"You know it's hard out there for a Vegan"...: Still Day One

This is hard. Already! I have been up for twelve hours and I feel the struggle to be a vegan on a college campus. On day one! You know that meal plan I laid out for myself last night? Well, I realized I was going for the easy way out: a stir fry. That's the simplest of vegan foods. My dining hall happens to be the hardest one to eat vegan at.

Sitting in that dining hall I mooned at all of the glorious brownies. The chocolate toffee caramel cookies. Pumpkin pie (in the middle of February?), and a self serve soft ice cream machine with all the toppings the child inside of you could possibly desire. I reached for one of the brownies and the challenge told me to stop. I can't break a commitment the first day. I'm no Kim Kardashian.

So I didn't. I picked up two beautiful vegan sugar cookies (this school can do one thing right: bake treats). Tucking them into my to-go box, I quickly sat down at my desk to indulge myself. Paired with vegan bitter dark chocolate, they were delectable delicacies.

At 71 calories a pop, I couldn't resist. 

What I actually had for breakfast: A Chocolate Peanut Butter Clif Bar

I really did have that soy chai latte and it was spectacular. I am not a fan of any chai but the extra spicy kind. 

Lunch: Vegan eggplant soup, and a vegan salad all from Spoons, our free on campus restaurant. The only way I knew they were vegan was from the asterisk next to them on the menu. Otherwise I would have been beside myself wondering what was in either of them. 

Dinner....

Three delicious vegan black bean falafels, and originally I grabbed a boca veggie burger and lathered it with guacamole and other sauces. Once I saw that the burger was strangely cold and pink, I decided to grab some corn tortilla chips and just eat the sauce. 

When making an Arnold Palmer from scratch today at the dining hall, I went to grab honey when I realized that I wasn't sure if it was vegan or not. So I did what any person of my generation would do....

I googled it. Upon the top search, scientists noted that honey was not vegan-friendly due to the constraints of a vegan that Donald Watson defined: 

Veganism is a way of living which excludes all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, the animal kingdom, and includes a reverence for life. It applies to the practice of living on the products of the plant kingdom to the exclusion of flesh, fish, fowl, eggs, honey, animal milk and its derivatives, and encourages the use of alternatives for all commodities derived wholly or in part from animals. 

So there you have it. But is it even possible to truly use alternatives for everything? I feel like everything I touch has remnants of an animal in some way. According to this, it's impossible to be a vegan:

By no means am I hating on veganism, but I'm pointing out the fact that all we can do is use the available alternatives.  I don't need that last brownie with an egg from a chicken that couldn't stand up. Let it be known I'm only on this journey to assist future college freshman with their vegan experience as well as enhance my mind and body articulation skills. 

Have a wonderful day y'all.