So, what DO vegans eat?

Emma has an existentialist breakdown

So today I met up with Taegan, an old school friend, in the Alley Cafe. It was great to catch up with her again, and to eat cake, of course. (We had chocolate biscuit cake. Mmm...) All in all, it was a lovely afternoon, until that one terrible moment, when, on the bus on the way home, Taegan told me about her reaction the first time she'd read my blog. Apparently the main thought going through her head was, "Oh, so is Emma a hipster these days?"

Noooooooooo!

Being vegan has various occupational hazards, mainly stereotypes about being angry and militant or a malnourished hippy. I can deal with these. But hipster? Please, no! Upon returning home, I sought out my brother, Ed, who's basically the internet in human form, to ask for a list of hipster-ish things to do, so I could do the opposite. But apparently that in itself is quite a hipster-ish thing to do. I mean, it's not like I'm really bothered what people think of me... Just so long as they don't think I'm a hipster...

And this is the point at which I had an existentialist breakdown.

Is that even okay to say? Or does that sound like something a hipster would say? I mean, I am vegan... And even worse, although I haven't bought anything non-vegan since October, up until June-ish, I did occasionally slip up and eat non-vegan food if it belonged to someone else, but I still called myself vegan. That probably makes me a poser, hey. I watch foreign films... I'm slightly odd... Sometimes I buy organic food... I don't like being labelled... And oh no! We have a record player! And, worst of all, I just realised that my Facebook profile picture is of me when I was little, wearing my Dad's incredibly huge glasses... And there was me just thinking it was a cute photo...

But no, I'm fine, I'm okay, I don't need to worry, right? I mean, I didn't even know what a hipster was until Ed told me a couple of months ago. And I've not used the word "ironic" since my A Level English Literature exam. I gave up on sarcasm years ago; any attempts I made always failed. I'm just too nice to be smug. Instead of pretending I always know what I'm talking about, I have a fantastic ability to give the impression that I haven't got a clue what's going on. Even when I've just been reading up on a topic the day before, I tend to feel unqualified to give my opinion until I've researched it just a little more. And surely it's okay to watch Spanish films if you're studying for a degree in Spanish? And I may be odd, but I'm odd in a weird little Emma-ish kind of way, not in a "look at me, aren't I cool?" kind of way; I've never been cool. I mean, my hair is an actual mess, not the kind that took several hours to style. I don't wear vintage clothes and tight jeans; I prefer to go for borderline-boring and comfortable. And until finding this photo, I didn't realise I'd ever worn such glasses.

And me liking vegan cake so much is just an Emma thing, not a hipster thing, right? I don't need to stop writing this blog... Right?

Even mini-Emma's starting to look worried...

Emma ponders stereotypes

Mini-Emma ponders cake

Well, it's been a while since I've written anything, but I do feel I've had a good excuse; for a while after we moved into our new house, we didn't have either the internet or a usable oven. However, all that changed when Gary, the professional oven cleaner, was sent round to work his magic. He did an amazing job and by the end of around two and a half hours, our oven was bright, sparkling and seaweedy fresh once more. While he was cleaning, we had a nice chat about his eco-friendly cleaning products, my degree, and the time he saw a vegan on an episode of 'Come Dine With Me'. He'd been impressed by the aubergine curry she'd made and we discussed how actually, in spite of what some people seem to think, there's a whole world of exciting non-animal food out there which everyone, vegans and non-vegans alike, can enjoy.

Speaking of stereotypes about vegans, I generally imagine that people think of vegans as either really weak and anaemic (actually, herbivores are no more likely to suffer from iron deficiency than omnivores [1] [2] [3]), or really angry and militant. (I've met very few such people, and I reckon that if there are any angry vegans out there, they're just not getting enough cake... Then again, perhaps they do have good cause for being angry...?) But anyway, I was catching up with an old friend this evening and he told me that his stereotype of a vegan is someone really happy and at peace with the world. I quite like that idea. Vegan cake makes me happy, anyway. Not only is it, you know, cake, but I can enjoy it even more in the knowledge that the ingredients caused minimal suffering on their way into the mixing bowl.

Teehee, I even told someone the other day that I turned vegan for the cake. It's as good a reason as any, I reckon. Stay tuned for more cake recipes any day now!

Emma considers life, the universe and cake

Hello there and welcome to my blog. My name's Emma and I'd like to share with you my news. Last September, two very important things happened in my life and, super organised as ever, I immediately set up a blog to write about them.

Firstly, I moved up north to Leeds to start university. Secondly, as a consequence of this, I stopped eating eggs and dairy products. I'd already been vegetarian for about five years, but my Mum wasn't overly keen on the idea of a vegan daughter. (I mean, what do these vegans eat, apart from lettuce leaves?) So, upon achieving independence, far away from the confines of parental boundaries, I took my chance for rebellion.

"Where does cake fit into all of this?", you might ask. Well, I once heard someone say that vegans tend to get more excited about cake than "normal" people. In my experience, this has turned out to be true. The vast majority of cake that people buy and bake isn't vegan, so perhaps, at first, the new vegan begins to prepare themself to exchange cake for ethics (which are considerably less edible). The discovery that instead, we can simply exchange butter for vegetable spread, eggs for banana/vegetable oil/flaxseed/etc. and cows for soya/oats/rice/almonds/quinoa/etc. certainly contributes to the aforementioned overexcitement. In short, we can have our cake, and eat it too!

But then again, who doesn't find cake exciting? I sure always have!

Mini-Emma, aged 2, bakes a cake with her Mummy

Stay tuned as I begin my photo journal of my cake baking adventures over the next few weeks.

Love xxxx