Top Four Reasons I won’t call myself Vegan

What’s wrong with this picture? Nothing — unless you are the fashion police. If you didn’t know I called myself vegan for the last several months, you would see nothing amiss.

I no longer identify myself as vegan because there are at least four animal products I continue to enjoy even though my diet reflects a strong herbivorous preference:

#1 — Animal Product: mink. I “inherited” my mom’s mink coat. In truth, none of my five sisters wanted it and it hung in my closet for almost 20 years before I actually wore it. But one bitterly cold winter day I slipped it on and it was the old lady’s answer to the Canadian winter! No wonder all my mom’s friends had a mink coat. Now that I’m an old lady, I get it! Literally.

#2 Animal Product: leather. Leather gloves, fur trimmed no less. A Christmas gift from my daughter. What’s a mom to do? And leather knee-high boots. Two pair. I love them! Since I can no longer wear heels (sore neck) you can’t beat the high-topped boot for pizazz! I wish I still had leather pants! My kids don’t.

#3 Animal Product: wool. Seriously, it’s not like you have to kill or abuse an animal to get the wool. I would think sheep would appreciate the haircut in an Australian summer. My warmest, most favourite mittens are my red wool mitts from the Hudson’s Bay store in Banff AB. Wearing them makes me feel brazenly patriotic.

#4 Animal Product: honey. I was stunned when I discovered, after calling myself vegan for months, that honey was verboten. I admit my “sweet” of choice is maple syrup, a plant product, but if I need to avoid honey because it comes from living creatures that’s going too far. With apologies to “true” vegans, I’m keeping my Winnie the Pooh honey pot filled to the brim.

Gerry and I stopped eating meat last July for separate reasons. He wanted to regulate his blood pressure and I was hoping to reduce arthritis inflammation. He dropped some pounds and his blood pressure responded positively. I have not noticed any change in joint pain but both of us fell in love with the food. We happily referred to ourselves as “vegan” for months before we completely understood what that title included. Even though we continue to eat 99% plant based, we now refer to ourselves as omnivores.