Growing up in a household where her mum had embraced vegetarianism since the late ’80s, Bekki effortlessly navigated between meat and vegetarian options.
However, the plot thickened at 16 when curiosity led her back to the world of meat. University life brought budget constraints, pushing her back into the arms of meat alternatives. It was a twist in her culinary tale when budget constraints collided with a deep dive into the factory farming industry during her university days, propelling her towards a pescatarian phase.
Now, having completed a full circle, Bekki finds herself rooted once again in the world of vegetarianism. Her story is a testament to the ever-evolving relationship many share with their dietary choices.
Please tell us more about yourself
I’m currently on a one year break from work travelling
Bekki 🌻
Hey I’m Bekki, 30 years old and originally from the Wirral in the North West. Last year I left my job and packed up my life in London to do something I’ve always wanted to do, travel the world! It’s been 7 months and I’ve roadtripped from the east to the west coast of Canada, hiking in the most beautiful places along the way, and currently I’m making my way through Central/South America.
Tell us what makes you turned vegan. How long have you been one?
My experience with vegetarianism hasn’t been linear. I first decided to stop eating meat around the age of 8, which I realise now to be quite young but for me, it was a no brainer. I’ve always been an animal lover and couldn’t bear the thought of eating them, plus I was so fussy and often didn’t like the texture. My mum has been a vegetarian since the late 80’s, so it was an easy transition for me as I grew up in a house where there was always a meat and vegetarian version of each dish. However, I found myself wanting to try meat again at the age of 16 and went back to eating it until I started university in my early 20’s. Being on a tighter budget meant I could no longer afford the higher quality products I would usually buy so I went back to buying meat alternatives. It was when I started researching further into the factory farming industry that I decided to go pescatarian and now I’ve gone full circle to vegetarian again!
How do you feel about being a vegan? What are some misconceptions about a vegan? How do you explain or educate?
I love eating a mainly plant based diet. Not only do I enjoy cooking and experimenting with whole foods (lentils, chickpeas, beans, tofu etc) based recipes, I feel good about what I put into my body. I like to stay active and knowing that I’m fuelling it with unprocessed raw foods free from added antibiotics makes me feel confident about my health. The standard misconceptions I’ve heard are along the lines of ‘but where do you get your protein?’. It takes a little more research but basing your meals around protein rich wholefoods like tofu or tempeh and then snacking on things like nuts and seeds really helps you to reach your protein goals. Whether you’re training or not, a scoop of protein powder in a smoothie is another way to achieve this. Often people forget that alot of protein in our diets comes from things like rice and pasta too, although it’s not always the first thing that comes to mind.
What are some challenges faced in finding vegan food? or eating out with friends, etc. How do you overcome these?
One of the good things about being a vegetarian or vegan in the UK now is that there’s more choice than ever before and it’s not often difficult to find somewhere with options. Saying that, it can definitely be more problematic in more regional areas. I once tried to get some lunch in a coastal village and almost everything was unsuitable, even the chips from the local fish and chip shop were cooked in beef dripping!
It’s definitely easier to be catered for in a city, with most restaurants offering at least 1 vegan option and a couple of vegetarian options, although it would nice to see an improvement on this. Whenever visiting a new area, if possible, me and my partner will chooese vegetarian or vegan restaurants solely for the reason of more choice. However, I’m also aware that my experience comes from the perspective of someone who has lived in one of the most vegan friendly cities in in the world, so those in regional areas may still disagree with me.
I still think finding options when travelling isn’t easy depending on the country. Local dishes can be primarily meat based ruling out certain restauraunts/ street food options. If I’m visiting somewhere for longer than a week, I try and book somewhere with self catering facilities so that I’m not constantly eating the same thing. Even so when self catering, many high protein products like tofu aren’t readily available in local stores or are imported with a much higher price. This is the case Central America, I’ve only seen tofu in one supermarket over the last 3 months so I’m relying heavily on lentils and beans for my protein. Their local dishes can often easily be made by foregoing the meat and having vegetables with rice, beans and usually some plantain which is really tasty.
For all of the amazing experiences it brings, one downside of travelling is seeing how animals are poorly treated. Cultures are completely different which can make you feel pretty hopeless and depressed. Hopefully in time this will change but it ultimately confirms my confidence in my diet choice and that one day it will be more integrated worldwide.
To someone who’s just beginning to go meatless, what is your advice?
If someone was interested in going vegetarian or vegan, I’d advise them to cut down their meat consumption to a few days a week and to have a look at some new recipes instead. My partner went vegetarian 2 years ago and it challenged him to be more creative with cooking instead of just having meat, rice and vegetables! Meat replacements are also so good these days that even my meat loving dad has been shocked at some of the alternatives taste and texture, or you can sub meat for something like beans/lentils instead. I’d also recommend looking into vitamins, particurarly b12/iron which are generally in most multivitamins. Algae derived vegan omega 3 tablets are also available which is something your body definitely needs.
London has an amazing food scene, with one of my favourites being Dishoom – you just can’t go wrong! The food is flawless every single time and my personal favourites dishes are the house black dahl(pictured), chilli broccoli salad (pictured) and the okra fries. I always end up over ordering and having leftovers for lunch the next day because there’s always something that I want to try.
There’s also a fully vegetarian/vegan restaurant that’s a little more high end called The Gate. I’ve been meaning to return but I remember the food being immaculate (pictured – can’t remember the name of the dish!). Chinese food in London has also stepped up it’s game. North London is home to Tofu vegan and Planet Vegan which both have dishes that taste like meat, no idea how they do it!
I also have a couple of instagram pages to share the food that I love. Veggiefoodonthemove I recently started to help out anyone who’s travelling where to get vegetarian/vegan food. Plus it also highlights the local food combinations! Vegetarianproteinmeals is another I use to share recipes and inpire people to make high protein meals.
Going vegetarian/vegan is a learning curve and it’s okay if you’re not perfect to start off with. Transitioning takes time, remember the reasons that you started.
Bekki 🌻
Finding the best veggie/vegan places as I travel 🌎
Backpacking around Central/South America
Currently in Colombia 🇨🇴
all images courtesy of Bekki 🌻