Vegan – a person who does not use or eat animal products. [ˈvēɡən]

Veganism is a way of living which looks out for animal lives by removing all forms of cruelty to animals such as for food, clothing or any other purpose.

Sage Fessenden is in-between on vegans and omnivores. She tells me that she sees the health benefits and how it helps the ecosystem. If someone wants to be vegan, they have every right to ‘protest’ not eating meat or using any animal products.

Jacqueline Tinga says that she can’t even talk to a vegan without getting frustrated in the slightest. Here is a direct quote: “I don’t understand how they could live the way they do… Honestly it’s like they’re inhuman. Oh, and making ‘vegan’ meat kinda defeats the purpose, don’t ya think? I get that it’s for a good cause, but we are human beings and we’ve survived off of animal products for the longest time.”

I talked to Emma Bowles. She has given me perfect insight on veganism. Here’s what we discussed:

Q: How do you feel about being vegan?

A: I really like it. I believe that it’s my identity. It’s my way of boycotting [the harming of] animals lives.

Q: Do people judge you for being vegan?

A: I don’t get offended by it but, yes I get judged a lot. It also bothers me people can be that rude to purposely tell me about animal slaughter and hunting to offend me and it is ridiculous people can’t just ignore me when I never provoked them in the first place.

Q:What do you think you’d do if you were not vegan?

A: I went vegan in late July and before I did I had to take medications for health problems. But now I do not. I used to be actually addicted to massive amounts of bacon.

Q: Does your family support you?

A: My mom, my sister, and my aunt are all vegan as well, but not my dad.

Q: How do you feel with your health now that you’ve been vegan for some time?

A: Hormone medications were a problem before and now I feel perfectly fine and haven’t needed to take them along with being lactose intolerant.

Q: Advice when becoming vegan is..

A: Commitment. You have to cut dairy first. If you do not have ethics for the situation, you can’t completely move on without having mercy, empathy for animals.

My friend Sage and I will try vegan recipes from none other than our dear friend, Chef Emma Bowles, for one week. In the meantime, would you ever consider saving animals lives and maybe try not eating a few dairy products? Bet you won’t.

I’ll be honest, cheese is too good for me to go vegan. So this is going to be painful for me.