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Let's talk about World Vegan Day. Let's get started. Hey there, and welcome back to Tweed Trends. Before I get started, let me apologize.
If my voice sounds a little ashy or gravelly or whatever, if it just sounds off, it's because I'm on the mending side of COVID right now. But I held off from recording as long as I could, and I feel like I feel and sound much better than what I have in the past couple of days. Therefore, we are back at it, back with the podcast. And today we are talking about World Vegan Day.
Now that was November 1st, and it came out of really interesting time for me, because we had just come back from a trip to Alabama, and I've been tossing around the idea of going vegan, or maybe trying to do a slow transition, maybe go tescetarian, then vegetarian, then make my way to vegan. But while we were on our trip, I was sure to keep an eye out for, if I had been vegan at this point, how many different food options would I have had in the various locations that we ended up in? And it just happened to be slim to none in most cases, and it could have been because of the function we were going there for a class reunion. But it very well could have just been the part of a country that we were in.
So then when I got back, I saw a report about places around the globe where vegan meals are most accessible. That's what I want to say most accessible. So first off, if you, for some reason, don't know what it means to be vegan. Veganism is more than just something that people do for their personal situation.
There are many people out there that go vegan because it helps the world. And going vegan means that you are going completely plant-based, that you are not doing anything with anything that came from an animal. So whereas a vegetarian might eat, say, an egg, because they're like, well, that's not the actual chicken itself, that's the egg that the chicken laid. But a person who's vegan would be like, no, I'll pass on the egg, because that is an animal product, and I'm not about that life anymore.
So in the report that I saw, the top five places of them, I'd only heard of two of them before. So one, that tells me I need to expand my traveling portfolio. But two, it was an eye-opener that none of these places were in the United States. Number one and two were in Thailand.
It was Pukit and Chang Mai. Number three is the Indonesian island of Yubit. And then the Portuguese capital, Lisbon, followed by Tel Aviv on the Mediterranean coast. So when you hear those names, those places, it's very obvious that people in other countries, they've got a better handle on what this whole veganism thing is.
And it's not a big deal for them. Whereas here in the United States, that's a pretty big thing. And when you hear about people, now back in the day, you used to hear about people going vegetarian or vegan, and I'm not going to lie, as an African-American female, if we were talking about that in our community, we talked about it amongst only those people that are in that club, because other people will look at you like, we don't do that. Where did you get that from?
And now people are a little bit more open-minded, and there are lots and lots of black and brown vegans out there. So it was just really interesting that all of this happened at the same time. Now a place in the United States did show up. And now, Portland, Oregon, they were number eight on the list, which is pretty high if you ask me.
But when everything else was some other place, it kind of makes you think about what are we doing here in the United States? As I said earlier, going vegan is more about everyone and less about the individual. Sure some people go vegan because they want the health benefits, that cutting meat and different things like that out of their diet is going to do. But most people who are vegan, they're looking at the big picture and saying, you know, if I stop eating meat, this would change.
This could change. And to give you some examples, veganism saves water. Now, you may be saying, well, how is that? You have to water the plants, don't you?
But here's an example. Two pounds of beef. How much do you think it takes to raise the two pounds of beef that you're going to eat? Here we go.
4,000 gallons of water. For two pounds of tomatoes, on the other hand, that's going to take approximately 48 gallons. Potatoes, same two pounds of potatoes, will take about 66 gallons of water. So there you go.
4,000 gallons versus 48 and 66 gallons. That's a pretty considerable difference when it comes to water. And we know that water, you know, at some point is going to run out unless somebody comes up with something I don't know. But with that in mind, if we were a little bit better stewards of our water by maybe going vegan, maybe not even the whole week, but maybe a couple of days out of the week, it makes a big difference in water consumption.
Another thing that veganism does is it cuts greenhouse gases and emissions. Now we all know that these gases contribute to global warming. Well, then again, maybe we all don't know because there are some legislators out there that swear up and down that global warming is not a thing. And hello, it's 77 degrees here today.
And we are straight up smack dab in the middle of November. But I digress. This is going to sound crazy, but we're talking about cows and sheep here. They burp out nearly 3.1 gigatons of methane a year.
Say what? Burping. And all of that goes into the atmosphere and messes with our ozone layer and it's these cows and sheep that farmers are raising to eat. Now are we saying that if everyone went vegan and we wouldn't have cows and sheep anymore?
No, we're not saying that. But we wouldn't be mass producing them to then kill them to then eat them. I know that sounded really bad. Another thing that veganism fights against is overfishing.
I don't know if you've read any of the studies in recent years, but overfishing has led to imbalances in the world's oceans. So going vegan can protect the fish population because vegans, they don't eat fish either. Another thing, rainforest, deforestation, energy consumption, cleaner waterways, protecting endangered species, all of these things can be helped if more people were vegan. It sounds like a pretty sweet deal when you think about we are stewards of this earth and nobody's going to take care of it other than us.
So maybe we should start making some better decisions about it and start with ourselves. As with any eating plan that restricts specific food groups, vegan diets can come up short in essential nutrients such as protein, calcium, iron, and vitamin B12. But if planned and supplemented appropriately, as needed that is, vegan diets can certainly be a part of a healthy lifestyle. So I did this deep dive on IG and online and I found some websites like happycow.net, found some apps, happy cow has an app as well.
I'm pretty sure you have to pay for it, but don't quote me on that. And another one, vegan maps. So that one kind of went along with the whole idea that I was traveling and I was wondering what I would do. Well, that shows me what I would do because it lets you know in your area where you can find different vegan restaurants.
But then on IG as I did deep dive there to see who were the vegan influencers out there, what are they talking about? Are they sharing recipes? Are they just talking about lifestyle? What is it?
I saw a bunch. I'm going to share a handful of those with you. The first two, I actually have their recipe books, Pinky Cole from Sledi Vegan. You can find her on IG at P-I-N-K-Y-C-O-L-E.
Then there's Charity Morgan and another easy one at Charity Morgan, C-H-A-R-I-T-Y-M-R-G-A-N. I've tested some of the recipes in both of their books and both of them are spot on real good, loving it. I just need to dedicate more time to actually being in the kitchen to make the recipes because it's good. Let's see, who else do I have on here?
There was a guy Todd Anderson. So if you're looking to go vegan, he's the guy that you would check out and his IG is at Turnip Vegan that's at T-U-R-N-I-P-V-E-G-A-N. Then I ran across a 16 year old. She's an Afro-Indigenous Mexican teenager.
And her deal is she's fighting for the animals, she's fighting for the humans, she's fighting for the planets. She's trying to make you aware and you can find her at Genesis Butler Underscore. So that's at G-E-N-E-S-I-S-V-U-T-L-E-R Underscore. Then let's see a couple more, a couple more.
I am Tiffany Shirley is another one. She's I believe in the UK and she's at Tiffany Shirley I think it is. Gosh, I just drew a complete blank. I'm thinking it's at T-I-F-F-A-N-Y-S-H-I-R-L-E-Y.
If you don't find her there, then throw an I-A-M in front of the Tiffany Shirley I-A-M and there you have it. Another one, Ivan Hoensacilia, they are Latino vegan chefs. So I'm about to do a serious deep dive on there, IG. And you can find them at Coco Verde-Vegen.
That's at C-O-C-O-V-E-R-D-E-G-A-N. And last but not least is Mini Eats. Mini Eats is in Germany and you can find her at M-I-N-I-E-A-T-S Underscore 94. Thanks so much for joining me for today's episode.
I hope you learned something. I hope you're going to check out some of those people on IG or some of those websites or apps if you are actually considering doing that whole vegan thing. And I would love for you to share it with me. You know how to find me at HEVET.
That's at H-E-V-E-T-E. Let me know because I'm considering it too. So maybe we can do this thing together. Okay?
Maybe we can. The only thing, no, let me not say the only thing. One of the big things that's holding me back is family, older family, my mom in particular. I don't know how easy it would be to visit her being vegan and only eating the rice and the vegetables or if she puts meat in the vegetables, not even eating the vegetables, like what would that look like?
I would literally have to bring my own food with me. But anyway, like I said, let me know. You know where to find me. And I'm looking forward to seeing you back here again next time.