Today we’re lucky enough to have Anna, AKA Vegan Supernova join us for a quick chat. I have to say I’m pretty excited about this as I really love her no-nonsense style of talking and cool blog topics!
Kirsty for the DC: Hi Anna, and welcome to the DC!
Vegan Supernova: Really nice to hear you like my blog, thank you so much! The article ‘Why the F**k Am I Vegan?’ ended up with over 30,000 hits so I think people recognise when you speak from the heart! (As long as they aren’t offended by profanity….!)
I read your website and the story sitting behind the reason and inspiration for Emily-Jane (your founder) being vegan, and I instantly connected. Will definitely be paying a visit as soon as you are built. And in the meantime, I’d love to keep in touch and hear how it’s all going!
DC: Great, so let’s get started: You’re obviously very passionate about being vegan. Could you share with us why, and how you decided to make that lifestyle change?
VS: “I’ve always considered myself an animal lover. Ever since I was a kid I’d be the one rescuing injured birds. I had pet cats, rabbits, hamsters and guinea pigs. I remember moving to Norwich from Liverpool as an eleven-year-old and discovering horses. I’d spend every spare minute I had going to see them at a local farm.
But I didn’t really see horses that differently from the cows in the next field. They were really very similar. I thought the sheep seemed like such sweet natured animals too. I decided early on that there was no way I wanted anyone to kill an animal for me to eat, so I became vegetarian. Years later I met this girl called Nicole who told me she was vegan. I invited her to my flat one day for dinner and suddenly panicked as I had no idea what a vegan ate. I remember phoning her and asking if she could eat rice. I didn’t really get it. Why wouldn’t she eat eggs and cheese? Eating eggs and cheese didn’t hurt animals, did it?!
Photo Credit: Anna / Vegan Supernova
Oh how little I knew! Nicole planted the seed. I then went on to watch Cowspiracy, Speciesism, and Earthlings. Until then I had no idea what happened in the dairy and egg industry, and to be honest, I didn’t really know much about what happened in a slaughterhouse either. I’d been conveniently blinkered for so many years. No longer. That was me done. Through sheer horror, I became vegan.
DC: You’re a qualified life coach, and have previously admitted to having anxiety how does NLP help with day to day stress and worry?
VS: Once you understand that we all see the world in an entirely unique way, and that no two living beings have the same concept of reality, you realise that nothing is as personal as you once thought it was. When you learn how our thoughts, language and patterns of behaviour are all interlinked, it empowers you to take control. Once you begin to accept the things you can’t change, and instead focus on what you can… you relax, your confidence increases and you begin to steer your own ship. It’s like being given instructions to a really complex computer. Suddenly you’re like… “Oh! I’m actually in control of this thing!”
DC: What, would you say, are the biggest challenges when being vegan?
VS: The first is forming a new habit. When I first went shopping as a vegan it took me two hours to buy two meals as I had no idea what did and didn’t contain animal products. I was checking everything. It took a month or so until it became auto-pilot. You just form a new habit. Now I can’t remember my old shopping routine as my new one feels like the most obvious and natural.
The second is other people. When I meet new people they often want to know why you’re vegan and seem to get defensive or angry about it. The first thing they’ll do is see if I’m wearing leather shoes and then they’ll say “Well I’m never gonna to be vegan, it’s my personal choice so do you have a problem with that?!”
Sometimes it can be exhausting! But it’s a great opportunity to open up discussion. Once upon a time, I didn’t understand it either. I thought vegans were tree-hugging, tie-dye apparelled, rabbit-food munching weirdos too!
Photo Credit: Anna / Vegan Supernova
DC: Lots of people tend to moan about vegans because they misunderstand how varied a plant-based diet is. What’s your response to the million dollar question ‘What do you actually eat’.
VS: Pasta, Pizza, Thai Food, Curries, Stews, Burgers, Roast Dinners, Lasagne, Jacket Potatoes, Beans on Toast, Wraps, Chips, Soup, Risotto, Salads, Rice Dishes, Smashed Avocado & Tomato on Toast, Cakes, Ice Cream, Brownies, Dark Chocolate, Smoothies – hell, you can even have bacon! Vegan bacon. There is an alternative to everything these days. 20 years ago being vegan was tough; today it’s easy. Vegan food is RICH in flavour and taste. If you look at any dish, the flavour never comes from the meat, it comes from the sauce and the herbs and the spices and all the plant-based goodness that accompanies it.
DC: Let’s talk about VeganSupernova.Com. I loved your ‘extreme vegan’ piece so why do you think people believe they know what vegans are like?
VS: People hear vegans talking about slaughterhouses, about captive bolt pistols, about pigs being burned from the inside out in gas chambers, about giant blenders grinding up baby male chicks alive (egg industry), about cows being distressed as their baby calves are taken away from them and sent to be shot, and about baby lambs having their throats slit. They hear this and somehow associate it with the vegan instead of with themselves. There is a huge dissociation between people ‘buying a packet of ham or a leg of lamb’ from the supermarket, and the realisation and understanding of what has had to happen to that animal to become that product wrapped in plastic.
The easiest way for people to deflect that thought is to bat it away and go along with the notion that it’s the vegan who is extreme (the vegan that has chosen not to be a part of this violence)… not the slaughterhouse that we pay people to kill at every time we buy bacon… that’s not a convenient thought.
DC: Do you think lots of people tend to ‘play it safe’ when talking about veganism as to not to offend others?
VS: Yes, and understandably so. You have to pick your time. If you go around constantly talking about it, you alienate people, and that’s not a productive way to help the animals. People need to be able to connect with you. You have to remember everyone has a completely different view of the world, and not everyone has seen the things you’ve seen.
However, as Martin Luther King Jr. said “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” So never be silenced. Pick your time. But never ever be silenced.
Photo Credit: Anna / Vegan Supernova
DC: In your opinion, do you feel that veganism is becoming more mainstream?
VS: Oh there is no doubt. I’ve seen a huge change in the last 12 months. In 2017, supermarket sales of vegan food were reportedly up by 1500% in just 12 months (according to The London Economic). So many top athletes and celebrities are also now becoming vegan and that’s certainly having an impact. When you’ve got people like Lewis Hamilton, David Haye and Will.I.Am talking about their vegan lifestyle, and how much healthier they are, people start listening.
Not only that but when one of the world’s largest meat processors, exporting the largest amount of beef out of the United States invests in a 100% plant-based company, you know it’s the future. It’s the only sustainable diet for our planet, and with animal agriculture being the leading cause of deforestation, ocean dead zones, habitat loss, species extinction and greenhouse gas emissions… we really have no choice. We don’t inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.
DC: You wrote a brilliant piece explaining the downsides of being vegan. Do you think that lots of people tend to keep eating meat to avoid the inevitable comments/jokes/ or pressure from family and friends?
VS: Maybe. There is a lot of pressure to conform to the majority.
You have to be strong to be vegan. Mentally. You really do. But if you’re confident about why it aligns with your values and core beliefs; because you don’t support animal cruelty, because you care about our planet, and because you want to be healthy and decrease your risk of disease, then you naturally become strong in your conviction. You can handle the jokes with humour. Humour is essential.
If anyone is having a hard time with friends and family, they can contact me personally and I’ll be more than happy to help.
DC: What are your three favourite vegan snacks?
Toasted pitta bread and hummus
Sweet potato chips with sweet chilli dip
Medjool dates (nature’s natural toffee!)
DC: What do you love the most about being vegan and what would you say to someone who was thinking about becoming one?
VS: I love that I’m doing everything I can not to cause harm to the animals I love. I love that I’m cooking so many new and exciting food dishes. And to anyone considering it, I can genuinely say it has been the best decision of my life. I’m also the healthiest and strongest I have ever been.
DC: Do you think that people dismiss vegans as being ‘really weird’ simply because they don’t know, or don’t want to know where their food comes from? In short, that vegans actually remind them about industrial farming etc.
VS: 100 million percent. It’s an inconvenient truth. But it’s time to re-evaluate what’s ‘weird and extreme’.
Is it an industry that ‘makes a killing’ from death and deceit, that hides the truth of a horror so grim it would tear the public heart out, that perpetrates mass slaughter of baby animals considered mere waste and treated like products, making them as disposable as a cardboard box?
Or, is it the people who have opened their eyes to look beyond the deliberately misleading marketing campaigns promoting ‘Happy Eggs’ and ‘Laughing Cows’ to see the suffering, the pain, and the fear? They are the people that care. They are the sanity, the hope, the compassion. And they are the only chance the animals and our planet have got.
DC: Thanks so much for your honesty Anna, It’s been a pleasure talking to you.
No Comments