I'm not really keeping track, but I guess I've been vegan over five years now. I barely knew how to cook when I started, but I learned and I owe veganism for this lovely and fulfilling hobby. Cooking and food are huge parts of my life now. Saying that, my first bit of advice is to think not about what you're losing but about what you'll gain in going vegan. You may feel at first like everything is limited (cheese is one of the big ones for most people), but your palate will change and even though your favorite meat-centric restaurant might be off the table, you'll be going to new restaurants and trying different things. Sure, you may not be eating a your favorite burger joint anymore, but you'll open yourself up to Thai food, vegan sushi, Ethiopian veggie platters, Turkish mezze dips, Indian curries...see where I'm going? Going vegan gave me more options and has given me a creativeness in the kitchen I never had before (for example, I saw a cauliflower gratin recipe and was determined to veganize it for Thanksgiving. I did.). And I know some people fear they may lose familial connections that seem inextricably tied to food, but don't worry. Your family loves you still, regardless of what you eat, and you can easily veganize many of grandma's recipes. I did just that with my grandma's chocolate chess pie and with my mother's chicken and dumplins (here's that recipe).

And don't worry, it's not expensive! I'm spending less on food now than I ever did. Get yourself to the farm market, buy some beans and grains from the bulk bin, stock up on a few pantry staples at the Asian market, and you're set.

Oh, and if you hate tofu, that's okay! I did for the first few years I was vegan. I would even leave the little cubes of tofu in my miso soup at my favorite sushi place (and the seaweed...I was bad). Over the years I've come to love it as I learned how to prepare it in ways I enjoy (press the hell out of it, marinate in a mix high in vinegar and liquid smoke, bake with the marinade until all that's left is charred tofu and a bit of oil, eat). Try tempeh. I ate it exclusively for a while before experimenting again with tofu. And I've finally figured out seitan, which is my omni partner's favorite choice from that vegan trinity.

And if you miss bacon, add liquid smoke to everything. Cured pork products were something I missed a lot when going vegan, but I haven't looked back. I make tempeh bacon often and add it to my vegan reubens (It's more a sauerkraut sandwich, really. I love pickled and fermented things.)

And if you want to start out eating mock meats and cheeses because you miss those things, go for it. But I warn you - in the beginning your palate is so used to the "real thing" that you may get a shock. Plus those things are pricey and can really muck up your grocery budget. Better to cook and eat many of the naturally vegan things in the culinary world (Indian cuisine is a great place to find those) when you're starting out and ease yourself into trying to recreate bacon-chocked quiches (which is totally doable).

The vegan community is much more open than people make it out to be. If you're genuinely interested and want ideas, we're all about helping out. Seriously. You can even email me if you want...www.maryworrell.com

I read a book called The China Study. It had a life-changing effect on me. I've even made attempts to try meat again since, but never could do it.

Since then, the reasons have been piling up (they'll find their way to you) and it simply has become easier and easier.

The biggest threat at first is the thought of learning new stuff in the kitchen. But if you decide to take a slightly different perspective on things, it might make your life easier. Instead of thinking, gosh, all these things I have to leave out, think about all the wonderful (and healthy) things you can eat and make something of it. There's really loads.

Also, I'd recommend reading as much on the subject as possible. Friends and family will be very curious, but it's also for your own good!

For me, the hardest thing about going vegan was the effect it had on personal relationships. I'm from the south, and a key part of social relationships is feeding people, especially amongst the family. When I decided to go vegan I encountered a lot of anger from my family and even some friends. I felt ridicule and rejection and was continuously questioned and even made fun of.

The only thing you can really do in this situation is quietly persist. I found that as I continued and never made a big deal about my diet, attitudes changed, even piqued the interest of some. My aunt decided to go vegetarian, as well as several of my friends. I cooked for others as much as I could and eventually they started trying cooking for me. After a few years, the situation had completely turned around and I faced acceptance.

As to specific food products, I echo what others have said above-- I discovered flavors and textures I had never been exposed to, and in fact became more adventuresome in trying new things. But nutrition has to be taken into account and carefully thought through. As a vegan, your body will be more sensitive to small adjustments and so you'll need to make sure your diet is balanced.

I have been vegan 15+ years (over half my life). My advice for going vegan and staying vegan is learning proper nutrition. It's easy to be a "Fritos and Sprite vegan" but that probably won't last.

Two books I recommend are Simply Vegan (http://www.amazon.com/Simply-Vegan-Quick-Vegetarian-Meals/dp/0931411300/) and Veganomicon (http://www.amazon.com/Veganomicon-Ultimate-Isa-Chandra-Moskowitz/dp/156924264X/).

Simply Vegan gives you grocery lists, meal plans, nutritional requirements, and is a great book for learning how to combine foods. Granted the recipes are not the best ever BUT this book inhabits the absolute essentials: nutrition and health as a vegan.

Veganomicon gives you delicious meals you can make to impress your friends. This is also essential. You've gotta be able to make delicious food!

Hope this helps.

How difficult it is going vegan depends largely on your current lifestyle and where you live. Here in the UK it's most unusual to find any vegan food in cafes or restaurants unless you live in a major city, and even then only specialist places. It's fine if you cook for yourself but eating out is very difficult, and friends and restaurant staff who don't share your views tend to huff & puff at the inconvinience. After 5 years of being strictly vegan, I now relax the rules a little bit for the sake of harmony. In the same way that a veggie option has become the norm in recent decades, I hope so too does vegan food.

I didn't really intend to go vegan, to be honest. My friend, with whom I spent all my time, went vegan, and kept telling me how great it was. I'd been vegetarian for 20 years, so I said I'd try it, but with no commitment. After a week with her, and being vegan, I was hooked. Ten years later, I honestly don't feel like I miss anything, even with an omni SO, and all omni friends.

We take my veganism as a challenge to create new and interesting dishes that are tasty. If you're here, reading this blog and these comments, chances are you like to experiment in the kitchen, and so even if you don't want to commit 100% to going vegan, you can try a few recipes. A few friends of mine even tried 9 to 5 vegan where they didn't eat meat / animal products until dinner.

I'm not vegan, but I eat a lot of vegan food as I love to cook and eat Indian food, especially south indian cuisine. South Indian food is a welath of tasty vegan choices.

And I hate to break it to the person who said Thai food works for vegans, but 99.9% of Thai food is made with either fish sauce or shrimp paste (in curry pastes). I cook Thai from scratch all the time, and except for a few Chinese/Thai dishes these are essential ingredients in almost every Thai dish. They are what make it taste "Thai." Even the section of the menu that says "vegetarian" isn't really. Sure, if you make it on your own you can substitute soy or some such, but it's not the same, and restaurants don't do that for the most part.

Do it in stages. First cut out red meat, then go pescatarian (if that's your thing), then totally vegetarian. What worked for me was going straight from vegetarianism to veganism, because it turned out to be easy given how many substitutes there are for things like milk and ice cream. But it might be easier for others to do one vegan day a week, until it just becomes simpler to do it every day.

But I will add that it's really, surprisingly easy to do it. It shocked me how quickly I adjusted to it, because I'd been worried I couldn't handle it.

DCarl1, I've found that most Thai restaurants are willing to leave out the fish sauce (usually replacing it with more soy sauce) unless they mix their sauces in advance. It's not authentic, but I find the dishes enjoyable. Lemongrass, chilies, Thai basil, coconut milk, kaffir limes, and galangal all spell Thai food for me.

For anyone wanting to go vegan, I would suggest looking at the foods you already enjoy that are vegan, or nearly so. Many of the foods I have strong memories of are already vegan, baked apples eaten on Sunday nights, gazpacho soup in the summer, haroset and roast potatoes at Passover. After that, keep trying new recipes until you find some you like. I never picked a day to go vegan, I just slowly added more vegan meals into my diet until I found that I wasn't eating animal products anymore.

Also the point about the UK is a good one. My husband is British so we travel there a few times a year to visit his parents. At least 6% of the population in Britain is vegetarianism, yet you can't find vegan products or restaurants anywhere. (You can order things online though, if you so choose, and they have better substitute cheeses than we do in America.) It's strange, because even in Texas there were more vegan restaurants in our city than there are in London. It's as if the US skipped vegetarianism and went straight to veganism.

I became vegan and raw by accident. When we set up Netflix thru our Wii - we instantly had access to all the movies one could ever require. One day I came across "Change your Food, Change your Life" which got me contemplating the reasons why one would become vegan. Having grown up on a dairy farm, hearing that pasteurized cow milk is not good for the human body was tough. But I read "The China Study" and I haven't drank milk since, and have only eat cheese on very rare occasions. Quitting dairy - I lost 18 lbs in less than 2 weeks. I got a couple of Post Punk Kitchen books and started rocking out with all kinds of new recipes.

Then I saw the movies "Food Matters" and "A Beautiful Truth" and decided to dabble with raw. We got a juicer that week along with some Ani Phyo books and Boutenko Family books.

It's tricky getting used to new terms and new equipment, but the food is DELICIOUS! Once you get used to the flow of things - you realize that eating healthy does NOT mean sacrificing flavor!!! Get the book "Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World" and you'll know what I mean!

I feel more focused and energized and am really on-fire for learning about food and nutrition. It's no joke - you are what you eat. And when you consume chemicals - your body cannot function the way it should, hence all the cancers and diabetes and other infirmities so many of us are battling.

Grocery shopping has become my favorite thing to do. THAT is my retail therapy. Knowing that I am feeding my family genuinely good, nutritious foods is a fantastic feeling.

We allow ourselves to do meat on the weekends or if we go out to dinner with friends and there aren't vegan options. But the more you experiment with vegan and raw foods - the more you realize how healthy you feel when you eat them.

I encourage everyone to TRY vegan for a little while - just to see if you like it. Or just incorporate a few vegan recipes into your week. You'll be surprised at how much you like them! Just remember - eating good doesn't have to taste bad!

The best tip is to eat as much greens as possible (better if eaten uncooked), being sure to include a giant green salad each day. The easiest way to eat more uncooked greens is by making green smoothies, the only tough part is forking over the $400 for the blender. Try not to be just a cooked vegan eating too many grains! If you are trying to lose weight, minimize the nuts & avos.

Others that have commented here already have said some amazing things so I will just add that in addition to all of their great advice, just be patient. It is easy to get overwhelmed so just take it one day at a time, keep doing research and remember your motivation for choosing this diet in the first place. You are going to make "mistakes" sometimes because animal products are hidden in so many things we don't even think of. And also reach out to like-minded folks, either in your personal life or through social media websites, for support. I don't know what I would do without the good friends I made on Twitter who have helped me navigate the vegan food scene :)

Two things: Get lot and lots of cookbooks and get in the kitchen and experiment! There are so many great ones out there for a vegan diet. Also, approaching it as an adventure, where you want to see/read/do/make as many new things as you can, definitely helps.

There's some amazing advice here. I'm an omnivore but I eat vegetarian 90% of the time, and I'm gradually working my way to using vegan ingredients as much as possible. I don't want to make it official because I don't want to think of my diet as restricting (the surest way for my stubborn behind to start eating junk), but I could probably get away with describing myself as a vegetarian who cheats. I've been doing just what a lot of posters have suggested: gradually trying to eat healthier and phase out animal products. It really is amazing how easy it becomes when you stop thinking about what you can't have and start exploring all kinds of new ingredients. Thanks for all the book/cookbook/film titles. I've seen a lot of them over and over, and the suggestions here have become part of my reading list. ;-)

It's easy to feel limited, but as others have pointed out, there are many vegan options and most foods are fairly easy to veganize. I would recommend avoiding blatant substitutes, like prepackaged burgers and cheese, and instead eating a well balanced diet rich in whole grains, fruit, vegetables, beans, seaweed, etc.

I've been vegan for most of my life. Recently I've altered my diet to be macrobiotic as well (more restrictive than typical macro due to digestive issues) and while I was first upset my my very, very limited diet, I'm feeling better than ever. One thing, which has been huge for me, is I never feel sluggish or lethargic anymore!

I love cooking, especially cooking for other people. No one has complained about lack of meat, dairy, gluten, etc. in my cooking. I get a lot of requests from family, friends, coworkers, etc. for my baked goods, which is nice.

While I've been ridiculed--I've also found a wealth of love and support. My grandmother taught me how to make pasteles, a traditional Puerto Rican food, vegan. A Mexican friend's mom made us vegan mole. Often I find people are more open to veganism with clear communication and without food elitism.

I'm just curious how many people find the label necessary? I guess what I mean is, do most people feel like it's an all or nothing deal? do you commit to being vegan and if you 'lapse' now and then you're betraying it? do any find this attitude limiting? or is it helpful to have the 'rules' of the label to keep on a specific diet path? (and I understand that there is likely a difference for those who do it for moral vs. health reasons.)

personally, I don't think I would ever want to go vegan. that said, I eat a lot of vegan and vegetarian meals. I may be vegetarian for weeks at a time. then I might have some steak because I feel my body wants it. if I had declared myself vegetarian in those first weeks, I might feel like I failed. or perhaps for most people, the transition is about training your body so that it doesn't crave meat but vegan alternatives instead, so strict adherence to the rules is a means to the end?

perhaps the modern view on diet will progress like the view of sexuality (for many people) in that it's more or a sliding scale than an either/or? maybe it will become standard in restaurants to see a diverse range of options, some very meaty, some very vegan without a second thought to providing 'special' options?

sorry for the rambling... I'm writing this while sipping on a (very non-vegan) hot buttered rum...

I'm an omnivore who, for various reasons, eats vegan about 80% of the time.

Biggest tip I have for making vegan eating satisfying is to not try to turn it into something it's not. My enjoyment of vegan food went up about 500% once I got over that inferiority complex that I had to prove that vegan food was just as good as nonvegan food by making vegan food that was just like nonvegan food. Fact is, tofu ain't porkchops, never will be, and the less said about vegan "cheese" the better. Tofu's it's own thing. And a very good thing. It doesn't need to try to be anything else. Neither does any good vegan cookery. Don't apologize or get defensive. Just enjoy.

Since my GF has food allergies to milk/eggs, we tend to eat what we often describe as vegan+meat. It's what got me started cooking in the first place, really, because I wanted to make her things like macaroni and cheese that she'd never had. I look at something I want to veganize, and I think of it like a puzzle. What job do the eggs do, what job does the milk do, and then think of different things that can fill the same role. Sometimes it takes a few tries, but I've yet to find anything I can't convert other than pure fried egg type dishes!

foodefafa, as someone who is (mostly) vegan for moral reasons, I do find the label helpful and accurate, not restrictive (and I've been vegetarian or vegan for almost 20 years now). I can ask restaurant staff about vegan options, and they know what I mean. I don't eat animal products because I don't feel good about how they are produced commercially, so it's not something I "slip" on now and then because I have a craving, anymore than I "slip" and steal something because it looks good--it violates my personal sense of right and wrong, so I don't do it.

My one exception is that we got pet hens a couple years ago, and I do eat their eggs, because I know that they are treated well and will never be killed once their "productive" years are past. I've also eaten eggs and dairy in the past from personal acquaintances who follow the same standard. But that's a bit complicated to explain to everyone, so most of the time it's easier just to say I'm vegan.

I do consider being vegan to be pretty easy these days. The hardest thing is going out to eat with people, but even that's usually fine, especially if they don't mind going for "ethnic" food (Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai, Vietnamese, Middle Eastern, Ethiopian, Mexican, Italian, etc.) -- all usually have at *least* one option on the menu that can work. Otherwise, I just order a salad, and remind myself that I'm going out with those individuals to enjoy their company and a night out, not necessarily a great culinary experience.

I agree the posters above that say going vegan fueled their passion for cooking. I hated cooking and once I went vegan it was a challenge for me to make delicious vegan meals for my meat eating friends. Since then cooking has become a love of mine and experimenting with vegan recipes and substitutions has been a lot of fun.

My number one piece of advice would be to do your research before you go vegan. I know several people that jumped into it and were not healthy about it and failed at it never to want to try it again. Know what nutrients and supplements you will need to get in other ways and make sure you are getting what your body needs - everyone is different. When I went vegan my energy increased dramatically and I feel so much better physically and mentally.

Read Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer. It's a life changer.

Cook a lot.

Get nutrition advice from somewhere besides the internet.

Get cooking advice from the internet.

Be ready for strangers and loved ones to hate you and make fun of you at various times. Be patient and optimistic.

Don't go crazy. Have fun.

Track your nutrients, protein, and sugar, sugar, sugar.
Being vegan offers too many carbohydrate quick options, and over the long term it can affect your blood sugar levels. There is a balance between eating fresh and pre-packaged stuff no matter what your diet type and as a student/working person/parent it is so easy to eat pre-prepared foods. I mean, who can resist soy mac and cheese??
I was a vegan for 6 + years, and studying to become and EMT. My class practiced 'diabetic emergencies', which included taking one another's blood sugar. Mine was sky high! I had a blood sugar level three times that of my classmates, qualifying as hyperglycemic. It was really scary.
Through better eating I was able to bring that down (you bet I checked again) and I really learned a lesson about eating conveniently. It requires great diligence to not only to get iron and vitamain B and protein, but to avoid carb over-load.

Living in a city that is vegan friendly helps, but it is still possible to be vegan in the middle of nowhere (like me!).

There are tons of animal ingredients, and it can be overwhelming. Go easy on yourself if/when you make a mistake-learn from it and remember the lesson for the future.

My advice for vegans taking the leap is to read everything you can about nutrition, vegan and non-vegan. As a vegan, I get a lot of well-meaning (sometimes) but ignorant questions about how I get enough protein or iron or calcium or whatever, and having an arsenal of basic nutrition-related answers is really helpful.

Other than that, my biggest piece of advice is not to be overwhelmed. It seems like a lot of information all at once, but being vegan can be pretty easy--especially with access to the internet!

tapering into a vegan diet is all well and good, but i just have to say that jumping in quick and being adventurous is like a double christmas - you go out and buy fun, crazy new foods to feast on one week and the next week your skin is better, you have lots of energy, and you loose some pounds. after my double vegan christmas, i was convinced for life.

I just went vegan and the food transition hasn't been hard at all. Once I started University and moved out I ate meat less, then I dabbled in vegetarianism on and off for two years, then I recently started dating a vegan and started reading up more on veganism and decided, because of my environmental ethics, that it was for me.

The hard part about it is the way my family and friends have reacted. Mostly with unfair judgments and jokes. My mom was just starting to get used to the idea of me being a vegetarian when I decided to eschew all animal products. It's hard to have "Cheese Fest" happen in the student lounge and have everyone proclaim to me how great the cheese is and how it's too bad I can't have any.

My boyfriend and I have been vegan for about two years. He went vegan a few months after me, and it's certainly been easier to have solidarity. We're fortunate to live in a city (Baltimore) that has lots of vegan grocery and dining options. We cook A LOT and really enjoy the culinary challenge of eating vegan.

My best recommendations for new vegans are:
Don't feel guilty if you slip up occasionally.

Don't compromise your values for others, (ie-- don't eat animal products at someone else's home because you think it'd make them "feel bad" if you didn't.)

Tell people AHEAD of time that you're vegan if going to their home as a guest.

If you feel yourself losing a grip and want to re-dedicate yourself to veganism, read Skinny Bitch. It deserves its criticisms, but it makes clear, concise arguments for vegan living.