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Follow rabble staff and contributors as they take the 2013 Vegan Challenge in our rabble Vegan Challenge Diary, where participants will chronicle their experiences eating vegan throughout the week!

One good thing about a vegan diet is that porridge is A-OK! So add nuts, fresh berries and almond milk, and it’s a winner! Actually this is something I eat for breakfast a lot; it’s a great way to start the day. Of course, steel cut oats, slow cooked, are the way to go!

Now back in Vancouver, things are looking better. Chickpea curries, vegetable curries, ah yes! Houseguest Phillip made an extraordinary meal for us: dates stuffed with almonds, wrapped in basil leaf and baked. Then arugula salad with strawberries and roasted walnuts and onion, and for the main course, a fresh tomato zucchini sauce with gnocchi and broiled asparagus (yes, the asparagus was dark and crunchy, very delicious!). Thank you Phillip for a lovely vegan meal.

Eating vegan is good for you I know; but it also makes you more aware of food and food products. Get this: driving down East Hastings street, and I’m edgy because there’s a slow truck in front of me and I’m in a hurry. Then I see tiny white weathers fluttering in the breeze. Look more closely; there’s movement, and lots of it on the truck. A moving stack of small cages stuffed with chickens. And I mean stuffed. No doubt on their way to the next stage. Both Kim and I said to each other, thank god we’re not eating chicken. It wasn’t a pleasant sight. An affirmation that we are far removed from our food sources and processing. I recall the first time I saw Food Inc., I felt kinda stunned at the enormity of it all.

We’re also telling lots of people we meet about the Vegan Challenge — it’s funny because you half apologize that you’re not eating usual stuff… as though it’s a problem. Gotta get over that.

Well, the sun is shining in Vancouver, the cherry blossoms are in full force, and we have only 3 weeks left until E day which will bring good change, so things are good.