Vegan in Colombia

Above: a typical Paisa lunch... bandeja paisa.

On Wednesday, I walked into my classroom and one of my favorite students looked at me with a sad, worried look and said, "Miss Melody, I forgot you are a vegetable."

"A vegetable?"

"Yes," she said, "I brought you some of my birthday cake, but you can't eat it because it has eggs and milk."

"But, am I a carrot or a piece of broccoli?" I countered.

"What?"

"Don't worry, (insert name here), we can give the cake to Warren. He LOVES birthday cake," I said, since she seemed so worried.

Being vegan in Colombia is challenging, and that's an understatement. This past week at school I didn't even each lunch two days because there wasn't anything to eat. Lentil days have become few and far between, and they started putting bacon in the beans whenever they serve them.

There is one other vegetarian at LPV, but very few people understand what veganism is. I'm often offered chicken or soup with chicken broth. The school cafeteria is also a little lax about cross-contamination, so I've found meat in my veggies before.

I'm really not complaining about the school, though. I chose to be a vegan almost 3 years ago, and I knew when I moved here it was going to be a challenge. I deal with it and don't stress. Veganism is a choice I made to help the environment and for my health, but I totally get that it is weird and abnormal. I'm not judging anybody.

Although it's a weird thing to teach, I'm pretty sure my students will understand veganism at the end of the year, simply because they are always offering me bites of their arepa burgers or their ice cream, and then want to know why I turn them down.

Also, because we live in a small city and it's extremely difficult to find the things I depended on at home for easy meals, I've become a more creative and resourceful cook. It's been a fun, albeit slightly difficult, challenge. The world should know: as long as you have your own kitchen (and no maid/cook), it is totally possible to be vegan in Colombia. It just might take a little more effort and a lot of resourcefulness.

Oh-and when people forget you are a vegetable, just shrug and ask if you are looking like a red pepper that day.