What the kale happened to me?

As most of you know, I was born and raised in France where we eat anything, no matter if it crawls, hops, gallops, digs or even slides.

Until my first trip outside of France (I must have been 10 if my memory is correct), I never doubted that the rest of the world ate snails, frogs, rabbits and innards, just like us. Some of my fondest childhood memories include grabbing a bucket and a stick to go snail hunting on rainy days.

I ate so many cute animals during my life in France that I'll burn in Vegan Hell. No question.

So, yes, what happened to me?

After turning 22 I decided that I didn't want to eat my animal friends anymore, not that they don't taste good, they absolutely do, even raw (steak Tartare anyone?) but I really despise the way animals are treated and put to death in the meat industry. My step-father worked for a slaughterhouse for 20 years so I heard it from the horse's mouth (drumrolls).

That was the beginning of 8 years of vegetarianism.

Vegetarian life in France was not easy. The French are very proud of their Cuisine and there is meat in pretty much everything imaginable. Goose and duck fat, lard, chicken bouillon etc... Not to mention that my fellow Frenchmen take cooking personally and refusing to eat their traditional recipes is very, very insulting. I don't know how many times French people made me feel like being a vegetarian was as bad as being a serial rapist.

But with the spread of Kreutzfeld-Jacob disease (also known as Mad Cow disease), vegetarianism suddenly became more popular: we weren't demonized as much, it was easier for our little community to find soy-based products as well as dairy-free milk.

In December 2004, I moved to America and made it 2 more years into vegetarian territory, until that November of 2006, where under peer pressure, I ate a slice of turkey, then seafood the following month, until selling my soul to bacon the next year and joining the Dark Side back.

I don't regret it all, meat helped my integration: I was invited to barbecues again and people stopped worrying so much about what I was going to eat if they had me over for dinner.

Still, meat wasn't on my shopping list very often, I could never shake the guilt completely.

Last year, one of my good friends and I went to the Veg Fest and it reminded me why I stopped eating meat in the first place. The vendors and activists weren't self-righteous asses (we all know that these movements have a fair share of holier-than-thou preachers, soporific soliloquists and other annoying stuffed-shirts), they were open and happy to share their view without the accompanying guilt-trip.

The seed was planted and a couple months ago, I made a couple new friends who had made a transition to raw veganism and were very happy about it. After looking into it: going to a few restaurants, watching documentaries and reading about it, I decided to give it a try.

It's been 4 weeks already, I've lost 8 pounds and my energy level is UP.

I'm not 100% raw vegan. I still have whole wheat wraps once in a while and I've had cooked food a couple times. I'm also still addicted to that tempeh salad and I don't have any desire to quit. :)

I came up with a few good recipes and this is why I am creating this blog.

They are fast and easy, the only thing you'll need to make them is a good blender!