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THE ALLEYNIAN 710
With plant-based eating increasingly popular both here in the UK and worldwide, Zac Broughton (Year 11) decided to go vegan for the whole of Eco Week; Francis McCabe (Year 11) talked to Zac about the experience
The word ‘vegan’ often provokes a negative response, with some people imagining all vegans to be overbearing moralists trying to force their own choices on others. Going vegan is a little more complex than simply following a vegetarian diet; vegans choose to eliminate from their lives not only meat, fish, dairy and other animal produce, but also any products that have either been tested on animals or have animal products within them. Vegans have to manage not only their diet, but also the products they use for personal hygiene and grooming; many beauty products contain things like carmine, lanolin, collagen, tallow and even beeswax. I had many questions in my mind as I prepared to interview Zac: will we be increasingly encouraged to go vegan? Is it something that may be more prevalent in the near future? Will it save our planet?
Did you become vegan for a week simply for DC Eco Week, or has it been something you’ve always wanted to do? It´s always been something I´ve wanted to try because I hear loads of people say, ‘Oh going vegan is really hard,’ but I wanted to actually see for myself, so I guess I was always planning to give it a go at one point. Eco Week gave me a push in the right direction. What was your protein source while you were vegan, given you were choosing not to eat our most favoured sources of protein, such as chicken, red meat, eggs and cheese? There are actually loads of protein sources that don’t involve fish or meat. Tofu (bean curd) is really good and so are lentils and beans, which are easily accessible and cheap protein sources.
Did you notice any immediate health or mental impacts? Either positive or negative? No. I didn’t notice anything immediate. Would you ever consider doing it again for a longer period of time or going fully vegan?
Definitely, definitely. The main reason I did it was to reduce my carbon footprint. I did some research and found that through going vegan you can reduce your carbon footprint by 73%, making it the best single lifestyle change you can make in order to reduce your carbon footprint.
Did it cost more for you to consume a healthy and balanced diet while being vegan? Admittedly yes, because foods like tofu can actually be quite expensive.
And which was your favourite? Probably tofu. Although it’s the hardest to cook, it is by far the tastiest.
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