Nearly Vegan. WORDS_ Iain Graham, Food stylist

Is being an ‘ethical vegan’ being a vegan at all? Should we all be looking at sustaining a more plant based diet? Iain Graham tells of his journey of becoming a ‘Nearly Vegan’.

“As the pieces of chicken bounced onto the buffet, I realised I just couldn’t do it any more”

I love watching documentaries. I watch them as often as my life allows - which isn’t loads, as I have four kids and two jobs (one as a chef and one as a food stylist). Little did I know that this was to be the source of my dietary transformation.

Could my diet be affecting my health, my energy, my future and worse still my home and the planet.  Everyone seemed to be telling me that it was, and the only thing I had to do was change my diet.

Easy right. Just stop eating a few things and all will be well. My head full, resounding to the tune of too many Netflix documentaries I finally decided that it was time to make a change.

I was 99% there and then came the day, the big bang, the reason I just could not do it anymore. I was lucky enough to go to the Soho house Summer extravaganza. A great friend of mine bought me and the Mrs a ticket, and off we went. The day was a massive feast with food of every variety and with the finest provenance. 

But I had already started to see past this , it was like my vision had changed and now all I could see was massive piles of animals. The bucket loads of lobster that had excited me two years before now did the opposite. As I turned away from the lobster, I was greeted by a guy pouring a huge Curver box of grilled chicken onto the counter top. As the pieces of chicken bounced onto the buffet I realised I just couldn’t do it anymore. It felt wrong. 

However nearly three years down the track have things changed? Well yes they have. I have to say I have not had any earth shattering revelations. My body shape changed, I did initially get very thin and now I have returned to a normal looking weight, I have not completed any super marathons and I am not an invincible warrior, but I do feel much better. My energy levels are higher which I was surprised was real and not just some  rumour. I haven’t gone full 100 percent vegan, I do still have the odd egg.

If I am faced with a carefully made plate of food when I am at a friends house I don’t refuse to eat it but I do pick out the bits of meat and work around things as best I can. I have been known to go to the pub with the family and whilst the rest of the gang order a Sunday roast I will have ‘the lamb with no lamb please’.

“But am I doing enough as a ‘nearly vegan’?”

Veganism in general is on the increase and rather than just a fad or the latest craze this generation of Vegans seems to be here to stay… but what is the difference this time, why has it suddenly become so much more main stream and accepted?

Veganism dates back thousands of years and long been part of Buddhist, Jain and Hindu beliefs. Given it’s modern monica in 1944 by by Donald Watson, the Vegan society was formed, borne out of ethical concern for sentient animals. The modern day vegan, this new fashionable vegan, which includes me now, seems to be much more based around both the environment and also the health benefits of an animal free diet. So are we truly vegans at all?Modern day mass farming has made meat a worry for some people. Processed meats are currently grouped in with cigarettes and asbestos as Group 1 carcinogens and also being blamed for heart disease, diabetes and other long term health issues.

One of the things that struck me was the amount of people that required such a huge amount of animals in order to feed themselves. Surely I could help reduce this by giving up meat, reducing land used for animals to graze and also their feed… Changing your diet to a vegan diet or even a vegetarian diet is thought to massively reduce carbon emissions even up to 73%. So why not?

But it is now becoming clear that my kind of veganism is different to that of the original ideals of the Vegan Society. To be named an Ethical Vegan means giving up all animal products, avoiding any harm and discomfort or worse for the animals. So my nearly vegan status should be adjusted and renamed to a plant based diet. So even though my actions contribute to less to harm of animals I don’t qualify for the full title, which to be honest is fine with me for now.

One thing I have encountered as a nearly Vegan is a kind of mild stigma. What starts as curiosity does, in some cases, turn into people trying to trip you up or questioning how strong your commitments are.  I was shocked and surprised! I couldn’t believe that my lenience in dining out and not worrying too much if something may have a splash of butter on is, in fact causing me to be questioned by some friends.

“Could being cool about things and blurring the lines of my vegan attempt, change the perception of what I am doing - to a negative rather than a positive?!”

Does it in fact undermine the good things that I am hoping to achieve or are people being too judgemental about me not making the whole journey, when even a step in the right direction could make a difference to animal and planet welfare?

For me deciding to switch was a massive thing, having been a chef for close to 20 years, most of my working life has been using animals for food, from cutting whole animals into the various recognised cuts to killing live crabs and shucking oysters. I had a very long think about doing what felt like ‘the dirty’ on my colleagues and the industry I had loved for so long.

But it was the industry and my training that actually helped me to finally decide to give it a go. As a chef with a wide variety of experience from working with chefs like Peter Gordon, Mark Hix and Jamie Oliver I realised that my knowledge could get me through, if anyone could find delicious alternatives to meat and fish, it should be fine for me to make a transition. I decided that I would still cook our usual staple foods for the rest of the family as I didn’t want to force the kids into anything they definitely weren’t ready for, worried in fact that as an act of rebellion I might find them working their weekends at the butchers to spite me. 

It was quite a strange thing at first, as meat and fish were such a part of my diet but changing my habits and adopting new ones came easily with my motivation at peak. It felt good to be saying no to things and start exploring other tastes and textures. I was very keen not to go down the Vegan junk food route, eating burgers and steaks that looked and felt like meat. This seemed like the methadone of the eating world a sort of solution with no solution.

I did then find my conviction plateau somewhat, the hard work and the struggle over, I was settling into my new lifestyle and feeling great for it. My occasional lows were filled with nuts and dried fruits. Coffees and hot chocolates were done with coconut milk and oat milks though, and actually tasted even better.

“But I couldn’t shake the urge to have an egg!! A bloody egg of all things!”

Sounds silly doesn’t it but eggs were something that I ate everyday, and whilst I have cut down I haven’t quit them at all. By continuing to eat eggs I am continuing the cruelty to chickens and allowing them to be captive and face a life deprived of all that we would want for a pet chicken or any animal in our lives for that matter.

Prior to taking my leap I did speak to a nutritionalist who amongst many good tips did mention that I should think of this as more of a journey, which could take some time until I found my way to my optimum vegan diet, so am I on my journey still? I feel that I am, in fact I wonder if I will  ever make it to being an ethical vegan, or was that ever my ambition?

I have to admit that when I started doing this, animal welfare was not my focus and human future wellbeing and the future I was leaving for my kids was what had motivated me initially…. However as my journey has meandered along and matured I have found myself much more aware of animal welfare. I now can’t do some of the things I used to as a chef, cutting live lobsters in half to harvest the coral just so the ravioli will be a perfect reddish pink..

I can cook chicken and butcher pork when needed, but now I am asking more questions, insisting on more things. I hope that what I am doing is making a difference and that being ‘nearly’ vegan is helping to repair some of the damage I have done over the years…