The only regret is that I didn’t become vegan sooner

June lives in Paris, France. She is a vegan graphic designer and a volunteer at Nature Rights. She enjoys sharing vegan recipes on IG. Meatless Movement recently had a chance to chat with her.

Tell us more about yourself please

Hi! I’m June, a 27 year old French vegan woman with Chinese, Laotian and Cambodian origins. I live in a city located between Paris & Disneyland! I’m a graphic designer and an illustrator. I’m also a volunteer for a charity about nature rights and protecting indigenous peoples. 

Being an activist for animals is something I want to do more

juneseason

6 years ago, I turned vegetarian and I became vegan in October 2020. I’ve been almost entirely fully vegan since 2020, but I was still very addicted to cheese. I’m so happy that I stopped dairy. Being an activist for animals is something I want to do more.

I was on instagram and saw a graphic photo of a lamb with a cut throat. I was shocked to have this on my feed. It was from an vegan activist account.

In her comment section I could see that she was very “extreme” by insulting people who wasn’t ok with that so I added a comment to say “hey. It’s ok, you can be vegan – but please don’t show these kinds of photos, we don’t want to see that and don’t want to be forced. Let people eat what they want! This is not how you turn people vegan”. That person replied to me and said something like “if you let people eat what they want, then they won’t even think about what’s wrong”.

She DMd me and gave me some documentaries and articles to read. I thanked her but didn’t look at them. But she definitely planted a seed because one week after I decided to research the meat industry on youtube and websites.

I started to buy soy and almond milk, cut down on meat little by little, reduced my egg consumption, and began to care about cruelty-free and vegan cosmetics… Eliminating cheese was the hardest part for me, but here I am now!

Misconceptions and myths about being vegan

People think that veg people will automatically have deficiencies because of the food they eat but that’s not true especially when you know that omnivores can have deficiencies as well. Alimentation is something you learn. When you’re born, you don’t know what to eat, that’s why you have to educate yourself and others. See what your body needs and doesn’t need.

Cook, be curious, have food in vegan restaurants, or I’ll bring some food to let them try. They’re usually so happy to try something new and realize that it’s the same taste and textures minus the cruelty.

What are some common problems when dining out as a vegan?

At first, I didn’t want to bother others. I kept eating fish for 5 months, and it became the only option when I was invited to a restaurant or a meal. It’s funny because at this time I thought it was less cruel to eat fish. I didn’t even know the term “spiciest”. Then I stopped eating fish, ditched eggs and milk and realized how hard it was for others to cook something without milk, eggs, or even have food in a conventional restaurant.

I feel happy with myself and with my values.

juneseason

To continue and to realize how impacting and important this choice is. Maybe it will be hard at first, sometimes you’ll make mistakes (having food and not seeing that there is milk powder or egg whites.)

We all have already done this by mistake! But keep going if this is what you want. You can be vegan for the animals but also for your health or the environment. 

Best vegan restaurants in Paris

So many places in Paris, we have a nice vegan scene. My top recommendations include

L’embuscade – Yasa

 Plan D – Sundae & the Dwich red & violet

 Mori Café : Fried king oyster mushrooms and dessert black sesame ice cream and churros

Potager de Charlotte : Grilled Romaine lettuce with black cream & Chick pea rice pancake + dessert : Chocolate baked pear 

 Furahaa (gluten free burger)

 BrEAThe Montorgueil : makis and seitan teriyaki + butternut maki.

Share with us your favourite vegan meal ideas and recipes

One of my favourite foods to make is the simply bolognese pasta with scrambled tofu or tempeh and tomato sauce.

Pizza is also so good and easy to do and we can put so many ingredients on it.

Fried yuba is also a must – that’s soy skin and you just put a batter on it and season it. It looks like fried chicken!

We can make sandwich, yummy creamy cheesy sauce. General tao (rice and tofu) takes pretty long to make but the results are so good. The recipe is from La Cuisine de Jean-Philipe Cyr 

Go vegan and be empathetic!

juneseason

I would say that the most noticeable differences since becoming vegan have been the positive effects on my health, both mentally and physically. I lost weight, I felt mental clarity, and just knowing that I was not consuming products that had caused animals suffering put my mind and heart more at ease. I also knew that I could never been with a non vegan partner anymore.

Go vegan and be empathic! Much love.

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your 🇨🇵 Ⓥegan friend 🌱 she/her

Blogger
Veg +6 yo
😸Food : @Juneseason
🎨 Illustrations : @itsjuneseason
🌍 Volunteer for @nature.rights
🌼 Child-free | Stop ecocide
✉️ Collab: Email/DM: itsjuneseason@gmail.com