure vegan" or "100% vegan" anymore, doesn't mean my passion for animals to be humanely treated has waned. It still remains strong as ever.
So that's it folks...I'm vegan no mo.
Which has lead me to another predicament of sorts...my Twitter handle.
Since I'm not a veagn anymore, I can't really call myself "Veganjacob" anymore now can I?
So after some suggestions from my beloved twitterati, I decided it was high time that I changed my handle.
And while I liked, LOLed and disapproved (you know who *YOU* are) all your suggestions, I've made the executive decision to make my new handle...
I chose this handle mainly for three reasons:
- I don't want my handle to "typecast" me again. While I thoroughly enjoyed being known as "the vegan," in my social circles, sometimes that's all people saw about me...and that got real old, real quick.
- "MoJo" was a nickname a good friend gave me years ago and was the username I used for the first email account I ever signed up for when I was a teenager. I felt so grown up having my own private online space that my parents didn't even know about. So "MoJo" definitely has some sentimental value. And personally, I think it has a nice ring to it.
- I really wanted "MoJacob" but can you believe that someone else beat me to the punch?! Dang her! The last time she tweeted was in July '09! *grrr*
I hope this clears up any questions you all may have had because guess what folks?
...that's all she wrote!
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4 comments:
I totally understand. Been there done that decades ago (Old enuff to be your moth--er, aunt, ok, big sister :) )
I remember when eating Dairy and eggs was ok before the horror stories started of how things were raised and even if you THINK it's "Organic/cagefree/freerange" it ain't...sigh.
As a militant VEGAN musician told me Sunday...either you can eat animals from "Humanely raised concentrated camps, or horribly cruel concentration camps". Ouch! I admire his passion but I need my protein..and whether milk or meat, sadly, it's all too complicated as you well know.
I do the best I can but sometimes you can only say a little prayer for the food on the plate, and stay ENLIGHTENED and write letters AGAINST MEGA FARMING!
(Not to mention against animal EXPLOITATION,circuses, carriage horses, racing, etc) I do my part in letter writing whenever I can. Babysteps is better than just shrugging & feeling powerless to me. . .
Also for dairy, cornucopia.org is a great site for "true ethics" rating systems for those unfamiliar.
With any name, Mojo, you will still be the same sweet, fun, spunky spirit on Twitter that I hope to get to meet soon face to face.
Be well and enjoy that cheese omelet.
:)
Sophia
You wanted to be known as a "Mo"? Mojo is better.
@sophia: thanks for your words.
believe me, as a staunch vegan for four years, i've definitely done my research about today's agribusinesses (and worked for) various animal rights orgs. so i know what's going on out there. if i do consume anything, i'm making sure that the animals are okay.
@mr.thoms: thanks for your approval. i can sleep better at night now.
@健康保寶: you've always had such a way with words *be still my heart*
Great description. Sometimes it just happens.
A few months ago I had wings sitting on the counter in front of my vegetarian gal pal. I didn't wave them in front of her face or anything. We had eaten together a million times. Next thing I knew she was digging in! I almost yelled out "what the heck are you doing!?" I didn't though.
Her body had been in a bit of a revolt too, so she had been pondering the conversion anyways. But, I didn't know that until later!
Anyhow, now I catch her eating some totally nasty fast food way too often. Eww! I think she's trying to relive her last few years of meat deprivation or something. Totally not the way to go out!
Glad to hear that you are still trying to keep those boundaries that made you vegan in the first place!
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