At Clorofil, we’ve been vegan for almost a decade. I grew up in France where eating meat, dairy, and eggs was the norm. And although I made at a young age the connection between the animals and the food we ate, I was strongly dissuaded from acting on my feelings.
It was only 30 years later when adopting my first dog that I remade that connection and stopped eating animals. Becoming a vegetarian in California wasn’t that hard. The melting pot of cultures made amazing vegetarian food available in all restaurants and stores.
When we finally bought a home, we brought some chickens in our backyard for “happy eggs” and thought about goats for “good milk”. While researching dairy goats, I realized that I needed to get the goat pregnant and remove her baby every year so I could drink her milk. As a female mammal myself, it is shocking I didn’t realize that before! We immediately stopped consuming dairy. That was hard because cheese, butter, and cream are so ingrained in French cooking. Shortly after, we stopped eating eggs and became fully vegan.
It may seem hard or even impossible to change what we eat. Not only have our taste buds been trained to eat a certain type of food, but eating is a very social activity. Lots of our traditions are centered around food.
It’s for this reason that I started sharing my culinary adventures in La Cuisine de Clorofil. It’s a series of lighthearted cooking videos sharing plant-based recipes with a French twist. I particularly focus on replacing eggs and dairy as that was my challenge.
I am also organizing tasting workshop and giving cooking demos. Join us for our two next events: our New Year’s cooking demo on January 10th, and a meat-less workshop on February 25th. Check out our calendar for details.
There are several ways to get started on your vegan journey. One way is to first reduce the amount of animal products, then slowly replace them, and finally fully embrace plant-based foods. But lots of people actually find it easier to go all in for a month or two. Here are two really good vegan challenges I recommend. They guide and support you along the way.
I hope you will sign up. Being vegan was one of the best decisions I ever made, and if you ever need extra support, feel free to contact me at isabelle@clorofil.org.