Obviously, I don’t want to feed my children chicken nuggets, and they’ve both expressed independently that they don’t want meat

At the age of 15, Sara made the decision to become a vegetarian. Her parents were not supportive of her choice, telling her that she would need to find her own sources of protein. Sara took this challenge and learned to love beans, lentils and tofu, and the rest is history.

Meatless Movement recently had a chat with her. Sarah told us that the main reason she went vegetarian was her love for animals, but she also found that she felt healthier after giving up meat.

Please tell us more about yourself, please

Happier for being vegan!
Sara

Hi there, I’m Sara and I live in Western Scotland, though I am originally from America, specifically Florida. I grew up a typical beach bunny and very much a Florida girl. I moved to Southern California in my early 20s to get a Masters degree and then moved to the Scotland to get my PhD. It was here I met my husband, and we are now happily living in his home town on the West Coast of Scotland, with our two boys.

I became vegetarian pretty early on in life. I was 15 and just decided out of the blue I didn’t want to eat meat anymore. I remember my parents being pretty unsupportive of this decision, telling me I’d need to buy my own sources of protein, so I did, I learned to love beans, lentils and tofu pretty quickly. I already had a love of many fruits and vegetables and being in Tampa, I was lucky to have good access to both, as well as some little hippy shops where I could get meatless treats and beauty products. I think my father was particularly upset, because we used to go fishing quite a bit, and this was something I now no longer wished to do. I know the biggest reason I went vegetarian was because of my love of animals but I found I felt better after giving up meat, a lot healthier.

Throwing back to the time I was a chicken mommy. A very unusual but special friendship.
Sara

Fast forward a fair few years and having read about the egg and dairy industry, I decided I wanted to adopt some hens. My husband was very against this at first but in time we grew to love them. I was still vegetarian at this point, eating minimal diary and eggs, and only the eggs my hens laid, but still partaking. Then I had my second son, and as I was breastfeeding him for the first time in the hospital, and in the midst of feeling so much love for my little boy, my mind suddenly went to dairy cows. I felt immense grief for the mothers who give birth, as I had just done, and were feeding their calves, only to have them ripped away.

At that moment I instantly felt a huge wave of empathy for these creatures and I gave up dairy then and there. Soon after I also gave up eggs and I felt brilliant! I had never felt so energised and healthy. I follow a mostly whole foods, plant based diet and love to cook from scratch so I enjoy an array of plants, though I do sometimes indulge in vegan sweets and burgers.

… just for some vegan fun, food, ideas and banter!
Sara

My, very meat loving, husband saw how much going vegan improved my energy, I was running farther and smashing my fitness goals, and he decided to give Veganuary a try this year, and he loved it so much, he hasn’t gone back, so now were both vegan. Our children have both expressed their desire to not eat meat so my oldest is a vegetarian and my youngest is a vegan. I admire them so much for coming to such a decision so young, I have always wanted to support their decisions regarding their diets (because my parents did not) so am thrilled they have made this choice for themselves.

Pasta, mushrooms, oatly cream, mushroom stock, salt, garlic and (optional) a little flour and/or silken tofu to thicken sauce.

Made sticky toffee pudding using @lovingitvegan recipe, turned out absolutely glorious!

On a side note, both of my sons are autistic, the youngest non-verbal, and he developed such a special bond with one of our hens. They’re such odd pals but its so sweet when he takes me by the hand to the chicken run to open it for them so he can let his favour girl out. And they just sit near each other, its quite extraordinary.

Pesto pasta with spinach and samphire and home made garlic bread. 😋

Living near Glasgow, being vegan is pretty easy, Glasgow is extremely vegan friendly. Truth be told though, I prefer cooking and exploring new recipes. I’m always still learning, so I’m finding new recipes all the time.

The only thing I find hard about being vegan is the responses I get from non-vegans, so many stupid jokes and quips that I just don’t find funny, thankfully I have a thick skin. I do also find it hard that meat eating is still so ingrained in our culture, but it gives me hope to see the number of people going vegan growing by the day.