September
2001
Vegan
Warriors Do It Themselves
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Tanya Barnard
and Sarah Kramer on the origin of their book How it all Vegan!:
Irresistible Recipes for an Animal-Free Diet
We ‘vegan’ in the early 1990s, when we were
both lazy vegetarians who occasionally used and consumed animal products.
We decided to make the transition to veganism because of our belief
in a simple, but important, value: we love and respect animals and the
Earth. Once we chose to give up eating all animal products, we discovered—with
just a little imagination and some good advice—how easy it was
to go vegan.
We all choose veganism for different reasons. Maybe it’s a fervent
belief in animal rights. Perhaps it’s a desire to try a healthier
diet. Whatever the reason, you can be vegan and still eat wonderful
food. And veganism is not something to be afraid of. There is a popular
belief that by removing animal products from one’s diet, food will
become necessarily boring, a life of dining on grass and shrubs. But
let us assure you: Vegan food is fabulous food, full of flavor and all
the nutrients you need.
In the winter of 1996 we came up with the idea of collecting our vegan
recipes in a zine-style cookbook that we could share with our families
and friends. We slaved over the computer, spending countless hours typing
and organizing our recipes, putting great love and care into our project.
We printed and bound the books ourselves and went about giving them
away as gifts and selling them where we could at cost. This little book
then began to snowball, selling like vegan hotcakes wherever we went.
Then a light bulb went on: Let’s go legit! So we shopped for a
publisher and the rest is history.
Reprinted with permission from How It All Vegan!: Irresistible Recipes
for an Animal-Free Diet by Tanya Barnard and Sarah Kramer (Arsenal
Pulp Press, 1999). To order a copy, visit www.govegan.net
or call Arsenal Pulp Press at 888-600-PULP.
