I would consider myself a semi-vegan, genuine vegans will get very angry at me for using this term, but basically this means that I’m not a vegan but I do make an effort to be mostly vegan.
What I mean by this is that I do subscribe to a vegan diet that doesn’t use animal products in any form. However, I find this a restrictive and difficult diet to follow for busy people. Now, there’s no problem when cooking for yourself at home or whipping up lunches to take into work with you. However, we all know that this can be diffcult to do on a consistent basis. Everyone sometimes forgets their lunch or doesn’t want the leftovers from the night before.
As a semi-vegan I allow myself to eat dairy products and fish when I’m not cooking for myself at home. I’m not even going to pretend that eating fish is ethically, morally or environmentally sound (I know full well it isn’t – go and discover End of the Line in either film or book form for a good account of why) but I allow myself this little indulgence from time to time (maybe once a month?) to keep things fresh. As far as dairy goes, I will tend to eat a dairy based meal whenever I go out to eat (maybe once a week?) because, although the availability of vegan food has come on leaps and bounds I like to have a choice of more than one dish.
Now, I know this isn’t what being a vegan is all about. It’s the only way (after about five years of trying to do it) that I can cope with a vegan diet. Maybe as I get older I’ll get better, maybe i’ll get worse. At the moment this is what works for me and I like it. Overall I reckon I’m about 90% vegan and if everyone in the world lived like me, it would make it a better place.
