RapidBlog: The Fight for the Vegan/Vegetarian Diet, by Angela Topp

Angela Topp is the owner of Treehuggers, earth-friendly retail and green education, with locations both in Holland and Grand Rapids. Lately, she's been working with the folks over at Bartertown to develop a package-free bulk vegan grocery store in the back half of her store. You can learn more and donate to the Kickstarter here. Read Angela's Rapid Growth profile here.

When I became vegetarian 10 years ago, I did not do it for health reasons. I was 20 years old and passionate about animal rights, but my diet consisted of Burger King, Taco Bell and chicken fingers -- lots and lots of chicken fingers. I actually went through with it because I was told I would not be able to stick with it longer than a week, but I committed because I no longer wanted to be a part of factory farming. Ten years later, I am getting the last laugh. But it took a lot of research, patience and some tears being shed to get there. What I failed to realize was just how many times my heart would be broken along the way, and how much of our food system is built around meat and unhealthy food.

I realize that becoming a vegetarian or vegan is a choice. My husband very politely reminds me of this frequently when we dine out or shop. I also realize that a vegan/vegetarian diet is not for everyone, and I would never expect the entire world to jump on board. You certainly can argue, though, that even if you are a meat eater, our diets should be more alike than they are different. So if we are supposed to be getting most of our nutrition from plant-based sources, why are there not more grocery stores and restaurants catering to a plant-based diet?

Vegetarians and vegans are just happy to be offered a choice, no matter how terrible of a choice it is. I cannot tell you how many restaurants at which I've eaten where the only choice on the menu was a grilled cheese sandwich made with white bread, American cheese and French fries, or how many labels I have looked at that need a dictionary to decipher. Our grocery stores (even the health food stores) and restaurants mainly cater to meat eaters. Fake meats in a can and frozen veggie burgers with 50-some ingredients is not part of a sustainable diet, and neither is a condiment sandwich that has iceberg lettuce, canned olives, canned mushrooms, cheese and mayo.

A perfect example of this would be Buffalo Wild Wings. What is the point in offering a black bean burger if they are going to cook it on a grill next to beef burgers, use the same spatula and then cook my fries in beef fat and in the same oil as they cook hundreds of chicken wings? BWW is sending a very mixed message about where their priorities fall. I am picking on Buffalo Wild Wings because they are probably one of the worst offenders of sustainability, but more restaurants are like them than they are different -- factory-framed meat and tomatoes all year round that will never compare to ones bought in season at the farmers market. You could argue that they are not offering very sustainable options for anyone and you would be right, but to pretend to cater to non-meat eaters  and then sneak meat into their diets is just plain scandalous and unfortunately, far too common.

I personally feel restaurants who do this should know that as the veg eater in my group of friends and family, I am the one who picks where we eat. I am always asked, "Where can we go where you can get something?” I rattle off a list of subpar options and they choose from that list. Why does it have to be so hard?, I always find myself asking. I try to be like your everyday person, but as my knowledge and beliefs become more rooted that list just keeps getting smaller and smaller to the point where it would be easier to just stay home.

Grocery stores are really no better. Most of them are aisle after aisle of canned goods and prepackaged garbage -- things no one should be eating. I read once that when shopping at any traditional grocery store, you should only shop the perimeters and never venture in the middle aisles. It seems like every store I visit, that fact has always been true, no matter how healthy they claim to be. Most of the store is fluff -- not nutritious, not sustainable and not really veg friendly.

As vegans and vegetarians, we need to fight for our diet and support stores and restaurants that support us. Restaurants that go out of their way to offer healthy and sustainable veg options and if they serve meat, take extra steps to ensure that our food does not come in contact with meat. Grocery stores need to boycott products that have modified and overly processed ingredients and focus on bringing in local, organic produce and items that are in season that both meat eaters and plant-based eaters can enjoy. For me, the toughest change to make, but probably the most important, is to cook more at home with real ingredients and not look to the quick convenience foods for nutrition. Real ingredients that make real meals is how we should be eating.

Ten years later, I finally feel like I’m on the right path to eating sustainably, and I wish I learned these lessons years ago. It is a hard path to go down, but we kind of did it to ourselves by putting up with terrible options and being excited to just have something -- anything -- to eat. By supporting local farmers and local restaurants, bakeries and grocery, we can find healthier and more sustainable options. We need to become foodies.